Chapter 35 Mikhail
MIKHAIL
The first week of Claire living in the building again, this first week of our truly being a committed couple, passed by like a dream.
I no longer had to wonder how to adjust to having a woman in my life.
She was just here, with me. Not as a burden, not as a contractor providing any service.
Just as the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
In order for the rest of my life to begin, I had to tie up the loose ends. Enacting a campaign of revenge on the Giovannis who’d taken her was the first step. Avenging her with a brutal attack like this required strategic effort.
For days, my men spied and prepared and got into position to hit back. Roberto Giovanni wouldn’t see it coming, but if he was stupid enough to take her in the first place, he had to know that he was inviting trouble in his life.
He, and the men he tasked with capturing Claire, would be the first to experience my wrath like this.
Before now, I’d never prioritized having a woman to keep in my life.
This was personal.
After careful deliberation, we were ready to unleash hell and dole out a merciless attack on Roberto Giovanni. I didn’t include Claire in the details of the mission, but I also didn’t hide the fact that I was retaliating for what had happened to her.
“Make those motherfuckers pay,” I ordered the men. “For every second she was lying on that floor and tied up, make them pay tenfold.”
I would never lie to her if she were to ask me any questions about it. But so far, we tentatively had a good system of her not inquiring even though she loosely knew what was going on. All I could do was give her the most general information possible.
Throughout the building, a sense of urgency built as the men prepared to move out and strike them hard. When the day came, I was glad that Claire had Anya to spend time with. I was too on task, focused and watching from the control room how the teams would head out.
Because I was busy orchestrating the mission from afar, Andre and Sergei were most involved with directing the men as they ambushed the Giovanni club where the targeted men would be hiding. Roman would serve as the backup from a distance, ready to move in as needed.
Like this, I would be cementing the Orlov power and reign, reminding the world once again what would happen if anyone dared to mess with us. Hitting back this strongly would be the first step in teaching the world what would happen if any enemy of mine wanted to bother the woman I’d chosen as mine.
Targeting my daughter was uncalled for.
Taking Claire was the stupidest thing anyone could try to do.
I wasn’t striking out and killing my enemies for the hell of it.
I was doing it for them.
Tensions ran high until everyone returned to the building. Andre and Sergei came back first with their soldiers after killing every one of their targets. They came with reports of victories. And I was glad that all the players who’d been directly involved with capturing Claire were now dead.
Well, not all of them.
One evaded us.
Roman was still out there, stalking the informants who seemed most likely to lead him to Jack Harroun’s whereabouts.
“Still nothing?” Andre asked as he ate a late dinner after the mission’s end. He’d already cleaned up from the blood he’d spilled.
I shook my head. “No location for him yet.” We wouldn’t rest easily until Claire’s former colleague was out of the picture. Then, and only then, would I devote my time to starting the rest of our lives together.
This time, I would look forward to my wedding. I would be excited to have a wife, a real one who’d be present and accept me for all the good and bad things I had to take credit for.
I waited for Roman and the rest of the men to come back before leaving the control room where I’d been watching the action unfold.
When he arrived, he shook his head. “That stupid, double-crossing moron.” He slumped into a chair and smirked. While he hadn’t been in the line of combat and wasn’t hit with blood, he looked exasperated.
“It turns out that Harroun was working for both the Giovannis and the Popovs.”
“Damn,” Andre said.
“So, what now?” Sergei said. “The Popovs are hiding him?”
Roman shrugged. “That was what I started thinking, but he’s not anywhere that we could get to him now, wherever that is.
I suspect the Popovs aren’t as forgiving as the Giovannis are.
He’s got both of them on his ass now, plus us.
He’s a dead man walking no matter where he tries to go.
That’s what he can expect after dealing drugs for both of them. ”
“That’s probably why Claire found him beaten at the hospital,” Andre said. “He probably screwed over the Popovs and got caught red-handed catering to the Giovannis.”
I glanced at Roman. “That’s confirmed, then? He was assisting them with their drug distribution?”
He nodded. “It sure as hell looks like it.”
Andre stood and cracked his neck to get the kinks out. “I’ll keep at it.” He gestured at his cousins. “You can keep working on the Popov angle and I’ll investigate who his inside could be with the Giovannis.”
They could delegate it however they wanted.
All I cared about was that they’d get it done. “I want him gone.”
“Understood,” Andre said.
“And anyone else who might have been connected to Claire’s capture. I want them gone. No questions asked.”
Roman smiled. “Damn. I never thought I’d see the day.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. He was always most prone to joke and tease, but I really wasn’t in the mood. The successes and victories of the day improved my attitude, but nothing about Claire’s safety was a laughing matter.
“You’re…” He stood, coming up toward me to pat my back. “You’re so obsessed with her.”
“Just wait,” I replied dryly. “You’ll see what it’s like one day.”
He barked a deep laugh, shaking his head. “No. Not me.”
“Yeah, he won’t,” Andre said, smiling more and lightening up. “He’s too much of a man whore.”
“That’s not true,” Roman protested.
“Well, I know I’m not going to be next.” Sergei rolled his eyes. “Don’t be looking at me like I’ll be the next one to fall head over heels for someone like you have for Claire.” His words were almost mocking me, but the ghost of a smile on his lips softened the blow.
“That’s enough.” Andre chuckled. “One thing at a time. It’s not like any of us have to change because he is.”
I shrugged, imagining more women around here. It would even things out.
What really gave me pause was the fact that it wasn’t such a headache anymore.
Sure, it had taken a lot of time and resources to pull off this hit today—a hit coordinated on behalf of my woman being taken.
But it no longer was an instant worry. I didn’t have to wonder what Anya—or Claire—could do in my world of strong men wielding power. They just fit in. They belonged.
I left the room shortly after that, but as I strode down the hall to seek out Claire, I smiled to myself, amused that the hard part was over.
Getting Claire to want to stay was the biggest hurdle to my happiness.
She was here now, and she would stay. Her willingness to bend and fit into how I had to live my life as the top of the predators in this city was only the initial phase of what I’d been waiting my whole life for.
Securing her place at my side would be easier when I eliminated Jack. He was too involved with that capture.
But once I knew he was gone, nothing would stand in my way of marrying her, of concocting a plan for us to be partners, for us to begin a family.
Andre likely wouldn’t care about having any more siblings.
Maybe I was overestimating whether Anya would be excited for a brother or sister.
That wouldn’t matter, though. They’d come around or learn to deal with it.
Fifty seemed like too old to be this excited for the rest of my life, or to feel that my life was only starting now. It didn’t matter how old I was or how much younger Claire was.
We were in this together.