Page 8 of Kidnapped By the Boss

“I know it’s your honeymoon, and I know you’re looking forward to it, but whoever is attacking all of our sites, most likely The Wreckers, they are probably just chomping at the bit for you to leave. Once you are no longer in this country, I have a feeling the next place they attack will be this estate.”

“That is precisely why I have two additional caporegimes, a consigliere, and an entire army of soldiers that won’t let anyone get near this place,” I responded. “You’re failing to recognize an entirely different problem, which is the lack of time that I’ve had with my wife since our son was born. Believe me when I say, you and everyone else in this empireneedsme to go on my honeymoon. I’m very much looking forward to rekindling our flames.”

“I understand. Trust me, I do. This world breeds little time for romance and intimacy, we all know that, but my job is to advise you, and my official advice is for you not to leave the state while we’re under this kind of duress,” he explained. “Obviously, it’s up to you what you decide to do, and as you said, we will absolutely protect your empire with all of our ability, but three of your locations were attacked just two days ago while you were here. I simply don’t think it’s a good idea.”

I could tell by the look on his face that he was serious about what he was saying and knew that he meant business. Devrick knew how unlikely Katya and my relationship even was from the beginning, so I knew that he understood how important my honeymoon was to me. He wouldn’t advise against it unless he really and truly believed that it was a bad idea, and his instinct on this sort of thing was rarely wrong.

That didn’t mean I was automatically taking his advice, because if I didn’t get to spend some time with my wife, then the real risk wasn’t if someone else started blowing shit up, it was if I did.

Before I could respond to Devrick’s request, there was a knock on my door, and then I heard the knob twist immediately, letting me know that it must have been Katya—she was the only one my receptionist knew to let in regardless of the circumstances.

As expected, the doors opened and Katya walked in, followed by Annie. I was honestly expecting their excursion to Long Island to take longer, but fortunately I was able to finalize the honeymoon arrangements before she got back—everything that I was planning was a surprise, apart from the location, which she requested specifically.

“Hey,” she said as she walked in with a smile, walking around the desk and up to me. “We’re not interrupting anything, are we?”

I shook my head at her. “You are never interrupting me.” She leaned down and gave me a kiss, then settled against the sill of the big window behind me. “Did your trip to Long Island bear fruit?”

“Not really,” Katya replied. “We did stop at a few of the places that The Wreckers have been terrorizing, but they’re all pretty terrified and aren’t saying much. We did hear that they’ve gotta be close, but that’s all we learned.”

“Well…” Annie piped up, having settled into the chair next to Devrick. “There is one other thing.”

“What?” I asked.

“I don’t think it’s anything, but Annie does,” Katya explained. “Some guy came in right before we were about to leave the dry cleaners. Literallyrightat the tail end.”

“Yeah, after we’d been talking for a little bit. If he had the place bugged or something, that would be about how long it would take him to get to us,” Annie said, then she looked at me. “You said that the thing you hired me for was my intuition, and my intuition is telling me that guy was part of their crew.”

“I don’t think so,” I said.

“What was he like?” Devrick asked. “I assume he didn’t match any of the descriptions of The Wreckers’ crew members that we have so far?”

“None of them,” Katya confirmed. “And the clerk at the dry cleaners didn’t recognize him at all. She didn’t seem afraid of him or anything.”

Annie crossed her arms. “He didn’t have any clothes with him… At a dry cleaners!”

“That’s notthatunusual,” Katya fought. “People drop clothes off and pick clothes up. When I go back to get my dress,Iwon’t have any clothes.”

With a deep sigh, Annie stopped fighting. She didn’t seem to have a retort to that, but I could see in her face that she still truly believed he was involved.

“What did this guy look like?” I asked.

Annie shrugged. “Handsome. Hispanic maybe? He had tannish skin, that sort of short, cropped hairstyle and a goatee.”

“Nothing menacing about him?” Devrick asked.

Katya shook her head. “Not in the slightest. I’m telling you guys, Annie is overreacting. He was just there to pick up some clothes. The clerk didn’t recognize him because he dropped them off with someone else, and he probably had a claim ticket, but it was in his wallet or his pocket or something. It’s one of those things that wouldn’t seem out of the ordinary if we weren’t looking for something out of the ordinary, you know?”

“It’s not as if it matters a whole lot. You two have seen him, so if you see him again, you know to be suspicious, and in the meantime, we need to proceed anyway,” I said. “If they want to cause problems with us, then we’ll just end them, it’s as simple as that. If they think that they can come for us, then they’ll promptly be dealt with.” I looked at Katya then and said. “It’s time for you to do what you do best. I need you to go back to Long Island and simply root them out. No one is stealthier than you, and I know that if you hang around the back alleys enough, you’ll be able to find them. You know the area they must be operating in now, hang in the shadows until they come out,Pantera.”

She gave me a sly smile. “Ooh, trusting me with the big guns, huh?”

I nodded at her and then looked at Devrick and Annie. “Actually, can I have a moment alone with Katya please?”

“Of course,” Annie said. “Let me know what you need me to do next.” She stood up, gave me an obedient nod, and then saw herself out.

Devrick stood up from his chair as well and looked at me. “Please consider what I said?”

I nodded. “I will.”