I hear the pride in his voice and feel a little in my own, remembering the way she handled herself the first time I saw hershoot. She has potential and has obviously been trained. At the time, I had no idea it was by the Italian mafia.
“We could never openly go after Ivan without the Volkov family taking a few liberties.” The humor is out of his voice again. “Those liberties have been dealt with, and we can now protect what’s ours.”
“You don’t think you’re a little late?” I feel the glares around the table that I spoke up, but so what? I stare at the phone and wait a beat before he answers.
“Maybe. But I believe in fixing mistakes when I make them. Doesn’t happen much, and I aim to keep that count low.”
“We might be willing to help.” I look up as Law talks, his glare directed at me and me alone. “But it will cost you.”
The laughter is back, full of mirth this time. “As it usually does. But payment is no good till product is in hand.”
I work my jaw side to side to keep from saying shit. I already know I’m going to get my ass busted for speaking up. No need to make it worse. Boss knows what he’s doing, and I’ve got no delusion that he’ll put my ass on suspension if I question him now. Even if the way he and Vinny are talking makes me think about all the shit we dealt with when we worked on the human trafficking issues last year with Duke, the VP of the Devils Damned.
“Deal. Now tell me what you know about Ivan.”
With that, Law seals the club’s fate—and Milly’s.
Chapter 18—Milly
“What’s the verdict?” I spin around in his desk chair, imitating my favorite villain, Dr. Evil. I curb my need to put my pinkie finger on my lip, but only just.
“Jesus, woman!” I raise a single eyebrow at seeing him jump so high. For someone with so many weapons and who’s able to hit a guy dead center in the head, he’s pretty jumpy. “Don’t scare a guy like that. Fuck!” He takes a second to close the door before looking back at me with a glare. “How’d you get into my room?”
I shrug. “Picked the lock.”
He huffs as he rolls his eyes before he moves to his closet. I figured he’d be more impressed that I figured out which room at the clubhouse was his than how I got in. The clubhouse might be hard to get into, but a key lock is a key lock—aka, easy to access.
“Something you learned on the run?”
“Nah, Bobby taught me how to pick locks when I was five.” I spin in his chair as he goes about doing whatever it is he was hoping to do in here. I took a gamble that he would come here after his boys’ meeting. He hasn’t had much time to get away from me and Ollie of late, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned since living with the man, he likes his privacy. Since he isn’t getting that at home, I figured he would try here. Too bad I’m not one to take the hint. “But Tommy wasthe one who taught me how to boost cars when I was twelve.”
“Fucking hell. Never figured your brother to be the type to let you in on the family business.” He grabs some clothes from the top drawer of the dresser and then heads to the attached bathroom. I let him have the space but don’t stop talking, raising my voice for him to hear with the door shut.
“Oh, Vinny, my oldest brother, didn’t. But you knew that already. It was the others I would con into letting me tag along. Vinny much preferred me locked away, chained to the fucking bed to keep me safe. But he realized I could pick that lock, too, so he stopped trying to force me to stay out of things. He just got smarter and stopped giving me the chance to follow. Would even take the boys when I was out, so I had no clue what was up. His way of keeping me safe.”
“He that protective, or was there another reason?” he says as he comes back into the room.
I scan his body in approval. What can I say? I’ve dreamed about his fingers every single night. The memory of his body pressed against me is seared into my brain. Scanning the gym clothes he changed into has my body heating on its own. Guy makes gym shorts and a black wifebeater almost sinful.
“Don’t know. He wasn’t ever the sharing type. I’m sure I had the threats. Most families did, and being the only girl in the Leone family in about four generations, I was more a novelty than anything, I bet. But I got smart, got tough. Made sure no one pushed me down so far that I couldn’t get up and stab them in the back myself.”
“Sounds about right for a Yank.” He sits on his bed, lacing up his tennis shoes.
“Brooklyn, baby. All Brooklyn.” Smiling, I twirl completely around with a small smile as I stare up at the ceiling. “So… you still pussyfooting around, or are you going to tell me what your boss said?” I glance at him from the side of my eye as I keep my head angled up.
He finally meets my gaze, the first time since he entered the room. I noticed it but didn’t call him on it before. Probably subconsciously trying to delay the inevitable. But that moment of peace has passed, it seems.
I don’t know why, but I smile. It’s not a happy one, rather one of resignation. “Yeah, thought as much. The risk is too high, right? Club doesn’t want to get involved? I get it.”
“Club doesn’t want to start a war with the Russian mafia. We’ve got our hands in a lot of jars as it is, and putting one more out there will push us over,” he says with his forearms on his knees, looking over at me as I stand.
“No worries. I get it. You guys going to get me a new car since you dumped my last one, or do I have to steal one before Ollie and I hit the road?”
“No, you’re not going anywhere.” He slowly shakes his head.
“Pretty sure you just said the club ain’t keeping me, and I’ve definitely played out the kidnapped fantasy long enough. As they say at the bar, it’s time to go.” I step toward his door, but his next words stop me from opening it.
“Your brother’s on the way.”
