Chapter 17
Ash
I’m throwing clothes into a bag when my phone rings. I want it to be Belle. I long for her name to appear on the screen, and while I would have preferred it to be yesterday – before she had to endure a night in Barrett’s bed – I’ll settle for today. But it’s not Belle.
“You’ll never guess where I am,” Katarina purrs down the line.
“I know exactly where you are, and you know I know since you were waving at my guys yesterday evening.” I’m in no mood for Katarina, but this conversation was inevitable.
She’s only been at the estate for twenty-four hours, but from her smug tone, I’m guessing she’s been productive. “What do you want?”
“That’s a very good question, Ash.”
I wait it out.
“You’ll be pleased to know I’ve found a solution to my marriage problem.”
“Great,” I reply, trying to sound disinterested as I go to the bathroom to collect toiletries.
I catch sight of my grim expression in the mirror.
I’m not going to like whatever she has to say, but I keep my tone casual.
“I hope that means you’ve worn Barrett down, and he’s going to file for a divorce and honor his agreement with Vasili. ”
“I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you? But I’m not interested in Barrett anymore. I don’t think I can endure a whole weekend with the idiot, let alone a lifetime.”
“Probably a wise choice.”
There’s a gentle knock on the door and Hunter appears.
I show my brother my cell so he knows who I’m dealing with.
He rolls his eyes, or one eye at least. His other is almost swollen shut.
He looks worse than I do, but only because my beard hides much of my bruising.
He drops down onto my bed, adjusting the pillows and stretching out his legs as I put the call on speaker.
“Barrett says your men are camped outside the gates to intimidate him,” Katarina continues. “But that’s not why they’re there, is it? Your men are protecting someone.”
My grimace is reflected on my brother’s face. “And who do you think I’m protecting, Katarina?”
“It was the eye color that gave it away.”
Hunter swings his legs out of the way as I sink onto the bed. Piper has my eyes.
“Belle said Piper inherited her hazel eyes from her father,” she continues.
“Or, to be more correct, she said her daughter inherited them from Ethan Kelly, but it took two minutes to confirm that Ethan had blue eyes. Which made me wonder why on earth Belle would lie, unless she was covering up a bigger lie. So I kept digging.”
“And what exactly did you unearth?” I ask, as if I don’t know.
“I briefly considered if Belle had cheated on her husband with hazel-eyed Barrett, but that child clearly hates him. And he couldn’t care less about her.”
I grind my teeth. None of this is easy to hear.
“Oh, I can tell by that brooding silence that you want me to get to the point, and we do have so much else to discuss.” The Bratva princess takes a deep breath and releases it. “Congratulations, Ash. It’s a girl.”
“Katarina…”
“Don’t bother denying it. I arranged an overnight DNA test, and the results have just come through.
It’ll come as no surprise that we had your sample on file and it was simple enough to steal Piper’s toothbrush and some hair.
I’d love to hear the ins and outs of it all, but like I said, we have far more important things to discuss. ”
“Such as?”
Hunter taps out a message on his phone while I continue to negotiate with a writhing snake. And one who’s currently sharing a house with two people who mean more to me than life itself.
“Oh, Ash, don’t play hard to get. I want you to put a ring on my finger, obviously.”
“If I’m honest, Katarina, I’d rather put my fingers around your neck.”
I can hear the click-clack of Katarina’s heels on marble. Her pace is confident and measured. “Oh, a man who likes kinks. We’re going to have so much fun.”
Hunter’s still looking at his phone, but his features contort into a grimace. My facial muscles are too tense to move.
“And if I don’t marry you?”
“Then I’ll share your happy news with my uncle. You know how Vasili’s been dying to get his hands on a little Griffin, and an SUV outside the gate won’t be enough to protect Piper for long.” She sighs. “I can tell you from experience that he doesn’t treat his princesses like princesses.”
Despite her threat, I register that hint of vulnerability in her voice again.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“I want us to have an open and trusting marriage, so please, ask away.”
Hunter turns his phone to me so I can read the note he’s just written.
Chopper in the air. Jake’s on standby.
My bedroom door opens, and Mace files in, closely followed by Reid.
“What do you really want out of life, Katarina?” I ask her. “Because I don’t think it’s marriage. You’re too smart to settle on being a trophy wife. And I don’t imagine you’re in any hurry to pop out little Barkov babies to serve your uncle in the same way that you and Ilya have.”
Her steps pause. “I don’t want children,” she says, her voice suddenly dull. “I want…” Her laugh is hollow. “You know, no one’s ever asked me that before.”
I try to stop seeing Katarina as a potential threat, and view her as a victim. Albeit an unstable and vicious one. Like a feral kitten. “I’m asking.”
“Could you make me disappear?”
Mace mutters something under his breath. I don’t need to ask how he’d suggest making her vanish without trace, but Katarina doesn’t deserve the same fate her brother served up to his victims.
“It would have to be done in such a way that didn’t trigger another war,” I reply. “Give me some time.”
Hunter shrugs. He’s not against the idea. We could come up with something.
“On one condition,” Katarina says. “Give me a ring, and I’ll settle for a long engagement.”
“I’ll open up a conversation with your uncle, but that’s as far as I’m willing to commit. No ring.” It’s going to be difficult enough to explain this to Belle without Katarina flashing a diamond.
Katarina is walking again, but her steps are hesitant. “How do I know you won’t use this time to make your daughter disappear instead?”
Because Belle and Piper disappearing from my life again is the last thing I want. I’m just foolish enough to hope there’ll come a time when everyone will know who Piper is to me, but only when she’s completely under my protection and I’ve made peace with my enemies.
“Katarina, I don’t make idle promises,” I say. “You have my word that I’ll help you escape on the condition that you don’t put my family in unnecessary danger. And for the record, I don’t need to be blackmailed to help someone.”
“Do you know something, Ash?” she says, her pace quickening. “You’re a good man. I think I might be a little in love with you. You’ve made me the happiest girl alive!”
There are background noises that weren’t there before. Plates and silverware rattles. Wherever she is now, she’s no longer alone.
“Oh, I suppose I can tell you,” she says. “But you have to promise not to breathe a word.”
I’m shaking my head. “Katarina, don’t–”
“Ash is going to ask my uncle for my hand in marriage!”
Fuck.
“Belle, would you be too disappointed if I headed back to Chicago today?” she continues. I don’t hear Belle’s response, and Katarina is talking again. “Ash? I’ll be with you soon, darling. Bye for now.”
“Katarina!” I shout but the line’s already dead. And I might as well be.
Hunter pats me on the back. “I’m starting to admire Barrett for managing to escape her clutches,” he says. “Shall I tell Jake to stand down?”
“For now,” I reply miserably. “We need to come up with a way to give Katarina a new life so that her uncle can’t find her.”
“We can do that,” says Reid.
“Yeah,” Mace adds. “And we can sort out the bachelor party at the same time.”
When I stand, I get right in Mace’s face. “Is there a reason you’re still here, or are you offering to be my punching bag? Because I really feel like punching someone right now.”
“I thought that was Hunter’s job,” Reid says.
“You,” I say, pointing a finger at our youngest brother, “are spending too much time around Mace. We don’t need two smart mouths in this family.”
“I’ll go,” he says backing away. “Do you want me to sort the jet out for you?”
“Thanks, that would be good.” I look to Mace, who isn’t following his brother. “What?”
Mace looks past me at Hunter. “Haven’t you told him yet?”
“Events took over,” he explains.
I clench and unclench my fists. I’m not sure I’m in a fit state to hear whatever they have to say.
I don’t need more stress. Just the thought of what Belle might be thinking right now is sending me into a spin.
I need to talk to her, and that’s what I intend to do as soon as my brothers give me some privacy to make the call.
“Do I need to sit down?” I ask Hunter.
“It could take a while.”
I walk over to the armchair in the corner of my bedroom and drop into it. “Go on.”
“Katarina told you Barrett had been in talks with Belle’s dad about an investment package,” he says. “But it doesn’t look like the Russians dug any deeper.”
I sit forward, bringing my arms to rest on my knees. “And you did?”
“Only because he finally bothered to look at the distillery’s financial records after you beat him up,” Mace says.
“You’re just pissed you haven’t been able to get anywhere with the email trail,” Hunter answers back.
“Hunter, get on with it,” I say, a little too forcibly.
“I’ve been going through all the files you’d gathered at the time. You know, all that financial information you tried to analyze, instead of involving the brother who knows that shit better than you.”
“Like I do with background checks,” Mace adds. “I could have made the link with Barrett at the time if you’d let me in.”
“I didn’t involve either of you because I knew you’d tell Belle to cut her losses and let the business fold. I fucked up. I know that already,” I say through gritted teeth. “And in case you hadn’t guessed, I’m in no mood for a lecture, so get the fuck on with it.”
“The distillery had loans that were crippling them,” Hunter says. “And that debt was taken on by a small investment bank just after Belle’s dad died. It was a decision between two banks, so Belle may not have been aware of it until the interest charges exploded and the shit hit the fan.”
“Belle tried to raise a loan elsewhere to cover her liabilities,” I tell him. “But the bank debt she was trying to pay off just kept skyrocketing. By the time I came along, it was beyond what we could reasonably cover.”
“And that’s why you went to John McConkey,” Mace concludes.
I don’t need to explain what that involved. They were there.
“Unfortunately, all that effort was wasted,” Hunter says. “The bank foreclosed on the loan and the distillery went under.”
“It happened while we were in Vegas. But why are you telling me this? What does it have to do with Barrett?”
“You’ve been working on the assumption that Barrett reappeared in Belle’s life to interfere in your plans.
In truth, it was you who’d been interfering in his,” Hunter says.
He looks down at the floor, looking sheepish all of a sudden.
“I owe Belle an apology. It might have seemed like she was making her own choices, but she was already Barrett’s puppet before you met.
Who do you think owned the bank that foreclosed on her loan? ”