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I doubted it. “She vowed to leave me.”
Viking hummed. “Now that could be a problem. ‘Cause once Katya sets her mind to something…”
Yeah, he didn’t need to tell me. “I want two soldiers on her twenty-four seven. She doesn’t leave the house without a full security detail. If they lose her, they lose their life. Make sure they know that.” I’d saved her from Sokolov by giving her my name, but that same act had ruined our relationship.
I steepled my fingers and gave Viking a cursory look, getting back to business. “Aslanov?”
“The asshole is still holed up in a fortress on the outskirts of Moscow. You might actually need a tank to lure him out. He’s surrounded by soldiers, and according to our Kremlin contacts, he’s in good graces with the Russian government, so don’t expect any help there.”
Which meant that it would be a massacre going in. I needed Aslanov dead. Once he was dead, my debt to Sokolov would be paid. And once that happened, he’d give me the files on the senator. I needed those damn files to destroy the man who’d had my mother killed. Most of all though, once he was dead, his enemies wouldn’t have any reason to come after his daughter.
It would all be worth it. I was almost there. In the end, I told myself, it would be worth it. Katya would surely understand.
Katya didn’t show up in the dining room for dinner. I didn’t hear or see her for the rest of the day. A silence had fallen over the mansion, like a dark shroud covered everyone and everything. The house staff spoke in hushed tones and even my soldiers avoided me like I was a ticking bomb.
I kept my expression in check as I left the dinner table, where I’d eaten alone.
My legs headed toward the gym of their own accord. Before I reached it, Damon turned the corner, on his way out. He had a towel wrapped around his neck. He looked me straight in the eyes, but that was just who he was. He didn’t have any fear in his DNA whatsoever. God had clearly left that out when he created my master of spies.
“The king and queen are fighting, and the kids are restless.” As always, he cut right to the chase.
I wanted to wrap my hands around his neck. I wanted to tear through a wall.
“Want to go another round?” I asked, looking at the corridor behind him, which led to the gym.
“Any other day I’d love to, but not today.”
“You have something better to do?”
“Yeah, like keep breathing. No sane man is going into that ring with you today. And I can’t let you beat on a soldier who’s too stupid to tell you no.”
We stood face-to-face for a few more beats.
“Not today,” I eventually said.
“Not today,” he repeated.
That left me one other place to go tonight. The room I desired to be in most, and the place I dreaded just as much. I had to face the music though.
Damon seemed to read my mind. “I can get you a battering ram if she has barricaded the door.”
I stiffened. “She will not have barricaded the damn door.”
“I hope not. I’d hate to lose against Viking. Ever since he married, he thinks he’s the expert on women.”
Some days I questioned myself for not operating my Bratva like a regular one, with soldiers of all ranks falling into line and catering to my every whim. Instead, I’d surrounded myself with cocky bastards who had a pool going on whether my wife would kick me out of our bedroom.
“Viking’s an asshole.”
Damon nodded. “You can’t blame him right now though. Someone told his wife how he got shot, so instead of pity sex he got the couch. I have it on good authority that she actually growled at him about his role in forcing a woman into marriage.”
I grinned.
“I see your mood has improved,” Damon noted.
Oh, yeah, it had improved all right. Somehow imagining bulky Viking on an uncomfortable couch made my day better. “I’m going to bed. Make sure no one’s in our part of the house.”
When I’d returned to our room, I’d expected Katya to pretend to be asleep. That wasn’t the case. Instead, she stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her luscious body. When she saw me, she halted.
