God give me strength.
“I said get your sweet little ass out of this car. Now, Stella!”
“And I said no, Kirill. Go away!”
Not happening.
I lean in and take her arm with a grip that isn’t harsh but still unmistakably firm, then pull her out of the seat. She begins to rant and rave in protest, as expected, but I don’t miss how she doesn’t actually fight my grip off her.
As I haul Stella towards my club, I see that Kostya has a gun jammed into Marcello’s ribs, keeping him from interfering.
Good.
Marcello bares his teeth at my brother as I drag Stella through the snow, still cursing up a storm.
“Take them inside,” I order Kostya once I’ve reached them, my brother immediately steering Kira and Stella inside my club.
“Uncle, what are you doing?” Kira calls back, confused and worried, but I don’t answer, my attention now fully on Marcello and the fury radiating off him.
“You have no idea what you’ve just done. Wars have started for less.”
I step closer, meeting his threat with one of my own.
“Agreed.” I then lower my voice to a whisper that could cut steel. “You brought a Fed tomyclub, Romano? The fuck are you playing at?”
His whole body tenses. “What?”
I study him closely.
He’s confused, like any man would be if he had no clue what I was talking about.
“Fuck.” I drag a hand through my wet hair. “You don’t know.”
“Know what, Kirill?” he demands, completely unaware that I’m about to ruin his night.
I lean in again, my voice dropping to ice. “The woman in your passenger seat is an undercover FBI agent.”
He freezes instantly.
Good.
“What?”
“She’s a Fed. Kostya ran into her in San Francisco. She and her team took down good men. Seized enough of our product to cripple us out west. Months of work gone. All because of her.”
“She’s… FBI?” His shock is real, but I don’t have time to pity the fool.
“Yeah. And if you care about this fragile truce our families have right now, you’ll keep her the hell away from anythingBratva-related.” I step in even closer, letting my threat settle into his bones. “And if I ever see her near Stella or any of my family again, I’ll kill her myself and leave her corpse at your doorstep. Fed or not. Understood?”
I give him one last disdainful look, straight past him and toward his car. Toward the Fed still sitting inside it, clueless about how close she came to dying just now.
The only reason why I didn’t put a bullet in her was because Kira was watching.
After I let that threat fester in the air, I turn my back on him and walk into my club, my fury trailing behind me like smoke.
“You have lost your goddamn mind!” Stella shouts the moment she sees me again.
Kostya has a nervous Kira and an enraged Stella sitting in my office, but it’s the fury in my younger brother’s eyes, brewing like a thunderstorm ready to break, that demands my attention first.
