Outside, the dozen or so men standing as they wait for my command, there could be a traitor amongst them, and I wouldn’t know a thing about it...
The thought sends a hot wave of fury through my body. All I’ve worked for, all my father has worked for, and it comes crumbling down because some fuckers don’t want to play by the rules and remember who really runs this place.
I make my way slowly through the rest of the warehouse, keeping my face as steady as I can. It’s been torn to pieces. There’s no way this was some random attack. No, they used whatever information they had been able to glean when that bastard let them come sneak around in here, and they could be doing the same anywhere else in the city even as I stood here.
Even in my own home.
That thought hits me hard, and it suddenly clicks why this sight is enough to bring me into such a state of shock. Because it comes alongside the revelation that I now have more people to take care of than I ever could have imagined. Max was enough, but now I have Cara and Nina, too. Cara, who’s no doubt waiting back at the house, as terrified as she looked just before I left, wondering what the hell has called me away so urgently and if I intend to come back to her at all.
I can’t let anything happen to them. To any of them. My business is one thing—my family is another.
And any person who dares raise a fist to either is going to pay with their fucking life.
I know what happens when you leave the people you love at risk. My father adored my mother, but it wasn’t enough to protect her when the attack came. Shit, if he hadn’t loved her quite as much as he had, maybe shewouldhave survived it, maybe she wouldn’t have found herself targeted quite as brutally as she was. I’ll never know the truth, but it’s not a possibility I want to leave the door open to.
I turn to head back outside, where my assembled men straighten up as soon as they see me.
“All of you,” I call out, as I come to a stop before them. “I want you back at the mansion. Rest tonight, and I’m going to set a new security schedule tomorrow. I want twenty-four-seven surveillance of my home. Nobody in or out that I don’t know about. You understand.”
Ilya’s brows dig together, and I can tell he is not exactly entirely in agreement with my plan of action here. But, as the men disperse to the cars, he has the good sense to come and talk to me about it directly, no doubt confused as to what has got me so protective of my home all of a sudden.
“You think it might be better for some of them to go look over the other warehouses?” he points out, voice cautious, all too aware of my mood right now. I’m not one to be disagreed with at the best of times, but in a tense situation like this one, he has some nerve to confront me.
“I know where I want my men,” I reply. “Come on. We’re going back to the mansion.”
I pause for a moment as I lean on the car, looking up at the smoking warehouse in front of me. I’ll have to have someone spin a story if any press coming sniffing around, tell them thatit was some random electrical fire. Shit, if I can get that story spread far enough, maybe I can even convince my enemies that there’s no reason for them to come snooping around anymore than I already have.
Who the fuck am I kidding? There are so many people in this city, more than I even know about, who are praying on my downfall. I climb into the car next to Ilya, taking the wheel, and he stares out at the road ahead as we pull out.
“I want all the CCTV footage from tonight on my computer by the time I wake up,” I tell him. “And tomorrow, we send a few men back here to get a better look at it. See if there’s anything they left behind, anything that might give away who did this.”
“You don’t think it was Vinski?”
I flex my hands on the wheel. I don’t want to give them the fucking credit for something like this, but it’s hard to believe that it could have been anyone else.
“We’ll find out, one way or another,” I reply, keeping my voice as even as I can as we make our way back to the mansion.
He falls silent for the rest of the trip, probably wondering if I’m getting too emotional about something that should have been a more straightforward matter.
Back at the house, Ilya heads to his room to pull the footage for me and rest, and I go straight to my study to pour myself a drink. I know I should be getting some rest, but I can’t imagine laying my head down on the pillow right now and actually being able to let myself rest.
Maybe I could if I was next to her. I lift the glass to my lips and take a quick sip, grimacing as the sharp taste of vodka hits theback of my throat. I’m not even sure if I like this stuff, but it was my father’s drink, and I grew so accustomed to seeing him sipping on a glass while he was in here, it had almost seemed second nature to do it myself by the time that I was the one in charge.
I would have stayed the night with her, had it not been from the call with Ilya to drag me back to reality. I knew that much. There’s something about her presence that’s addictive to me, my mind spinning with the possibilities of every damn thing I want to do to that woman. Her body, her mind, her voice, the way she touches me—how all that defiance seems to drain from her the moment I take her into my arms—it’s the kind of thing I could get caught up on, if I was that way inclined.
“Alexei?”
I look up, to see her standing there in the doorway to my study. She is wearing that long tee again, her slim legs stretching out against the doorframe.
“What are you doing here?” I murmur. “I thought I told you to stay in your room.”
“You did,” she reasons. “But I... I heard the car coming up the driveway, and I just wanted to check if everything is okay.”
I take a long sip of my drink before I reply. “Everything’s fine.”
She chews her lip, clearly not entirely believing me. “When you left, it seemed pretty urgent-”
“It was. But it’s dealt with now.”
