“Mila.” There was no way I was letting this dog near her.
She must have heard the tone in my voice because she put her phone down and really looked at me. “Why are you saying no?”
“Because he sounds dangerous.” I tried to think of all the reasons Bandit sounded like a terrible idea, and there werealmost too many to list. “What about the guard dogs? You said he doesn’t get along with other dogs.”
Her eyes looked misty. “Everyone misunderstands him. He’s not some stone cold killer. He was forced into that life, and now he’s allowed a chance at redemption. Why can’t you see that?”
Because not all of us are allowed redemption.
“I’m not going to risk you getting hurt.”
She thought about her response. “Okay.”
I frowned. There was no way she’d agree that easily. “Okay?”
“If Bandit is a hard no, then we need to move forward and talk about our plans to consummate this marriage so you can spend more time with me.” She paused dramatically. “But you want to continue working around the clock and leaving me on my own, then you can let me get a dog to love. And not just any dog. I want Bandit.”
And that, right there, was the real reason I was holding myself back from her. Mila was looking for someone to love. And she was telling me that either she would look for connection between the two of us or I needed to get her a surrogate.
I forced myself to stay seated and remain expressionless. Every day, I was so fucking tempted to cross every single line with her, and every day, the same thing stopped me.
It stopped me again today.
I was living a lie. A lie that would eventually destroy her if I made her truly mine.
“What do we need to do to bring Bandit home?”
She squealed and did a little dance. “I was praying you’d say that.”
The irony that her first choice was Bandit and not me wasn’t lost on me. “What do you need?”
“Can you come with me to the shelter tomorrow and meet the adoption people? We can come pick you up after I get out of class.”
“Yes.”
She twirled in a celebratory circle. “I already made an appointment because I knew you’d say yes.”
I needed to give Anton and Oleg hazard pay for managing Mila’s irresistible charm. I didn’t know how they survived.
The next afternoon,I was finishing up some work at my desk, awaiting my wife’s arrival. She was picking me up to go adopt Bandit.
Anton: We’re two minutes out
I stood up from my desk just as Maksim appeared at the doorway of my office.
“How did the raid go last night?”
He looked pleased. “Went off without a hitch. We’ve returned all the stolen goods to the Italians and I’m pretty sure they will be your allies for life.”
Yup, right until I got them all arrested. “Anything else?”
“We just got a report of a suspicious vehicle parked on the west side of our property. I’m driving out there to take a look. Did you want to come?”
“Anyone in the vehicle?”
“No. The plates are stolen, the car probably is too. It might just be abandoned, but I still want to check it out.”
“Agreed.” I shrugged on my coat. “Can you handle it? I have an appointment with Mila, but I can be back here in a couple of hours.”
