36. Vuk
CHAPTER 36
Vuk
I stayed awake long after Ayana fell asleep.
I held her close, savoring her warmth and breathing in the scent of her. It wasn’t perfume or shampoo; it was something uniquely her , and it was enthralling. If I could go back to the perfumery and bottle it up, I would.
I closed my eyes, basking in the moment. Our problems lurked outside the door, waiting to pounce, but I’d dreamed of this for too fucking long to let them ruin my glimmer of happiness.
It wasn’t just the sex; it was everything. The walk through the city, the conversations, seeing her relaxed and in her element as she rambled adorably about perfume. The cologne she bought me wasn’t the most expensive or most extravagant gift I’d ever received, but it was the most thoughtful.
Vanilla, for warmth and comfort.
I’d picked up on her meaning without her having to say it. The idea of anyone finding me warm and comforting was laughable, but she made me feel like I could be the person she thought I was. With her, I came the closest to feeling normal.
His scars are a sign of character, but your actions are a sign that you lack any common decency.
Pressure expanded in my chest. An image of Ayana’s fierce scowl played behind my eyes. I was used to people’s stares and whispers. I didn’t need her to stand up for me, but the fact that she had made my insides twist.
Somehow, she’d turned my most dreaded day of the year into a memory I would cherish.
I turned my head and took in her slumbering form. Her brow was smoothed, and the tiniest hint of a smile pulled at her mouth. A spill of moonlight softened her features, gilding her cheekbones and making her skin glow. She looked so beautiful and peaceful, I wanted to etch this version of her into my brain forever.
I skimmed my fingertips over the curve of her shoulder. The digital numbers on her alarm clock flipped to one a.m. sharp. I should really leave.
Reluctance tugged at my gut.
I wished I could stay in her room all night, but I didn’t want her parents to catch me sneaking out in the morning. That would lead to too many questions, especially for Ayana. Plus, I needed to grab some shuteye. It’d been a long day.
I allowed myself another minute by her side before I pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and gently extricated myself from her arms. I slipped out of bed and returned to the guest room, where I finally crashed.
I managed to get a solid three hours of sleep until an insistent ringing startled me awake.
I groaned, but I sat up and swiped my phone off the nightstand with minimal dawdling.
The sight of Sean’s name instantly wiped away my grogginess. He wouldn’t call this late unless it was an emergency. Hell, he wouldn’t call, period; we usually communicated by text.
I picked up. He didn’t wait for a greeting before he said, “We got him.”
My heartbeats crashed together. I sat up straight, my mouth filled with the sudden taste of adrenaline.
“We followed the tip from your friend,” Sean said, anticipating my question. Roman had messaged me yesterday morning, telling me to double down on the Philly search. He hadn’t promised anything, but he’d pointed out a few neighborhoods that Shepherd’s faction was particularly fond of. “Bruce and Mav nabbed him in his hotel. No witnesses. They’re bringing him back to the warehouse, but it’s only a matter of time before the Brotherhood realizes he’s been compromised. Once they do, they’ll flip everything he had his hands in. Any intel we squeeze out of him will be useless.”
My mind whirred. He was right. Our captive was only useful if Shepherd didn’t know we had him.
“What’s our window?” I asked. I’d spoken verbally to Sean before, though those occasions were rare.
A primitive, feral part of me didn’t give a shit if the intel was worthless. I simply wanted to make the bastard pay.
Blood for blood. That was my moral code. It’d served me well all those years ago, when my revenge campaign against the Brotherhood left such a mark, they’d steered clear of me for over a decade.
But I wasn’t a lone operator hellbent on vengeance anymore. I had a business. I had employees. Most importantly, I had Ayana. I couldn’t afford any rash decisions that’d jeopardize her safety.
“Forty-eight hours max,” Sean said. “Twenty-four, to be on the safe side. I assume he has a check-in protocol. For most organizations, those are usually every twelve to twenty-four hours. When someone misses more than two check-ins, they go on high alert.”
I cursed. That meant I needed to return to New York ASAP. Ayana was staying in D.C. through Monday, and I couldn’t tell her the real reason I was leaving early. She knew about the Brotherhood, but I’d planned on keeping the dirtier side of my business far, far away from her.
“We’ll leave immediately,” I decided. “Have the current team stay here to keep an eye on Ayana and drive her and Shadow back to the city on Monday. I’ll pick you up in thirty.”
“Understood.”
I hung up, changed, and repacked my duffel. It didn’t take long; I hadn’t brought much with me.
I wrote two notes, one for Ayana and one for her parents. The house was dead silent, and my careful footsteps barely made any noise against the thick hallway carpet.
I stopped outside Ayana’s door. Our blissful, lust-soaked session earlier already seemed like a lifetime ago.
Fuck. I was glad my team caught the Brother, but I wished I could have one full night to myself before reality intruded. The afterglow from my time with Ayana had barely faded before Sean called.
My fingers curled around the edge of her note. After a heartbeat of hesitation, I slid the folded paper under her door instead of waking her up.
If I saw her, I’d be too tempted to stay. I’d talk myself into thinking an extra hour or two with her in my arms wouldn’t make a difference when they could very well be the difference between taking down Shepherd’s faction and not.
I cast one last glance at her door before I went downstairs. I placed the note for her parents on the coffee table. It thanked them for their hospitality and apologized for leaving without saying goodbye in person. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be too upset about me slipping out in the middle of the night.
When I shut their front door behind me and locked it with the spare key they kept under the flowerpot— note to self: remind Ayana to tell her parents to keep that key in a safer, less obvious place —not a single person in the house stirred.
* * *
After I picked up Sean at the hotel, we made it to Brooklyn in record time. The lack of late-night/early-morning traffic shaved almost an hour off our drive.
By the time we arrived at the warehouse, a pale orange tinge was barely creeping into the sky, and I’d pushed all thoughts of the Kidanes aside in favor of work. I’d worry about Ayana later; right now, I needed to focus.
Sean and I bypassed the storage room and headed for the basement, where the two men we’d sent to Philly were waiting for us beside a custom steel door. The storage room worked for the likes of Wentworth, but members of the Brotherhood were another matter.
Mav and Bruce greeted us with deferential nods.
“We knocked him out with a tranquilizer,” Mav said. “He’s just coming around now.”
“Good.” Sean glanced at me.
I’ll handle this myself. This was my fight, not theirs.
No one argued.
I opened the door and walked in. The basement was even more bare bones than the rest of the warehouse. Stone walls, stone floor, minimal furnishings save for a table along the wall, a tarp on the floor, and a chair in the middle.
The man currently tied to the chair had a bag over his head. His chest rose and fell with steady breaths. Alive and whole, just like I wanted.
My steps were silent in the soundproofed room. His breathing pattern didn’t change, though a hint of tension crept into his neck and shoulders. His alias was Dexter—a cheeky play on the TV serial killer of the same name.
I removed the bag from his head.
Brown eyes stared up at me from behind wire-framed spectacles. Salt-and-pepper hair and the leather elbow patches on his tweed jacket formed the image of a mild-mannered professor.
Like I said, if you hate someone enough to kill them, have the balls to do it up close and personal.
“Dex.” My smile lacked any trace of warmth. “Good to see you again.”