Page 29 of Ravage

But he was definitely someone.

And from the way he’d looked at Ruby — the way he’d protected her — Adam had a feeling it wasn’t the last time the man would come to Roasted to see Ruby.

To see Adam’swife. Because Ruby was still his wife, whatever the courts had said.

He stepped into the train and stood without touching the metal pole. They were disgusting, riddled with germs.

He thought again of Ruby, of the way she’d looked at him tonight, a mixture of poorly hidden fear and something that was too close to disgust for his liking.

He forced himself to breathe through his frustration at the thought that she would be afraid of him.

Ofhim. Her husband.

He was going to get her back. Would prove to her that they could be happy again.

But first, he had to figure out the identity of the stranger who’d come between them.

11

ROMAN

He stood on the sidewalk like a schoolboy, leaning against the building next to Roastedand waiting for her to get off work. He could have waited in the car, but he was afraid he’d miss her, that he might look away or say something to Max and miss his opportunity to see her again.

There was always her apartment of course, but that would be creepy, and she was already on edge.

With good reason.

He had to proceed carefully, especially since she’d already turned him down.

It had been a new experience for him, and he’d combed his history, sure there must have been someone who might have rejected him, at least initially.

But no. Women had fallen at his feet for as long as he could remember, either because of his name or his wealth or some other appeal known only to them.

He checked his watch (he still liked to wear a watch, although he knew most people used their phones to keep track of the time): less than fifteen minutes until she would emerge from the coffee shop.

He watched the pedestrians passing by on their way home from work and thought about the week since he’d last seen her. It seemed a lifetime ago, both because he’d thought about her constantly and because he’d made so much progress with his plans to seize control of the bratva.

The men he’d convened at the loft had agreed to support him — outwardly anyway. There was still the possibility of betrayal. That would be true right up until his father either relinquished the crown or was forced to relinquish it.

But for now, the men Roman had chosen were on his side, thanks either to his promises of reward — tailored to the men and their ambitions — or because of his arguments about the bratva being near bankruptcy and their fears about life under Russian leadership.

Both probably.

Still, Max had waged a heated campaign to add guards to Roman’s detail, a plea Roman had refused. Any changes they made to Roman’s routine ran the risk of drawing attention from his father or one of his father’s loyalists, and that could mean Roman’s death.

Until Roman pulled the proverbial trigger on his plans, everything must remain the same.

And all was proceeding according to his plan. He would meet with Mikhail tomorrow, after which — if all went well — he would have a high-ranking member of the Spies on his side. Then, in just a few days, the mercenaries Roman had hired would steal the gold aboard Lev’s cargo ship while it was in international waters.

After that, the men would have his back while he moved the gold to increase his capital for the fight ahead. That part would have to be done quickly, before his father caught on to the fact that Roman was behind the theft of the gold that had been destined for the Kalashnik bratva.

Then, capital in hand, Roman would shore up his defenses and give his father a choice: step down or die.

Roman stood straighter as the door to the coffee shop opened. A moment later, Ruby stepped onto the pavement, her lovely dark hair pulled back from her face, the way she seemed to wear it whenever she was working.

She looked down at her phone and scowled, then slipped it in the pocket of her jeans.

He stepped away from the building before she looked up, not wanting to startle her by stepping out of the shadows as she passed.

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