He didn’t waste time with any formalities or greetings. Standing at the window in this huge room, he propped one arm around his chest and set his elbow on it so he could rub his jaw.
“The Popovs are closing in on her. On both of them.”
I narrowed my eyes, tense already. I didn’t have to ask who. He only would’ve asked me to come here if it was about Natalie or Maisie.
“Have they tried to come onto the property?” I asked. I hadn’t been informed of anyone daring to comehere, where we were so protected.
“No.” He faced me, giving the window his back. “I’ve put too much into upping security here, at all of our buildings, for anyone to get close again.”
I knew that he had. I had been there to assist him when men trespassed to get to Anya after she arrived. Then later, whensomeone broke in to get her again, he’d doubled down on security. Same as when Claire had been targeted. With Claire pregnant, he was almost obsessed about security.
“No one has come here, but it’s critical that you keep her here if you want her alive.” He looked me dead in the eye. “Word is that Niko Popov sees an angle to attack for how you killed his men over her.”
I shrugged. “He’s not getting a fucking apology.”
“What this means is that I need you to make up your mind.” He sighed, dropping into a leather chair. “If you are claiming her, if she is to be guarded and with the attachment that Claire has to me, I need the final clarification whether Natalie is just a fling or something serious.”
I frowned, hating that he’d be stressed about this. Telling him that I wanted to be patient and let her acclimate to being with me would be dumb.
“Because if this escalates, and it’s running the risk of war, I need your word that she’s in. Fully. And that she can be vetted and trusted, loyal to us no matter what.”
I sat in another chair, exhausted from the worry of pushing Natalie too far too soon. If I were to explain that I needed her allegiance and loyalty, for her to truly stand by my side, I could scare her off.
She was a package deal with Maisie in the same way I was a package deal with the entire Orlov organization.
“Because I can’t let us be stretched too thin. Niko’s always causing fucking trouble with us. Then there’s Giovanni.” He scowled and shook his head.
“What’s going on with them?”
“Roberto Giovanni is acting like a stupid motherfucker, trying to mess with our drug routes.” He rubbed his face, tired. “I’ve had Andre on that part of the operations and trying to figure out if we’re dealing with a mole he’s planted. My point is that I need to delegate proper force where it’s needed. If Niko wants to send his idiots after Natalie, and she’s that important to you, I need to know.”
“Has he been sending anyone out to find her?” I asked. I knew better than to wonder why. It couldn’t be because they’d seen her on the street and just had to have her. Those Popovs haunted and stalked and raped countless women. The Popov interest in her was only because she was close to me. They wanted to hit my family, to hit me, through her. That was all it was.
“A few.”
I had George and another recruit checking on her building, but as Mikhail told me about the specific Popov spies who’d been seen looking for Natalie at the Diamond Mirage, and also stalking the babysitter, Daria, I let my anger take over.
“I’ll fucking handle them,” I growled.
If Niko Popov wanted to cause us a headache and make us worry about Natalie or Maisie being taken or hurt, they had to welcome my wrath, too.
After checking in with Natalie and Maisie, I headed out with George to hunt down the three men Mikhail had mentioned. They’d been most forward with their threats so far, and it didn’t take me long to locate them. In fact, they made it easy for me, hanging out at the same strip club and acting like the world was in their hands and nothing could harm them.
Because we caught them by surprise, they didn’t have a chance to put up much of a fight. We dragged them out of there and brought them to a warehouse to question them and then eliminate them.
George drove them to the location while I rode with the recruit, checking in on how George was training him so far.
When we arrived, I looked forward to killing these assholes. It’d be a hell of a message for the entire Popov Family to receive, and after they realized I wasn’t joking around, maybe they’d find someone else to harass.
George pulled me aside before I could enter the warehouse. His grave expression worried me. “Now what?”
“Listen,” he said, holding up his phone so I could play back a video that he must have recorded on the drive.
At first, they talked shit, bluffing that they had more men with them and we’d regret taking them. Then they blustered that they were tougher, better, all that macho ego crap. But it was the last part that hit me hard.
“I bet Sergei doesn’t even know he killed that bitch’s husband,” one said.
“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. You know about that, ugly asshole? Huh?” another taunted the driver and probably George. “Did you know that Sergei found himself the fucking widow of some loser he killed?”
