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“Let’s tell Mikey and Liam and get ready for this meeting then,” Shane says as he pushes himself to his feet. “You’ll let me handle it, Jessie?”
“Yes,” I reply with a nod. He’s much better at this kind of stuff than me. I mean it’s kind of what he lives for.
“You know I’m not going to play nice?” He arches an eyebrow at me. “At least not until I know for sure he’s not behind what happened yesterday.”
“I wouldn’t expect any less.”
“Good girl.” He winks at me and I thank the heavens that I have these four incredible men in my life.
Two hours later, I’m sitting in the brother’s nightclub, with Conor and Liam on my left and Shane and Mikey on my right as we sit opposite Vlad and his sons. He was true to his word and only his sons are with him. Their armored car is in our basement, signaling that Vlad trusts us too, not that he would admit that yet.
“Who have you told that Jessie is Jessica Ivanov?” Shane snarls as his opening question.
“Nobody,” Vlad replies.
“So how the fuck does some kid we’ve never heard of turn up here, claiming to be Alexei’s son, looking for his half-sister?”
“Alexei’s son?”
“Yes,” Shane snaps.
“I had no idea he had a son.” He blinks and he’s either a very good actor or he’s telling the truth.
“Well he does. And the slippery little fuck set Jessie up yesterday.”
“Tell me what happened.” Vlad looks to me but Shane goes on talking.
“Two of the Bratva’s elite assassins tried to kidnap my wife is what happened,” he growls. “Now how the fuck do they even know who she is?”
“They are not working for me.” Vlad turns his attention back to Shane. “And we have not told anyone of Jessica’s existence. Why would I?”
“Because you want to eradicate any threat to your position of power.”
“Jessica is no threat to me,” Vlad replies coolly and Shane’s fists clench by his side, “because she does not exist. And I have no intention of causing Jessie any harm.”
“So who activated this brotherhood again?”
Vlad narrows his eyes at him. “I don’t know.”
“Sure it wasn’t you?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Vlad snaps, the vein in his temple bulging.
“Care to tell me why the fuck I would believe you?”
Vlad leans forward in his chair, his hands on the table in front of him as he stares down Shane Ryan. Shane stares right back and the atmosphere in the room becomes so thick, I swear I can taste it as the two of them face off, each ready to declare war on the other if they have to.
“With respect, Mr. Ryan,” he snarls. “If I had wanted Jessie dead, I wouldn’t have fucked it up. It would be already done.”
The vein in Shane’s neck pulses as he clenches his fists tighter. I sense Conor and the twins bristling beside me too and I swallow hard. This is going to turn into a bloodbath if things get any more tense. “Is that so?” Shane snarls.
“Yes,” Vlad snarls back. “But as I said, I have no intention of causing her any harm.” He turns to me then and gives a slight nod of his head as though to reassure me and I shake my head.
“So why are the brotherhood after me then, Vlad? Any ideas?” I ask, needing to ease the tension before someone gets their face blown off. I see Mikey twitching from the corner of my eye and worry that his trigger finger is going to get just as twitchy if we don’t ratchet the tension down at least twenty notches.
He runs a scarred hand over his beard and some of the tension slips from his shoulders as he addresses me. “There have been rumblings of a takeover. We have been trying to deal with it for some time now. It seems that some people believe I am not the rightful head of the Bratva.”
“And so who is?” Shane snaps. “Who else knows that Jessie is alive?”
