Page 40 of Possessive Mafia Bodyguard

Aiden’s grip tightens around his whiskey glass. “So, you have no intention of⁠—”

He’s interrupted by Andrej Ivanov’s ringtone. The underboss slides his cell phone from his pocket, studies the Caller ID, and addresses the room: “I’m sorry, but I should take this.”

The youngest Ivanov steps outside the room and onto the decking where he faces away from the meeting and out across the floodlit green where the grass is being perfectly manicured for tomorrow’s paying guests.

“I’m sure you will appreciate my reasons for waiting for my brother to return.” Leonid is polite, but the lines around his mouth hint at the tension behind the words.

Aiden sips his drink.

My brother and I have yet to speak, but neither of us moves.

The instant Tamara raises her eyes to me, I’m aware of it, and my gaze hurries to meet hers. I try to convey in one fleeting glance how much I’ve missed her and my acknowledgement of the bruises on her face, but I get nothing back, and I don’t know what cuts the deepest. Her lack of emotion or being ignored altogether.

Andrej comes back in and nods at his brother before resuming his seat.

“Perhaps we should adjourn this meeting until another time,” Andrej says. “There has been an incident at the Port of Chicago.”

11

TAMARA

“I’m coming with you.”

Andrej is preparing his weapons to head out to the port. “You’re already on their radar.” He glances at my bruised face while checking the ammunition in his revolver. “You should stay here.”

“Leonid?” I turn my attention to my Pakhan. “I should be there.”

I don’t add that I’m worried Ivana is being held by the Petrovs; I don’t need to. Leonid understands my thought process.

When I returned from the port with my injuries and minus my gun and daggers, I told him what had happened. I explained about the woman with the white-blonde hair I’d seen fleeing the other quayside the day before, and again immediately before I was captured.

“I believe she was trying to warn me. She might know where Ivana is.”

I’d also told him about the Russians with the serpent tattoos. He didn’t react, but it was obvious that he was aware of them and their Bratva history.

“I think it was she who released me from the container and helped me to escape.”

He didn’t try to convince me otherwise. He had my wounds checked by a doctor and ordered me to take some time out, to forget about the port, as he had all areas covered, and I would be the first to know if anyone spotted my sister.

And I didn’t question his orders.

I slept for twenty-four hours, and when I woke up, the weight of missing Ivana pressed heavily on my chest, but my first thought was Finn.

My body ached for him. I missed his easy smile, his dimples, and the way his hair curls at the nape of his neck. I rolled over in my bed, closed my eyes, and pretended that he was curled up behind me, protective, gentle, affectionate. He hadn’t spoken the words out loud, but I understood that, in his eyes, it was simple: if I wanted to spend time with him, then I would.

But he has no clue about my life. When my parents died, my sister and I were taken into the orphanage where our lives were in the hands of the matron. She could influence a potential adoption with a few carefully chosen words, and a child presented in pristine clothes and a glowing report to match the requirements of hopeful visitors. She could also sell the children who had no chance of being chosen and line her own pockets with the proceeds. Then, when Leonid found us, he gave us a home, but he expected loyalty in return. And we were happy to give it.

We’ve always been happy to give it.

But now I realize there is only so much loyalty one person can give, and I’m not prepared to cut it into portions and serve it like slices of cake to anyone else who happens to want a piece of me.

Also, I didn’t want him to see my bruises. I couldn’t have borne the pity on his face when he looked at me.

So, I obeyed Leonid’s order by day and ventured down to the port at night to look for the woman with the white-blonde hair.

And now shit has gone down while we were conveniently in a meeting with the Irish.

“If they recognize her,” Andrej says now, facing his brother squarely, “we risk the entire team. Let me scope out the damage first.”