Page 20 of Hateful Vows

Me on the other hand? Oh, I take my time devouring his sharp features and angry scars, the way the spider tattoo moves with every swallow and his jaw ticks with displeasure.

“It’s just champagne, pretty boy. Stand down and enjoy the show. Irina’s about to come out.”

He raises a brow but takes the glass offered and sits next to me, on the other side of the comfortable sofa. His quiet obedience is the sweetest drug.

“Where’s your wife?” I ask, a pang of guilt at how I’ve ignored Lucie. She moved back to London from France because of my deal with the Russians, without complaint, and I haven’t even taken the time to visit her. I vow to remedy that.

“I’m done,” Irina says when she comes out, stopping short. “What is he doing here?”

“He needs a fitting, too,” I supply.

“I don’t,” Aleksei retorts.

“Come on, pretty boy. Indulge me. I know you Russians like to invest all your hard earned blood money. Let this be my treat.” I stand and prowl to Irina, kissing her cheek. “You look gorgeous in black, sposa mia .”

“Better to hide the blood,” Aleksei and Irina respond in unison before frowning deeper.

I laugh and they turn their glare to me but I don’t give a shit. It’s obvious to me they’re trying their hardest to hate each other, and I’m sure they have a good reason, but it doesn’t fit my designs.

Especially as we move to the next boutique, specialised custom-made suits. Aleksei looks ravishing in the dark burgundy color. It highlights his mismatched eyes. I’m not the only one who thinks so since Irina hasn’t made a single mean comment as the tailor takes Aleksei’s measurements.

“This doesn’t mean I owe you,” he says when we part ways.

“Of course not, Tesoro .”

The endearment comes out unbidden but I don’t try to make it better, simply taking in Aleksei’s reaction. He tenses but doesn’t ask, and my devious little plan gets clearer.

Suddenly, something wheezes in the air and fire lances through my neck, where it meets my shoulders.

“Get down!” Aleksei screams and pushes me to the ground, his frame protecting me from the next bullet that almost hits the back of his head.

“Get Irina inside,” I scream back.

“Ilia got her.”

We take cover inside the boutique we just left. Gun in hand, I scan our surroundings for the threat. I don’t see shit, but I also don’t linger.

Crimson covers my fingers when I press them to the wound at my neck, but it’s just a graze. It was one of my favourite shirts, fucking dammit.

“Everyone, get in the back,” one of my bodyguards tells the boutique staff who look like they’re a breath away from crying or puking or both. Tino and Lorenzo scan the street from the front of the boutique while my last man calls for reinforcements.

“Put me down, you overgrown beast,” Irina tells Ilia who drops her back down from his shoulder.

I stampede to him and grab his throat. His eyes bulge but he remains still. “Touch my wife again, and I’ll take your fucking hands.” I point an accusing finger to Aleksei. “And you. The next time you prioritise my life over hers will be your last day on this fucking Earth, is that clear?”

“She wasn’t the one in danger,” he says and I see red. I’m about to pummel into him when a delicate hand stops me, and I hiss when she connects with the lesion there.

“Dante, you’re hurt? Why do I have to take care of everything in this goddamn family? Sit the fuck down. Ilia, get the first aid kit,” Irina orders.

She slipped. She said we’re family. The loss of blood must make me delirious.

Silence follows.

Irina roughly discards my jacket and shirt, until I’m naked from the waist up, seated on the velvet couch as she dabs the wound with my rumpled shirt.

The blood soaks through the fabric but I’m not mesmerised by that.

It’s the efficiency of her movements, the set line of her mouth and deep crease of her brow like my injury insults her.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you care,” I say.

“I’m the only one who’s allowed to kill you.”

I chuckle roughly, my cock stirring to life at her threat. She’s too addictive, her venomous mouth a poison I want to consume until I’ve wrung every last drop of it out of her body.

Then, Aleksei pours a bottle of seventy percent alcohol onto the open gash and I hiss, my cock definitely back down with the pain. “You could have told me you were about to douse me in this shit.”

Aleksei Dobrev rolls his eyes . “Did you just roll your eyes at me?” I ask incredulously, and I swear his mouth upticks into what is considered a smile where he’s concerned.

“You’re acting like a child. Why do you only have four bodyguards?” he asks.

“Four is more than plenty. Do you think we leave the house with an army?” Irina answers in my stead and I watch, mouth agape, as they go back and forth with the risks of doing daily routines, preventive measures and what needs to be changed in the security processes of the Ventura household.

All while they work in tandem to clean the bullet wound and place the stitch-less closure strips on my skin.

It’s an overkill but I don’t mind them fussing over me like this, their hands touching me.

There’s nothing sexual in it but my body didn’t get the memo, especially with how their scents mix in the air around us and silence occupies the space in between.

That’s not what I had in mind when I thought about bringing them closer together and fucking hell, it burnt when the bullet missed me, but I’m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

When I’m all patched up, Aleksei straightens. Our eyes lock and something passes in his eyes. Before I can make sense of it, it’s gone. He retreats to the corner of the room, phone to his ear, calling his own reinforcements to secure the area.

“We need to be more careful,” Irina breathes. I like it. The way she says ‘we’ like it’s not just me anymore. Like our marriage isn’t just a sham.

I nod, sobering. I rake a hand through my hair. “You’re right. I thought West Hill was safe but I guess nowhere is safe anymore.”

“We should cancel the gala.”

“No,” I counter. “I won’t cower and lock myself behind doors. I’m gonna root out every last traitor, even if it’s the last thing I’ll do. We’ll show up at the gala as planned. As one. I’ll double down on security measures at the penthouse and the mansion.”

“Also on traveling from one place to the next,” she says.

“Yes, vipera . But I’m not hiding in the shadows.”

“Dan will be here in an hour,” Aleksei interrupts us. “He’s ex-MI-6, and will find traces of the shooter if they left anything behind.”

My mouth tastes like sand as I utter the necessary next words. “Thank you. But I meant what I said. When Irina is with us, she’s the priority.”

“I can defend myself.”

“Against a sniper?” I ask, and she keeps her mouth shut.

“That’s what I thought. We need to merge our resources.

The threat against me is becoming more bold.

Irina found some petty theft amongst my men but nothing more.

” She perks up with pride, eyeing Aleksei like she wants to tell him ‘I told you so’.

Their dynamic is dizzying. Too bad I love chaos.

“I can organise a meet up with my men and yours tomorrow,” Aleksei agrees.

Let’s hope they won’t try to kill each other before we find the person who wants to assassinate me.