“Maria, he doesn’t deserve to be a part of our family. The moment he thought he could hook his claws into you, I knew he’d pushed his luck too far. I have no idea why Uncle Ivan ever brought him into our home. He doesn’t belong with us. He’s beneath us, Maria. We are too good to be connected to someone like that. Someone from an orphanage,” he says angrily.
The passion in his voice is terrifying. He truly believes what he’s saying.
“Misha…” I murmur his name in disbelief. “How can you say things like that?”
“We have to go, Maria. Stop messing around and come with me,” he snaps, his eyes cold and dark as he glares at me.
“No, I’m not going anywhere,” I snap back at him. “I can’t believe you did that to your best friend and then made me believe he’d screwedyouover somehow.”
“Maria!” he snarls angrily. “We’re leaving.”
Around us, people are noticing our argument, and a lot of other shoppers are staring.
Misha groans and pulls his mouth tight. “Fuck’s sake,” he growls.
I take the chance and run.
I want to get back to the guard. I want to make sure he’s okay, and I want to go back to the mansion.
My heart is broken to find out my brother really did those things, and now I have even more to think about.
Misha doesn’t follow me. There are too many people watching, and he’s in a difficult position now. Someone shouts, “Call security!” and “Hey, leave her alone or we’re calling the police!”
I bolt into the alleyway where my guard was dragged, but he’s not there anymore.
I turn to run out, but I hear the familiar click of a gun safety, and the barrel is pushed into my back.
“Don’t move, little one,” a husky voice growls. “Or I’ll blow your spine right out of your body.” He laughs darkly.
Chapter 24 - Joseph
“Yes, sir. We arrived this morning to a mess. There are three men severely injured. A large portion of stock has been destroyed,” he tells me, and I grip the phone tighter, clenching my jaw and squeezing my eyes shut as I press my fingers against them.
“Fuck,” I groan. “Why didn’t the alarm go off last night?” I ask. I have a state-of-the-art security system at that warehouse; something should have triggered.
“I don’t know, sir. We’re looking into everything now. I’ll have a report for you by lunchtime. First, I want to get these men some help and put out a few fires,” he sighs.
I don’t blame him for sounding exhausted. Another attack, so soon after the last one, while I was away.
This is getting out of hand now.
“You deal with that, I’m going to start upping our investigation to catch the bastard who is behind all of this,” I say.
“Very good, sir. I’ll call you later when I’ve had a chance to properly look around,” he says.
The call ends, and I stand frozen for a moment with my eyes staring blankly out of the upstairs office window, across the calm lake. It’s a windless day. The heat is ten times worse when there isn’t a breeze to carry some of it away.
Sighing, I clench my jaw and rub my temples. There is a headache brewing right behind my eyes. There’s so much going on lately, and I’m getting sick of dealing with Misha and his attacks.
I’m going to have to triple my efforts to catch him in the act. It’s the only way to prove undeniably that it’s him and take him down without backlash from the other families.
I dial my head of security at the mansion. He’ll be somewhere on the property, but it’s faster to call him on the phone.
“Blake, I need you to assemble a team right away. This task supersedes anything else you have going on. Do you understand?” I say.
“Yes, sir. What are we doing?” he asks.
“Misha Baburin is still in Chicago and has attacked another of my warehouses. I want twenty-four-seven eyes on him. You’ll have two guys following him at all times, and they can work in a rotating team of six men. There isn’t to be a second when we don’t know where he is, what he’s doing, and who he’s with. I want to know what he eats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I want a report if he so much as sneezes. Do I make myself clear?”
