“Not yet.” He grinned, kissing me again. “I wouldn’t mind calling you my wife, the mother of my future children.”
I clung to him as he started to rub me and see how wet I was again. “I would love to start a family,” I admitted, fully aware that all these times we’d had sex, we hadn’t used protection.
“When it’s safer,” he agreed as he pushed his hard length into me, robbing me of my breath. “When it is safer to celebrate and enjoy our future, nothing will stop me from giving you the world, Claire.”
35
MIKHAIL
The first week of Claire living in the building again, this first week of our truly being a committed couple, passed by like a dream. I no longer had to wonder how to adjust to having a woman in my life. She was just here, with me. Not as a burden, not as a contractor providing any service. Just as the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
In order for the rest of my life to begin, I had to tie up the loose ends. Enacting a campaign of revenge on the Giovannis who’d taken her was the first step. Avenging her with a brutal attack like this required strategic effort.
For days, my men spied and prepared and got into position to hit back. Roberto Giovanni wouldn’t see it coming, but if he was stupid enough to take her in the first place, he had to know that he was inviting trouble in his life.
He, and the men he tasked with capturing Claire, would be the first to experience my wrath like this.
Before now, I’d never prioritized having a woman to keep in my life.
This was personal.
After careful deliberation, we were ready to unleash hell and dole out a merciless attack on Roberto Giovanni. I didn’t include Claire in the details of the mission, but I also didn’t hide the fact that I was retaliating for what had happened to her.
“Make those motherfuckers pay,” I ordered the men. “For every second she was lying on that floor and tied up, make them pay tenfold.”
I would never lie to her if she were to ask me any questions about it. But so far, we tentatively had a good system of her not inquiring even though she loosely knew what was going on. All I could do was give her the most general information possible.
Throughout the building, a sense of urgency built as the men prepared to move out and strike them hard. When the day came, I was glad that Claire had Anya to spend time with. I was too on task, focused and watching from the control room how the teams would head out.
Because I was busy orchestrating the mission from afar, Andre and Sergei were most involved with directing the men as they ambushed the Giovanni club where the targeted men would be hiding. Roman would serve as the backup from a distance, ready to move in as needed.
Like this, I would be cementing the Orlov power and reign, reminding the world once again what would happen if anyone dared to mess with us. Hitting back this strongly would be the first step in teaching the world what would happen if any enemy of mine wanted to bother the woman I’d chosen as mine.
Targeting my daughter was uncalled for.
Taking Claire was the stupidest thing anyone could try to do.
I wasn’t striking out and killing my enemies for the hell of it.
I was doing it for them.
Tensions ran high until everyone returned to the building. Andre and Sergei came back first with their soldiers after killing every one of their targets. They came with reports of victories. And I was glad that all the players who’d been directly involved with capturing Claire were now dead.
Well, not all of them.
One evaded us.
Roman was still out there, stalking the informants who seemed most likely to lead him to Jack Harroun’s whereabouts.
“Still nothing?” Andre asked as he ate a late dinner after the mission’s end. He’d already cleaned up from the blood he’d spilled.
I shook my head. “No location for him yet.” We wouldn’t rest easily until Claire’s former colleague was out of the picture. Then, and only then, would I devote my time to starting the rest of our lives together.
This time, I would look forward to my wedding. I would be excited to have a wife, a real one who’d be present and accept me for all the good and bad things I had to take credit for.
I waited for Roman and the rest of the men to come back before leaving the control room where I’d been watching the action unfold.
When he arrived, he shook his head. “That stupid, double-crossing moron.” He slumped into a chair and smirked. While hehadn’t been in the line of combat and wasn’t hit with blood, he looked exasperated.
