Owned by the Boss

by Brook Wilder

  She drags her fingers through my beard as she smiles sadly. When tears shimmer in her eyes, my arms tighten their protective hold around her. If only I could keep her safe from her own mind, I would. “I keep seeing this image,” she says, the words coming out strained. “It’s of you dressed all in black like you’re going on one of your missions.”

  My heart beats faster, in time with hers. I feel the pounding in her chest pressed against me. “And?”

  She swallows hard and swipes at her eyes, avoiding my face. “And you’re holding something. It’s small, so small. There’s a smile on your face, but it only ever lasts a few seconds.” She’s trembling now, and I want nothing more than to hear the rest of this nightmare so I can find a way to rip it away from her for good. I’ve never seen Stella this shaken, after all we’ve been through together. “The sky grows dark and then your hands are covered in blood.”

  I say nothing, unsure of what I can at this point. I gently wipe the tears slipping from her eyes and she sucks in a harsh breath like she’s coming up for air.

  “Then the bundle in your arms turns red, too, and I know … I just know it’s a baby. Our baby, and I can’t get to either of you, and then you die. You both die, Danya. Every night I see you die, and then it starts all over again. I just can’t do this.”

  Her head falls to my shoulder and I hug her close as she cries. “It’s just a dream,” I assure her. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere. I’m sure as hell not going to die on you.”

  She sits up and rests her hands on her stomach. The action sends a primitive jolt through me to protect this woman and whatever child she might wind up carrying one day. A swell of pride fills me next, imagining her belly swollen with a baby. Our baby. I place my hand over hers and hold it there.

  “Listen to me, Stella. Whatever baby we have, I’ll do everything I can to protect it. Everything, you hear me? No one is going to take us from you.”

  “But if we have a baby now, if there’s still a traitor in the family—”

  “That is for me to worry about. I will protect our family no matter the cost.”

  Her eyes scrunch, but I can’t tell what she’s thinking. All I can tell is that she’s scared and worried and it’s slowly eating her alive. I know now I can’t tell her about the darker side of my life, not when she’s already on edge. Admitting my crimes to her, what I intend to do once I find the traitor, will drag her over the edge with me. I won’t let Stella become a cold, heartless woman. She clings to my arms in the darkness of the early morning and I do the only thing I can think of to prove to her I’m still alive, we both are.

  I bury my hand in her hair and crush my lips to hers. She gasps then sinks into my body, wrapping her arms around my neck. The thin fabric of her nightgown is all that prevents me from feeling all of her. I shove the straps down her shoulders as I kiss my way down her neck, nipping and sucking at the sensitive skin just below her ear. She shudders, but this time I know it’s out of want, not fear that her nightmare is about to come true. My tongue grazes along the flesh of those soft, full mounds and her head falls back on a quiet moan. Holding her up with one arm, I massage her chest then suckle on those ripe, pink nipples begging for my attention.

  Her nails dig into my shoulders as I suck hard, teasing her with my tongue as my cock swells in the cradle of her hips. I shift my hips in a steady, barely there motion, and she presses herself closer, grinding against me until I’m grunting from desire to claim this woman all over again. Somedays I wake up still not believing she’s finally mine.

  And some days I’m almost struck dead by fear that even though Mikhail is dead, someone else will steal her from me. That I’ll fail in protecting her. Her nightmare mirrors my own worst fear of losing Stella for good.

  My touches turn frantic as I work at shoving her panties aside. Her hands work just as quickly as mine do, freeing my hardened shaft from my boxers. She guides me to her sex, slick with hunger only for me, and then she glides down, taking me in inch by inch until she has all I am. As she lifts herself up only for me to plunge into her depths again, I tug on her nipples, teasing them to even harder points. Her brow furrows and she rides me faster. My hands slip to her ass, cupping it firmly. I reach between us and rub her nub vigorously until her mouth falls open on a silent cry.

  “I’ll never leave you,” I whisper to her as the pleasure builds between us. “Not you and not our unborn child.” I rest my hand on her lower belly and the second our eyes meet, the dam of ecstasy crashes over us. She cries out and loses the rhythm, but I quickly pick it back up. Gripping her hips, I thrust upward, filling her until, finally, my cock swells and I have sweet release. One day, we’ll do this to make a child, a baby we can bring into our lives and make our family bigger.

  One day.

  She slumps against me and I lie back with her cradled in my arms. My fingers lazily trail down her back, knowing in the center, between her shoulder blades, is the tattoo of a blackbird flying away. She sits up and pins me to the bed with a look.

  “I want to know what you’re doing,” she says, and I hesitate. “Please, Danya. I don’t want to be one of those wives who are in the dark all the time. I want to know everything you’re doing. Every corner of your life, I want to be a part of it. That’s the only thing that will keep us strong in the end.”

  “Stella,” I say, but she kisses me, cutting off my protest.

  “I can take it, I can. I love you, Danya, and nothing you tell me, nothing I see you do will change that. If we’re going to get through this insanity, we’re going to do it standing side by side.” She tugs on my beard and kisses me again. “Promise you won’t keep me in the dark, not anymore.”

  “You don’t know what you’re asking.” I take her hand and kiss her knuckles one after the other. “I told you before there are some parts of my life I’m not ready to let you see.”

  “And I’m telling you it will change nothing. I can handle it.”

  I untangle myself from her and climb out of bed. “I’m not always a good man,” I admit, unable to look at her as I say it. “I’m not some knight in shining armor, Stella. I am the man my father made me be. A criminal. A killer.”

  The blankets rustle behind me and then she’s wrapping her arms around my waist as she kisses my back. “You are also the man I love unconditionally and my husband. I will never let you become Mikhail,” she adds so quietly I almost don’t hear it.

  Across the room, I spot our reflections in the mirror hanging on the closet door. Stella seems so small as she stands behind me. So small and breakable, but there she is, willing to fall into the darkness with me, only to drag me right back out. I only hope she’s strong enough and that I’m not about to regret my next decision.

  “What did I do to deserve you?” I turn slowly around and lift her into my arms.

  She smiles down at me as I lay her back on the bed and settle myself between her legs. Her fingers trail down my face to my lips. She doesn’t answer, but she doesn’t have to. I can see her answer plain as day in those green eyes sucking me in like they always do. I kiss her leisurely, eventually shedding what little clothing we have on and tucking us beneath the blankets. Her laughter is a far cry from the silence I endured these last few days.

  I just hope it lasts.

  Chapter 7

  Danya

  The whiskey burns as it slides down my throat. I broke into the stronger shit this evening, not sure why I have a nagging voice in my head telling me my world’s about to come crashing down. It’s after five in the evening. I lean in the doorway to the master bedroom watching over Stella as she sleeps. I don’t have the heart to wake her, seeing her finally sleeping soundly. Her color seems better, too. She might be feeling better after our talk, but all it did was make my stress grow that she is not ready for what was to come.

  If she wants to know everything, I’ll show her everything. God help her if she can’t take it.

  My cell vibrates in my pocket and I back away from the ro
om then answer it. “Yeah?”

  “I have some information for you,” Lukas says. “I’m outside if you and the wife aren’t busy.”

  “Be right down.”

  I hang up and go answer the front door to let Lukas in. He glances around and I nod toward the stairs.

  “She’s sleeping.”

  “Is she sick?” Lukas asks as he follows me through the house to my study. He starts to shut the doors, as is his habit when delivering news so Stella can’t hear.

  “No, leave them open.” His brow rises, but he does as I say. “What did you find out?”

  “We found one of the traitors at least. He hasn’t broken all the way yet, but he finally confessed to helping the twins tip off Francesco about the assassination.”

  “Who is it?”

  Lukas sinks into one of the winged chairs and says, “Hogan, believe it or not.”

  “Shit, seriously? Who’s in charge of him?” I might be the man they answer to, but I assigned officers to different groups. The officers report to Lukas, who then reports to me. Some of the officers weren’t just under my command, but Mikhail’s or Uncle Vlad. With both men dead, all officers are now under my watch. Lev was decent enough to let me take charge of our forces, at least, if not the overall business.

  “Jeremiah. He’s one of your father’s men. Or was,” Lukas says with a shake of his head. “You want us to bring him in?”

  “Yes. If he’s not involved, he’s going to pay for not realizing there was a traitor in his unit.”

  “I’ll send out the capture order.”

  “Hogan, where are you holding him?” I ask, then finish off the whiskey in my glass so I can fill it right back up.

  “Cells beneath the training facility.”

  I shoot back the whiskey then write a quick note to leave with Stella. “Let’s get back there, then, see what else Hogan is willing to tell us.”

  I read over what I just wrote and realize it’s a lie. Remembering the promise I made to Stella in the early hours of the morning, I crumple up the first note and jot down a second, telling her we found a traitor and I’ll be away interrogating him with Lukas. I hurry upstairs and leave it on the nightstand. She’s still sound asleep. I kiss her forehead then tuck the blankets around her. She smiles in her sleep and tugs my pillow close, hugging it. My chest tightens and I force myself to back out of the room, closing the door behind me. I leave word with the guards outside to watch over her, then head out with Lukas to finally get some damn answers to who’s behind Mikhail’s death.

  Chapter 8

  Danya

  Two hours later, I wipe blood from my hands and try not to think about the nightmare Stella told me about. “You know, Hogan,” I say to the man bound in the metal chair, “this would go a lot easier for you if you would simply answer my questions. You know this.”

  The man in question spits a mouthful of blood at my feet. “Fuck you.”

  Lukas smacks him upside the head. “Answer the questions.”

  Hogan turns his head as much as he can and curses out Lukas. All that does is make the larger man deck him so hard the chair crashes to the floor. Hogan grunts as he lies there on his side, too weak to lift his head off the concrete. His right eye is completely swollen shut and his nose is broken. He has several gashes on his cheeks from my hits and at least three ribs are broken by now. I’m about to start on fingers if he doesn’t start cooperating.

  “Set him back up,” I tell Lukas and he does it. “Tell me again what you know, all of it. From the beginning. Who gave you the order?”

  Hogan lifts his chin high and clamps his lips shut the best he can with how swollen they are.

  “Fine.” I grab his hand that’s strapped to the arm of the chair and wrench his middle finger back hard enough to hear a crack. Hogan shrieks as I break two more. “Now you want to talk, or should I grab that sledgehammer and shatter your kneecaps? Your choice.”

  “Go to hell.”

  I shrug and walk to the far wall. The second I pick up the sledgehammer, Hogan screams.

  “Wait! All right, just fucking wait.”

  My brow goes up as I hoist the hammer over my shoulder. “You have five seconds to start talking. Five, four,” I say, counting down. When I reach one, I swing the hammer and Hogan’s scream of agony echoes around the room, bouncing off the stone walls. His head falls forward and then he vomits all over himself. I cringe in disgust then make ready to do the same to his other kneecap.

  “The twins,” Hogan finally spits out in between gasps. “They told me to tell Francesco about the assassination plan, him and Russo.”

  “And you decided you would betray me to help them?”

  His gasping turns into a horrible cackling as he lifts his head and grins despite the pain he must be in. “You know for all your talk of being the best, you don’t see much. I was friends with your brothers long before you recruited me to your ranks.” He spits at me again, but I’m beyond torturing him. He’s talking now, and the mad look in his eyes says he’ll keep on doing it if I ask the right question. Pain will do that to a man.

  “What did they offer you? Money?”

  “Whatever the fuck I wanted,” he replies, and his grin turns into a leer. “They even promised me a go at your wife once you’re out of the picture.”

  On second thought … I swing the hammer back in a burst of fury and shatter his other kneecap. I let the hammer clang to the floor as he screams and curses me out. Imagining the twins with their hands on Stella, with this sick fuck’s hands on her, makes my blood boil. I think of Stella’s nightmare again and whirl around on Hogan. I grab him by the neck and force his head back.

  “You’re going to tell me exactly what their plan is or the next hour of your life is going to be nothing but misery until you’re begging to die.”

  “I’m not telling you shit.”

  “Lukas, the pliers. Hogan doesn’t need teeth to talk.”

  Hogan’s eyes widen and he wrenches his head to the side, but I only squeeze his neck tighter. “Fuck, all right,” he mutters. “Your father. They wanted your father dead, and they framed Vlad.”

  “Why?”

  “Why else?” He coughs as I release his neck. When he starts to take too long to answer, I hold out my hands for the pliers. “Power. They want to take over the family business, run it their way. They think Mikhail was weak and that you’re just the same since you married the Russo bitch.”

  I straighten enough to smack him across the face with the pliers. His head lolls on his shoulders, but he’s still conscious. “Why am I still alive then, huh? Why not just kill me that night?”

  “Aleksandr said they needed you alive for a bit longer. After he shot Mikhail, he had me wait for you then told me to try and kill you, but not succeed.” He smirks as he glances at my chest, where the bullet struck me. “Guess it’s a good thing I know how to shoot.”

  Wanting to be finished with this piece of shit, I grab a handful of his hair and yank his head back. “Why don’t they want me dead yet?”

  “You’re in good with the mayor and the police chief,” he says in a rush. “Something about you securing new buildings in the heart of downtown and getting more funds to expand the empire to other major cities.” He licks his lips then starts to cackle again. “The mayor has never been fond of your brothers. He won’t work with them or the De Lucas. But he’ll work with you.”

  That deal has been in the works for the last six months, ever since Mikhail had me start working on ways to gain more power for our family, taking territory away from the Italian families. The twins marrying De Lucas must be part of the deal to bring the families together and what, push Mikhail and me out? Hogan’s admissions aren’t adding up and I release him as I pace away, trying to think. What am I missing?

  “You think this has to do with that legislation?” Lukas whispers to me, out of earshot of Hogan.

  “How? The twins know exactly what that law would do,” I reply, but he might have a point.

>   A year ago, a bill was introduced that would raise the taxes and make the regulations nearly impossible for us to continue our business within the pharmaceutical world. Getting our product into the city would become a challenge, and ensuring our profits remained clean would be nearly impossible. If it passed, it would bring down the entire operation in a year. Bankrupt us in two. Last I heard, the legislation was stalled thanks to some last-minute donated funds to certain political figures. Why would the twins want to bring the entire empire down?

  I curse and shake my head. “They don’t want Mikhail’s empire; they want their own.”

  “And De Luca’s part in this?” Lukas asks.

  “A way for them to get their foot in the door with the Italians, then take them down, too. This plan, though, it’s too complicated for them. Too clean. I’ve seen their operations and they’re never this well thought out.”