“And I’m yours,” I said to see if the words rang true and they did. I felt the certainty deep in my marrow.
He squirted body wash that smelled like lavender into his palms and rubbed it over my skin. “Tell me what you know about Sergei. I hate going into a meeting blind. I have to find something he wants bad enough to let you go for it.”
How was I supposed to think with his hands gliding over me? Every nerve ending was on fire, every brain cell dead. “I can’t think with your hands on me.”
He laughed. “Get used to it because I can’t keep my hands off you.”
I figured two could play at his game, and the longer I kept him in the shower, the higher the likelihood I could get him to miss his meeting. I soaped up my hands and ran them down his body until his heavy length sat in my palms.
“As good as that feels, this isn’t happening right now, sweetheart, but I’ll take a rain check.” He moved my hands from his shaft. “Now talk to me about Sergei.”
Nothing killed desire like a conversation about Sergei Volkov. “I don’t know much about him. While he seems to have a conscience one minute, he appears to have none the next. He was sent here with a purpose, but I get the feeling he has his own agenda.”
Matt lathered my hair and then his. “Do you think it’s about money or power?”
“You know their type, you’re woven from the same thread.” While I hated to put him in the same mix as the Bratva soldiers, he was a mobster born and raised. For that matter, so was I. It might not run through my veins, but it was pounded into my head over the last twenty-four years.
“I’d like to believe I’m better.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and set my soapy head against his chest. “I know you’re better, but with mafia men, money and power are one and the same.”
He stepped us under the stream of water. The bubbles rinsed from our heads and pooled at our feet.
“You think he’s here to kill Yuri?”
I was so happy he didn’t refer to him as my father. “Yes, think about it. For years, things haven’t been great. He’s pulling in tons of money, but he’s also lost a lot too. It all started because of me.”
Matt turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. He took two soft plush towels from the cupboard and wrapped me in one while he stood gloriously naked and dripping water in front of me. If we weren’t in a serious conversation, I would have dropped to my knees and licked the droplets from his body.
“Don’t blame yourself.”
I tucked my towel in the front so it stayed and took his towel and dried him while we spoke. “If I hadn’t stolen that money, none of this would have happened. You wouldn’t have been called over to find the error. There would have been no jail time. No stabbing. Maybe your father would still be alive.”
He grabbed my hands, making me drop the towel and pulled me in. Standing in front of him, I looked up to his beautiful brown eyes.
“And we wouldn’t be standing here together naked.” He dropped one hand and plucked the towel from my body. “Now we’re both naked. As for my father, you stealing from Yuri would have never kept mine alive. Yuri wanted it all.”
A chill raced through me. “I think Sergei wants what Yuri has.”
He turned me around and tapped my ass as he walked past me. The man had no shame, but then again, what was there to be ashamed of? The hands of the gods made him.
“He can go after Yuri for that. Would you be unhappy if Yuri met the same fate as my father?” Matt opened his drawer and handed me a T-shirt and a pair of his boxers. “Wear this for now.”
I slipped on the clothes. They hung from my body but comforted me to know I wore something of his. It was like marking my territory.
“I want to kill him myself.” The man deserved to be tossed out from the same balcony as my mother. He should know what it feels like to plummet to his death.
“I won’t allow the future mother of my children to have his death on her hands.”
He was talking about children with me. Was that even a possibility? “You don’t even know if we are compatible.”
He slid into a pair of black slacks and picked out a crisp white shirt. “We are. There are few things I’ve known for certain, and yet, you’re one of them. I’m so certain that I’d take you to the drive-through-chapel and marry you today.”
“You can’t mean that.”
He rummaged through his ties and came out with a dark red. “This is for you. I know how you love red.” He lifted his collar and proceeded to put his tie on. I loved a man in a suit. There wasn’t anything that looked so powerful and manly except for Matt naked.
“My brother did it. I don’t see why we can’t.”
I reached up to straighten the crooked knot. “You suck at tying ties.”
“Mrs. Price usually does it for me.”
“As for the drive-through-chapel, I don’t want to rush things.” I stepped back and looked at Matt standing in his suit while I stood wearing his underwear. “I’d really like to find my father if I can.”
A little smile lifted his lips. “You will find your father. I’m sure of it.”
I got the impression that he knew something. “What do you know that I don’t?”
“I know nothing but what you told me.” He threaded his fingers through mine and walked me down the hallway to the kitchen, where the air smelled like bacon and maple syrup.
In seconds, I was in the arms of Stella. “You poor thing. Matt tells me you need some mothering.”
I looked at him, and he winked. He grabbed a piece of bacon and kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll be back around dinner. Don’t leave the apartment. I’ll send someone up with clothes. They’ll call you for your sizes.” He was already dialing someone on his phone as he walked away.
Stella led me to the table in the kitchen and pointed to the spot that was set for one. “You can eat in the dining room if you prefer, but Matt hates eating alone. I thought maybe we can get to know each other over coffee and breakfast.” She poured me a cup of black coffee and dosed it with cream. “Matt says you like more cream than coffee.”
I was touched by how much he knew about me. We went to the same school, we socialized in the same circles, but I never knew he paid that much attention. Maybe he was right and we were meant for each other.
“Thank you.”
She filled my plate with pancakes and bacon. “Mangia,” she said with gusto. “You must eat if you’re ever going to fatten up.”
“Fatten up?”
Stella stood beside me and shook her head. “You’re so thin, you could hula hoop with a Cheerio.”
I took a bite of the bacon and hummed at the crunchy salty goodness. “I’m not that thin.”
She pinched my cheek and smiled. “I’ll plump you up so you’re healthy enough to have fat little babies.” She picked up the syrup and drowned my pancakes in it.
“Why is my uterus so popular?” This was the second time today babies were mentioned.
“It’s those eyes. They’ll look so good on our babies.”
Her enthusiasm was contagious. I’d never been around women who were mothering and nurturing. All I had to go by was the love of a mother who died too young.
When I tried to eat a few bites and push the plate away, Stella stomped her foot and told me I owed her five more bites. I was certain she’d spoon-feed me if I didn’t comply.
Stuffed to the hilt, I waddled into the living room. The wall of windows looked over the city. From this high up, the cars looked so small. The phone rang, and Stella asked my size. A half-hour later, we were rummaging through a rack of clothes brought up by a cute redhead who worked in the boutique downstairs.
“This one,” Stella said as she held out the red sundress. “Matt says you love red.”
Again, the man knew way too much about me. I tried it on and found it a perfect fit.
Stella pulled most of the clothes off the rack and placed them in the closet. She’d organized the sp
ace so one side was Matt’s and the other mine. By lunchtime, it looked like I’d lived there forever.
“Come and eat,” she called from the kitchen.
“I don’t eat lunch.”
“You do now.” She pulled out my chair, and I sat down in front of a plate of lasagna and a glass of red wine.
“This is good for you and our babies.”
“I’m not pregnant.”
“Not yet, but you will be.” She sat across from me and joined me for lunch. “What else do you need? I’ve sent for makeup and the essentials women must have because we are women.”
I swallowed the best lasagna I’ve ever tasted. “What do you consider essentials?”
She smiled. “Perfume, accessories, makeup, sexy lingerie.” She lifted the skirt of my dress to show Matt’s boxers. “These will never do. It’s like trying to lure a honeybee with tar.”
Laughter bubbled inside me. It had been too long since I’d spent time with a woman. Sure I had Darya and her mother at the house, but they weren’t allowed to talk to me in the way Stella did. My father separated what he called the grain from the chaff, as if somehow we were valuable and the help was inferior.
“Matt doesn’t seem to mind.”
“No, but that boy's been in prison for too long.”
Guilt stabbed at my insides. If I was going to be a part of Matt’s life, then the people he cared about needed to know the truth.
“You should know that I sent him to prison.”
She wiped her face with her napkin. “I know. You put him there because even then you loved him.” She said it with such conviction.
“I’m not sure it was love, but I cared about him.”
She stood up and cleared our plates. “It was love. Even then, your heart knew what your mind could not accept.”
“We came from rival families.”
“You came from mafia families, and that is not your fault.”
She was right. I was not my father. Or at least the father I knew and hated. I was Katya Petre…no, I was simply Katya, and that would have to be enough for now.
Chapter 16
There was no way I’d let Sergei get close to Katya, so I had Mrs. Price set up a conference room in the hotel. I arrived fifteen minutes early to find my brother and his security detail already in place.
“I’ve got extra men on the doors. Tony will stand guard outside. Since there are two of us, Sergei can bring in a man if he wants to even the numbers.”
It didn’t matter that Alex was the one who desperately wanted out of the business; he still acted like the Godfather when it came to our safety.
“What do you know about him?” I knew Alex would have someone dig up everything they could.
“He’s thirty-five. Never been married. Hates the Irish. Moved up in rank quickly because of his vicious nature. If he can’t talk you out of what he wants, he’ll kill you to get it. Word on the street is, he wants the territory. Did Katya tell you anything?”
I thought about the hours I held her last night. The tears she spilled over her lost family. How Yuri had played with her life as if it held no more importance than a poker chip.
“She said the same. That he might look like he had a conscience but to not let that influence me. He was after everything and would do what it took to get it.”
“So basically he would have married her. Killed Yuri, got her pregnant and then she would have disappeared.”
Hearing it all lined out as if it was the directions to a recipe for success made the bile rise in my throat.
“He will never get his hands on her. Never stick his dick inside her. She’s mine.”
“Got it.” He walked to the table and took a seat. “I guess Dad’s message of if it floats, flies or fucks, then rent it didn’t resonate with either of us.”
“Why rent when it can own you?” I laughed because even though my sentence was said in jest, it was true. One time being inside of Katya had me hooked. One night sleeping with her in my arms had me reeled in for life. That woman owned me. I’d be smart not to let her catch on.
The door swung open, and two men walked inside. I recognized them both from Capone’s and the funeral. I turned to my brother. “Let me introduce you to Sergei.”
“I assume since there are two of you, it’s okay for me to have Timur present.” He looked at the man who was as big as a mountain.
“Of course. This is a friendly meeting.” I walked over to the table by the wall. “Shall we table our weapons?”
The men looked at each other and followed me. I took my Glock from my waistband and set it on the table. Alex did the same. We were leaving ourselves vulnerable as a show of good faith. If things turned south, the reality was, Sergei might get a shot off but Tony and Sam and the others would finish them off. No one would leave here alive if a shot was fired.
Timur took a gun from his belt, one from his ankle, brass knuckles from his pocket and a knife from his sock. Alex and I looked on in surprise. Sergei pulled out a few surprises as well. He had two guns. One tucked into his belt and another strapped to a holster inside his shirt.
“Did you come prepared for a war?” I asked.
Sergei laughed, “No, if I thought it was war, I would have armed myself better.”
I led the men to the table in the center of the room.
“I invited you here so we could negotiate.”
“Did you sleep with my future wife last night?” His voice was tinged with humor.
“Yes, I did, but she will never be your wife. You don’t want her, but I do.”
Sergei lifted his shoulders. “I do want her, but not in the way you do. We could come to an arrangement. She will marry me and sleep with you.”
Heat of agitation boiled in my veins. “You want her to bear you a child. I will not have you raise my son. Katya deserves more than to be whored out by Yuri or you.”
“You love my fiancée?” He smiled that damn arrogant smile that said I’d given him the power.
“Love has nothing to do with it. Katya is not property to be traded. She’s a human being and a good woman.”
Timur and Sergei looked at each other, and they both laughed. “It is sad she was born a girl. Her choices don’t matter. You should know that. In our world, she’s a commodity. She’s Yuri’s daughter and born to be wed and bred.”
It took all my self-control not to fist up and throw a punch. “What if I said she’s not Yuri’s daughter?”
Sergei’s eyes grew wide. “Of course she is. Why would he raise someone else’s bastard?”
“Revenge.” Alex said. “As it turns out, Katya is not Yuri’s daughter. He told her as much yesterday after the funeral. He gave her her mother’s journal, which proved Katya belonged to another man. Then he told her how he callously killed her mother by throwing her off the balcony. Katya was almost eight. It’s not like he could make her disappear when people would have asked questions. He couldn’t kill her, because that would have been suspicious, so he raised her as his and planned to use her to get our holdings.”
Alex told him of the plot to take out the Wildes one at a time.
I stepped in and added a spin on the truth. I reached into my pocket and grabbed the printout of Yuri’s financials. In yellow highlighter, I had circled what I knew to be a hit on me. If I were lucky, Sergei wouldn’t be privy to that information.
“This here is the payment for a hit on you.”
Timur turned red in the face. Sergei fisted his hands and pounded on the table. “How do you know?”
“Are you asking how I got this information, or how do I know it’s a hit?”
He frowned. “I’m asking both.”
I smiled. “I’m a hacker. It’s what started all this shit to begin with.” Katya was right in one sense. The day I found her money trail was the day it all began for us, but it wasn’t her fault. It was Yuri’s. He started this the day he killed Katya’s mother.
I filled Sergei in on the history. Of course, I left out th
e parts about Katya stealing Yuri’s money. There was no reason to implicate her.
“Katya has these skills too?”
I laughed. “No, she can probably open a door remotely or maybe get inside your computer to rifle around. I’d say she could even bypass an alarm system, but hack into a bank? No.” She didn’t have the same set of skills I had. Hell, I’d hacked into the IRS once and erased all the tax information for my favorite teacher while also requesting an audit on the asshole who tried to give me a C in chemistry.
Sergei and Timur exchanged words in Russian. “None of this matters.”
Those were his words, but the way Timur’s eyes turned black meant it mattered plenty.
“It matters because if he kills you, then everything you’re after is gone. You are after everything, right?”
I gave him an I’ve-got-your-number look. “I will have everything.”
I cleared my throat. “Everything but Katya. She’s off the table. Hell, she may not even be in the will.” I hadn’t considered that, but I imagine there was no way Yuri would leave anything to a daughter who didn’t share his gene pool. “He’s not going to leave her anything, so she’s worthless to you.” I took the printouts that sat in front of Sergei, folded them and stuck them in my pocket.
He gave me a serial killer smile. “That’s where you’re wrong. She’s worth everything to you, so that gives her value. What will you give up for her?”
Here it was. This is where the rubber met the road. “What do you want?” I figured if I could make him walk away for cash, I’d be lucky.
“That’s simple. I want everything.”
Alex pushed back and stood. Timur postured himself by pressing his palms to the table. He was in ready to go into fight mode.
“He wants what Yuri wanted. He wants the casino,” Alex said.
“No deal,” I replied. “It’s not for sale or trade.”
Sergei laughed. “But Katya is, or so it would seem.”
I hated that she’d become a commodity. That somehow she could be bartered and traded like a possession.
“What do you want?”
“If I can’t have the casino, then I expect you to hand over my fiancée.”
Betting On Her (A Wilde Love Novel Book 2) Page 11
