“Yeah, I think you’re right. I’m more than a little obsessed.”
“I’m looking forward to getting back so I can see my baby brother in love,” Max teases.
“I think Mom captured it pretty well.”
“She sure did. Talia thinks you both look adorable, by the way. It’ll be nice that our kids can grow up together.”
“I think you might be jumping the gun,” I tell him, but as I’m saying the words, I can feel the flutter of excitement run through me at the thought of Savanna pregnant with our baby. She’d looked so beautiful holding Jake last night. She has such a bigheart and a natural love for kids, and she shines anytime she’s around them. I’ll never get tired of seeing it.
“We’ll see,” Max says, and then I hear my niece let out a shrill scream. “Someone woke up angry. I need to get going. Keep me posted on how things are going, little brother. I better not start getting all my news from other people.”
“You won’t,” I promise him. “Tell everyone I said hi and give Lyra a big hug from her uncle.”
After we hang up, I finish my coffee before getting ready to meet my cousins at one of our warehouses. It’s the safest place to talk business, and it keeps it away from all the wives and kids. I take my motorcycle and park next to Sasha’s bike once I get there. Everyone else is already inside. Mia’s laughing at something Damien’s said, but when she sees me, she brushes back a strand of her pink dyed hair and says, “I knew Sav wouldn’t be able to resist the nose piercing.” She grins and taps her own. “Dario loves mine.”
Damien points at our crazy cousin. “I think we all know the nose isn’t the only thing you have pierced.”
Mia tries to look innocent and fails. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Sasha doesn’t always pick up on cues, so when he starts to say, “I think he’s talking about the piercings in your nipples and?—”
She cuts him off with a quick, “Thanks, Sasha. Can we please talk about something else?”
“Yeah,” I agree, not wanting to hear about my cousin’s body jewelry. “Why are we meeting? Did something happen?”
“Just wanted to check up on things,” Luka says. He’s the oldest of us. The first to join our family’s Bratva, and the one who always worries and takes on more than he should. He’s just like his dad in many ways. “It looks like The Red Room is quiet again. I talked to Pasha before I came here, and he said things havegone back to normal. No one’s been caught selling roofies since the night Cindy was drugged.”
“Do you trust it?” Damien asks his older brother.
Luka scrubs a hand over his jaw. “No, not really.” His eyes meet mine from across the table we’re standing around. “Anything new on Cupid?”
He must see the answer on my face, because he quickly says, “You’ll get him, Niki.”
I nod, but the truth is with each passing day, I’m starting to lose hope. I’ll never stop looking for him, but if he never surfaces again, I’ll have no way to catch him. He could be anywhere right now, and that knowledge sits heavy on my shoulders.
“Nothing suspicious with Sav?” Mia asks. “She hasn’t noticed anything?”
I shake my head and say, “No, and there’s always a set of eyes on her. I watch her when I can, but I’ve also assigned a couple of guys, just to be safe.”
“Good idea,” Sasha says, and I can tell he’s still kicking himself for not putting a bodyguard on Cindy sooner.
“She doesn’t know everything,” I tell them, “but she knows she was the target that night. She’s keeping her guard up, but she’s also not constantly worrying about it, which is exactly what I want. She has enough stressing her out right now with school. She doesn’t need this extra shit on top of that.”
“Aside from locking her up, this is as safe as she can be,” Luka says.
“Don’t think I haven’t thought about it,” I tell him.
Sasha shrugs. “Just move her stuff into your apartment while she’s at class. It worked for me.”
“Yeah, I’m probably not going to do that,” I tell my cousin. “I’m going to suggest she move in, though, and do my best to convince her to say yes.”
“It’s a little thing called consent,” Damien says with a laugh while looking at Sasha.
“Cyn is mine. That’s all the consent I need.” When Damien just sighs at his response, he adds, “She thought it was sweet.”
“Of course she did,” Damien says. “She was made for you, and for some unknown reason finds all your psychotic traits endearing.”
Sasha returns our cousin’s grin. “Yeah, she does.”
