Chapter 23
“I’ve met tough men, mean men, and scared men. Only a fool is all three at the same time.”
— ROBERT MONROE
Maximo
Paul’s Escalade roars up the block toward Monroe’s, my pulse feeling as if it’s redlining along with the engine. Every instinct I have is screaming that I’m already too late.
The Bratva lieutenant we pulled from the port is now in the cargo compartment after Paul’s men retied him and threw him over the back seat. I’m not concerned about our hostage right now. My focus is on the burned-out shell of the restaurant just ahead.
We jump the curb hard, the Escalade shuddering as the tires thump up over the concrete. Paul brakes just short of the entrance, half on the sidewalk, half on the street. Heads turn instantly, civilians pausing to stare at the black SUV that has no business parking there.
The front doors of Monroe’s open, and Kirill steps out with three of his men. They have Constance with them, surrounding her, but I can see her pale face standing tall.
Kirill’s smile is one of pure mockery. “Maximo,” he calls out like we’re old friends. “You really let her walk out alone? You’re slipping.”
I climb out of the Escalade, eyes locked on him. The open doors of the SUV are flimsy cover if shooting actually starts, but I still stay near it just in case.
“I only wanted to speak to her,” Kirill goes on to say.
“To make sure she understands this isn’t personal.
Not the business with her father, and not this current unpleasantness.
I want Constance to talk some sense into you and get you to stand down, Maximo.
Come, relax. Have a drink with my uncle Alexei, and let’s negotiate you joining us in our new organization. You would still be a key player.”
The rage in my chest scalds its way up my throat.
I’ve never wanted to kill a man so badly in all my life.
“I’d rather see your blood and mine stain these goddamn streets than let you walk away with her.
If you take one step with her, I’ll order my men to fire, and we’ll settle this right here, right now. ”
For a moment, neither of us move. Kirill stares straight into my eyes, and what he sees there must give him pause.
The street noise fades under the weight of the standoff, the onlookers frozen in place in my peripheral vision.
None of that matters. If Kirill so much as blinks towards his gun, I’m going to draw mine and put him down.
I’m already judging distances, angles, wind, everything. One wrong move and the whole block becomes a fucking war zone.
Kirill’s smile thins. “Very well.” He releases Constance’s arm and steps back.
Relief hits me so hard it almost pisses me off.
“No need to make a scene. I don’t want your woman, Maximo.
I want your city.” He laughs as he steps back through the still open door of Monroe’s, the men with him quickly following him.
I don’t give him a chance to change his mind or regroup. I pull Constance toward the Escalade, shielding her with my body as we back away. Kirill and his men disappear back through the restaurant’s burned-out interior, no doubt to vanish into the back alley beyond.
“Boss?” Paul asks, waiting for my instructions.
“Let the cowards go for now…” I tell him. “Take us back to the estate.”
I guide Constance to the SUV with my palm on the small of her back. She’s visibly trembling, and my heart needs a minute to find its rhythm again. Besides, broad daylight in the city streets is not the ideal place for a shootout.
“Max…” she starts but I just shake my head, and she climbs into the backseat.
On the ride back to the estate, I keep my eyes on the road ahead, not on Constance. If I look at her right now, I’ll break.
I don’t even trust myself to speak, not until we’re halfway back to the estate. I’m too wound up, too likely to explode. I don’t want the violence of my mood to damage our relationship.
“You can’t keep doing this,” I finally say. “I’m not being overprotective or unreasonable, Constance. If you walk into one more trap like that, I might not be there to pull you out. And that would fucking destroy me.”
She softens a little at that, and I can feel some of the tension ease between us. Still, I can tell she isn’t done fighting me on this. “How did you know he would stand down if you threatened him?” she asks.
“I didn’t. I was ready to blow his fucking brains out in the street. I would have executed every one of them before I would let him take you away from me.”
“You can’t be that reckless, Max.”
“I can when it comes to you,” I say as I throw an arm over her shoulders and pull her to me, holding her close and placing a kiss on the top of her head. “I’d burn this whole city down before I let him put a hand on you.”
The rest of the ride out of the city passes in silence, broken only by the muttering and moaning of our victim in the rear. Constance eventually pulls away from me to look into the back seat. “Who the hell is that?” she asks, nodding toward the Bratva lieutenant.
The Russian lifts his swollen face just enough to smirk at her. Even half-broken, he radiates the kind of arrogance only the Bratva breeds.
“Nobody, just some Bratva scum that Kirill was using to bait me away from the estate.” I glance back to see his cold, swollen eyes glaring at me.
“He may still know something useful, especially about our rat. We worked him over a bit today and didn’t get much out of him.
I think with a little more encouragement, though, by tomorrow he’ll be ready to sing for us. ”
At least I hope he will.
Whatever Kirill started at Monroe’s isn’t finished, not by a long shot.