“Tags, huh?” Danny grinned and shoved the empty seat next to him far enough away from the table Knox could slide right in. “You sure you don’t want to go with something that would warn the male population off a little more clearly? Like, I don’t know...a big honkin’ ring?”
Eyes on the screen in front of him and fingers moving at about half the time what Knox was capable of, Beckett cut in with a chuckle. “Be glad he didn’t haul her off to a tattoo shop in the middle of the night.”
“Property of,” Axel added.
Jace held Knox’s gaze, but his low voice was for everyone else at the table. “Careful, brothers. What comes around goes around.” He scanned the rest of the men and picked up his coffee. “The way I see it, you’re all prime pickings to be in his shoes. Just a matter of which one’s gonna fall next.”
Yeah, Jace got it. Had been the first of the brothers to face all the unfamiliar sensations that came from claiming a woman for their own. The fact that he’d never thought to be in these shoes only made the moment sweeter. “They can give me all the hell they want. Only thing I care about right now is fixing shit so Darya and the rest of our women aren’t cooped up inside four walls.” He stretched his legs out long, reclined against the seat back and rested his forearm on the table, fingers coiled loosely around his mug’s handle. Eyes on Beckett, he got down to business. “So? Anyone watching Darya’s house?”
“Two,” Beckett said. “Took a while, but found ’em backed into a driveway across from the complex. House was for rent and completely dark. Only thing that tipped ’em off was their shiny black Mercedes.”
“Not exactly the best way to blend in in that neighborhood,” Danny said.
Axel leaned into the table and sipped his coffee. “A good slip for us, though, if it means Beckett can get a bead on where they’re operating from or how big their crew is.”
“What about Darya?” Jace asked Knox.
“What about her?”
“If they’re tracking movements then they’d have marked the two of you leaving with a suitcase in tow. They might buy you two headin’ out for a little trip, but if she doesn’t pop back up on their radar, they’re guaranteed to start digging into you.”
“Let ’em dig.”
Jace hesitated, keeping his gaze steady even as he gave his toothpick a quick swirl with his tongue. “Think you’re missing my point. If she shows, it keeps them off track. They think we’re still clueless and buy us more time to build a plan.”
“No.” As if his harsh shut down wasn’t enough, Knox focused on the screen in front of him completely cutting eye contact. “I’m not using her.”
Situated on the same side of the table as Knox, Beckett shifted enough to see around Danny. “He’s got a good point, Knox. No one’s saying it has to be much. Just show back up at her place, drop off an empty suitcase and head out again.”
Knox whipped his head around and glared with all he had in him. “Not gonna happen.” He held Beckett’s stare and tried bringing his breath in line with something less heavy than a marathon runner. Not exactly the easiest task considering his heart had taken off at a sprint with the mere idea of letting Darya outside the safety of his loft. He forced his attention back to his laptop. “I put out a new honeypot.”
His brothers kept their silence, either too stunned by his outright refusal to say anything, or just giving him space to see where the new topic was headed. He was just about to share more when Axel grumbled, “What the fuck’s a honeypot?”
Danny snickered. “It’s a lure. Knox uses ’em to trick people nosing into our business. Fake databases with the promise of financial or personal info. They bite and he blocks.”
Axel grinned. “Think I like my definition of honeypot better, but to each his own.”
One quip and the tension was broken. But then, that was the thing Knox loved about his brothers. They might not always see eye to eye completely, but they always had each others’ backs.
“I take it you’re hoping this lure is gonna get us another inroad to Ruslan?” Jace said.
Knox nodded. “The goal’s to find some way I can get them suckered into uploading a RAT.”
Axel’s head snapped back and he frowned. “A what?”
“Remote Access Trojan,” Beckett answered. “Basically malware. It gets him administrative access to their systems.”
“And from there I get whatever information on this prick we need to gain leverage.” Knox hesitated. Of all the shit they’d done together in the years since he’d met them, what he was about to suggest was probably the most dangerous. “The little bit of research I did on Ruslan last night showed this guy’s loaded.”
“You wanna hit the fucker’s accounts.” Jace grinned huge. “You’re a mean bastard when someone messes with your toys.”
“Like you’d do anything different if it was Viv.”
The grin died and the lethal side Jace barely kept banked on a good day roared to life. “I’d take his money, but only as a means to lure him close enough to cut his dick off and choke the son of a bitch on it.”
“Then you see my point.”
“Clear as day.” He reclined against his seat back. “Still, you take that step, it’ll escalate fast. We ready for that?”
“Not yet,” Beckett said. “We will be. Just need to find where they’re holed up and if Ruslan’s even with them.”
Danny perked up in his chair, eyes narrowed on his laptop. “You got any tenants registered with a navy blue 750 BMW?”
Knox leaned over only long enough to confirm the model that pulled up in front of the building then checked all the makes and models listed by their renters. “Don’t remember anyone with a BMW, let alone a 750.”
“Brother, that’s not just a 750,” Beckett said. “That’s an Alpina with blacked out glass I’d bet is bulletproof.”
Danny zoomed in on the car and punched a few keystrokes on the keyboard. A second later the image flashed on one of the six flat screens on the wall just as the front two doors of the sedan opened. Two men dressed in dark pants and black oxfords rolled up at the forearms unfolded themselves from each side. Both scanned the immediate perimeter before the driver shifted to the rear door curbside and opened it.
Another man stepped out, this one dressed to rival Axel on one of his most tricked-out days. His gray suit reeked of money, and despite the muggy morning his white shirt looked hanger fresh. Come to think of it, with his dark shoulder-length hair and trimmed beard, he and Axel would have been double-trouble in the clubs. He glanced up toward the top of the building as though he felt the stares on him, fastened his double-breasted jacket and pushed his shoulders back as only a man comfortable with power could.
Jace swiveled his head to Knox. “Somethin’ tells me our search for Ruslan just got a whole lot shorter.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
That ballsy motherfucker.
Knox’s chair legs grated harsh against the concrete floor as he stood, nearly pushing the damned thing to its back along the way. He opened his mouth to order the women to his suite, but promptly swallowed the command at Darya’s startled voice.
“Oh my God.” With a whole lot of shock and a twist of delight on her face, she slid off her bar stool and hurried to the dining room table, leaving Ninette and Sylvie wide-eyed and silent. Not once on her way toward Knox did her eyes move off the screen in the center. “What’s Sergei doing here?”
Even after a night of recon, Danny and Beckett got their heads out of neutral faster than Knox, practically talking over each other.
“Who’s Sergei?”
“That’s not Ruslan?”
“Considerin’ the lass is smilin’, I’m gonna hazard not.” Typical Axel, he chuckled and reclined against his seat back, stroking his fingers through his beard like he’d just stumbled on one hell of
an entertaining show. “Whoever he is, the man’s got style.”
“Never a dull moment in this family,” Jace added with a shake of his head.
On the screens, the two men who’d vacated the front seat stood with feet braced, shoulders back, and hands loosely clasped in front of them. The suit—or Sergei, as it seemed to be—trekked into the lobby toward the imminent two-on-one with Beckett’s guards.
Knox stepped in close to Darya and turned her to face him. “You know this guy?”
Axel was right. Whoever this guy was, she was happy to see him. Maybe not doing cartwheels happy, but there was a definite tilt to her lips. Fuck if that didn’t make him want to punch the bastard on principle. As if she needed one last confirmation, she glanced back at the screen then nodded. “Sergei helped me escape.”
“I thought some dude named Yefim did that,” Danny said from behind her.
Beckett’s phone rang just as two more guards moved into the camera’s view, each coming from the main stairwell’s secured door. Sure enough, one of the main guards had his own phone to his ear. “Yeah, we see him,” Beckett said in way of a greeting. He glanced up at Darya. “Just keep him there for now. Looks like we know him.”
Understanding settled into her features and her mouth parted. “You thought he was Ruslan?”
Jace shrugged. “A dude in a suit pullin’ up in a hundred and thirty thousand dollar car with two men for backup—not exactly a huge leap.”
“No.” She splayed her hand above Knox’s sternum, an urgent touch he couldn’t decide how to interpret. Either she was upset at the concern this guy’s arrival had caused, or she was scared shitless he and his brothers were going to string him up by his nuts and was desperate to stop them. “I told you Yefim called on his own mafiya connections to help me escape. It was Anton’s most trusted avtoritet who actually made it happen.”
“Sergei,” Knox said, hating the way the guy’s name sat on his tongue. Which was thirty kinds of stupid considering if it hadn’t been for the guy, Darya wouldn’t be here right now. “This guy got a last name?”
She cocked her head and studied his face. “Petrovyh.” With her accent, the bastard’s name sounded way too sexy.
Great. One more thing to tweak his ego.
Her lips tipped as though she’d stumbled onto a secret and she moved in close enough to band her arms around his waist. When she spoke, her voice was low and only for him. “I have known Sergei for many years and I owe him much for his actions. But you should also know that he is fourteen years older than me and was raised by Yefim from the age of twelve.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that in the time I knew him, he treated me as a little sister. Nothing more. And even if he’d had an interest in me, his position with Anton would have made any relationship nearly impossible.”
Right. He’d seen the way men looked at Darya—old men and his own brothers included. No way this Sergei guy was any exception. Still, if all she saw in him was a big brother that was something. He hugged Darya flush against him and focused on Beckett. “I take it he’s here for a chat?”
Phone still pressed against his ear, Beckett covered the bottom half of the phone with his big palm. “Lance says he asked for you and Darya specifically. Said you have a mutual acquaintance that needs attention.”
“How the fuck did he know to come here?” Danny said.
“My guess is the best way to find that out is to ask.” Jace twisted enough to study Sergei in the screen. “Sure as shit doesn’t look like the guy’s in a hurry to leave.”
No. Not at all. In fact, if Beckett’s four guards braced in front of him even remotely gave him the heebees, Sergei didn’t show it. Just stood there with his feet planted hip width apart and his arms easy at his sides. Definitely ballsy.
Knox peered down at Darya. “You really trust this guy?”
She held his stare, her breath coming soft and even. “I will not lie to you. Working for Yefim, I met many dangerous men. None were more so than Sergei. He grew up in the life. Started working for Anton when he was only sixteen. He’s smart. Very well educated. Loyal to those inside his realm. But also deadly.” She paused a beat and twisted in his arms enough to speak to Axel and Jace. “I trust him not just with my own life, but with the lives of your family.”
Jace twirled his toothpick.
Axel rocked back on the rear legs of his chair.
It was Ninette who broke the silence. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” All the men turned toward the kitchen in time to see her power off the tablet she’d been surfing on and push it aside like she’d had enough of waiting for the men to pull their heads out of their asses. “If Darya says he’s good, let the man up. We’ll get a hell of a lot more answers that way than with the four of you beating your chest and sending smoke signals.”
“Don’t hold back, Mom. Tell us what’s really on your mind,” Jace said.
“I’ll tell ye what’s on my mind.” Sylvie wiped her hands on her dish towel, laid it on the counter and dipped her head toward the flat screens. “The man wears a fine suit and is easy on the eyes. If the four of ye can’t give the all clear, Ninnie and I will for the view alone.”
“Amen to that,” Ninette added.
“Jesus,” Axel said under his breath as he sat up. He looked to Beckett and shrugged. “Do it. We’ll get answers and make the women happy.”
Still wrapped up in Knox’s arms, Darya snickered.
Beckett scowled at each of the women, but peeled his palm away from the phone and growled into the handset, “Send him up.”
The next few minutes passed in silence, Danny and Beckett heading out to the elevator landing with holstered weapons in plain sight while Jace and Axel kept their seats and their unflappable calm. Ninette and Sylvie kept on with their usual synchronized kitchen routine like they hadn’t just welcomed up a known killer to the loft.
The top right screen showed the elevator swishing open and Sergei stepping into the plain gray space.
“You know they’re gonna frisk him, right?” Knox said.
She squeezed the hand she’d laced tight with his the second the guards had stepped aside and let Sergei pass. “It’s no different than what he would do. He’ll respect the action more than be offended by it.”
Knox shifted his attention to hers. “I could give a fuck what he thinks. It’s what you think I’m worried about.”
She smiled at that, her eyes alight with understanding and a little wonder. “I worry about what you think, too. Just remember what I said. He gave me much. Treated me like a little sister for many years. I could no more give him a cold welcome than I could your family.” She skimmed her fingertips along his jawline and lowered her voice. “Will you trust me?”
Before he could answer, the loft door opened.
Danny ambled in first and jerked his chin up at Knox.
Behind him was Sergei with Beckett practically a lead blanket on his back. To his credit, Sergei didn’t seem the least bit put off by the intimidation tactic. Just scanned the room in one cool sweep before his eyes locked on to Darya. “Moya zvyozdochka.”
Two words Knox didn’t understand for shit, but spoken directly to his woman with a low familiarity and warmth that made Knox grit his teeth.
Darya, on the other hand, beamed back at the guy. “Sergei.” She started forward and solely by Herculean will did Knox let her fingers slip from his.
He followed her, though. Yeah, the guy might have saved her and deserved a decent hello, but that didn’t mean Knox couldn’t make it clear as day whose arms she was headed back to once all the hi-how-are-yas were done.
Rolling up on her toes, she threw her arms around Sergei’s neck and hugged him tight, the gesture no different than the ones he’d spied her sharing with Beckett after a hard session of sparring. “It’s good to see you.”
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Gaze sliding to Knox, Sergei carefully returned the hug, his big hands splayed firm, but high on her back and well away from her hips. Silver and black rings adorned three of his fingers and one thumb and black tattoos in a variety of symbols took up a good chunk of real estate on the backs of his hands and near his knuckles. A string of Russian none of them had a hope in hell of understanding slipped from his lips.
Darya understood it, though, and given the way she jerked out of Sergei’s arms and scowled, it wasn’t good.
Knox moved in, pulling Darya back into the circle of his arm. “Let’s try that again. In English.”
One side of Sergei’s mouth quirked in an almost smile. His accent was much heavier than Darya’s, but the words he strung together made it clear he had no problem with the language. “You have found worthy protectors, it seems,” he said to Darya. “I shared as much with Yefim. He is pleased.”
A mix of sadness and worry crept across Darya’s face. “He’s okay?”
“Quite well. Cantankerous as usual, but still fit and pulling too many strings.” Sergei smoothed his hand down the front of his jacket, taking note of each person’s placement in the room and the security footage marking every angle on the building. He zeroed in on Knox. “I’m sure Darya has already shared my name, but I will offer it myself.” He held out his hand. “I am Sergei Petrovyh. I consider her former employer and patron, Yefim Mishin, my father.”
“Knox Torren.” Knox shook his hand. “Darya told us you’re the person who helped her escape.”
Sergei looked to Darya, a silent question behind his eyes.
“I have no secrets from Knox,” Darya said quietly. “Not from him or his family.”
“Her family,” Knox corrected.
It took only a handful of seconds, but Sergei nodded and spoke to the room at large. “Just as well. It will make the news I have to share less tedious in the details.”
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