His men had barely closed the door when it opened again.Aiden O’Malley strode into Dmitri’s office as if he owned it, but for once he was blessedly alone.He stopped too close, his green eyes furious.“Where is she?”
“Not locked in the tower, since I don’t actually have a tower in this place.”
His jaw tightened.“That shit is not funny, Romanov.”
“On the contrary, if I didn’t find your insistence on the idea of Keira as a damsel in distress amusing, it would be infuriating.”For once, he found no joy in Aiden’s aggravation.They didn’t have time for that song and dance—not tonight.He needed Aiden O’Malley at the top of his game, and he wouldn’t be if he was so distracted by his little sister.“She chose, Aiden.Respect it, or lose her.”
“You mean you’ll take her.”
Family blurred the lines beyond recognition.Dmitri understood that, even as he wanted to shake some sense into the man.“No,” he said gently.“What I mean is that Keira herself will draw the line in the sand.She’s not the same baby sister you seem to be clinging to—she hasn’t been for some time.”
Aiden stared at him for several long moments andfinally growled.“This conversation might be put on hold until we can take care of the Eldridges, but it’s not over.”
Dmitri couldn’t make the man see reason, but for Keira’s sake, he was willing to try.A little.He and Keira had found the beginnings of a balance, but they were by no means out of the woods.She might love Dmitri, but she didn’t trust him completely.That was something that could be addressed with time—actions spoke louder than words and the like.Having her family continue to insist that she didn’t know what she wanted would wear on her, and it might possibly send her back to the bottle.
He couldn’t risk it.
Dmitri lowered his voice so the O’Malley had to lean in to hear him.“Make no mistake, Aiden, I don’t want a war with you.That was never the goal.”
“Easy to say that now.”
“I am not finished.”He strove to keep control and not throttle this fool.“I will not take Romanov to war against O’Malley and the others in Boston, but if you harm Keira with this insistence that her choices are invalid, I will carve out your fucking heart and force you to eat it.”
Aiden blinked, then blinked again.Understanding dawned across his face, and the change might have been amusing under other circumstances.“You love her.”
Dmitri didn’t dignify that by addressing it.“I will do what it takes to ensure she’s safe and happy—and that includes removing you permanently from her life if it becomes necessary.You had her on the road to drinking herself to death and living in misery, and you never once pulled your head out of your ass to realize how close you were to losing her.I will not make the same mistake.”
Aiden rocked back on his heels.“I’ll take that into consideration.”
He let the subject of Keira go.If her brother was willing to listen to reason long enough to put it on the back burner, Dmitri could do no less.As long as Aiden didn’t fuck things up for him tonight, the rest would fall where it may.“Finding Alethea would have been more effective if we had worked together.”
“You’re right.”Aiden scrubbed a hand over his face.“We should have been able to find her before now.”
“She’s being careful and not leaving a trail.”Dmitri hesitated.Although he always played his cards close to his chest, there was one factor of the upcoming scenario that Aiden needed to know about.“John Finch contacted me.”
“You’re joking.”
“Hardly.”Dmitri leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest.“He’s been trying to get enough evidence to bring me down for years.I’m aware of it.He knows I’m aware of it.It’s a game we play, because they’ll never find anything incriminating, but he’s too proud to admit that.”
“What’s that have to do with anything?”
He held on to his patience through sheer force of will.If Alethea attacked, having Aiden and the rest of the O’Malleys on his side would be invaluable.“Someone has been interfering with the cameras they have set up.It’s happened several times over the last couple days, all for approximately five to ten minutes.It’s not my doing, which means someone else wants access to this house without the eye of the government on them.”
“Why the fuck would he tell you that…” He stilled.“Does he honestly want us to believe this is for Charlie?He already made his priorities painfully clear when it came to her versus his job.”
Dmitri crossed his arms over his chest.“Have you seen him since the events at the Eldridge warehouse?”
“No.He’s called Charlie a couple times, but she’s not ready to see or talk to him.”
That lined up with what Charlie had told Keira—and the desperation he’d seen lurking in John Finch’s eyes.“You know that saying that you don’t know what you have until you lose it?Finch is old.His career has an expiration date on it, though it’s not for years yet.He might have been disappointed with his so-called disgraced daughter, but she was still his daughter.And now it comes out that she was never a dirty cop and she removes herself from his life in one fell swoop?”He shrugged one shoulder.“He wasn’t able to protect her—not from the dirty cops who got her kicked off the force and not from Mae Eldridge.He couldn’t even ensure that Mae stayed locked up until her trial.He’s a smart man.He knows Mae will want to finish what she started, and he knows that the Eldridges would see this reception as too tempting to ignore.All their enemies in one place?Even if Alethea could resist, Mae won’t be able to.”
Aiden’s expression might as well have been stone, not a single one of his thoughts flickering through his eyes.“This is all just theory.”
“It’s theory grounded in fact.”
Aiden finally dropped into the chair.“If I were Alethea Eldridge, I’d attack tonight.Maybe not something direct, but I’d do it to prove you aren’t strong enough to protect your guests, or your people.”
“That would be my play as well.”He sank into the chair next to Aiden.No power plays.No trying to avoid the factthat they were equals.From the way the man’s green eyes widened ever so slightly, Aiden recognized the symbolism.Dmitri leaned forward.“I’m reasonably confident I can repel whatever she throws at me, but we need to stop fucking around.I don’t want Boston.”
