I wiped down the back of my neck with a towel. Really, I hadn’t meant it to go that long. I’d decided to tell my security team what happened to Vladimir. Not all of them were sworn in but they knew my job and why people were out to get me most times. That level of trust was hard to come by and I looked at each one of them, giving them an ultimatum. Either they would be officially sworn in or I would provide them a glowing recommendation letter to their next place of business with three months of severance pay.
When I was thinking about Keenan and swearing him in to protect Rosaria, I realized that I wasn’t about to split my trust between my family and my guys. Most of these men had been with me for over ten years. The new guys looked up to them but I needed them to know I was serious. The consequences for betrayal were far worse and there was more on the line. There was a sense of loyalty and weight to your actions. One that should never be bought and if it
*** Rosaria’s POV ***I stared at Marek for a moment, wondering if he really said what he did. His face was so serious as he watched me. He was the most dressed down I’d ever seen him and it had been shocking at first. Marek was so laid back about it though, I had to remind myself that I was in his home now. This past week I’d been alone and I hadn’t really gotten a feel for his normal routine, or his normal dress.Now, dressed so casually, he was asking something as huge as giving me Enzo or my father to me. Would I love Enzo’s head on a platter? Absolutely. My father? Definitely. Did I think they were worth it at this point? I didn’t know. My father was going to die. If it wasn’t going to be his heart, it was going to be Enzo. His days were numbered and I think we were on the lower end of those days now.Enzo was a different story. Enzo was a maniac. Enzo would be just craziness to live like a cockroach.
The shock that rippled through me could only be reflected by the shock on Marek’s face. Except his dropped into worry. He didn’t say anything though as he watched me. I didn’t know what to do. Embarrassment flooded through me and I tried to move out of Marek’s reach. This was not who I was. I did not cry. I went through torture session after torture session without making a sound. I’d taken the abuse at castle thinking I had no other place I could go. I’d clung onto the fact that I could somehow survive in this world despite being told otherwise.I was not someone who had a soul or a heart. I couldn’t. Not in this lifetime. Yet here I was, one after the other, falling down my face because someone actually cared for once. Looking up, I wiped my eyes hard with the palm of my hand. The slight pain slowed my heart beat down and helped settle me.“Búsinka…it’s okay…” Marek’s voice now sounded like sandpaper to me and I shook my head.“No. I don’t have a soul. I lost it a long time ago. I
The music switched songs and I closed my eyes, listening to the soft piano play. I’d had the water fill the bath at a temperature just shy of boiling. It helped when any of my thoughts wandered to Marek and I splashed my face with it. Now, it was a more comfortable warmth and no longer helped me forget.Marek was power but it wasn’t raw. It was honed, curated, and entirely controlled. Everything about him, his body, screamed powerful. Just the memory of being caged under him, feeling the force of his anger, was enough to send my heart into palpitations. He was beautiful, stunning, and exquisite. There was more to Marek than just his looks though.Somehow the darkness of our world hadn’t tainted him completely. He could kill and I had a feeling Vlad did not receive a quick death. If he really was the backbone of the Baranov Bratva, then there would be no way he was clean from that. However, his heart still beat and bled. He still thought of others as people, not tools.Marek cared. Orig
Aleksei was replying to the person on the other end. “They knew we were running a skeleton crew today. How many?”I turned to Aleksei and listened but I couldn’t hear the voice on the other end.“How many hostages?” He nodded. “Is pakkun there?” A pause. “Shit. Alright.” Aleksei ran a hand through his hair. “No. No, I don’t think so. That would be stupid. Just reroute Marek to the Genova building. I’ll have another crew handle the Capital building. Yes. No. Yes. Yes, zasranets, thank you for that unhelpful bit of information.”Sighing, I felt a bit of relief that whatever was happening, Marek wasn’t in the thick of it. The fact that someone was going after him today right when he came back seemed crazy. He did say a bunch of the security guys would be sworn in and trained but having them all go at the same time seemed silly to me.“Yeah. I know. Okay. I need to know who is in charge at Capital. What? Someone put Jerry in charge? Are you shitting me?” Aleksei rubbed his face. “My tak ob
“It’s the Cabrera Cartel. They’ve been fighting with the Columbians who are our ally. They have dumb numbers.” Everyone turned back around once I pulled my shirt down and I had to hold in a snort.I nodded. “Where are the hostages?”“Being held within the offices. Most everyone has been evacuated to the higher floors, the police are sitting outside the front and making a big stink but they won’t go in knowing it’s our building. They don’t have jurisdiction.”Humming, I looked over the plans. “So they have emptied out the first floor. Posting up on floor two through fifteen. Hostages are on fifteen and then there are multiple floors of evacuated workers up to the…”“Thirtieth floor. All the security guys from level sixteen up have amassed to cover the twenty-ninth floor. Making sure no one goes higher.”Rubbing my face, I shook my head. “Nu eto der'movoye shou.” [Well, this is a shit show.]A few of the guys chuckled.“We need to get atamansha up to the fifteenth floor. She can take ou
“How long are we going to have to stay here?” A thick Spanish accent filled the room and I ducked into a cubicle under a desk.“Until boss says we are done. We will get a golden payday from this and we can go on vacation after this. So quit complaining.”I heard a huff but a few of the guys were stalking around the room. Peaking over the top of the cubicles, I got eyes on them. They weren’t even as decked out in as much gear as the guys who had tried to nab me. There was even one guy in a Hawaiian shirt, smoking, as he sat in an office chair next to the elevators. I counted and ducked back down.“Seven. Little armor. Eyes on hostages.” I whispered before moving from my spot back further away.I could handle this two ways. I could just stand up and start throwing. Hope to catch them off guard enough to put them down before they could pull their weapons. The problemy was that the further they were, the percentage of
I leaned back in the seat of the car and sighed. Honestly, it had been an excellent workout. A bit of running, climbing, throwing, and even stairs. I’d gotten a full body workout without too much strain. Lec moved from the front of the SUV to climb into the drivers seat.“Oh boy. It’s been years since I’ve seen him that mad. I mean, he was mad when he took out Vlad but that was focused. This is just full on angry.”I chuckled. “I warned Aleksei that he would be mad.”“You okay?”“I’m fine. It was a good workout. I was trying to see how much I could do and it turns out seven pendejo’s and some stairs did the trick.”He laughed and shook his head. “Marek was told to buy some time but he didn’t know he was buying time for you until after it was done. What the hell was Aleksei thinking?”“He had a plan. He did this on purpose. Not sure
Sandro’s turned out to be an Italian restaurant that was so far out of my usual price range that I baulked at the bowl of pasta for $29. Still, I kept my mouth shut as Marek ordered a $67 Veal Bolognese. I decided on a half order of Rigatoni Carbonara. Marek ended up ordering a side of Burrata as well as a glass of red wine. I opted just for some water.We were seated inside near the back but I was still surprised that he chose a place so open. We were quiet for a long time, his wine being served, my water being delivered, and the Burrata being set out between us.“Ria, what were you thinking?”Marek’s voice wasn’t angry anymore. It was more exhausted than anything. He rubbed his eyes and his shoulders fell as his own body seemed to sink into small chair. I looked down at the plate in front of me.“I thought I could help.”“By putting yourself directly in harms way? Ria, please. You