Now he had to navigate his way through it.
Alone.
He needed some air, a few minutes, and some calm. Out on the balcony, he lit up a cigar.
It wasn’t five minutes when he got the text from Greyson.
And he was glad.
At that moment, he needed a friend.
No.
He needed his brother.
When Greyson entered his penthouse, it was silent. The lights were off, the place was calm, and he hunted down his wife to ease any fear he was feeling.
That’s when he found her.
Standing in the doorway of their bedroom, he found her in their bed, sleeping beside Chris.
At first, he debated waking them. They were both out cold, Emma with her back to him, and Chris beside her protectively. He was like that guard dog.
Where Emma was, Chris was not far behind. She was his person. Clearly.
Did it bother him?
No.
He trusted the people he loved, and he trusted Chris. He might not be HIS best friend, but he was his friend.
Heading toward him, Greyson tapped him on the shoulder. Chris’s eyes opened, and he blinked away the sleep. Gently, he placed his finger over his lips, signaling that Emma was out cold.
Chris nodded.
Greyson pointed toward their living room, and without hesitation, Chris was up and following.
He knew what it meant.
Greyson likely wanted an update.
Somehow, he managed to extricate himself from the bed without it moving too much, and disturbing her.
In the living room, he found the man pouring a large glass of bourbon.
Yeah, that said it all.
Someone was maxed out.
This wasn’t good.
“What happened? You guys are home early. We didn’t expect you until tomorrow. Did you get her?”
“Well, we found her,” he began, hoping that would be for the best. Dimitri was tense, and he knew that wasn’t good.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Greyson told him everything about what had gone down from the minute they hit the road, to the time they arrived at the mountain.
“Wow.”
Then he told him everything else about the mission, and how it went down.
From locating her.
To extricating her.
To resenting her.
Chris listened without judgment and knew why Greyson was telling him. Dimitri was his best friend, and he couldn’t talk it out with him.
Poppy was his woman.
“So, that’s why I need another drink,” he said, kicking back the bourbon.
“Okay, well, you have a right to be pissed,” Chris stated. “Her choices impacted your choices, and that’s never a good thing when you are part of a whole.”
He was right.
If there was one thing he didn’t do lightly, it was take a life. Yes, he killed a drug-dealing asshole who was trafficking women, but he did it face-to-face.
It had been personal.
Greyson knew that sniping someone…
It put a bad taste in his mouth. He’d done it for a living in the military, and he swore he’d never go back.
Poppy made him go back.
Vegas made him go back.
“I hope she stops the game. The woman, and trust me, my heart breaks for her, ran. She fucked up Dimitri, and she took our family and shook it up. I don’t like that.”
Oh, he was aware.
“Can I suggest something?” Chris asked.
“Sure.”
Chris had been thinking long and hard about all of this. When the men headed out, while he was supposed to be researching Zachary Lipton, he’d been thinking about what was coming.
The family needed some stability.
It needed a game plan.
“I can remove her from working with us. I own part of the company, and I don’t think she should be here with us as part of the team.”
Well, that said it all.
He stared at him.
“Dimitri will NOT like that. In fact, he’s likely going to go off like a Roman candle with a non-existent fuse.”
What was new?
After three months of being his physical gym punching bag, he was accustomed to it. What was one more explosion?
“Well, Kat and I have already discussed it as shareholders in the company. With both of us, we can outvote him.”
Clearly.
“She screws with his focus. She can’t be part of the team if she’s distracting the head of the team. Dimitri owns an equal share. Well, you do. He technically said it was yours.”
Greyson laughed.
“Well, that will go over even better. We have a coup in the works. Perfect.”
Chris laughed.
“In this case, Grey, I think we need to protect the family and do what’s best for us. Are you leaving?”
“Does Emma want to go?”
He didn’t speak.
“I know. You’re her best friend. You’ll keep clammed up for her, but I need to know what will make her happy. This whole Vegas thing is a mess.”
He was right.
“She doesn’t want to go.”
There it was.
He was good with Dimitri—until they usurped his company and told him Poppy couldn’t work for it—and then all bets were off.
“We’re staying. We’re safe here, as long as the family doesn’t implode.”
Chris was glad.
They had work to do.
“About the Poppy thing, just mull it over. I’m going to bring it up when I see him.”
Greyson didn’t think it was a bad idea.
Poppy, while a good person, was a cop. Some cops could cross, and some…
Riley went back for a reason.
Assimilating into this kind of life wasn’t for everyone. It was surprising that he, Chris, and Emma were able to do it.
“I really think it will be best for our family. I’m not saying she can’t be part of us, but maybe she should be a cop.”
Yeah, he was right.
The same was true with Riley. Watching Greyson kill was not something he stomached easily, and while Croft knew he was safe, he knew Riley needed to be a detective.
While he thought about it, he knew what he could use.
“Cigar?” he asked.
Chris knew Greyson would smoke when he needed to balance the scale.
That worked for him.
“Sure.”
They each grabbed one from the humidor and stepped out onto the side balcony. Once there, they were about to light up.
“Wait.”
Chris looked around like there was a hatchet-wielding killer coming at them.
“Smell.”
They knew that smell anywhere. Dimitri’s cigars had a specific scent to them—one he could pickup anywhere.
Yeah, there was trouble in paradise below.
Greyson had a feeling someone else also needed a cigar. So, he pulled out his cell and sent a text.
‘Are you having a cigar? Want company?’
He sent it and waited. The last thing anyone needed was the man internalizing his anger.
Once that happened, the shit was right around the corner. They had to head that one off at the pass.
His answer came.
‘Yes, please.’
Greyson showed Chris the reply, and both men knew what they needed to do.
“Let’s go.”
They left Emma a note on the kitchen island—in case she woke up to pee, and they locked the place up so no one could get in. Once on the balcony, they’d hear her if she called for them. Dimitri wasn’t that many floors below them.
“He’s got to be stirred up,” Chris stated.
“Yeah, and we know how that ends.”
They both pointed at their faces.
Bruises.
Anger.
Fights.
It was time to stop that
from happening. At Dimitri’s door, Greyson entered the code. After turning off the alarm, and heading in, the place was silent.
There was no sign of Poppy.
Crap.
They hoped there hadn’t been a fight.
Searching for him, they found him on the balcony, boots up on the rail, cigar in hand, and a bottle with three glasses.
It looked like they were tying one on.
Tomorrow was going to suck.
Greyson came out with Chris, and they took their customary seats staring out over the lights of Las Vegas—the town that brought them together.
With the sliding door closed, Dimitri knew he needed help, and these two men were the people he trusted with his secrets and life.
He let it rip.
“I’m pissed at her. Before, I was scared I wouldn't get her back, but now I’m just angry.”
They let him talk.
“I want to be happy, but she did so much damage to us,” he said, looking over at the two men. “I was lost in that pity party, and I hurt you, Chris, physically, and I hurt you, Greyson, both physically and emotionally. I’m sorry. I need you both now. Help me through this. Please.”
They lit up.
Well, since he’d asked…
“Do you still want to be with her?” Chris asked. “Or are you over it?” Not having her work with them might be the best thing and easily handled after all.
It looked like he and Kat were on the right path after all.
“I’m madly in love with her, but I need to have space to think. I need to know you both forgive me. If that’s the case, I can forgive her. I don’t want to lose my brothers over this.”
Greyson poured them triple shots of bourbon.
They each took one and sipped.
“I’m not angry with you,” Chris stated, “but I want to suggest something.”
Greyson stared at him, praying Chris wasn’t going there now. Did he not see the powder keg waiting to blow?
He gave him the look.
It was ignored.
“What?” he asked.
“She can’t work with us.”
They held their breath.
Instead of anger, there was quiet resignation.
“I know.”
There was that moment where they expected him to lose it, and he didn’t. Instead, he was cool, calm, and collected. Clearly, he was still in control.
“I think that for her, she needs to get back to work. I think that Poppy needs to be a cop. Our world isn’t going to be good for her. She’s going to forever relate it to what happened.”
Dimitri sipped his drink and considered what he’d said. He wished he was only that noble. Honestly, he loved his life, and skirting between good and bad was in his blood.
It wasn’t in Poppy’s.
Dimitri feared she’d never understand all of that. Chris, in this case, had nailed it on the head.
“Riley went back,” Greyson offered.
He was aware.
“Thank you for being honest with me. That proves to me we’re okay. If you weren’t my brothers, you would have withheld this from me in fear I’d be angry.”
Chris was relieved.
Dimitri was right.
Family didn’t hide things. That made him think about Emma’s offer, and how Greyson would respond.
“We like Poppy,” Greyson stated. “In fact, I love her for you. I just think that with our jobs…”
Yeah, he got it.
The first case she helped on, she’d been good, but she fought him tooth and nail.
“Let’s help her heal, and then let’s get her back to work,” Greyson offered.
Yeah, that was for the best.
“Agreed.”
They had a plan.
“Anything else?” Dimitri asked. “Since we’re being honest and frank, what’s up next?”
Chris knew he had to come clean.
“Emma offered to have my baby,” he said, catching both men off guard.
Greyson started choking on his bourbon, and Dimitri had to pound him on the back to help him get air.
“WHAT?” Greyson asked, his eyes huge.
What the hell had gone on when he was out finding Poppy? Clearly, something.
He told him everything, leaving nothing out. He didn’t want that between them. Chris didn’t want there to ever be that illusion that they were being sneaky.
Greyson knew how Chris felt about her.
He knew the man loved his wife.
That was how they rolled.
They didn’t lie about anything.
Dimitri was fascinated by all of this. He wasn’t sure if he’d be tossing Chris off the balcony or not. At first, yes, but Greyson didn’t look angry.
He was trying to learn from the man beside him.
“I told her how I was jealous that you’re going to have a son, and how Dimitri has two children. He gets that love and adoration. I’ve always wanted kids, and it’s hard. Paris is going to be a dad. Riley and Delilah are trying, and the gunkles are too. I’m the odd man out.”
Dimitri hurt for him.
He never knew how much he loved being called Papa until they stopped doing it. When Kat and Nat grew up, they called him Dimitri. Now, Sam and Petra would always call him dad.
That was something he loved more than life. He loved his kids.
“She suggested a surrogate, but you know me,” Chris offered.
And they did.
“It took you a whole day to pick out a tie for a wedding,” Dimitri stated.
See?
It wasn’t just him who saw it.
“I used the Chinese food analogy, but, yeah, I know. Plus, it seems all kinds of wrong. It’s like hiring a hooker.”
“Trust me, it’s nothing like hiring a hooker,” Dimitri offered, laughing.
Chris would have to take his word for it. That was a path he was NOT going to take.
Greyson was silently sitting there the entire time, taking it all in. Was he shocked?
No.
Was it something he could do?
Yeah, he wasn’t sure.
If territorial had a picture of a person in the dictionary, it was one of him.
With a cave.
A fire.
Dragging a babe by her hair.
This…
Talk about progressive thinking.
“What are you thinking?” Chris asked, hoping the man wasn’t pissed at him—or Emma.
“That this was a punch to the gut. I didn’t think I’d hear that when I got back.”
Chris patted him on the shoulder.
“It’s okay. I told her I’d think about it. I wanted to talk to you. I can see you aren’t comfortable with it. Don’t stress it. I’ll be fine.”
They didn’t buy that for a second.
They knew Chris.
True to his nature, Chris changed the subject.
“Today, we did the interview.”
He told them all about Alexsandra, and how Emma was going to help save her life.
No one doubted it. Emma, if anything, was predictable when it came to saving a person.
Then he went into the case.
“If we want to tie the man to Misty’s murder, we need to talk to the madam and see what happens. I suggest we handle that in the morning,” Chris stated. “Who’s going out with me? I know it won’t be Emma.”
“I’ll go,” Dimitri offered.
“Great,” he said. “Thanks for the drink and cigar,” Chris said, putting his out. “I’m going to head to bed.”
“Text me when you’re ready to go,” Dimitri offered. “I’ll be ready.”
“Okay.”
With that, he left.
The two men sat there.
In silence.
“What are you going to do?” Dimitri asked, knowing what Greyson was thinking about.
How could he not be?
Dimitri knew that out of all three of them, there were varying shades of caveman beha
vior.
Chris was the least caveman.
Greyson the most.
There was no doubt that the picture of Greyson’s wife pregnant with another man’s child was stuck in his head.
His face said it all.
“It seems today sucked for all of us,” Dimitri stated when Greyson didn’t answer him.
Yeah, it did.
Greyson wanted to know why the HELL couldn’t his life be easy?
“I don’t know. I didn’t see this one coming. Now I have to figure out how far this will push me over the edge and how much Emma is going to push for it.”
Dimitri tried to reassure him like Chris would always do when he and Greyson were at odds.
He owed him.
“I don’t think he meant actually having sex with her to knock her up,” Dimitri offered.
Greyson stared at him.
It said it all.
“Well, he’d definitely do it that way, but you have to give him credit. He could have kept this to himself, and he didn’t. He was honest.”
Yes, there was that.
Dimitri was just glad he wasn’t alone on Shit Island. Misery loved company.
“And you did give your swimmers to Paris and Tessa. Technically, it’s the same thing. You gave away your kids.”
Greyson pointed at him.
“You can shut up now,” he stated. “I don’t need you to cheer me up.”
Dimitri laughed and sipped his bourbon.
“I’d do it.”
“WHY?”
“He’s right, in a way. When Chris and Natasha were dating, I heard him tell her a few times how he couldn’t wait to have kids. I think that’s part of the thing that gave Natasha cold feet. She never felt maternal. She hated the idea of being a mother.”
He was aware.
Greyson was torn.
He wanted to help him, but Emma…that was his wife. His one cherished thing. Yes, he was an asshole for having a double standard, but that’s who he was.
A freaking caveman.
Today, it bit him in the ass.
“The media will have a field day.”
Dimitri kept trying to keep it calm.
“Um, how would they know who the baby belongs to, and they already say that Mac could be Chris’s? What’s the difference?”
Dimitri was right.
He knew there was none.
Why should he give a shit about the media now when he never did before?
No Justice_A Croft Mob Family Book Page 21