by Jagger Cole
At some point, we’ll have to leave this bedroom. But right now, I’m too happy to let that happen. I’m happier than I’ve been in decades, to be honest. And I don’t much feel like letting that go.
Katrina giggles when I tug her back into bed. She falls on top of me. My hands slide over her and grip her tight.
“You know at some point I will have to go get some things from my own rooms.”
“Nonsense,” I shrug. “I’ll call Harry to do it.”
She laughs. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather it not be Harry that goes through my dresser for new panties.”
I grin and shrug. “I fail to see why you’d need panties at all. Or any clothes for that matter.”
Katrina grins. She leans down to kiss me. “So I’ll just spend forever in your bed, naked?”
“That’s the general idea, yeah,” I growl. I’ve just finished making her come on my dick not five minutes go. But I’m already ready to go again. My thickness swells against her bare stomach, and she gasps.
“Are you really…”
“I blame you.”
She grins. She kisses me again, but then she squirms away. “Let me just go freshen up and get some stuff, okay? I’ll be gone five minutes. And then…” she blushes. Her eyes drop to my thickening cock.
She pulls away from my arms and stands. She plucks my dress shirt from the floor and slips it on. I watch her button it up. Christ, she’s so much smaller than me that it’s basically a bathrobe on her.
“I’ll be right back,” she smiles and blows me a kiss. Damn, there’s something about the little hint of accent in her voice that drives me fucking wild. I watch her saunter from the room, and I grin. A week ago, she was a timid little mouse. Now, it’s like she’s turned into this confident little seductress.
When she steps out, I sigh and lean back in the bed. I check some messages on my phone. Then I call Dominic to check in on some stuff. Vincent and Bellamy are still on vacation, at my insistence. But Dom has seriously stepped up. I’ve got other captains who are older and who’ve been with the family longer. But there’s a hunger in that kid that resonates with me. He reminds me of Vincent when he was younger. Hell, he reminds me of myself.
“All good, Mr. Genovese,” he grunts. “We had a sit down with the Puerto Ricans this morning about the dispute over the bookies on 3rd avenue.”
“And?”
He hesitates. “I hope it was okay, Mr. Genovese. I know you’ve been busy this week…”
I smirk to myself. Yeah, busy. Busy making Katrina come every fucking way I can think of.
“I took the liberty of coming up with a split that I think will make both us and the Diaz family happy. Hector Diaz himself seemed pretty open to it, actually.”
I nod. “Good. That’s good, Dom, thank you.”
“I would have run it by you—”
“No, that’s fine,” I grunt. “I like the initiative.”
“Thank you, sir. You want me to go over it with you?”
“How about you come by the house and we’ll do it in person?”
I’m well aware of the prestige it imparts having the boss invite you to his house to go over business. I can practically hear the grin on Dominic’s face.
“Absolutely, Mr. Genovese. When?”
“How far away are you?”
I really could spend the next year in bed with Katrina. But, at some point, I do have to get back to business. And maybe put some clothes on.
“I could be there in half an hour, actually.”
“Come on by. We’ll go over this compromise of yours.”
When I hang up, I lounge back in my bed. I frown and glance at the clock. She’s been gone for fifteen minutes. That’s roughly fourteen minutes and twenty seconds longer than I want her to be out of my arms. She did say she was going to freshen up. I start to wonder if she’s taking a shower. But then the visual of Katrina sudsing that curvy, tight little body up under the spray of the shower has me growling. It has my cock thickening.
I get out of bed and grab a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. I prowl down the hall towards her quarters. My hunger for her rises. So does something else, actually.
I step through the doorway into her rooms. But I stop short when I hear her speaking loudly. I frown. She’s yelling, actually. And in Russian. I scowl and walk over to her half-open bedroom door. I push it open just as she yells something into her phone. Then she angrily hangs up and throws it onto her bed.
“Everything okay?”
She shrieks and whirls. Her hand clutches at her chest. “Micheal!” she gasps.
“Sorry,” I smile. “Didn’t mean to scare you.” I frown. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah…” her face turns red. “Yeah, it’s fine.”
“What was that?”
She shakes her head and looks away. “Nothing.”
My brow furrows. “Nothing?”
“Just… it was my uncle.”
I roll my eyes. “The hell did he want?”
“Just being a jerk like usual.”
“Well next time he calls, tell me,” I growl. “So I can tell him to fuck off and stop harassing my wife.”
She smiles widely at me. Her face blushes and she chews on her lip. “I… I still need to shower.”
I nod. Her blush grows deeper.
“Since you’re here…” Katrina grinds seductively. “Maybe you want to join me?”
I groan. “I most certainly want to join you.”
She beams and turns away. She scampers into the bathroom, and I hear the water turn on. She steps back out as I’m peeling my shirt off. Just then, her phone dings with a text message alert. I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, so I turn to grab it for her.
“Wait!”
I frown and pause. The way she’s just blurted it rubs me strangely.
“Wait, I’ll get it.” She all but runs across the bedroom and snatches the phone up. My jaw tightens. I hate that I’m thinking it. But it’s right there on her face. She looks guilty as fuck. Of what, I don’t know. But she’s doing a terrible job of hiding whatever it is.
“Katrina,” I growl. Her eyes dart up to mine from her phone. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she blurts all too quickly. “It’s nothing. Forget it, okay?”
The phone dings again. She looks down at the screen. Her face pales. Okay, fuck this. I’m not trying to be controlling. I don’t want to distrust her. But I’ve gotten to where I am by being cautious. I’m at the top because I don’t ignore the little warning signs of life.
I grab the phone from her hand.
“Michael, wait!!”
Her text screen is open. My eyes land on the message that just came through. It just says, “do it.” My eyes drag higher up the conversation. The contact isn’t saved, but the message before it makes my blood chill. It says “do it today. Plant the devices in his office.” Then there’s a response from her in Russian. Then the one that just came through that says, “do it.”
My fury rises. My jaw tenses painfully, and I slowly drag my eyes up to her. Katrina looks terrified. Her face is pale, her eyes wide. Her lip trembles.
“Micheal…”
“What device,” I snarl quietly.
“Micheal, it’s not what you…”
“What device!!” I roar.
Katrina trembles. She looks absolutely terrified. “It’s… I can’t tell you.”
I snarl. “You damn well can,” I hiss. “Right the fuck now!”
Her eyes well with tears. “Please, he’ll…”
“Who,” I snap. I’m beyond angry. I feel betrayed. Stabbed in the back.
“Pavel,” she says quietly. “My uncle’s advisor.”
“And what fucking device does he want you to put in my goddamn office?”
She shakes her head. “I—I can’t…”
“Yeah, you damn well can,” I growl.
She starts to cry. It breaks my heart, but I steel myself. My anger carries me throug
h the hurt of seeing her like this.
“A listening device,” she blurts. “He wants to spy on you, but Micheal! Please! I couldn’t tell you! He said he’d hurt you if I—”
“He already did,” I snap. Fury explodes through me. “By sending you into my life to turn it upside down.”
“Please…” she sobs. “Please, you have to understand…”
“I understand perfectly,” I hiss. I turn and march for the door. Walking away from her feels like taking a bullet. But I have to stay strong. Betrayal is betrayal. A stab in the back is still a stab.
“Micheal! Please! Wait!”
I whirl at the door to her quarters. “You wanted to play wife?!” I snap. “You wanted to pretend to be mine?”
“I didn’t pretend anything…!”
“Well now you’re mine, alright,” I snap. “My fucking prisoner.”
I slam the door shut. My heart races. I turn, and I storm down the hall to my room.
15
Micheal
“Everything okay, boss?”
I blink. I look up from the scotch in my hand. Dominic is sitting across the desk from me. We’ve just sat down to talk about his territory settlement plan. Well, either we just sat down, or we’ve been sitting for an hour. I’m honestly numb.
I’m back in my usual suit. I’m in my office, talking to one of my men. I’m trying to pretend everything is normal. But it’s not. I’m honestly not sure what could possibly be normal after what just happened.
I let my guard down. That’s what happened. I ignored the warning voices. I decided I could be happy for once. And look where it’s gotten me.
I clear my throat. “Sorry,” I grunt. “Long day.”
Dominic nods. “No problem. We can do this later if you want.”
“No, it looks good, Dom.” It does, too. I haven’t really been paying too close attention to what he’s been saying. But the parts I’ve heard sound solid. “Good initiative.”
He grins. “Thanks, Mr. Genovese.” Dominic clears his throat. “Sir, there’s another thing I thought you might want to know about.”
“Oh?”
He frowns. He looks slightly uncomfortable.
“What is it?”
“It’s… delicate, sir.”
My brow creases. “How delicate?”
“Well, with you and Mrs. Genovese being married now…”
I smile to myself. Mrs. Genovese. I’ve never thought of Katrina as the “missus” yet. But the thought sours. I shake it away with a frown.
“What’s this about, Dom?”
“Sir, a few weeks ago when Sasha Korolyov pulled that shit, Vincent asked me to start monitoring Anton’s crew a little closer.”
“And you did?”
He nods. “Yeah. Put some tails on a few of his upper guys. I, uh…” he clears his throat, looking guilty.
“Dom, whatever it is, I’m going to be fine with it. Trust me.”
He nods. “Vincent and I both had got some sketchy vibes from Anton’s advisor.”
My attention pricks up. “Pavel?”
“Yeah, him.” Dominic frowns. “Mr. Genovese…”
There’s a sharp knock at my office door. I hold a finger up to Dom. “Yes?”
“Sir?” It’s Harry, my butler.
“Come on in, Harry.”
The door opens and the older man pokes his head in. “My apologies, Mr. Genovese. But we’ve just received a package for Mrs. Genovese.”
I frown. “Um, okay?”
“It’s rather large, sir.”
“You can just bring it to her rooms, thanks,” I growl.
Harry drums his fingers together. “Quite large, sir.”
I sigh heavily. “Any idea what it is?” I try and wrack my brain. Over the last few nights, I’ve definitely splurged on her. There’s been more than a few nights with her asleep on my chest where I’ve done some expensive online shopping. Jewelry, lingerie… anything I think she might like. But I’m failing to remember anything big enough to worry Harry.
“Look, just bring it up. Grab some of the guys to help you if you need.”
“Of course, sir.”
Harry steps out and I sigh. I turn back to Dom. “Go ahead, Dom. You mentioned Pavel?”
The same Pavel who was just messaging Katrina. I snarl to myself. I reach into my pocket and touch her phone, which I’ve kept.
“We tailed him and bugged his car.” Dominic’s jaw tightens. “Sir, it’s bad.”
“How bad.”
“Multiple levels bad,” he groans. “Low level? He’s been meeting with the Sokolov family and the Ivanoviches behind Anton’s back.”
I frown. “What is he, jumping ship?”
“Could be. But that’s the least of the problem. It’s the least of who he’s been meeting with.”
“Tell me,” I growl.
Dominic leans forward. “Mr. Genovese, he’s been talking with two guys who we’ve previously tagged as undercover FBI.”
My brow shoots up. My temper flares. “Hold on. You’re saying Pavel is talking with the Feds?”
Dominic nods. “Yep. But sir…” he scowls. “We, uh… this is going to be strange to hear.”
“Try me.”
“We broke into his place to dig deeper.” He glances side to side.
“Just tell me, Dom.”
“Sir, I think he’s got a thing for Mrs. Genovese.”
I freeze. “What?”
“Not a healthy thing, either. Sir, he’s got pictures of her up all over his place. Candid shots, weird paintings. Shit like that.”
I snarl. “What the fuck?”
“I didn’t want to tell you this. But I just got confirmation on the intel about those FBI guys on the drive over here. It’s a bad combination, sir. This is Anton’s right hand guy. And he’s talking to other Bratva families behind Anton’s back, he’s obsessed with his boss’s niece, and now he’s talking to the fucking Feds.”
“Goddamnit,” I hiss. “We need to bring Anton into this.” I hate to do it, because I hate to do anything with the fucking Korolyov’s. But if this blows up in Anton’s house, it’s going to set mine on fire too.
Pavel wanted Katrina to plant listening devices. My first thought was a backstab by Anton. But now it seems he might be going rogue. I start to wonder what the fuck he’s after, and for who. Other Bratva families? The goddamn FBI?
I look up at Dominic. “You don’t know anyone who can read Russian, do you?”
He grins. “Actually, I do.”
“You do?”
He nods. “I’ve been taking lessons for a few months. Seems like we keep having to deal with them. Might as well know what they’re muttering about in meetings.”
I grin. I’m liking Dom more and more. I pull Katrina’s phone from my pocket and bring up the text convo. “Can you read what the Russian parts say?”
He takes it from my hand and studies it. He scrolls up, but then turns red. “Sir, I… is this Mrs. Genovese’s phone?”
“It is. What does it say?”
I nods. “The other number referred to her as a….” He frowns. “Sir…”
“Just tell me, Dom.”
“He’s calling her a whore.”
My teeth grind. My temper flares. But I nod. “Keep going.”
“She’s telling him to leave her alone. Then there’s the English where he asks how things are going. She repeats to leave her alone. Then he…” He looks up at me. “Listening devices?” he growls.
“The last part, Dom,” I growl. “Her response to him asking her to put that shit in my office.”
He eyes the phone. He grins. “She told him to go fuck himself with a screwdriver. It says ‘I’m never doing that for you or anyone. Not to him.’”
I blink. The ice that’s formed around my heart in the last hour beings to crack. “Fuck,” I hiss.
“Sir?”
I stand quickly. “I think I’ve just seriously misjudged something,” I growl. More like someone. “Dom,
I need to end this a little short—”
There’s crash and a thunderous bang from somewhere upstairs in the house. My blood chills. I hear the scream, and I start running. It’s Katrina.
I see red mist, and I run blindly through the house. I tear up the stairs and down the hall to Katrina’s quarters. I don’t have a gun on me, but I don’t care. If someone’s trying to hurt her, I’ll kill them with my bare fucking hands.
I crash through the door to her rooms. The first thing I see is an enormous shipping crate sitting in the middle of the room. One of the sides of it is smash in. Or rather, smashed out. Katrina screams again. It’s coming from the bedroom. I roar, and I bolt for the door.
I crash inside and go tumbling into one of the men. I snarl and lurch to my feet. My eyes sweep up, and my heart stops. The second man has his arm around Katrina’s neck. He’s got a gun to her, too. But he barks something in Russian and jabs the gun at me.
I grab the man I’ve fallen over and yank him up. The guy with the gun fires, but it’s his buddy that takes the bullets. The guy cries out as the man holding Katrina backs away towards the balcony.
“Don’t you fucking—”
“Stay back,” he barks in a heavily accented voice. “Stay back, or she dies.” He turns the gun towards Katrina. My heart wrenches.
“You motherfucker…”
He kicks the doors to the balcony open. There’s the sound of shooting outside. I see headlight veering crazily across the front lawn of my goddamn house, right towards the driveway under her balcony.
“Katrina…”
“Back!” The man barks.
“Whoever you are,” I snarl. “I will find you, and I will rip you apart.”
He chuckles. “Fuck you.”
“Micheal!”
My eyes hold hers. My heart screams at me to tell her everything I feel. To tell her I’m in love with her. But the man is dragging her onto the balcony. A ladder clatters against the railing. Another man pops up and snarls at me.
“Katrina,” I groan. Our eyes hold each other’s. “It’s going to be okay,” I hiss. “I’m going to—”