Page 17 of Break Me

And I’d made the worthless son of a bitch suffer in the process. I’d had no issue carrying a weapon with the intent of using it if necessary since then.

“You’re not that far off,” I said, which shocked both of them. “Think about it. We’ve been living the high life with our many successes, money flowing, business booming. Hell, we’ve been on the cover of almost every important business magazine as leaders, not only in this industry but any.”

“Don’t forget about the most eligible bachelor list inPeople Magazine,” Vissarian tossed out. He was proud of the nod. I’d laughed but had strutted my ass in front of the camera anyway. We all had.

“Are you suggesting jealousy?” Mikhail mused, narrowing his eyes.

“No, I’m suggesting they think we are weak and that they can push us around.” I didn’t like what I was saying, but I believed it to be true.

Mikhail nodded. “You could be right, brother. How is our movie business coming along?”

“If you mean the production of the single movie, still filming. If you’re wondering if this has anything to do with the Irish in LA, I’d be surprised.” They’d caused us trouble over two years ago, holding a grudge against Mikhail for an event that occurred when he was a teenager. We’d nearly crushed them in return.

“You’ve said so yourself, Alexsey,” Vissarian reminded me. “The Irish stick together.”

“Yes. Ties go deeper than they do between Bratva. Obviously.” Mikhail exhaled. He was still rattled about learning we had another uncle still in Moscow. Uncle Yuri wished the now Americanized side of our family death. And he’d tried.

The bad blood between my father, Vissarian’s father, and Yuri went back decades, the reasons why something we might never learn. Dealing with Yuri’s assassins had left us on edge even now after a few months had gone by. In our world, there was no such thing as coincidences. And grudges never vanished. They simply were held in wait for the right time to strike.

We had far too many enemies I’d consider to be in a holding pattern.

“So what do we do?” I asked while my thoughts shifted once again to Halle. She’d been so closed off, so angry in general and Icouldn’t believe she’d been lured into setting a trap of any kind. I could read people and she was not that way.

Maybe I was fooling myself. My mother had warned all her sons that women were the stronger sex and could easily maneuver around a man given they were much more cunning.

It was something that had always stuck in the back of my mind.

“First, we make sure you’re settled back into your condo in the next couple of days. Take some time and deal with the fire inspector and the insurance company,” Mikhail suggested. “We’ll continue to monitor the streets to see if we can find out anything.”

I could tell by the gleam in his eye he had something else in mind. “And?”

“You like this girl who saved your life. Right?”

Lifting a single eyebrow, I gritted my teeth until my jaw ached. “What are you thinking?”

“Why not try and see if you can work yourPeople Magazineon her?”

“She turned me down.” I was getting annoyed with his suggestion. While I certainly wanted revenge on the person responsible for torching my house, I wasn’t going to shove a potentially innocent woman into the fray.

“Convince her.” Mikhail was adamant.

“I don’t like what you’re suggesting, Mikhail.”

“There is a connection to Papadakis and Liam O’Leary,” Vissarian added.

“Her dead husband?”

He shook his head. “O’Leary’s Irish Pub uses Performance Foods. I checked out of curiosity after learning her name. Liam is her brother-in-law.”

For some reason the fact he’d held that snippet of information back from me pissed me off. “You’re just telling me that now?” I moved around the bar, crowding his space.

Vissarian wasn’t one to back down from anything, including a fight. He slammed his glass onto the bar. “I didn’t think it meant anything until now.”

“Hold on. Gentlemen. There is no need to be at each other’s throats.” Mikhail moved near us, glancing from one to the other. “Cool down and back off. Both of you.”

I refused to take a step back. I’d been doing so my entire life since Vissarian was higher on the food chain. Maybe I was sick of being the youngest Dmitriyev boy on one side of the family.

Vissarian sighed and took a step back. “I didn’t think it was big news, Alex.”