Page 20 of Inked in Devotion

Theo invaded Kolya’s space, my always-in-control brother practically vibrating with rage. “Sounds like a threat, Petrov. Here’s a threat for you…you want to lose all your rights to your son?”

No, I didn’t want that. I pulled my brother back at the same time Maks grabbed Kolya’s arm to harshly whisper in his ear.

I’d never seen Kolya this livid, not even at the apartment. With his head turned briefly to listen to Maks, the veins popped along the side of his neck, giving a terrifying lifelike appearance to his slithering-snake tattoo. He was straining for control. When he addressed me again, his mouth curved into a sneer, nostrils flaring like a raging bull, and the brilliant blue of his eyes pinned me with contempt. “You think a piece of paper is going to protect our son from danger? I am.”

“That’s just it, Kolya,” I snapped. “You are the danger because you’re surrounded with it. Violence is your job. It’s the definition of your existence. I don’t want my son to grow up amidst the echo of gunfire or sit in a river of blood. Is that so hard to understand?”

His eyes should have cut me in half, but instead his jaw slackened and his gaze veiled with a faraway look. It was as if he wasn’t seeing me but through me.

Unnerved, I turned pleading eyes on the matchmaker to end this tense confrontation.

“Though this family drama is entertaining, I am pressed for time.” Margo clicked her heels in a purposeful pivot toward the elevators. “Mr. Petrov, if you want to toss your hat into the ring, you know where to reach me.”

“Don’t hold your breath,” I said, following Margo. “He’s not the marrying kind, and you know my conditions.” Protect my son from the bratva.

And as I stepped into the elevator with Margo and Theo, my eyes sought Kolya again. He was always a magnet for my attention, just him. I didn’t know why, but there was a thread that snapped into place the second I saw him again.

Could I sever it by marrying someone else?

It was wishful thinking because Sebastian forever tied us together.

He still hadn’t moved even when Kirill and Maksim seemed to close ranks around him. Should I feel guilty that I didn’t even give him a chance to prove himself?

The elevator doors slid shut.

No, my son wasn’t a game of chance like Russian roulette.

I needed to have a measure of certainty about his future.

Chapter

Five

Kolya

“I’m too old for secret meetings like this.” Ivan climbed into the passenger seat of my work van, which I had parked between alleyways in New Jersey.

A muffled sound came from the back of the vehicle.

He glanced over his shoulder and sighed. “You’re taking me along on a job?”

I reversed the van and backed out of the alley. “Killing two birds with one stone. Besides, don’t you miss it?”

When the van was back on the highway, heading deeper into New Jersey's industrial parks, Ivan asked, “Who is he?”

“Child trafficker,” I said shortly. Specifically, Jordan Wilson. This was a favor to one of Kirill’s political allies. They couldn’t prosecute Wilson. Powerful men protected him, and there were still missing children. A congressman’s daughter was taken as a warning.

“Are we going vigilante now?” Ivan asked.

“Let’s just say it’s a reparation for what Grigori did under your nose.” I glanced over at him.

When Ivan was pakhan, the Zahkarov bratva had a thriving sex work industry in Europe. Some legal, some illegal. Ivan, during the last years of his reign, had grown complacent and hadn’t dealt with the nitty-gritty of the flesh business. My cousin Grigori went too far and veered into human trafficking, teaming up with all flavors of criminal organizations protected by a cabal of untouchable elites. Well, not really untouchable. We knew who they were, but they were experts at evasion and burying the evidence of their heinous acts.

They would never see the inside of a courtroom or a prison. It was a delicate operation, dismantling these entities whose perversions dated back centuries. Take them out too quickly and the entire world’s economy could collapse.

Jordan Wilson was a broker and facilitated the transport of children, but their current shipment hadn’t left their New Jersey location.

We arrived at a deserted warehouse near the marshlands and railways. The surrounding ecosystem of tall grass and wetlands made it an ideal dumping ground for organized crime. It concealed. The biodiversity hastened decomposition.