“Whose grave?” Sergei asked as he entered the room, just on time for the meeting I’d called with them. Roman walked in after him, straightening his tie and looking a little disheveled—likely coming straight from one of the dancers he liked to fuck.
“Olga’s,” Andre said, never referring to his mother by anything other than her name. She never had been a mother to him. “It sounds like Anya is moving here.”
Sergei furrowed his brow. A more serious man than the others, he never looked happy or at peace. This news only added to his natural appearance of annoyance. “Why?”
“Her guardian died and she has no one else to provide for her,” I explained.
“Fuck. She’s coming here?” Roman cringed. “What the hell are you going to do with her hanging around?”
I shrugged. I hadn’t thought that far ahead, too racked with the old resentment that surfaced any time I thought of my wife. Of how she hated me and the idea of a marriage I hadn’t cared to enter either. I was willing to do my duty and make the most of it, yet she hadn’t.
All she’d done was shy away and hide, hate me and act like I was the devil. She’d abandoned my son.
Fuck you and all you’ve done.Wishing her ill wouldn’t change a damn thing now. I’d be stuck with the inconvenience of my daughter who’d loathe being here. Having a woman among us would be a big adjustment. Trying to welcome someone who didn’t want to be here felt like a headache.
“Maybe I can find a tutor or nanny or something to keep her out of my way.” I sighed, already committed to procrastinating on the details of Anya’s arrival. “I’ve got too many other things to worry about instead.”
“We do,” Andre said. “I’m sure you can hire someone to babysit her.”
I smirked, unamused and unsurprised that he wouldn’t care about a sibling coming into his life. I doubted he even saw her as a relative.
“Because I’ve got two men bringing in a Giovanni spy as we speak.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “They found him near the warehouse in the district near the docks.”
I gritted my teeth. “Another fucking spy there?” Shifting my ire from my daughter to the Italian Mafia family was instantaneous. I was sick and tired of Roberto Giovanni fucking with my turf.
“And I’ve got a lead on where one of the Popov lieutenants is trying to sabotage one of our places,” Sergei said, crossing his arms like the rigid and tough soldier he was.
This was how it was. Work, work, work. It never ended and it was all-consuming.
And I’m supposed to make time for my daughter?
Welcoming her when she won’t even want to be here?
I had zero time for anything but running my empire.
I tipped my chin up at Roman, noticing he hadn’t reported in with his current issues of the day. “What about you?” I didn’t micromanage them, but with all of us having our apartmentsand offices within one large city block, we were always up-to-date and nearby, always together as a team.
“I was, uh…” He tugged at his collar. “I’ve been otherwise preoccupied this morning.”
Andre laughed once. “By the mark you got right there,” he said, pointing at Roman’s neck, “you either got mauled by a fucking monster or found a woman who can do some magical things with her mouth.”
I rolled my eyes, standing to go with them to interrogate the Giovanni idiot brought in for questioning. “Preoccupied, huh?” I teased my playboy of a nephew.
Hell, I was occupied with so many things, with keeping this empire running among the threats from enemies, that I couldn’t even count on making time for my estranged daughter’s arrival.
Thinking about making time for a good fuck or the company of a smart woman would be even further down my list of priorities.
I had no time for anything but running this organization, and as I left with the three of them following me, I knew that wouldn’t be changing anytime soon.Iwouldn’t change anytime soon.
Not today. Not tomorrow.
Not ever.
I shook my head and wondered if I would ever feel like I could just be and breathe.
2
CLAIRE
