Chapter Seven #2
Dmitri waited for confirmation that Keira was safely in her bedroom before he went to his office.
Tonight didn’t go as expected. A vast understatement.
Kirill and Sasha’s absence didn’t bode well, though he was happy Ivan made an appearance.
Things would fall out with the family back in Mother Russia as they would, but he couldn’t count on any assistance with the Eldridges.
That was to be expected. He hadn’t intended to ask for help in the first place.
A threat against his wife was a threat against him and everything he stood for. He’d been careful with his handling of Alethea before now, but he couldn’t afford to do so any longer.
He also couldn’t afford to wait for Aiden O’Malley to pull his head out of his ass.
“Mikhail.” He didn’t raise his voice, but he didn’t have to.
The man in question stepped into the room and closed the door behind him at a nod from Dmitri. He frowned. “Yes, sir?”
“I need the name of the man who delivered the package here.” Either he’d done it because Mae paid him or because she had blackmailed him.
The why didn’t matter as much as the threat this mystery man posed.
Dmitri prided himself in the loyalty of his men, and Mae had pulled that assurance out from beneath him.
There were only two men he was reasonably sure weren’t guilty—Mikhail and Pavel. Everyone else was suspect.
Since he couldn’t clear out the house and leave them fully vulnerable, Dmitri had to play the odds. He’d assigned Pavel to Keira, but he had another job for Mikhail.
“I’ll get on it—”
“No, I’ll do it myself. What I need from you is to find where Alethea and Mae are hidden.
I want you on this personally, Mikhail. Take whoever you need, but I require answers by the end of the week.
” It gave him another few days before the wedding reception.
The official announcement of his and Keira’s marriage.
He had to put this last remnant from the past to bed before he could focus fully on the future.
“I’ll start tonight.”
He paused. “The girl. Do you have a name yet?”
Mikhail shook his head. “No one reported missing in the last few days matches her description.”
Which could mean anything from her being taken from a different city to being someone who wouldn’t be reported missing in the first place. Dmitri sighed. “That information will have to wait. Alethea and Mae’s location takes first priority.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Go.” He waited for the door to shut before he let himself slump back into the chair.
There was so much at stake, and the only thing he could focus on was that fucking dress.
Temptation personified. Keira knew what she was doing when she chose it, the same way she knew what she was doing earlier today when she’d teased him.
He should remove that inkling of power before she got a taste for it, but Dmitri found himself curious of what her next step would be.
He’d pissed her off tonight. Keira wasn’t fond of the thought of being owned, which was a pity because she didn’t have a choice in the matter.
The world worked in a certain way, and that way involved his ring on her finger and her under his protection.
Ownership was just a less delicate way of labeling marriage.
If he’d been thinking clearly, he wouldn’t have said it—at least not until he and she were on solid ground.
But then, he made a lot of missteps when it came to that woman.
He ran a hand over his face. Here, alone in his office, it was too easy to picture her sliding out of that dress.
Unpinning her dark hair to let it fall around her shoulders.
Slipping off the panties that were the final thing shielding her from his gaze.
His mind conjured a few extra curves that would fill out once she put a bit of time and distance between her and her poisons of choice.
Keira was beautiful now, even without being fully recovered from her shitty lifestyle choices. In full health and trusting him… magnificent didn’t begin to cover it.
Getting ahead of yourself. She can’t stand you.
She would come around. She had demonstrated herself to be a smart woman, and a smart woman knew when to fight and when to fold. Dmitri wouldn’t let her go—he’d been clear about that. As his wife, she would eventually step forward as his partner in full. He simply had to wait her out.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have the luxury of getting used to each other in a more leisurely manner.
Enemies had a habit of multiplying the moment they sensed weakness or distraction, and the last few years hadn’t been kind to Dmitri.
He’d had his plans foiled again and again by the O’Malleys, and every low-life crew in the vicinity of New York now looked at his territory with greed instead of fear.
He had a significant amount of lost ground to recover.
Between marrying Keira and making an example of the Eldridges, he’d go a long way toward reclaiming the reputation his father had handed down to him. Honoring the family legacy.
His phone rang, which had him double-checking the time. Late, but not so late as to be unusual. He checked the number and had to restrain a surge of triumph. Right on time. “Hello, Aiden.”
“I’ll help you, but seeing as how you can’t even provide the promised phone call from my sister, first I want to see her and hear for myself that she’s where she wants to be.”
“Always business with you. How’s the weather in Boston? It’s been far too cold down here for my liking, but then winter is my least favorite time of year.” He shouldn’t poke at Aiden, but Dmitri was hardly a saint, and the O’Malley made it so damn easy to get under his skin.
But, for once, Aiden didn’t rise to the bait. “You’re due for a visit with Hadley.”
Dmitri went still, no longer amused. Crossing the line, Aiden. “My arrangement regarding Hadley is between my sister and me.”
“Your sister is married to my brother and living under my roof. Her business is my business, which means her daughter falls under my protection.” It wasn’t quite a threat, but Aiden wasn’t crude enough to lay it all out there the way some would.
He gritted his teeth. “What are you proposing?” Giving up the visits to his niece was not an option.
Olivia might not particularly like him, but she was blood, and her daughter was as well.
Cillian O’Malley had all the makings of a good father and husband, but Hadley was also Dmitri’s late second in command’s daughter in addition to being Dmitri’s niece.
Responsibility for her care fell to him, even if his half sister wouldn’t thank him for pointing it out.
Allowing Hadley to grow up surrounded by the Irish with no connection to her family—to him—was out of the question.
“Tomorrow. Bring Keira when you come for your visit. If I’m satisfied with her answers, she’ll return to New York with you.” His tone said how unlikely he found that possibility.
“If you try to take her from me, you’ll be facing war.”
“Romanov, if you’ve hurt my sister, you won’t have a chance to start a war, because I’ll kill you myself.”