“Give me the financial spark notes,” I say, and he does, listing sums well in the eight figures over the next six months. The prospect makes me want to gag, but I just keep my hand on Maxim’s waist, squeezing ever tighter as the man goes on. “Quitethe ordeal. And complicated. Who do we have to thank for this operation?” I ask.
The man looks nervous at the line of questioning, bites his lower lip then winces remembering too late that it’s busted. There’s blood on his yellow teeth.
“Tell her or I shoot you,” Maxim demands.
“Colton Tenneson,” he confesses. Maxim’s shoulders move with a quick inhale. He’s surprised to hear this, and so am I. Last I saw or heard about Tenneson was our brief stay in Mexico. The man is clean as far as I know. Well, as clean as a multi-millionaire can be. He’s got money to throw around, but he’s not tied to a crime family. At least not the Morellis or the Donovanns, and I didn’t think he was under the Orlov’s protection.
“Quite the extracurricular,” I murmur. “What team do you propose for this?”
He names three men I’ve never heard of, but when I look back at Sasha, he inclines his head, familiar with them. “They’re ready to start, and I promise we weren’t trying to cut you out,Pakhan.”
Oh sonowhe wants to be respectful.
“It’s what your father would’ve done,” Kozlov says, sounding so solemn and righteous about it. “We honor him by trying to grow the wealth of theBratva.”
“Well, in that case,” I say with false cheer, and retrieve the pistol from the holster on Maxim’s shoulder, aiming at the man and firing without hesitation.
My ears ring from the sound, swimming in the room which is otherwise quiet. Maxim’s mouth has fallen open as he looks at the now dead man.
I click on the safety and return the gun. When Maxim still hasn’t looked away from the gruesome sight, I raise a palm to lightly touch his cheek and urge his gaze toward me.
“Hey,” I whisper. “Take me to your office?”
Maxim is no stranger to death, I think he was about to kill the man himself when I arrived, but he’d gone preternaturally still when Kozlov spoke of Maxim’s father.
“Come on.”
He nods and leads me away from the dead body, not the way we came, but the opposite direction to another stairwell which we scale three flights until he pushes open a door which turns out to be attached to a bookcase in his dark office.
He immediately stalks over to the fireplace and flips the switch to light it, kneeling briefly by the flames and staring into them. I don’t know what solace he finds in fire, if it’s a comfort he feels from watching the dancing burn or a craving to succumb to the chaos.
Unbidden, an image of him thrusting his hand into the fire flits across my mind and I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment in an attempt to clear it.
It does nothing to make the image go away, so I cross the room to his side and put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him as much as it is to appease my own anxiety that he’ll do something I know he wouldn’t do.
He’s wearing the watch I gave him, and me the necklace he gave me.
“Are you mad?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says.
“At me?” I clarify, and he gives an almost-laugh. There’s no levity to it.
“No.”
Maxim stands, my hand holding his shirt’s fabric as he does, still gripping him as he towers over me this close. “If not you, I would’ve done it. Probably sooner. I wouldn’t have gotten those names.”
“You can’t catch a break,” I say. “Was your life this dramatic before you married me?”
His eyes soften for a moment before whatever haunts him resurfaces with a vengeance, his face paling as he side steps me and crosses the room. I don’t follow.
“We’ll take care of it,” I assure him. “He’ll be an example not to get into business without your approval. I can call Nessa’s girl at the feds and leave a tip about Tenneson, and then we can forget all about it.”
“He was right,” Maxim says, not facing me. “About my father. It’s what he would’ve wanted. It makes me sick.”
“He’s gone,” I say. “What he would’ve wanted doesn’t matter.”
“He won’tdie.” Rage bubbles over on Maxim’s face before he launches a half filled glass against the wall closest to him.
