“Right away,pakhan,” Denis replies. There’s a familiar glint in his eye that I catch as his lips curl into a sinister smirk.
“Mikhail, work with Dmitri on any security issues today,” I instruct him. He nods in acknowledgement.
“Everyone has their tasks. Check in at regular intervals every two hours. That’s all for now.” I dismiss the men in my office and let out a sigh. “Mikhail, a word.”
“What do you need?” Mikhail asks me, hanging back while everyone else files out.
“See that I am not disturbed for a few hours unless it’s an emergency,” I tell him. “The men will be checking in with me and my brothers, and I need you to handle everything else.”
“No problem. How is Emma?” he asks.
“Rattled. Scared. Tired. The doctor ordered her to rest today,” I reply.
“Then I know where to find you if needed.” Mikhail shakes my hand before leaving.
I find Mrs. Ivanova in the kitchen on my way back upstairs. She’s got the kitchen counters covered with all the stuff needed to make breakfast for about twenty people. I can already smell the bread baking in the oven.
“Can you please send breakfast upstairs later for Emma?” I ask her.
“Of course. She needs to regain strength if she’s going to put up with you,” Mrs. Ivanova replies. “I also bring up coffee in a half hour.”
I nod my thanks and make my way back upstairs to our bedroom. That’s what it is now. Our bedroom. Mine and Emma’s. She’s the only woman I’ll ever have in my bed for the rest of my life.
Emma is sleeping soundly when I open the bedroom door. My sister is sitting in one of the side chairs, reading a book. She gets up when she sees me enter.
“Thank you, Lidiya,” I say, giving her a hug.
“Happy to help,” Lidiya says. “We take care of family, and you need to officially make Emma family.”
“I’m working on it.” I smile at her. Lidiya gives me a knowing look before walking the bedroom door and closing it behind her.
I lock it from the inside and turn to look at Emma. My chest tightens at the thought of how much I love this woman. My sister is right. I need to make Emma my wife sooner rather than later.
Emma stirs as I lift the covers to climb back into bed with her, pulling her close.
“You came back,” Emma says sleepily.
“I made you a promise,” I reply. I lay on my back with one hand tucked behind my head. Emma snuggles into my side, her head resting on my shoulder and her arm laying across my stomach. My other hand wraps around her upper body and keeps her close. Her body is soft and warm against my own, and I let out a sigh as I settle into the bed.
“Did your meeting go well?” Emma asks.
“It did,” I tell her without going into detail. Emma knows what I do away from the public eye, and she’s taking it better than I expected her to. “Are you ready to talk about what happened?”
“I honestly don’t remember a lot of it,” she starts to tell me. “Patrick pushed me into the car, and I saw Igor on the sidewalk. Oh shit! Is Igor okay?”
“Yes,lyubimaya, Igor is fine and will recover,” I tell her. “You don’t have to worry about Patrick anymore.”
“Why?” Emma asks, sounding serious.
“He was killed during the shootout yesterday.”
“Oh.” Her face scrunches and she sounds surprised at the news that her former neighbor is dead. The surprise turns to relief when she fully realizes he’s gone.
“If he had survived the shootout, I would have killed him myself with my bare hands for touching you,” I say as I place a kiss on her forehead.
“I was starting to get a bad feeling about him, anyway, before you made me move in with you.”
“In what way?” I ask, looking down at her.
