A wry grin spread across Devin’s mouth and my stomach dipped.
All from a smile.
I fully understood how they earned the reputation for best bad-boy bachelors of the city.
“And how much would a taste cost?” His brow arched, and a shot of electricity ran through me at the way he said taste.
“Eight hundred ninety-five,” I answered, tilting my head.
Blake, the brother sitting next to him, coughed and clutched his chest. “Maybe we should go into that business.”
“Which business?” I asked. “Making it or selling it?”
Blake smiled. “Both.”
Jaxson leaned forward. “I actually have a bottle at home.”
“No, shit?” Blake asked.
“Yup.”
“What’s it taste like?”
“Don’t know. Haven’t opened it. It’s bottle number 307, and I plan on selling when the time is right.”
“Learn something new every day about my brothers,” Devin muttered before bringing his eyes back to mine. “How about something a little less ostentatious?”
“You’re one to talk, Devin,” Blake said, ribbing him. “Since when have you ever been understated?”
I giggled and saw the Cartier watch peeking out from under Devin’s cuff. My guess was that most could use his watch for a down payment on a house. Understated was definitely not this guy’s mode of operating. In fact, I doubted any of the Volkovs understood what it meant to be wanting.
When a family was as untouchable as the Volkovs, things came easily. It was a feeling I’d never known. I had to work for everything I’d gotten, which admittedly, wasn’t much.
Not yet, anyway.
“I’ll take a Jack and Coke,” Devin told me, keeping his eyes on me. The intensity in his gaze was brutally tempting and a real problem.
“Make that all around,” Blake said, motioning the table with his finger.
“Perfect.” I spun on my heels and made my way over to the bar to place the drink orders and recheck my mental health.
This was my first undercover job and I wasn’t going to blow it.
Somehow, in the brief couple of minutes I’d been enjoying myself at the Volkov table, the bar had filled up even more. It was standing room only, and as I slid through the crowd, I felt the occasional hand slide across my body, feeling for parts of me that shouldn’t be felt for. I’d already changed my dress once and wasn’t looking forward to a repeat.
By the time I reached the bar to place the drink order, I was ready to kill someone.
“Four Jack and Cokes.” I ordered from Jenn, one of the bartenders on duty tonight.
Since I started working at Meta, she and Jill were the bright spots. They’d been helping me get acclimated to the bar and the who’s who of the nightlife scene.
“Coming up.” She grinned, reaching for the glasses. “You okay?”
I nodded, realizing my emotions were giving me away, but at least they were finally surfacing. I’d begun to wonder if the ability to feel had completely deserted me since my dad’s death.
Glancing back at the table I’d just left, I sighed and leaned my side against the marble countertop. An unexpected flush of warmth ran through me when I saw Devin looking in my direction. I turned around quickly and waited for the last drink from Jenn.
I felt his eyes still on me and the warmth turned to heat.
“Can I have a glass of ice water?”
“Sure thing,” she filled a glass with ice and did a quick squirt of water. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. Just trying to cool off.”
“It is a little warm in here.”
“Mmmhmm,” I mumbled in between gulping the water down.
I slid the empty glass across the counter, and she took it away immediately as I placed the four drinks on a tray and made my way through another wave of gropers.
“Four Jack and Cokes,” I announced, placing the drinks on the table.
“Thank you, love.” Devin’s voice brought me out of my funk. Slightly.
I focused on Devin, trying to decide if he was just one of the many men circulating in Meta who hoped to get lucky, or maybe smoothness just rolled off his tongue and nothing was meant by it. Maybe he could manufacture this spark with anyone he chose.
“Would you like to begin with toasted brioche with crème fraiche and caviar or caramelized onion tartlets?”
“What do you suggest?” Jaxson asked. He was the oldest Volkov brother, the Pakhan of the organization. He was as incredibly good-looking as the others with the same striking blue eyes and dark hair.
“I’d actually order the buffalo sliders with blue cheese crumbles, but I’m a burger type of girl, not much into caviar.” I felt Devin’s eyes on me, and a flush rolled up my cheeks.
“Sliders it is.” Devin nodded.
“Perfect.” I turned around to find a man stumbling through the crowd toward me. His eyes were glassy and he looked like a total scumbag. When he spotted his friends the next table over, I started to breathe again.
Bullet dodged.
I made my way back to the station and entered an order of sliders before checking on my other tables. When I went back to the bar to place more drink orders with Jenn, I looked over my shoulder and caught Devin looking at me.
“Looks like you have an admirer,” Jenn said, chuckling. “Not bad to catch the eyes of the owners.”
“I’m sure he’s as easily distracted as all the rest of the male species,” I assured her.
“I’m not so sure about that. He’s still looking at you.”
An unexpected shiver ran across my skin. I was disappointed in myself with how much I liked hearing that. I had a job to do.
An important one.
“It would be a lot easier not to care if he wasn’t so attractive.” I grinned and shrugged.
Jenn’s smile widened. “He’s not from a family you want to mess with. That much I know. It’s not just this bar they own.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly intrigued that maybe Jenn knew more about these men than I realized.
“He comes from a family who. . .” She twisted her lips into a pout. “Let’s just say their business dealings aren’t the most savory, and dating any of the Volkov brothers is complicated.”
“How do you know?” I asked, nearly leaning over the marble for the inside scoop.
“I was briefly involved with the one sitting across from your admirer. He’s the oldest. Jaxson is his name.” She let out a wistful sigh.
A few seconds of silence passed between us as I pretended this was all new information. Truth be told, it was all in the files.
“So, was it worth it?” I asked, glancing back at the table.
Sure enough, Devin was still looking in my direction while his brothers were in deep discussion. I smiled at him and a charge ran between us before I turned back to Jenn.
“Every single second.” She bit her lip before sliding the last drink to me. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
“Then what happened?”
“Jax will never be the relationship type of guy. He was married once. It didn’t work out so all women are suspect in his mind. It was an uphill battle to even get two consecutive dates out of the guy.”
“Ouch.”
She gave a slight nod. “But like I said, I’d do it all over again.”
“Interesting.”
“Or I could just be a masochist.”
I laughed and balanced the tray on my right hand.
“And the rest of the brothers?” I asked, not wanting to let on that I already knew more than I should about each of them.
“Taken. Blake is sitting next to Devin. He’s an ex-soccer player, and across from him is Drake. Drake was one of the most notorious bachelors around the city until last year.”
“What happened last year?”
“I guess he met the one.” She rolled her eyes and got back to pouring drinks.
Something
told me she’d hoped Jax would think she was the one.
I wandered back through the touchy-feely crowd and dropped off drinks at several tables. When I was on my way back, I felt a hand clasp my butt and squeeze it through the thin fabric of my dress.
“Please, let go,” I said, trying not to make a scene.
“You can’t expect to shuffle around in this little outfit all night and not expect something to happen,” a man nearly snarled.
I turned to see who would belong to such a crude statement and tried to dismiss the familiar tingle in my knuckles. The guy was a couple of inches taller than me, but I could take him if it weren’t for the fact that I was supposed to be a server, not a cop, and certainly not an expert in self-defense.
His glassy eyes were barely able to focus on mine, and that’s when it hit me. He was the dirtbag who’d been stumbling his way to his friends.
“I’ll say it one more time. This time slowly. Let go.” By now, his fingers had dug deep into my skin, and his arm wrapped around my hip as I stayed facing him.
“And if I don’t?” he slurred.
“I’ll call security and you’ll be barred from coming back.” Fury was rushing through me. Every cell in my body was burning with anger. I wanted to hit him, punch him, something him, but I knew if I did, I’d be the one fired and everything the department had worked on to get me here would be ruined. I had to act calmly even though nothing in my body felt relaxed.
“Bitch.” His eyes narrowed, but his hand stayed firmly in place.
Right when I was about to flag down one of our bouncers, Devin appeared out of nowhere, towering over me and the guy who wouldn’t let go of my flesh.
The fire in Devin’s blue eyes torched the guy next to me. The man’s fingers quickly left my butt, and he took a couple of steps away, but it was too late.
“Come on, man. I was only having a little fun. You know how it is.” His words were more slurred than a few seconds ago.
“No. I don’t, but why don’t you get the hell out of here before I change my mind and beat the shit out of you?”
Two of the guy’s friends wandered over.
“You got a problem?” one of them asked, staring at Devin.
“Not in the slightest.” Devin’s brow arched, and he glanced at his brothers who were looking at us. “But your friend does.”
“I don’t think anyone made you hall monitor.” The guy laughed at his own joke.
Devin fisted his fingers, and I instinctively moved two steps away.
I could feel the anger rolling off Devin, and instead of being worried, it kind of excited me to think that he cared enough to involve himself.
“Women should never be subjected to creeps like you,” Devin said, staring at the group of men. “Apologize.”
“Screw you,” the drunk one muttered.
Devin’s lip curled slightly right before his fist went deep into the abdomen of the groper. Both of his friends caught the guy before he landed on the floor, each one holding him up by an armpit.
The good news was that the bar was so packed no one really saw what was going on unless they happened to look over at precisely the right time. Judging by how little the crowd moved, I’d say no one saw.
“Do you want some more?” Devin asked, cocking his head slightly. “If not, I’d suggest you get the hell out of here.”
The two men nodded, while the third one looked like he was about to lose his dinner.
“One more thing,” Devin said as the guys started to make their way out of the bar. “Apologize.”
I could see the guy who needed to do the apologizing was about to really lose it so I shook my head, but he quickly managed a sorry before making it out of the bar.
“You okay?” Devin asked, placing his hand on my shoulder.
I nodded, realizing I hadn’t taken a breath since Devin’s fist connected with the guy.
“You don’t have to put up with that.”
“I kind of do.” I bit my lip and sucked in a deep breath. “If I want to keep my job.”
“That’s not how we run our restaurants.” His voice was low and gravelly. “If management has ever given you the feeling that you can’t report something like that or get a customer booted. . .” A muscle in his jaw tensed, and his gaze stayed fastened on mine. “I’ll be having a discussion immediately with management.”
“You’re Mr. Volkov?” I asked.
“One of them, and I intend to take care of this.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Please don’t. I can handle things. I didn’t mean to imply that I don’t have support. I should have called a bouncer sooner. It’s just hard to gauge which of the men who grab are going to take it one step too far.”
He studied me closely.
“How often is this happening?” He folded his arms across his chest, his suit jacket pulling slightly across his shoulders and chest. For some reason, my mind went to crazy places.
“Nightly, hourly, probably every fifteen minutes on busy nights like this. They just can’t help themselves.”
“Men can always control themselves. This isn’t acceptable. We’ll get to the bottom of this. Obviously, the clientele needs to be vetted a little better and a zero-tolerance policy strictly enforced.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be a problem.” I watched the appetizers being delivered to Devin’s table. “I’m just so grateful for this opportunity. I’m not trying to cause issues. The restaurant is wildly successful, so obviously, something is being done right. And your sliders have arrived.” I attempted a grin to replace the embarrassment that was chugging through me.
His gaze hardened, and I felt my heart unwillingly flutter.
“All I have to ask myself is one simple question. Would I want my sister working here? After seeing what just happened, the answer would be no. The issues will be rectified.” Devin slid a business card into my hand. “Call me if anything like this happens again. We’ll be meeting with management tonight.”
He made his way back over to his brothers, and I stood standing completely in awe of a man who was part of the oldest mafia in our city. . . and the man I was assigned to take down.
Chapter Four
Devin
“Joel came to the office last night.” I glanced at my brother, Jax. “We were able to figure out what happened.”
Jax remained silent.
“In case you’re wondering, I still haven’t made it home yet,” I continued.
“I wasn’t.” A flicker of amusement darted through my brother’s gaze and I let out a hollow laugh.
I was sitting in Jax’s office. The view of the city always knocked me out, but today was especially breathtaking with the sidewalks coated in white from a light dusting of snow. The streets were full of brake lights, bikes, and pedestrians. This city very rarely rested from its own problems, and I’d be the first to admit my family happened to add its fair share to the mix. We were just better at keeping that hidden than most.
“Joel was able to find the encrypted files we needed. I don’t think they have a clue who has been infiltrating their system, but they know someone has.” I took in a breath and thought about how nice it would be to have a drink right about now. It wouldn’t really qualify as morning drinking since I hadn’t gone to bed yet. I bobbed my knee up and down and dismissed that last thought. “So they wanted to cover their tracks and leave a trail of destruction. They knew what they were doing and infected the encrypted files with a pretty nasty virus. Their goal was to make it look like they’d moved everything to a cloud server, and for the most part, they did move a lot of their data.” Jax didn’t seem to be interested in the particulars. He seldom was. “Anyway, it took a long time, but Joel was able to decrypt the first file and from there, move on to the rest of the files. He’s still working on them.”
“Why didn’t he catch it the first time?” Jaxson asked, turning around in his chair to take in the view.
“I don’t have an answer for that, but the questi
on certainly surfaced.” I tapped my fingers on my knee. “You said he was the best, and I don’t dispute that, but maybe we need to bring on additional support.”
I didn’t dare explain why Joel was so overworked. I’d tapped him for a special project, and we weren’t quite ready to make the reveal to my brothers.
Jaxson spun back around in his chair and leaned his elbows on the desk. His eyes stayed focused on his laptop.
“I agree. I’ll bring Joel in and ask him to start the hunt.” He shook his head. “He doesn’t like to work with others, but he’s left us no choice.”
I nodded in agreement, knowing the process of finding more IT guys as skilled and loyal as Joel wouldn’t be easy. Joel was the best of the best. His career began as a black hat, breaking into corporate networks and planting gifts that would haunt their IT departments for years to come.
For a brief time, he went a little vigilante, trying to expose to the world the seedy underground of the net. That was all before he came to work under us, where his distinct talents led us to wipe out the competition.
What we asked our men to do wasn’t something you could put an ad on Craigslist for. Joel would need to dig deep in his contacts to find the best black hats to join Wolf Industries. Our men never failed at bringing in the most skilled because they knew their necks were on the line if they made a mistake.
“What about moving some employees from the SS department?” I asked my brother. “We already know they’re trustworthy.”
The SS department was what we’d named our group that was tasked with solving state-sponsored issues. Years ago, my mother saw that the world was changing and state-sponsored jobs would be a consistent source of income for Wolf Industries while we grew our web and corporate security divisions. We employed the best of the best on both sides. We had both white hats and black hats, and neither knew the other existed under our wide umbrella.
“But most aren’t based here in New York.” Jax crossed his arms over his chest and reclined slightly in the leather chair. “I want them under the same roof working side by side with Joel.”
Devin: A Romantic Suspense (V Mafia Series Book 2) Page 3
