Page 85 of Possessive Mafia Bodyguard

My eyes are drawn to it, and I can’t look away.

Finn folds me into his arms before I vaguely register his presence.

“I love you, mo féileacán,” he murmurs into my hair.

I listen to his heartbeat, and I wonder when it became as important to me as my sister’s heartbeat. Did it sneak up on me while I was looking the other way and bind us together with invisible ropes? Or did I willingly let it in while promising myself that I would think about it later?

“I…”

“We have to act now.” Leonid breaks the moment before I can even begin to find the words, and I reluctantly extricate myself from Finn’s arms. “They will already know that we are here.”

“What gave it away?” Connor asks. “The dark or our group hug?”

Leonid doesn’t acknowledge the banter. “This one is your call,” he tells me. “We’ll give you five minutes then we come in after you.”

“She isn’t boarding the boat alone.” Finn’s voice is firm. “I’ll have your back, sweetheart, no problem, but if anyone thinks I’m waiting here while you climb that ramp by yourself … they’re living in fucking LaLa Land.”

Dear sweet Finn. I feel as if I’m looking at him for the first time with my eyes wide open. He isn’t trying to undermine me. He’s simply doing what he does best, what he was made to do, be a protector, and when this is over, I will tell him that I get it now.

But first…

Time to finish what I started with Mikhail Petrov.

I stand on tiptoes and kiss him on the lips. “Thank you.”

“You don’t need to⁠—”

“I know,” I interrupt him, mimicking his own words. “But I want to.”

I tear my eyes away from him, and peer around the small group. “Mikhail Petrov told me that his father threw my sister overboard when she tried to open one of the shipping containers.” My throat constricts, but I force myself to continue. “I want him to know who I am before I end his life. The rest is down to you.”

Leonid nods.

Aiden Kavanagh stands beside Finn. “I’m coming with my boy here because this is no one-man boat, and these fuckers won’t play fair. You do what you’ve got to do but then you say the word, and we’ll take over.”

I glance at Leonid, expecting him to take control of the situation, but he slides a gun from his pocket and hands it to me.

I recognize the weight of it the instant it hits my palm. It’s my gun.

I slide my free hand into my pocket and pull out the bloody shipping schedule I stole from the aircraft. “This will help find Ivana.”

He glances at it briefly. “Go before I change my mind,” he says.

I blink, and Andrej places both hands on my shoulders, turns me around, and shoves me gently in the direction of the Russian ship.

The ramp is already in place for the shipment to be moved, but after hanging around working docks for the last couple of months, this feels like boarding a ghost ship.

I’m aware of Mikhail Petrov’s blood splatters on my clothes. I can still smell his cologne, his briefcase, his arrogance before he eventually acknowledged that I might be a real threat, one that he couldn’t evade with smart talk and underhand moves. I can still hear the glee in his voice when he announced that Ivana was no longer aboard the ship. I’m surprised he didn’t lick his finger and chalk up his score. One-nil to him for throwing my sister’s fate into the mix.

The crew is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the Pakhan threw them overboard too.

But that would be too easy.

He’s expecting me.

Where would the slimeball hide from an enforcer if he didn’t want to be seen?

As if reading my mind, Aiden gestures for me to follow him below deck, Finn bringing up the rear behind me. We head towards the front of the ship, passing no one along the way. Perhaps this meeting is mutual: the Pakhan wants me as much as I want him.