“We discussed taking out the Riveras at that meeting.”
Preoccupied with the auto pilot task of putting away dishes in the small kitchen that was a part of this suite, I didn’t make eye contact with him. This was big news, though, and I wanted to listen well.
I wasn’t nervous to face Alexsei, but at the mention of the men who almost kidnapped and killed me at the cabin, it was instinct to think about Erik and Yusef.
About how much I wanted them to never threaten me or my children again. I already saw Misha as my son, and I hated that they’d ever scared him.
I was carried away with the raging thought about how much I wished I could kill them myself and make the two of them pay for all that they’d done to me for fourteen long years.
“We’ll go tomorrow on this mission,” he said. “We have the team in place and we have a strategy in mind.”
I nodded, wishing I could be part of it.
“Simon has also been very careful about screening everyone involved on this task force. We won’t leave anything to chance and risk any other moles or traitors to thwart us.”
“Good.” I glanced at him. “I can’t bear the thought of any of you being hurt.”
It was so rewarding and fulfilling to be part of a ready-made family with this father and son, but I was also fond of everyone here, all the Dubinins who had welcomed me and given me the space and patience to recover from my trauma.
While he didn’t go into too many details, he loosely described how they were going to ambush the Riveras in Little Italy, out of a building they were hiding in. He didn’t seem ready to share graphic facts, but I wasn’t really interested in them, anyway. What I was most interested in was if this plan of action would include taking out my brother and his enforcer.
Once he finished talking to me and sharing information about something that mattered to me so heavily, I found him watching me.
“I meant it when I promised to keep you safe.”
I turned to him then, hugging him and savoring the heat from his hard body that always made me feel secure and calm. “I know. And I believe you. I trust you.”
He sighed. “I feel like there is abutcoming.”
Yeah, he knew how to read me that well. “It’s just that you didn’t mention anything about Erik or Yusef.”
He shook his head. “They haven’t been spotted.”
“Anywhere?”
“Some of us are under the impression that maybe the Riveras have them. They could be holding them, and the reason we can’t find any trace of them is because Marco Rivera himself has captured them after the fallout from the arrangement with you.”
“Or they could be hiding somewhere else,” I guessed, well aware of how mobile they were to avoid being caught for anything.
He nodded. “At this point, we don’t have enough conclusive intel to know where they are.”
I refused to let that be a negative dead end. “So theycouldbe there tomorrow, where you’re going?”
“Yes, there is a chance.”
I licked my lips and gathered my courage. “If they are there, I want to be present to kill them.”
He furrowed his brow instantly. “You want to come?”
“I don’t want to be left out of getting this closure.”
He released me, stepping back and shaking his head. “Kalina…”
“I don’t want to be left out of this. It matters too much to me. It has been my vindictive revenge I’ve plotted for years.”
“I know, but?—”
“Please don’t tell me no.”
