Chapter 24 Lorenzo
LORENZO
Remington glared at me. “Obviously, you didn’t listen to my instructions about Nikolai.”
From his perch on my shoulder, Tony pointed a finger at him and chattered loudly.
Rafe laughed. “I think Tony disagrees with you. He seems to like Renzo and Niko together.”
Remington narrowed his eyes at the monkey. “That’s enough. Do you want to be sent to the car?”
Tony screeched.
I shook my head. “You wouldn’t leave him in a hot car.”
Remington sighed. “With the AC on, obviously. I’m not a monster.” Dante raised his brows, and Remington huffed. “Not to animals.”
“Didn’t he escape from the car the last time you made Lancelot leave him?” Dante asked.
“That’s enough. I’m not here to talk about this insane animal. Lorenzo, your involvement with Nikolai as anything but a bodyguard stops now. I won’t have you involved with the Russians.”
I fought the urge to yell at him, to tell him Niko was mine and I would do whatever the fuck I pleased with him, but now was not the time for that. I wanted Niko, but I wasn’t safe for him, and we needed to focus on destroying Dimitri and Ivanov.
Tony started up again, giving Remington the response I wanted to. He might be speaking in his own language, but it was clear he was telling Remington off.
“Enough,” Remington shouted.
“Come here,” Rafe called to Tony, holding out a piece of dried mango he must have gotten from the kitchen during Tony’s rant. With a final shriek, the monkey jumped down and ran to Rafe for his favorite snack.
Remington scowled at Rafe. “Keep that little bastard away from me.”
As angry, scared, and confused as I was, I had to press my lips together to keep from smiling. Watching Tony rile Remington up was always amusing.
“How about we go over the plan to kill Dimitri and Ivanov,” Dante said. “I think that will put all of us in a better mood.”
Remington nodded. “That’s what I came here for.” He outlined the plan to draw out Dimitri and Ivanov by contacting them, pretending to be a representative of the Lopez family.
Dante frowned. “If Carlos Lopez finds out we’re impersonating his people—”
“He won’t, and if he does, he’ll ultimately thank us for ridding him of buffoons too indiscreet to carry out his business.”
I wasn’t so sure of that, but I didn’t have a better plan.
“There is one change to my original plan.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Now that we also have Alina on our hands, you will escort her and Niko to the safe house and stay there.”
I wanted to stay with Niko. I hated the idea of trusting him to anyone else, but that would mean my brothers wouldn’t have me by their side.
Remington had laid out the plan like it was nothing more complicated than kicking swindlers out of the family casino.
Making a move on Ivanov and exposing our knowledge of the Lopez family’s plans was dangerous as hell.
We’d be lucky to all make it out alive. “Dante and Rafael will be attacking the Russians with you?”
“Yes.”
“As much as I—”
“Lorenzo.” Rafe’s tone was the most serious I’d ever heard it. “Dante and I are adults. We’re well-trained. We’ve faced danger plenty of times, and we survived two years without you. Go take care of Niko and Alina. We’ll be fine.”
I glanced at Dante, and he nodded. “Niko needs you more than we do.”
Was that true? Were they really going to be okay without me?
“You don’t need to keep protecting us.”
Niko did need me. Remington might not want me fucking him, but he knew I was the best choice to keep him and Alina out of harm’s way.
I turned to Remington. “Where are we going?”
“Out in the bayou. Ambrose will be here soon to take you to the safe house.”
I made a strangled sound. “Ambrose?” He was Remington’s cousin, and his sanity was very much in question.
After some years in the military, he’d lived alone in the middle of the bayou, making friends with alligators.
Maybe he’d gotten a little more grounded in reality since meeting Eric, his former sheriff boyfriend, but I wasn’t counting on it. I was sure he was still scary as fuck.
“Lorenzo, I’ve changed my plans enough for you today. Ambrose knows the bayous like no one else.”
“So we’re going to be safe out in the middle of the bayou?”
“Safe from Dimitri and Ivanov. They’ll never find you there.”
“And from the wildlife and crazy people? Your cousin has a pet alligator.”
Remington narrowed his eyes. “And I’m about to ask him to feed you to it.”
I let out a long breath. “The bayou it is.”
Rafe patted my shoulder. “And you thought we were the ones in more danger.”
We solidified a few more plans, and then Lancelot brought Alina and Niko down.
One of Remington’s men had brought bags for them filled with some changes of clothes and personal items they would need for however long we were stuck in the middle of nowhere.
At least if the operation went as planned, we’d only be there a few days.
Niko and Alina stood back from the rest of us as I said a few more words to my brothers and reminded myself over and over that they were capable of handling a battle like this without me there.
“You’re not going to listen to him, are you?” Rafe cocked his head in Remington’s direction.
“I can’t keep Niko. I might as well cut things off now.”
Rafe huffed. “You can do whatever the hell you want if you try.”
“Remington is the head of the family. I can only push him so far.”
“That’s true,” Dante said, “but you have to decide if Niko is worth fighting for.”
I looked over at him. He was smiling at something Alina had said. When he looked my way, my breath caught.
“Something’s telling me he is,” Rafe said.
I hugged them, refusing to say anything else about Niko. “Be careful.”
“We’ll be fine,” Rafe said.
I squeezed Dante’s shoulder. “I know you wanted out, and now here you are, putting your life on the line.”
Dante sighed. “Ivanov and Dimitri don’t deserve to live. I’m doing the world a service by eliminating them.”
Remington called them over, and I let them walk away, praying I was doing the right thing.
I turned to see Lancelot, holding out more mango for Tony. He inclined his head toward Niko and Alina. “Take care of those two, and ignore my brother. You’re good for Nikolai. Tony knew what he was doing giving him your watch.”
I shook my head. “Tony just likes shiny things.”
“Tony likes pissing Remington off, but he also has a great sense for people he trusts. Nikolai is one of them.”
I wanted to ignore Remington’s orders. I wanted to shout to anyone who would listen that I’d claimed Niko and no one else could ever touch him, but what real choice did I have?
How could I keep Niko with me when he’d constantly be in danger, when he wouldn’t be able to choose his own future and would constantly be reminded of his connection to Dimitri.