Page 64 of His Forbidden Obsession

“Yes, and you’re older than the boys he prefers. He would probably have killed you once I’d had a child to be another heir for him.”

I’d known Ivanov wanted me in his bed, and I’d been terrified of how rough he’d be, but I hadn’t thought he’d murder me once he was done.

Alina laid a hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay. He’s never going to touch you now.”

“We have to stop him from hurting anyone else,” I said. I’d never believed I had the power to stop someone like my father or Ivanov, but I didn’t care what it took. I was going to help Alina and the Theriots bring him down.

“Yes, we do. I think they’re downstairs, working on a plan for that now.”

Lancelot nodded.

“Good,” she said. “Now, let’s talk about this.” She laid her hand on the watch Lorenzo had slipped onto my wrist. “I think Tony may be a very smart little monkey.”

24

LORENZO

Remington glared at me. “Obviously, you didn’t listen to my instructions about Nikolai.”

From his perch on my shoulder, Tony pointed a finger at him and chattered loudly.

Rafe laughed. “I think Tony disagrees with you. He seems to like Renzo and Niko together.”

Remington narrowed his eyes at the monkey. “That’s enough. Do you want to be sent to the car?”

Tony screeched.

I shook my head. “You wouldn’t leave him in a hot car.”

Remington sighed. “With the AC on, obviously. I’m not a monster.” Dante raised his brows, and Remington huffed. “Not to animals.”

“Didn’t he escape from the car the last time you made Lancelot leave him?” Dante asked.

“That’s enough. I’m not here to talk about this insane animal. Lorenzo, your involvement with Nikolai as anything but a bodyguard stops now. I won’t have you involved with the Russians.”

I fought the urge to yell at him, to tell him Niko was mine and I would do whatever the fuck I pleased with him, but now was not the time for that. I wanted Niko, but I wasn’t safe for him, and we needed to focus on destroying Dimitri and Ivanov.

Tony started up again, giving Remington the response I wanted to. He might be speaking in his own language, but it was clear he was telling Remington off.

“Enough,” Remington shouted.

“Come here,” Rafe called to Tony, holding out a piece of dried mango he must have gotten from the kitchen during Tony’s rant. With a final shriek, the monkey jumped down and ran to Rafe for his favorite snack.

Remington scowled at Rafe. “Keep that little bastard away from me.”

As angry, scared, and confused as I was, I had to press my lips together to keep from smiling. Watching Tony rile Remington up was always amusing.

“How about we go over the plan to kill Dimitri and Ivanov,” Dante said. “I think that will put all of us in a better mood.”

Remington nodded. “That’s what I came here for.” He outlined the plan to draw out Dimitri and Ivanov by contacting them, pretending to be a representative of the Lopez family.

Dante frowned. “If Carlos Lopez finds out we’re impersonating his people⁠—”

“He won’t, and if he does, he’ll ultimately thank us for ridding him of buffoons too indiscreet to carry out his business.”

I wasn’t so sure of that, but I didn’t have a better plan.

“There is one change to my original plan.”