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“I would rather skip the meal and go straight to dessert,” she whispered, voice so low I almost didn’t catch it.
My blood heated, and my dick twitched to life. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. But, Tor,” she hissed. “Should you be holding me? Maybe this should be done formally. We should put a little distance between us.”
I let out a low growl, illustrating how much I detested that idea.
“We don’t want to rub salt in the wound!” she snapped. “I still need to get their blessing to commute into their territory for work.”
“This will be thelasttime—ever!” I countered in hushed tones. I squeezed her before I let her slip away to a friendly distance. “After this, I’m making sure the world knows you’re mine,” I vowed.
She smirked up at me. “You do that.”
We stepped into the cool interior of the hotel where Volkov was staying. The representatives of the two syndicates were gathered in the same bar area where I’d found Bri and my sister confronting Anya. Also present was Avery, and from the extra bodies moving about, the Serbs were here as well. But as I scanned the faces, I didn’t see the head of the Metak Gang.Where is that sonofabitch, Jakov?
I felt the weight of menacing looks. While I trusted my uncle to have everything in hand, I didn’t put anything past pissed off East Coasters and their penchant for brawling.
“Here are the terms, just as they were sent over last night,” Avery announced, handing a stack of papers to Briana. She put even more distance between us as she walked to his bistro table and started flipping through the pages.
“I’ll be sorry not to see you as my son-in-law,” Volkov announced as he lit a cigar and puffed. There might not be smoking in regular establishments, but if the poor bartender was going to come and tell him to put it out, the man was either hung like a horse or clinically insane.
“I’m sure you’ll find a replacement for me, sir,” I said amiably.
Volkov snorted. “Already have.”
Something twisted in my gut. Before I could ask, Briana piped up. “Mr. Markovich, everything is in order.”
“I already told the boss that,” Ilya, our in-house attorney, muttered.
He was going to have to learn to play nice with Bri or else he was going to be made to take an early retirement. Or a permanent one. I chuckled. The man was pretty worthless, but Uncle Igor didn’t trust any of the slick downtown pricks to handle our business, no matter how many palms tried to grease ours at functions. We kept business in the family.It’s a good thing I’m making Bri as good as blood.
The plan to do that involved a ring that was currently being designed and a trip to Mexico, where a waterfall waited for us to hike. The smile my plan brought to my lips couldn’t be hidden.
I signed the paper Briana held out to me with a flourish.
There was some minor bullshitting between my uncle and Volkov, and then we left as a pack.
I pulled Nikolai aside and said under my breath, “How did Uncle get Volkov to cave?”
My cousin wagged his eyebrows. “He made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
I slapped my cousin upside the head.
“You’re going to pay for that,” he said, but the smile on his face said it would be fun for me to try.
“I’m serious, cuz.”
“Alright, alright! If Ace is serious, then I’d best tell,” Nikolai drawled, grabbing my arm and pulling me aside. “He worked the angle that the Serbs needed peace, and that their automotive empire was worth the difficulty to buy into. He presented them as a more favorable offer than ours.”
“Uncle took the idea of selling Volkov’s daughter seriously and implemented it,” I deduced. My body chilled. Unbelievable.
Nikolai gave me a tight smile. “I know it disgusts you; frankly, it does me too. But it was either her or Sophia.”
“He could have done it without—”
“You know he took the path of least resistance. My father has no moral high ground when it comes to effort,” Nikolai hissed under his breath.
I let out a long sigh. This would be a sin that weighed heavily on me.At least I can watch over Anya here in LA, and if need be, rescue her.My gaze automatically slid to Bri, who was talking to the sly old fox of a lawyer. She’d sworn there was nothing between them, and I believed her, but I would still be visiting New York often to make sure everyone knew she was mine. Of course, I’d learned my lesson and would be making official requests to enter their territory from now on.
