Page 82 of Possessive Mafia Bodyguard

I sense him connecting the dots before he responds. “Did she lock you in?” He catches on quickly; it’s only one of the reasons why I love him.

“I’m tracking her, but I’d rather be doing it from outside the building.”

“I’d have something to say about tracking the woman you love if I didn’t think you’d rip my head off. Give me five.”

He ends the call.

Six minutes later, I hear him unlocking my door from the outside.

“What took you so long?” I rest my hand on his shoulder and reciprocate his beaming smile. “Don’t say a fucking word.”

He makes a zipping motion with his fingers across his lips.

“Take this.” I place the burner phone into his hand. “She’s in a taxi heading out of the city. I want you and Aiden to follow her, but don’t try to intercept her.”

“Do you know where she’s going?”

“No, but she was holding something back after she spoke to the men on the dock, and whatever it is, it was important enough for her to want to do this alone.”

“You guys have some weird telepathic communication going on now?” Connor quirks an eyebrow at me.

“It’s called love.”

I pause my thoughts racing around my head at a million miles an hour and study my little brother. When he finds ‘the one’, I’ll know it instantly, because those blue eyes will be the color of the Irish Sea on a glorious summer’s day, and I’ll be there for him every step of the way because this is what life is all about. It isn’t about guns and deals and territories. Love is all you need, as the song goes. I could live out my days in a cave with Tamara and know that I’ll be happy waking up beside her and feeling her lips on mine.

“You’ll understand someday.”

He nods once. “What will you be doing while we’re following your woman out of town?”

“There’s someone I need to speak to.”

I approach Leonid Ivanov’s mansion with my hands raised above my head.

The guard is unwilling, as expected, to allow me anywhere near the entrance until I mention the Petrovs. Then, he escorts me into a small, unfurnished room and waits with me while someone informs the Pakhan of the unexpected visitor.

Leonid enters the room minutes later with his brother Andrej.

The guard leaves the room, no doubt to take up his position outside the door, and the three of us consume the space like we’ve been thrown together into a wrestling ring with no idea how we got here or what’s expected of us.

“Tamara got news of Ivana today.” I kickstart the conversation. “She was seen being escorted onto a ship owned by the Petrovs.”

“That’s why you’re here?” The suspicion in Andrej Ivanov’s voice is unmistakable.

“No.” I look him in the eye. “I’m here because Tamara locked me in my apartment tonight.”

His scarred upper lip tilts into a smile, and I can wholly appreciate how he gained his playboy reputation before he met his wife. “Sounds like Tamara.”

“She doesn’t want you to follow her,” Leonid says. “So, you want us to do it for you?”

“Not at all. I want you to help me.” I shrug.

Either they will or they won’t. If the answer is negative, I’ll go alone, but I think I understand how much Leonid cares about her, and I trust him to want to keep her alive as much as I do. We also have a far greater chance of taking down the traffickers if we pool resources and work together.

He eyes me coolly, his expression neutral. “She made her choice. She knew the consequences.”

“She’s scared.” I didn’t come here to beg them for help or sympathy. I simply want to arm Leonid with all the information so that he can base his own choices accordingly. “Her sister is missing. She’s out of her comfort zone away from the only life she has ever known with you. And she’s pregnant.”

I wait for this to land. Which it does with a gentle slap around each of their faces.