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Declan
“Yeah, Finn?” Natalia answers the phone, chewing on her bottom lip. Whatever he says on the other end of the phone makes her facial features fall. She instantly blanches. “What do you mean?”
She frantically grabs the suitcase off the floor and sits it on the bed. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. We will be home as soon as possible. Just try to minimize the damage as much as possible.” Natalia looks at me and mouths for me to call the pilot.
Although I have no idea what is going on, I nod and step outside to make the call. When I come back in, Natalia is off the phone and pacing back and forth. I step in front of her and grab her shoulders gently.
“What’s going on,mo ghrá?” I ask, worriedly searching her eyes. The immense distress reflected in hers causes me to pull her into my arms.
“When Finn texted me this morning, he told me I got a new shipment of weapons today, which was out of the ordinary, but I never thought anything of it. I told him to have the men open it and deal with them like normal,” she explains and pulls away from me. “When the guys opened it, there was a bomb inside and it detonated. It managed to wipe half of my workers at the warehouse out.”
“What the fuck?” I curse.
“I know, so we need to be home like now.” She stands up straight and squares her shoulders, the steely resolve taking over once more. “Whoever is trying to take down my Empire will be found, and theywillregret it.”
I nod and grab a pair of dress pants and a button-up from the suitcase. “Yes, they will. We will make sure of it.”
An hour later, we are on the plane and in the air. Natalia has been pissed since she got off the phone. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her speak that much Russian before. Glancing over at her, I reach for her hand. Rubbing the back of it with my thumb, I let out a sigh.
“Nat,” I say after sitting in silence, “you couldn’t have known this was going to happen.” I can see the wheels turning in her head, and I know that’s exactly where her thoughts are.
“I should have just told them to wait, and I would inspect it when we got back tomorrow evening.” She looks out the window, her face emotionless. The light that was in her eyes the last twenty-four hours, completely gone.
I reach over and grab her chin, turning her face back to me. “Natalia Raisa O’Connor,” I state and glare at her. “I know they were your men, and that you feel responsible. But, as I said, you had no way of knowing this was going to happen.”
“I shouldn’t have gone away so soon. I was fucking abducted three weeks ago. That alone should have made me more cautious about the random weapons showing up.” The frustration in her voice is clear, and she pulls her hand away from mine. “I’m going to lie down for a bit,” she says as she stands and walks past me.
“Do you want me to come with you?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.
She shakes her head. “No, I’ll be okay. Watch a movie or something?” she suggests and walks back to the bedroom.
I watch after her and shake my head. That woman is so stubborn. I can’t blame her though because I would be acting the exact same way if the roles were reversed. Settling into my seat, I flip on the inflight movie and try to pass the time.
Somewhere between the middle and end of the movie, I must have fallen asleep, because the flight attendant wakes me. “I’m sorry to wake you, Mr. O’Connor,” she says timidly. “We will be landing in half an hour and Ms. Belov-”
Holding my hand up, I give her a polite smile. “It’s Mrs. O’Connor now.”
“Apologizes. Mrs. O’Connor hasn’t come out of the stateroom yet. Could you go get her?” She asks, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.
“Of course,” I nod and stand, going to the back of the plane. Opening the door slowly, I find Natalia looking at the ceiling.
“I heard her, Declan. You didn’t need to come in here,” she sits up and looks at me.
I sit down on the edge of the bed and turn to face her. “Honey, she’s just doing her job. Come on up to your seat so we can land.”
As soon as we get in our seats, the fasten seatbelt sign lights up. “Perfect timing,” I mumble.
Thirty minutes later, we are on our way to the warehouse. The car is silent and Natalia’s leg is bouncing up and down. The closer we get to the warehouse, the more it bounces.
“Just drop me off and I will have Finn bring me home. I’m sure you need to get caught up on your stuff,” Natalia glances over at me, distance in her gaze.
“I’m staying, Natalia. I’m not going to just leave you to deal with this on your own.” I state. Besides, this is now my business as well. While I wasn’t close to these men like she was, they were still my men. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this bomb was meant for Natalia. For mywife.
No one threatens her life and gets away with it.
Chapter thirty-two
Natalia
