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“You can,” he stood from the wall and walked over to me. “You are the sole heir to the O’Connor family, Dec. Change starts with us.” He shrugged and gave me a comforting smile. “I plan to run things much differently than my father, and I only assume you plan to do the same?”
Giving him a nod, I cleared my throat. “Absolutely. I would give anything to have you guys back in my life.”
“Good,” he said, before patting me on the shoulder. “I won’t tell Nat you were here. I’ll leave that up to you. Plus, I think she would kill us if she knew you were here and didn’t see her.”
“You have an excellent point,” I laugh and walk toward the door. There was one last thing I needed to ask before I left though. “Hey, Dmitri?” I pause. “Do you think she knows how much I love her?”
“She knows, kid. She knows,” he assures me. “You better go. My father said something about heading this way. I wouldn’t want him to catch you here. But promise me one thing, when you finally get to be with her. I need your word that you will do everything to protect her. Don’t let her have the same fate as our mothers, husbands who couldn’t care less about the women at home. Treat her as your equal.”
If there was one thing in this entire world I knew I could promise him, it was that. Despite the fact that we were ordered to stay away from each other, I knew deep in my soul that one day Natalia and I would find our way back to each other.
The rest of the performance, my eyes never strayed from Natalia. The way she moved with such grace across the stage, the pure power and beauty of her shown in each miniscule movement. Dmitri’s words had fully sunk in and I knew, as I watched her up on that stage, that there was no way I could go the rest of my life without her. That was the very moment I decided to brand that promise on my skin forever.
“I will, Dmitri,” I assure him before turning and walking out of the bathroom and back to my seat.
Pulling into the garage, I’m brought back to reality at the sight of my fathers car. He was supposed to be gone all day. As I walk in the house, I try to be as quiet as possible, but my keys miss the hook by the door and clang to the ground.Fuck.
“Declan, come here,” he calls for me down the hall.
Rolling my eyes, I follow his voice. Stepping into his office, I clear my throat. “Yes, sir?”
“I need you to monitor the next shipment of weapons coming in today,” he says, looking down at the papers in his hand.
“We don’t deal with weapons, dad. Why do you need to monitor it?” I ask as I take the seat across from his desk.
“What did I tell you yesterday? Do not question me.” He looks up at me with a grimace.
Quickly dropping my eyes, I let out a sigh. “Yes, sir.”
“Ivan will be too worried about the funeral today to be focused on the weapons.” The smile that rests on his face is absolutely disgusting.
“Are you kidding me? You can’t let them have one day to grieve their son?” I sit up straighter, glaring at him. Usually, I try not to rock the boat with my father, but this is where I draw the line. Natalia and her family have gone through enough this week.
“They had their day. Yesterday.” He shrugs and the gesture makes my blood boil. How can someone have no compassion whatsoever for his former best friend and his family? “You’re going and that’s final.”
I shake my head and look up at the ceiling, cursing internally. He knows I can’t say no, even though I desperately want to. “I’ll be there.”
“I’ve had someone with eyes on the building for the last two days. They’ve reported that there is a substantial lack of security this time. A grave mistake on their part.” Standing, he looks down at me. “I have arranged a few men to take with you. Take Finn as well. Make it hurt. I want them to know it was us.”
“Is that all?” I impatiently ask, standing from my chair and adjusting my suit. When he gives me a nod, I exit his office and head to my room.
Changing into a less constricting outfit, I call Finn and tell him what’s going on. I can tell he has a million questions, but we don’t have time for them right now. We hang up after he tells me he’s on his way and I head down to the garage to meet with the rest of the guys that will be going with us.
When Finn arrives, I brief him on the task and we head out. The ride to the warehouse is quiet. Finn knows better than to bring up Natalia with other people around. She is going to be pissed, but I know that I cannot let my feelings for her get in the way of work.
After parking near the warehouse, we make our way through the wooded area. Usually we have warehouses within the actual warehouse district, however, the Belovs have a warehouse in the woods closer to their home that they keep their more important product in. I’ve never been, surprisingly, but Natalia and Dmitri were never at ours either.
We make our way through the woods quietly, following the directions that the scout gave us. As he reported, there are only two men out front, and my guys take them out effortlessly.
Quietly moving through the depot, we finally make our way to the main room where the weapons are held. This time, our scout was off on security numbers. We are able to take them all out, except for one. Going over, I survey the weapons and begin instructing my men what to take.
Once the cars are loaded up with a little less than half of the shipment, I walk back into the warehouse to the last standing guard. “Make sure your boss knows the O’Connor’s are silent no more.” I cock my gun and aim it at his thigh, before pulling the trigger.
♠
What the fuck, Declan?
Well, this isn’t good. We hadn’t been home two hours before Natalia’s text came through.
