Page 33 of His Forbidden Obsession

I called Rafael next. Unlike Dante, he was wide-awake. “How sober are you?”

He huffed. “What are you, the fun police?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve just had a few beers. I’m playing video games. I don’t go out and get wasted every night.”

That was news to me. “I need you over here.”

“Why? What’s up?”

“Nikolai is here.”

It sounded like Rafe dropped the phone. A few seconds later, he said, “What the fuck? Damn, you move fast.”

“He’d been beaten by his father and locked in his room, but he managed to escape. I’m sure his father’s already looking for him. Get over here.”

“Fuck, man. I’ll be there in a minute.”

When I ended the call, I sat back down in my office chair and closed my eyes. I knew whatever happened, this was going to be a shitty night or morning or whatever the fuck it was. I was already running on almost no sleep. If Dimitri came near me, I was going to put him down.

And what the hell was I supposed to do with Nikolai? I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to comfort him, hold him, kiss him everywhere. But what I needed to do was stay the hell away from him.

If Remington negotiated things the way he wanted, would he expect me to send Nikolai back to Dimitri as some terms in the agreement? I would never allow that to happen. I knew Niko couldn’t stay with me, but he would never be under his father’s control again.

My brothers both arrived faster than I expected them to. I’d already assigned the men Remington sent to keep watch outside. I wanted my brothers inside with me in case Dimitri or one of his men got through those defenses. I needed Nikolai surrounded by people I trusted with my life. The guards I assigned to the perimeter were loyal to the family, but I couldn’t count on them the same way I did my brothers. They were Remington’s people. Dante and Rafe were mine.

“Where is he?” Rafe asked as soon as he got there.

“In the guest room.”

“Aww. Did you tuck him in bed after you fucked him?”

Dante scowled at him. “Why do you have to be such a child?”

“I just thought with Niko here, Renzo would want to have a little fun.”

I scowled at him. “He’s injured, dumbass. Also, Remington ordered me to keep my hands off Niko.”

“You weren’t worried what Remington thought the other night.”

“No, and look where that got us.”

Rafe grinned. “It looks to me like he got exactly what he wanted. There won’t be an alliance between the Russians.”

“He wanted to negotiate, not kidnap the groom.”

“You’re not really going to listen to Remington about this, are you?” Dante asked. “If you’d like Nikolai as much as it seems⁠—”

“Stop. Nikolai doesn’t belong in a family like ours. He deserves to get away from danger, violence, crime. He needs a chance to thrive somewhere he doesn’t have to worry about dying all the time.”

“How do you know what he wants?” Dante said. I glared at him, and he shook his head. “Fine, I get it. Let’s just see what happens.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve never talked about a guy like this before,” Rafe said.

Dante must have sensed how close I was to losing it. “That’s enough. We’ve got to make a plan. It’s not going to take a genius to figure out this is one of the places Nikolai might’ve gone.”