by Roxie Rivera
“Really? What did he want?”
“He asked me to join his firm.” She preened like a peacock. “He wants to give me a department and everything.”
Whatever his disagreements with Mueller over Shay and her sister, he grudgingly acknowledged that the man ran a successful business. If Mueller was being serious about asking Marissa to come onboard, it could be a huge career shift for her. “Get a lawyer and negotiate the fuck out of whatever contract he offers.”
She laughed and stepped inside the elevator. “I heard your voice in my head while I was at breakfast with him. His terms were favorable, but I have some points I want to negotiate.”
“Push hard, Marissa. He knows what an asset you’ll be to him in this new market. Make him pay.”
“You don’t need to worry about that.” They exited the elevator and walked to the door of the apartment. While she waited for him to unlock the door, she leaned back against the wall and smiled coyly. “I’ve missed that elevator ride and the walk to this door.”
When she reached out and trailed her fingers down his arm, Alexei realized he had to say something. Though he had hoped to avoid any awkwardness, he could tell that was no longer a possibility. “Marissa,” he said her name in the gentlest way possible, “I’m involved with someone.”
Her smile slowly collapsed and her hand fell. “Involved?”
“It’s serious.” Not wanting there to be any doubt, he added, “I’m going to marry her.”
Marissa seemed flabbergasted by that admission. “Is she pregnant?”
“No!” But he wasn’t sure of that, was he? “It doesn’t matter if she is or isn’t. She’s the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with,” he answered simply.
Gawking at him as if she had never seen him before, she asked, “What makes her so special that you want to marry her? After all of us that have come through those doors?” She gestured to the penthouse entrance. “What does she have that we didn’t?”
“It’s not easy to explain. She just—she’s the one.” He touched his chest. “I felt it right here the first time I met her.”
Narrowing her eyes, Marissa asked, “And when, exactly, did you meet her?”
He wasn’t going to lie. “When we were together.”
“I see.” Her mouth thinned to a perturbed line. Knowing that Marissa could make trouble for Shay, he wanted to set the record straight.
“You don’t. Shay had no idea about me and you or any of the others before you. Shay and I never dated or even kissed until months after we had ended things. I don’t think she even realized I was interested in her until very recently.”
“How is that possible? You are living, breathing, walking sex!”
Alexei shrugged. “She’s not like us. She doesn’t understand the games we played or the arrangements we enjoyed.”
Marissa wrinkled her nose. “She sounds like a naïve little romantic.”
“She probably is,” Alexei agreed. “But that’s what I love about her. She’s a good person with a big heart.”
“She makes you happy?”
“Very.” Happy didn’t even come close to describing how he felt with Shay.
“Then I’m glad you found her,” Marissa said with a warm smile. “What we had together was fun, Alexei, but it never would have lasted. I’ll confess that I was hoping this was an invite for another round of fun with you, but I won’t pout now that you’ve told me you’re getting married.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that we can be adults about this.”
“You never promised me forever. I never promised you forever. I’d like to think we can be friends.” She paused. “Well—we can be friends if your soon-to-be wife allows it.”
“She will.” Despite that bit of jealousy this morning, Shay wasn’t the controlling type. More than that, she would trust him to behave like a gentleman.
“All right.” Marissa inhaled a deep breath. “Well, if you’re done breaking my heart, let’s get inside this penthouse and start talking numbers.”
Relieved their conversation had gone well, he followed her into the penthouse and let her give him the rundown of the property’s value. She had done her homework, presenting him with recent comps as well as a look at the current inventory of similar properties. She presented him with a plan for selling this penthouse and the other slightly smaller apartment he owned on this floor and admitted that she had four prospective buyers in mind.
“Give me a week to get it staged, photographed and listed. I can’t guarantee a closed transaction by Christmas, but I’ll work hard to make it happen.”
“I know you will.” Alexei extended his hand, and they shook on their deal. “Do I need to come by the office to sign paperwork?”
“I’ll email you. We try to do as much electronically as possible in our office. It’s easier for our very busy clients.”
Their plan in place, they left the penthouse. Alexei made sure Marissa got into her car safely before getting behind the wheel of his SUV. He checked his watched and decided he had enough time to swing by his attorney’s office to pick sign some paperwork and pick up a sample contract and business structure forms that he had requested.
By the time he was finished, he had just enough time to drive to B&B for the reservation Nikolai had arranged. When he arrived at the restaurant, he was quickly seated in a private corner and ordered a beer. He wasn’t left to wonder about the identity of his dinner date for long. The moment he spotted Mueller coming through the door, he knew.
As Mueller drew near, his gaze shifted from their table to the various entrances and exits into the main room that put him at risk. Alexei had already taken the chair that put his back to the wall. If Mueller wanted to feel safe, he should have arrived earlier.
“Alexei.”
“John.”
Mueller took his seat and ordered a whiskey, neat, to start off his night. Picking up the menu, he glanced over it. “The boss decided it was better for the two of us to meet in public on neutral territory. At least he chose a restaurant where we can settle things over steak and whiskey.” He glanced up and grinned. “Like real men.”
Alexei let loose a rough laugh and sipped his beer. “Real men don’t send hoodlums after innocent women.”
The waiter stopped at the table and left Mueller’s whiskey. They weren’t ready to order yet so he offered to return in a few minutes.
Once they were alone, Mueller leveled a dark look his way. “I will admit that my men went beyond what was expected or authorized. Your girl was never part of my beef with the sister. They were only ever supposed to scare her.”
“They succeeded.” Alexei’s jaw tightened as he remembered Shay’s terrified face when he found her in that parking lot.
“And you succeeded in putting them all in the hospital,” Mueller retorted. “You could have killed them.”
“Touch Shay again and I’ll do exactly that,” Alexei warned.
“I suppose that would be fair,” Mueller allowed. “If someone put hands on my wife, I wouldn’t let them walk away either.”
Wives. Children. Parents. The underworld code demanded that they all be protected from retaliation or harm. The men who broke those rules were considered untrustworthy and ostracized. If a man couldn’t do business, he couldn’t earn and that meant he couldn’t eat.
“I know the score when it comes to Shay,” Mueller assured him. “She’s completely safe from me.”
“Good.”
“But you must realize that I can’t be seen to just let you walk away without any consequence, Alexei.” Mueller kicked back his Macallan. “You’ve been out of this world for a while, but you know the way it works. If I’m seen giving you a pass, it makes me look weak. I can’t grow and build my business here if people think they can walk all over me.”
“You should have thought of that before you went against Shay.”
“She’s not your wife. Hell,” Mueller sat forward, “she’s not even your fiancée. I had it checked ou
t. She doesn’t wear your ring.”
“She will soon.”
“But she wasn’t when the attack happened,” Mueller insisted. “How the fuck was I supposed to know she was protected by Nikolai? I can’t read minds.” He spread his hands out in front of him. “That’s one rule I never break. Black, white, Mexican, Vietnamese—I don’t give a shit what color your woman is. I don’t touch them.”
He didn’t want to see things from Mueller’s point of view, but he had to admit that the man had a point. Shay hadn’t technically been his when the trouble had started. Mueller might have—probably would have—reacted differently if Shay had been openly claimed.
Alexei shifted in his chair and exhaled loudly. “What do you want?”
Mueller leaned forward. “We’re starving on these streets. I’m boxed in tight. I need to grow.”
“You know I can’t help you with that. Your territory problems have to be sorted out by the council. That’s a vote I can’t sway.”
“No? Because I hear you’re very good friends with Besian…”
“That friendship goes back many years,” Alexei agreed, “but he’s a man with his own mind. He’s looking out for his family first. It’s about blood with them. I have absolutely no influence over his decisions.”
The waiter approached their table again, and both men placed their orders. When the waiter was gone, Alexei drummed his fingers on the table. “There might be something else I can offer you.”
“And what is that?”
“A piece of something legitimate.”
“I’m listening.”
Alexei laid out his plans for the pieces of commercial real estate he had been quietly and cheaply collecting for the last six years. He explained that he needed a partner to develop those sites, handle the leases and support the businesses that would occupy them.
Sketching out one of the buildings on the back of a business card as they ate, he explained, “This one is a special case. It’s in a prime location. We’re going to install a jewelry store in this center spot, an art gallery here on this side and a high-end luxury women’s boutique here.”
“We?”
“Nikolai and I,” Alexei clarified.
“And the work?”
“Nikolai will expect that his construction firms get first pick. You would get second. We’ll have to offer pieces of the action to the other families in town. If we don’t, we’ll run into problems with deliveries and supply thefts.”
Mueller grumbled with irritation, but he nodded in acceptance of that fact. It wouldn’t be easy parceling out the jobs to develop these properties, but it would have to be done.
Mueller would always be an outsider in the city. After his predecessors had so brazenly attacked Sergei’s woman and caused all those problems for Nikolai, Besian and Mr. Lu, Mueller would never be able to reach the inner circle of the top bosses. He would be blocked at every turn. Furthermore, the AB syndicate’s philosophies made it impossible for the crews under Nicky Jackson or the Hermanos and the cartels to trust them or work with them unless it was absolutely necessary.
But if Mueller played his cards right, he might be able to gain their trust and find ways to work with them that didn’t violate either party’s honor codes.
“And can I interest either of you in dessert?” the waiter asked as he cleared away their plates.
“None for me,” Alexei said with a wave of his hand.
“I’ll have another Macallan.” Mueller touched his empty glass. “And then I’m done.” When the waiter left, Mueller asked, “What have you heard about Lalo?”
Alexei turned it around on him. “What have you heard?”
“That he’s missing.” Mueller eyed him with thinly veiled suspicion. “That there’s a burned up body on ice down at the morgue that is closed to his size.”
Alexei shrugged. “He’s not my problem. We ended things on good terms. We had no bad blood between us.”
Mueller obviously didn’t believe that lie, but the waiter returned with his Macallan before he could say anything else.
Alexei took the check and tucked a credit card into the black leather folio. When the waiter left their table, Alexei met Mueller’s interested stare. “Wherever Lalo is and whatever happened to him, I trust that Nikolai and the other bosses have it under control.” He made a quick slashing gesture across the front of his throat. “You know what they say about tall poppies…”
“I’ll have to remember not to grow too tall.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” Alexei grasped the folio the waiter handed him, added a sizeable tip to the check and signed his name across the bottom. “I enjoyed our dinner.” He tucked his card back into his wallet. “We’ll have to do a working lunch soon.”
“I’ll have my office set something up.”
Their meeting finished, Alexei excused himself and left the restaurant. Despite the company, the meal had been delicious. He would have to bring Shay here.
Thinking of her, he wondered why he hadn’t heard from her since their short afternoon chat. It finally occurred to him that he had switched his phone to Do Not Disturb during the morning sales meeting. He hadn’t added Shay’s number to the proper list yet so her calls and texts wouldn’t have sent an alert.
As he walked to his SUV, he pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the screen. There were nine calls from Stas, two from Nikolai and one from Shay. Stomach churning, he dialed Shay’s number but there was no answer. He tried Stas next.
The enforcer answered on the first ring. “Where the fuck are you?”
Taken aback, Alexei said, “I just finished a business meeting. Why?”
“Shay is in the hospital.”
“What?” Alexei’s heart slammed into his sternum. It beat wildly as he tried to focus. Shay. Hospital. Feeling real fear, he demanded, “What happened? Which hospital?”
“We’re at Methodist. The emergency room. She burned her hand. It’s not good.”
A burn? His heart slowed some. He had been envisioning the worst—a car accident or a gunshot wound. A burn could be healed. A burned hand wouldn’t kill her.
But she would be in tremendous pain. His chest tightened as he realized he wouldn’t be able to shield her from that. Knowing that she was alone and scared and suffering gutted him.
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” He considered the time of night and the traffic. “It might be closer to thirty with parking.”
Stas ended the call before he could ask to speak with Shay. Worried by the bodyguard’s gruff tone, Alexei jogged to his vehicle. He had just gotten behind the wheel when his phone rang again. The Bluetooth connection picked it up so he could drive hands-free. “Yes?”
“Where are you?” Nikolai’s exasperation came through clearly. “I just called the restaurant and they said you had left.”
“I’m on my way to the hospital.”
“So you heard from Stas,” Nikolai deduced.
“Yes.”
“You should know that there was a shooting tonight. One of Nicky’s boys popped one of Diego’s over a girl. Diego’s soldier was taken to Ben Taub. I sent Boychenko to Methodist when Stas called looking for you. You shouldn’t have any problems, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
The last thing Alexei needed or wanted was to get caught in the crossfire of another’s gang’s retaliation. Everything was so tightly packed together downtown in the Medical Center. It would be hard to keep the two gangs separated if the Hermanos decided to seek retaliation.
“Call me see me tomorrow before you leave town so we can talk about your meeting. If you or Shay need anything, Vivian and I are only a few minutes away.”
“Thank you.”
Alexei made the drive in record time. He used the valet, handing off his keys and snatching the ticket before rushing inside the hospital. He scanned the packed emergency room and spotted Boychenko standing in a far corner.
“Where is Shay?” he asked as he drew near.
�
��They took her back about ten minutes ago.”
“Only ten minutes?” The first missed call from Stas had occurred nearly two hours ago.
Boychenko nodded. “She’s been waiting here forever. They’re slammed tonight.”
Alexei’s chest ached at the thought of her sitting here in pain for so long. “I need to see her.”
“Let me text Stas. He can switch out with you. They’re only allowing one person in with each patient.”
Boychenko sent his text. A short time later, Stas appeared at the double doors. He held them open so Alexei could get into the treatment area. Wordlessly, her bodyguard pointed out the exam room where Shay waited. Judging by the stony expression on Stas’s face, the enforcer wasn’t happy. Whatever had pissed him off would have to wait.
Hoping he had the right room, Alexei pulled the curtain aside only a few inches to check. Shay sat on a hospital bed, her legs dangling over the side and her arm resting on a tray. Her injured palm and fingers were covered by a blue surgical towel. Head drooping, she looked utterly exhausted.
He stepped into the room. “Shay?”
Her head snapped up, but instead of greeting him with a relieved smile or happiness, she scowled. “What are you doing here? I told Stas not to call you.”
“Of course he’s going to call me, Shay.” He walked closer and stopped in front of her. “I belong right here with you if you’ve been hurt.”
When he tried to brush a few strands of hair behind her ear, she pulled her head away from him with a harshly hissed, “Don’t.”
Surprised by her reaction, he dropped his hand. “I’m sorry.”
“Whatever.” She wouldn’t meet his confused gaze and seemed thoroughly pissed off by his presence.
Alexei tried not to let her behavior bother him. She was obviously in pain and tired. He vividly remembered the many times he had been in emergency rooms because of injuries sustained on the streets or fighting in cages. He had always been irritated and frustrated and a right bastard.
“Are you thirsty? Hungry? I can send Stas for something.” He wanted to make her comfortable while they waited.
“Stas took care of me already.” She gestured to the bottle of water and empty candy bar wrapper on the counter. “I don’t need anything from you.”