CHAPTER 19
MIKHAIL
The moment the car door closes, Leah throws her arms around me and sobs. I pull her into my lap, sure of my decision to have gotten our bags in the car before meeting her at the cafe. While I hate what she went through, it’s better Emilio and his man didn’t get the jump on me.
“You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
Her fist suddenly slams into my chest, then connects a second time. I catch her wrist on the third swing. “What’s the matter, my love?”
“I thought you were dead. I thought my father— Mikhail, you weren’t there this morning and didn’t answer my calls or texts. Where the hell were you?”
I won’t lie to her. “Handling the men from the bar.”
Her eyes grow wide, and she shakes her head. “Why would you do that on your own? What if—”
“I wasn’t. Called in some backup. They helped me take care of things, and they’re cleaning up the mess as we speak.”
Leah’s arms wrap around me again. “You didn’t have to do that. We were leaving.”
I pull back and frame her face, our eyes locked so she knows just how serious I am. “I need you to understand I’m not a good man. And there will never be a day when someone wrongs you, and I won’t rip out their heart while it’s still beating.”
“Always so romantic,” she says with a small laugh, laying her head on my shoulder and going quiet.
I allow her a moment to reflect on what happened with her father. It had taken every ounce of restraint not to mag dump on that son of a bitch. I heard his last words to her.
He doesn’t deserve her. But that’s fine because Leah is mine now.
The ride to the private airport hangar is quiet. I thought she had fallen asleep for a moment, but I caught her reflection in the window, eyes open, staring hollowly at the passing city.
“We’re taking a slight detour,” I say, fastening my seatbelt as she does the same beside me. “Stopping at Roman’s place in Vegas.” Leah watches with rapt attention, waiting for an explanation. “As you know, delayed shipments mean money lost. They want extra for the three- day delay.”
“Three days?”
I nod. “They claim we caused a scheduling conflict and needed another day to accommodate their connects. So they say.”
“And you’re picking up more inventory from Roman?”
“Exactly. Drop is tomorrow at 3 p.m.”
Leah pats her pockets, and a look of panic crosses her pretty face.
“Fuck.”
“What is it?”
“I must have dropped my phone, or maybe Carlo took it. I have to call Ann and Rodri. They have to know what he did—what he tried to do to me.”
Rodrigo and I have been close friends for fourteen years. I even consider him a brother. But circumstances have shifted. He’s loyal to his father and the business he’ll inherit one day, just as I am to mine. Expecting him to throw away everything he’s worked to achieve just to side with his sister seems improbable, no matter how deep our ties.
“I hate to suggest this,” I say, placing my phone in her hand, ultimately leaving the decision up to her. “But can you trust your brother? I care for him. You know that. But Rod was the only other person who knew our location.”
Her features sour, gaze focusing beyond me as she drinks in my words. “He would never...” she whispers, almost to herself. “Would he?”
Leah’s eyes find mine, the phone dropping to her lap. Caressing her cheek, I swipe a single tear streaking down her skin.
“A man’s heart can be traitorous, given the right incentive, moya lyubov ’. And Rodrigo is ambitious, with a desire for power and wealth that rivals your father’s.”
“If he sold me out, I’ll never forgive him.”
“We’ll figure it out. I promise.”
She kisses me. “Thank you for what you did back there.”
“Don’t thank me, because the things I’m capable of doing for you would scare you. They scare me sometimes.”
She smiles, pressing another sweet kiss to my lips. “I love you. And you don’t scare me, Mikhail. You complete me.”
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Roman answers the door, his new wife beside him, and greets me in the only way a younger brother would. “You look like shit.”
I chuckle and pull him in for a hug, clapping his back a little harder than he probably expects.
“Yeah, well, it’s been a shit morning,” I say, threading my fingers through Leah’s as we cross the threshold.
His wife, Nadia, greets us warmly, and we exchange introductions. While Leah and Roman have met in passing, their interactions were nothing beyond a cordial hello and goodbye. He’s heard what he knows of her through me, but mostly the broken version of us, post-Leah.
The women opt to remain upstairs while Roman and I take a winding staircase to a hidden cellar below the main floor landing.
“I’m glad to see your ball sack finally dropped,” he jokes as he punches a code into the slate metal door. “I was worried you were trying to be like Dad and swearing off women for a decade after that whole Celeste bullshit. Lev and I were this close to staging a goddamn intervention to get you some pussy, brother.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Don’t be a dick. Getting pussy wasn’t exactly the problem. But I’m flattered you care.”
Roman slides a black crate from beneath a shelf and flips open the lid. “This enough?”
I peer inside and take a quick mental inventory, nodding my approval.
“I wired the funds to your account and threw in a little extra as a thank-you and, of course, a wedding gift.”
“You didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it.”
I observe my brother for a beat. Something is different about him. He’s still the same cheeky bastard as always, but he seems more...grounded and happier. The most telling is in the way he looks at his wife like she’s the only one in the room.
A feeling I know all too well.
“It looks good on you—married life, settling down. Never thought I’d see the day.”
Roman chuckles. “You know how it is. What’s that saying? Life throws you curve balls and all that shit. Well, I got clocked in the goddamn face, and I liked it.”
We share another laugh.
“And you,” he says. “It’s good to see you finally found your way back to her.”
“I did.”
Roman reaches for a decanter. “Yeah, I was tired of listening to you cry like a little bitch.”
I slap the back of his head like I used to when we were kids. Our laughter reminds me that I need to visit more often. Now that I have to move out of Texas, that might just be the case.
The mood suddenly shifts, as if we’re reading each other’s thoughts. I already briefed him on everything that happened with Emilio during our flight.
“You should have wasted him, Mikhail. One less reason to look over your shoulder,” he says, pouring a glass of whiskey and sliding it across the table.
I shake my head and sigh. “At the end of the day, that’s still her father. I didn’t want that kind of shit hanging over our heads.”
“You tell Dad yet?”
“Not yet. But we should spread the word and be on alert, just in case. Something tells me I’ll be seeing him sooner than expected.”
Roman tips his glass. “Agreed.”