22. Chapter 22
Callahan
Rory was curled up in the leather armchair, right next to the fire. It wasn’t all that cold out yet, but she seemed to enjoy the heat so I rolled my sleeves up and unbuttoned the top two buttons of my shirt, ignoring the uncomfortable temperature of the room. She read until lunch and then curled back up in the chair, quickly falling asleep while I ran through business contracts, fight schedules, security details and other shite that made me want to pull my hair out.
At five, I lifted her from the chair, cradling her in my arms. She moaned quietly and rubbed her temple against my cheek. I turned into her caress and pressed my lips to her forehead as I climbed the stairs to the bedroom.
“What are you doing?” she asked, voice thick with sleep.
“We need to get ready. Mikhail has requested my presence at a dinner this evening. Seems he’s having some trouble with something and wants either my assistance taking care of the problem, or my input on how to do so.”
Her eyes popped open. “You’re leaving? Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I would have…I don’t know, prepared for an evening alone…or something?”
Her panicked question made me smirk. “I’m not leaving. We’re leaving.”
She tensed and sat up as much as my hold on her would allow. Her fingers dug into the back of my neck. “I can’t come with you! That’s a-”
“Men’s meeting? I thought we went over this.”
“Well…we did, but that was before we got married.”
I shouldered the door to the bedroom open. “Did you expect my stance on your position in my life and this organization to change after marriage?”
“Um…no?” I arched my eyebrow as I sat her on the vanity in the bathroom. “Maybe. I mean, I didn’t expect you to turn into some evil husband, but I wasn’t sure you were actually serious about all that and not just…I don’t know, trying to make me comfortable so you wouldn’t have to marry Fern?” She twisted her fingers in her lap nervously, refusing to meet my eyes.
I lifted her chin with my finger. She kept her eyes downcast until the last second. “I didn’t want to marry her. But I wouldn’t have manipulated you into it, either, mo solas. I may not know everything that happened in that house, but I know enough now to know how much it cost you to agree to marry me.” I smirked. “Have I thanked you for that, by the way?”
Her nose scrunched. My dick twitched. She watched my finger as I lifted it to run over the bridge of her nose. “Thanked me for saving you from Fern?” she questioned as I stroked the adorable wrinkles.
“No. For marrying me,” I replied distractedly. “Did you know you scrunch your nose just like this when you come?”
Her eyes widened. She cleared her throat and shifted on the counter. “Um…what time is dinner?”
I glanced at my watch. “A little less than two hours. Why?”
She jumped off the counter and started the shower. “Good.” I smirked as I quickly relieved us both of our clothing.
Rory climbed out of the car before me, Connor and Carson flanking her immediately. The wine colored satin of her dress stretched across her arse as she moved and, even though I’d just had her twice in the shower, my mouth watered. I was dying to taste her and she was refusing to let me.
Three more days,I thought to myself.
I exited the car behind her and immediately placed my hand on her lower back, curling my shoulders around her body and ushering her into the building. She seemed confused by the protective gestures the guys and I were displaying and looked at me with a worried expression.
“You are safe, mo solas. But this meeting is about a problem the Russians are having. If they’re having problems, it’s not unlikely that there’s someone we should also be worried about.” I kept my voice low as we followed the hostess to a table at the back of the dining room, set away from the others. There were already several men seated around the table, and no women. I heard Rory inhale loudly before she forced her shoulders back and pasted a beaming smile on her face.
“If I ask for pickles, it means I’m uncomfortable. If I ask for a breadstick, I’d like to leave.” She looked nervously at me and when I nodded, she sighed in relief. “Don’t take your hand off me.” She spoke through stiff lips.
Warmness settled in my chest, knowing she felt safe when my hands were on her, because she believed what I’d told her. Nothing bad would happen to her as long as I had my hands on her. I’d meant the words to be a salve to her nervousness at the time, but found that I liked that she believed them outside the bedroom as well.
When we reached the table, the men stood. Several of them appeared irritated with the additional guest, but Mikhail greeted her with a smile. “Aurora, you look ravishing. It is a good thing that we have all left our own wives at home this evening, or they would be green with envy.” He leaned in and kissed her cheeks.
She blushed and smiled shyly at him, but I caught the words for what they were intended to be. He was wondering why I had chosen to bring her with me. “I hope you will forgive the plus one,” I said as I pulled her chair out for her. “My wife is going to be fully involved in all my business ventures and I value her input. I thought she might have something useful to contribute.”
Mikhail smiled warmly. “Oh yes, I imagined she’d be joining us this evening.”
Three waiters appeared with different kinds of wine, white towels hung over their forearms. I handed one of them my glass and requested a Teeling whiskey. Rory selected a Tawny Port from another waiter and he poured it with a flourish that I found unnecessary. She smiled up at the waiter and his eyes seemed to glaze, his face going from business-like to hungry in a blink as his gaze trailed from her face to her chest.
I slid a possessive hand up her arm and over her shoulder, moving her hair to run my fingertips over the faint bite mark on her skin. His eyes followed my fingers and he immediately straightened and swallowed nervously as Mikhail cleared his throat.
“Please tell the chef we’ll be having the Chef’s Tasting with the Pistachio Crusted Salmon,” he said, leaving no doubt he was displeased with the waiter’s blatant disrespect.
Rory pressed her foot against mine and I cleared my throat. “My wife would prefer the Pelmeni Pasta. She doesn’t care much for fish.” She kept her eyes down, maintaining the image of a good, obedient wife, but when I pressed my foot back against hers, she lifted her head and smiled at me.
“I’m afraid I’m a bit of a picky eater.” She sent her charming smile in Mikhail’s direction, ignoring the other men that eyed her with questions and disapproval.
Mikhail raised an eyebrow at the waiter, who seemed to be awaiting his final word. The man just stared at Mikhail, until Mikhail narrowed his eyes. “You heard her. The pasta, and no fish.”
The waiter nodded so fast, I’m surprised his eyeballs didn’t rattle out of his skinny face before he scurried off, the others following with their wine bottles.
With ordering out of the way, I introduced Rory. “Men, this is my wife, Aurora Byrne.” I smiled down at her as she nodded in greeting at the table. “Mo solas, this is Vadim, Viktor, Igor and Fyodor, Mikhail’s sovietniks. In the Bratva, they would be the equivalent of Connor, Carson, Finn and Lorcan. The most trusted advisors.”
She nodded her understanding and smiled at them all. “Pleasure to meet you all.” They returned her nod, but stayed silent. I’d resolved to stay mostly quiet because I wanted Rory to gain the respect of these men, and she couldn’t do that if I was doing all the speaking. So, I met Mikhail’s eyes across the table with a twitch of my eyebrow. This was his meeting, and as one of my closest friends, I would allow him the chance to defend my wife first before I addressed his men for him.
“You will treat her with as much respect as you would show Callahan or you will find yourselves wishing you had,” he barked in Russian. They all shifted uncomfortably before one spoke up.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs. Byrne. I look forward to learning more about you.”
Her cheek twitched with annoyance as she ground her teeth. “You can show respect without the lies, if you please, Vadim. Although, I do appreciate the effort. I hope the words weren’t too bitter, sir,” she sneered with narrowed eyes.
He blinked at her while Igor next to him laughed heartily.
Mikhail’s eyes danced with delight. “Oh, Cal, I am so glad you brought Aurora this evening. She does add so much entertainment to our boring meetings.” Rory colored under the praise, clearly catching the reference to her calling us boring earlier, before breakfast. Mikhail smiled at her fondly before he folded his hands and propped his elbows on the table, but his expression quickly changed when Fyodor spoke up.
“Hopefully, she’ll have more to contribute this evening than a pretty face and entertainment.”
Anger flooded my body so fast that I felt adrenaline spike, the tips of my fingers tingling as I moved to stand and face the man down. Aurora beat me to the punch, further proving that she was more than capable of handling herself.
“Sorry, it was Fyodor, right?” He nodded. “Tell me, sir,” she said contemplatively as she inspected the wine glass in her hand. “Would Mikhail start a war for you?” She boldly met his angry gaze. “If I allowed my husband to shoot you, right here at this table, would Mikhail turn against his life-long friend to avenge your death?” She cocked her head to the side.
All of the men, Mikhail included, raised an eyebrow at her choice of words. There wasn’t another mob wife in the country that would dare say she wouldn’t allow her husband to do something. I smiled and placed my hand on the back of her neck as Fyodor paled, his eyes glancing between me and Mikhail before landing back on her. The other men around the table smirked at him, enjoying watching a man be put in his place by a woman. Vadim’s eyes gleamed with mirth while Fyodor’s colored with anger and chagrin.
Rory sighed dramatically and leaned forward to place her wine glass on the table. “Because I assure you, sir, if I told my husband it would please me to watch you bleed, he would make it happen until either I had my fill or you bled out. If I told him it would make me happy to watch you tap dance, he would make it happen. Would your Pakhan do anything so dramatic for you?”
I wasn’t sure if she knew that her threats were the truth or not, but she was right. If she told me it would make her happy to watch the world burn, I would light the fecker on fire.
With her point made, she leaned back in her chair, not taking her eyes off Fyodor until he lowered his own, his chin dipping in chastisement.
Mikhail smirked and looked rather proud of my wife. “Right, well, down to business. I’ll keep the meeting in English for Rory’s benefit.”
“Thank you, Mikhail,” she replied sweetly as she raised her glass for another sip of wine. The color of the liquid was the exact shade of red as her dress.
He met my eyes directly and his voice hardened. “Are you sure, my friend? I cannot afford for this to get-”
“I’m sure. Believe me, Elio is the last person my wife would share information with.” Rory choked on a sip of wine and I immediately turned to her, one hand on her face and the other rubbing between her shoulder blades until I was sure she was alright. Once she recovered and lifted her gaze to Mikhail’s, I relaxed back into my chair, but kept my arm over the back of hers, teasing her bare skin with my fingertips and watching the goosebumps spread.
“With all due respect, Mikhail, I would rather watch Elio choke on his own balls than ever speak to him again.” This time, Fyodor and Igor both choked on their drinks and laughed through the choking coughs. “If anything, I’ll be spilling his secrets, not spilling secrets to him.”
Mikhail nodded, but his face was serious. “You must understand, I have families and lives to protect.”
“Of course,” she replied diplomatically.
“Is Elio a problem, my friend?” I asked.
Mikhail’s jaw clenched. “I believe he is the one that has been setting fires around my district. First it was an apartment complex where many of my Brigadiers live. Then, many of the small businesses we use as fronts. Then, even more of the businesses that pay dues. Nina, Vadim’s Babushka,” he said nodding at the man, “reported seeing several men in black suits with red pocket squares the day her bakery caught fire. One of the men had a tattoo of a strange plant on the side of his neck.”
I frowned and opened my mouth but Rory spoke first. “That sounds like Tommaso’s team.” All eyes fell to her.
“What do you know about him?” Mikhail asks.
“Not much. He’s very secretive. All I know for sure is that he’s something of a mercenary-for-hire. Elio hired him for something, I don’t know what, several years ago. I once overheard a conversation between them in Elio’s office. Tomasso was saying he wanted out and was promising to return the payment to Elio but that was ‘was done,’” she used air quotes. “The way Elio replied made me think he has something on Tomasso, something he’s holding over his head. He’s from somewhere in the UK, based on his accent. From what I understand, he’s usually very picky about the jobs he takes and never fails. I don’t know much more than that.” She swallowed and looked nervously at me. “Tommaso is actually a really nice guy. He once stood in front of me to stop Elio from hitting me. He’s an extremely talented hitman, though. He moves like a shadow, I swear to God, and he knows any plant that could hurt, maim or kill. He makes all his men wear matching suits with red pocket squares and he has a tattoo of the deadly nightshade flower on his neck.” She leaned back in her chair, tilting her head so that my fingers now ran through her hair rather than over her shoulder blade. “One benefit of being locked away and largely ignored is that no one pays much attention to you, when they don’t know who you are.” She smiled at me as she spun her wine glass on the table thoughtfully. “I once heard Tommaso refer to Elio as an ‘uneducated, under-qualified usurper,’ but I never really understood why.”
I stroked my chin thoughtfully as Mikhail seemed to think over her words. “So, then it is the Italians fucking with my businesses.”
Rory shrugged. “It’s definitely Elio’s style. He’s too cowardly to attack head-on. He would attack businesses first, to weaken you. He’d never launch a war against an enemy he hadn’t first weakened. For what it’s worth though, I know Tomasso hates Elio. He wouldn’t be very hard to turn against him.”
The men around the table all seemed impressed, and just a little doubtful. I felt pride burn through me at her display. I picked up one lock of her hair and wrapped the strands around my fingers, twirling it and giving it a light tug until she looked over at me. My mouth quirked into a small, proud smile and I gave her a small nod of approval.
The rest of dinner went smoothly. Rory seemed to have earned the respect of the men around the table and by the end, she had not only given sound advice on controlling Tommaso’s damage but also helpful insight into Elio’s inner circle and how he runs his organization. At first, she’d still been hesitant to speak up, but by the end she had no qualms interrupting one of us if she had something useful to share.