by Roxie Rivera
"No." He brushed his knuckles down her arm. "We can go anywhere you would like."
She chose a steakhouse and insisted that Ten join them. He seemed reluctant to intrude, but Nikolai enjoyed his company. Halfway through their meal, his cell phone vibrated. Nikolai glanced at the text message from Kostya.
Bathroom. Now.
Phone in hand, he excused himself from the table. When he reached the restroom, he found Kostya waiting for him. The cleaner locked the door and leaned against it. "I've cleared the stalls. We're good."
"What is it?" Nikolai pocketed his phone. If Kostya had gone to these lengths to meet, it was serious and couldn't wait.
"I had a call from the Liquidator."
Nikolai's insides went cold. Earlier in the summer, he had instructed Kostya to contact the team of brothers known as the Professionals and to take out a protection contract against Vivian's life. Now that Julio was gone, he hadn't expected to ever hear from them again. "What did he say?"
"He said that Lorenzo Guzman sent one of his cartel cronies for a meet-up. They asked about taking out a contract on a woman."
"Which woman?" His heart pounded against his chest now. He could hardly drag a breath into his lungs.
"The cartel guy didn't give a target to the Liquidator. I asked Hector if he had any information. He knew three things." Kostya held up his fingers and ticked off the details. "It's going to happen soon. The cartel is going to use Finn Connolly since no hit man will come close to Houston after the botched attack that nearly killed Besian." Kostya touched a third finger. "And the target is a daughter."
"A daughter? Whose daughter?" His heart fluttered in a wild panic. "Is it Vivian? She's Romero's daughter. That's a hell of a message for Lorenzo to send."
"It's probably Vivian." Kostya didn't even try to lie or soften the blow. "It could be Hector's little girl."
Nikolai's eyes widened. "Hector has a daughter?"
Kostya nodded. "There aren't many people who know about her. He's not married to her mother. From what I can tell, it may have been a one night stand with lifelong consequences. She's not quite two."
"She's a baby! A two-year-old girl? Eto piz`dets!"
"Da," Kotya solemnly agreed. "This is fucked up beyond belief."
Nikolai turned his back on his friend and walked to the sink. He placed both hands on the porcelain and leaned forward. His mind raced with possibilities. Finally, he made a decision. "Pick up Finn Connolly tonight. Take him to the barn. It's time for him to pay back a debt his little brother owes me."
Kostya unlocked the door and left without another word. Nikolai took a moment to compose himself. This was a piece of information he had to keep to himself. The stress of hearing that there might be a hit contract out on her life would be too much for Vivian. He couldn't risk her health or the baby's.
No, this was a burden he had to bear alone.
Composed and acting as if he hadn't just heard that someone wanted to kill his wife and baby, Nikolai emerged from the restroom and returned to the table. Ten and Vivian were laughing about something as he joined them. She turned toward him and placed her small hand on top of his. He fought the urge to gather her into his arms and run out of the restaurant with her. He thought of a dozen places where he could hide her, places where no one would ever find her again.
Places where she would wither like a flower at the end of its bloom.
"Is everything okay?"
He squeezed her hand and lied through his fucking teeth. "Everything is fine."
* * *
Finn Connolly wasn't nearly as big or tall as Nikolai had expected. He watched the middle Connolly brother cautiously enter the barn where he sometimes conducted business of a sensitive nature. The man had been out of the Marine Corps for years, but those skills that had kept him alive during countless battles had never left him. He scanned the building with a practiced eye, his gaze lingering on possible weapons, exits and threats.
Nikolai didn't want to be rude so he tried to conceal his interest in Finn's smooth movements. The former sniper's leg had been blown off by an IED, but he had only the slightest hint of a limp as he walked. It was clear Finn had put a great deal of effort into his recovery. Kostya had also told him that Finn was an alcoholic. He had been sober for nearly three years. He didn't know the man, but Nikolai found that admirable.
Wanting to keep Finn on edge, Nikolai tossed his lucky lighter between his palms and glared at him. "You're late."
"Blame it on the invitation I never received." Finn's gaze shifted to the table at Nikolai's side. No doubt, the Marine had deduced what was under the blue tarp. Nonetheless, he asked, "What the fuck is that?"
Nikolai ignored the question and exchanged the lighter in his hand for a jar containing the crunched round that had been pulled from the wall the night of the shooting. "Do you know what this is?"
Finn's expression hardened. "It's the bullet I put between the eyes of the cartel bastard who tried to shoot my brother and his girlfriend." He glared at Kostya. "The one your man there promised Jack he would dig out of the wall and toss."
"To be fair," Kostya said, "I said I would take care of it. I didn't say I would destroy it."
Nikolai moved to the table and yanked back the tarp covering the body-shaped lump. Finn's expression turned to one of disgust as he took in the sight of the frozen corpse. Was he wondering why the body hadn't been destroyed or dumped in the ocean? Was he wondering where Kostya kept his freezers?
"The Ghost." Nikolai named the body. "He's not nearly as terrifying as I had expected." The man's ruthless reputation had created an image of someone who resembled Romero, not this slightly paunchy, overly tanned and freckled middle-aged nobody. "His name was Erwin Goode, in case you care. He was forty-four and lived in Mesa, Arizona when he wasn't killing people for the cartel."
"Is there a point to this?"
Nikolai liked Finn already. He was a straight-shooter—in more ways than one.
"Just one more thing." Nikolai motioned for Boychenko to bring him the rifle. Boy held up the weapon in hands clad with black leather gloves.
The effect on Finn was instantaneous. "You broke into my storage locker to steal my rifle?"
Nikolai waved his hand and Boychenko put the rifle back on the worktable. "I needed you to know the score, Finn. You need to understand your position."
"And what position is that?"
"You're going to be contacted by a representative of the Guzman cartel. He's going to offer you a job as a way of repaying your debt for killing their man here." He tugged the tarp back over the corpse and tucked the bullet back into his pocket. "You're going to take that job."
"Like. Fucking. Hell. I'm not some puppet on strings you can yank whenever you feel like it."
Silently, Nikolai advanced on Finn with deliberate, slow steps. He noticed Finn's gaze flicking from visible tattoo to visible tattoo. He saw the realization dawn on Finn's face. This was a battle the Marine couldn’t win.
Hands clasped behind his back, Nikolai asked, "Do you love your family?"
Anger flared in Finn's eyes. "I will tell you this once and only once. Don't threaten my family."
Behind him, Ilya and Boychenko stepped forward, but Nikolai flicked his fingers, wordlessly telling them to stop.
"You might scare the piss out of everyone else, but I spit in Death's face when a bunch of coward terrorists blew me up on the side of some shithole road outside Gardez. Don't think for one fucking second that I'll hesitate to spit in yours."
Nikolai didn't take that as an insult or a threat. He took it as it was meant to be. This was Finn stating the facts.
"You say you've seen war. Well there's a war coming to Houston. Unless you want to see it rage on the streets of this city where your family and mine live, I need your help."
Finn's taut body relaxed. "What kind of help?"
"The cartel is fractured. Lorenzo Guzman is scrambling to stay in power. There's word that he's going to order a hit on someone im
portant in the city. I need to know who that person is."
"So you can save them?"
Nikolai wasn't going to tip his hand. He decided to act nonchalant. He couldn’t let on his greatest fear. He couldn’t give Finn even the slightest clue that the target was more important to him than anything in this world. "If saving their life furthers my position and keeps the city quiet? Yes."
"So you want me to betray a fucking cartel?"
"I want you to survive, Mr. Connolly. If you tell the cartel no, they'll kill you, your brothers, their girlfriends, their girlfriends' families and everyone who ever made you happy. If you say yes, you feed the information to me, and I'll protect you and the people you love."
His offer made, Nikolai left the barn without another word. Ilya and Boychenko followed with the body and the rifle. Both were placed in the produce van waiting outside. Kostya stayed inside to give Finn his instructions. When he exited a short time later, Kostya's expression was unreadable. Kostya waited until they were driving away from the barn to say, "I don't know if we can count on him to do it."
"Where was he tonight?"
Kostya glanced at him and then back at the road. "He was with Hadley Rivera."
"No shit? He was with Eddie Rivera's daughter? The one with…?" He touched his chest, right near his heart, and Kostya nodded. "Is it serious?"
Kostya shrugged. "I tried asking him about her, but he shut me down."
Nikolai hated himself for even thinking it, but he said, "She could be useful."
"I know," Kostya confirmed in an equally loathsome voice. "She's Hector's cousin. She's sleeping with Finn. She's the perfect hostage."
"If it comes to that," Nikolai said, his voice tight and his stomach clenching with unease. He didn't want to kidnap some innocent girl to force Finn to do his bidding, but he would if it came to that. He would cross any fucking line to protect Vivian.
"I heard the baby is a boy." Kostya offered a genuine smile. "Congratulations."
"I would have been just as happy with a girl." He didn't understand why everyone who had congratulated him today seemed to think having a son was something worthy of such adulation.
"Not me," Kostya grumbled. "They're trouble, and the boys they want to date are trouble."
Nikolai couldn’t even imagine his son dating. "I think they're all trouble at that age." He chuckled at the memories of his own teenaged romantic escapades. "If he's anything like me, he's going to be a handful."
"Maybe you'll be lucky, and he'll inherit all of Vivian's sweetness."
"God willing." Nikolai tapped his fingers against the warm window glass. "I need to see Ben tomorrow."
"Ben Beciraj? At Merkurie Motors?"
"Yes. I want him to customize a vehicle for Vivian and my son." My son. Would he ever get used to saying that? "It needs to be bullet-proof. I want it done right. Ben is the only one I trust."
"I can get a meeting in the morning, if you'd like."
"Fine. The sooner, the better," he added. "Vivian is five months pregnant. It's going so fast. The baby will be here soon."
Too soon, he thought in a panic. Things weren't settled with the cartel yet.
But the pieces were in motion now. It was only a matter of time until all hell broke loose.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Two Weeks Later
"Kolya."
Nikolai grumbled and lightly swatted at the finger poking him in the ribs. Only one person in the world would dare to poke at him like that when he was trying to sleep. Face still buried in his pillow, he grumbled, "What, Vee?"
"Are you going to get up? It's almost noon! I've already been to church. I thought for sure you would be awake by now."
Noon? His fuzzy brain couldn't tell him why he was so tired.
"Come on! You need to get up. Galina and Vladimir are waiting. We promised Sergei and Bianca we would look after them until they meet us tonight for dinner at Samovar."
Bianca and Sergei? His brain finally sputtered and produced an answer.
The wedding. The vodka. The dancing. The vodka.
"Kolya." The bed shifted as she bounced onto it like an overeager puppy.
The movement drew his attention to his throbbing head. He groaned and reached for her, his hands landing on her hips. "Christ, stop moving. My head is killing me."
"I'm not surprised." Amusement filled her voice, but she tenderly stroked his jaw and temples. "I left some aspirin and a glass of water in the bathroom for you." She kissed his cheek. "You'll feel better—and smell better—after a shower."
Nikolai cracked one eye. She wrinkled her dainty little nose. He inhaled deeply and grimaced. She was right. He smelled like sweat and alcohol—and sex. "I'm sorry," he croaked. "I shouldn't have had so much to drink."
"It's all Yuri's fault," she assured him. "After Sergei and Bianca left, I went to chat with Lena. The next thing I knew you were on the dance floor with Yuri and some of Bianca's cousins. It, um, got a bit rowdy after that."
Nikolai paled. "Please tell me I didn't dance on a table."
"Well…"
"Shit." He wiped his hand down his face. "I'm sure everyone is talking about that today."
"So?" She rubbed his chest. "You're a grown man. The baby isn't here yet. It's okay for you to let loose a little." She traced a tattoo on his skin. "It's better to get all of that out of your system now. Once January comes and the baby is here? You're on diaper duty."
"Gladly," he said, picking up her hand and kissing her palm. She smelled so good, like lavender and vanilla. With both eyes open and his vision no longer blurry, he raked his gaze over her body. She wore a simple little dress in a bright pink color. It highlighted all the lush roundness of her pregnant body. "You look beautiful."
"Mmmhmm," she hummed. "You tried that with me last night."
He didn't like the sound of that. "How did we get home?"
"Vladimir drove, but Ilya and Artyom followed us. We were safe."
"I shouldn't have put you at risk, not now. It was reckless and stupid of me." He couldn’t believe he had been so careless. What the hell was I thinking? "How did you get me upstairs?"
"Vladimir helped. He thought it was funny."
"And you?" He was almost afraid to ask.
"I'd rather we not have a replay of last night's stumbling and singing," she said with a frown, "but I've never seen you like that before so I'm giving you a pass."
"It won't happen again." He kissed both of her hands. "I promise."
"I'm holding you to that." She leaned down and kissed the tip of his nose.
The front of her dress gaped and gave him a tantalizing view of her breasts. A dark purple mark on the left one concerned him. He ran his thumb across the small bruise. "Did I do this?"
She flushed scarlet and sat up quickly, tugging her dress back up to cover the mark. "Things got a little wild last night."
"How wild?" Nikolai could only remember snatches of their night. Memories flashed before his eyes. Undressing Vivian. Squeezing her breasts and lavishing them with attention. Sucking on those perfect little nipples of hers. Burying his face between her thighs and lapping at that sweet honey and her pink clit until she was crawling up the bed and slapping at the headboard. Dragging her on top of him and reveling in the sight of her bouncing wantonly on his cock. Flipping her onto her hands and knees and driving into her wet, tight pussy until she came hard on his cock. Flipping her back over and licking her juicy slit until she came and begged him to stop, her small hands shoving at his head and her thighs quivering. Coming in her mouth, his cock sliding between those pouty lips of hers while her tongue did things to him that made his knees buckle.
Curious about his memories, he lifted her skirt and pushed her legs apart. Vivian swallowed nervously but let him look. Sure enough, he found even more love bites on her inner thighs. He shoved her dress up around her breasts and found a few more on her belly.
"I'm sorry, Vee." Shame gripped him. "I shouldn't have been so rough with you."
"Nice?" He looked at her love-ravaged body and thought of the way he had fucked and feasted on her last night. "I'm not sure nice is the word I would use."
"It was some of the best sex we've ever had. I liked it. A lot," she added bravely.
"Well," he sat up slowly and slid his arms around her waist. "In that case, we'll have to see if we can replicate last night."
Vivian kissed his cheek. "I'm not sure if we can replicate perfection." Her sensual mouth curved with a mischievous smile. "But I'd damned sure like to try."
Nikolai laughed and noisily kissed her neck. "Go downstairs and entertain Sergei's family. If you stay up here much longer, I'll give into the temptation to try right now."
Vivian crawled off the bed and left the room with a backward glance. He inhaled a long, deep breath and threw his legs over the side of the bed. Not used to drinking like that anymore, he was feeling every shot of that top-shelf liquor. He found his cell phone in the organizer atop the dresser. She had neatly arranged his wallet, keys and phone for him. He could just imagine her walking around their bedroom, stark naked and bearing the red marks from his overanxious mouth all over her body, as she picked up the mess he had made in his drunken state.
He picked up his phone and checked for missed calls or texts. There were two text messages from Yuri that he opened. It made him smile.
Y: Lena says I need to apologize. Sorry.
Y: My head is fucking killing me. We're getting too old for this shit.
Smirking, Nikolai set aside his phone and walked into the bathroom. After knocking back the pain relievers, he took the longest piss of his life. He noticed the red smudges on his cock and grinned lasciviously. That was a shade of lipstick he would recognize anywhere. Russian Red. Vivian's favorite.
Thoughts of his little temptress wife had him half-hard before he stepped into the shower. He took his time lathering up and scrubbing his hair. There was something important he had promised to do last night, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember what it was. It was a favor. A big favor.