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CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

LIAM

Staring up at me, tears well in her eyes, and Sasha stammers, “ My name… I mean, I?—”

Hearing the all-too-familiar muffled sounds of gunshots, I cut Sasha’s words short when I yank her from the barstool and pull her behind me.

I fucking knew it…

I don’t need to see Ivan’s face to know this is him. No one—except Finn—would be stupid or crazy enough to pull off shit like this. For all his bullshit about sharing this city and calling a truce, he wanted nothing more than to earn our trust so that he could infiltrate our lives with ease.

Club members scream, scurrying behind tables and toward emergency exits as a slew of armed men swarm our club. Ivan’s Russian accent-laced call billows over them all. “ Malen’kayaprintsessa ?”

I’ve got Sasha firmly wedgedbetween me and the bar to hide herfrom sight— and potential gunfire— with my body.

Drawn guns in hand, Tristan and Declan stalk toward an unfazed Ivan.“I see your word means very little,” Tristan gruffly opines, gesturing with the barrel of his gun for Ivan to return to the doors he just entered through.

“My word?” Ivan darkly laughs, his gaze leisurely wandering around the club as he walks further into it. Grabbing a recently vacated stool at the other end of the bar, he sits and helps himself to the freshly poured beer left behind.

Sasha fists the fabric of my shirt and buries her face into my back, further shielding herself from Ivan and his men. Reaching behind me, I place my hand on her hip and find her trembling. I squeeze her—silently tryingto lether know that I’ll do everything I can to keep her safe—as I turn slightly to further conceal her from the men gathering beside Ivan.

Tapping the muzzle of his gun on the bar, Ivan sincerely comments, “This is a nice fucking place you’ve got here.”

“Thanks,” Declan deadpans.

“And filled with such gorgeous fucking women.” Ivan’s looks around the room as he speaks. He’s looking for something or someone. “Pretty sure we all could have had a good time here, sharing some of these beauties. It’s a fucking shame you broke our agreement.”

“Funny, I don’t think it’s us who have just barged into your strip club,”I snark. “Butwe are the ones that broke the truce between us?”

“We agreed I would stay out of your business and you would stay out of mine,” Ivan reminds, staring back at me with anger. His stare is unwavering, and his nostrils flare with every heated breath he takes. He sure as fuck thinks we— or I —did something.

Ivan continues to glare at me as Tristan tries to calm the situation, “I assure you we have held our end of theagg?—”

“No!” Ivan interrupts Tristan with a roar, the heated flush of anger creeping up his tattooed neck as he slams the butt of his gun against the bar with enough force to chip the marble. He takes a second to get a grip on his anger and finally breaks our stare to return his attention to Tristan. “Do you not know what goes on in your own house? Is that how you run your operation?”

Tristan shakes his head, still as oblivious to Ivan’s ranting outburst as the rest of us. Ivan slides from his stool and calmly finishes the beer he helped himself to. Walking toward Tristan andDeclan,he glances in my direction and snarks, “You might need to confirm that with the rest of your brothers.”

Sasha lets out a soft, whimpered sigh from behind me and I squeeze her hip, praying she stays quiet and doesn’t draw his attention. I don’t get my wish, and he snaps his head to me, his narrowed eyes even more angry than before.

“I have spent a very long time looking for something that belongs to me. Years of hard work and anguish trying to find it. Scouring this city and our fucking homeland. Imagine my surpriseto finally findit right under my fucking nose,” Ivan rants, pushing past Tristan and Declan as he makes his way toward me.

Sasha trembles harder against my back with every step Ivan takes in my direction, and it pains mebeyond words that I can’t do anything to comfort her in this moment without further risking her safety.

Reaching me, Ivan condescendingly taps the barrel of his gun against my chest and asks, “Are you in the habit of keeping things that don’t belong to you?”

Under any other circumstances, I would risk the bullet he might fire—and those of his comrads— to beat the piss out of him where he stands for daring to threaten me. But this are different. A bullet could easily pass through my body and into Sasha’s. And that isn’t a risk I am remotely willing to take.

All my brothers stare at me, each of them as blind to my crime as I am. I return their stare with a tiny shrug and a shake of my head.

“I thought I was very clear that if you fucked with me, the truce we made would be over.” Ivan stands toe-to-toe with me and presses the muzzle of his gun against my jaw. “And you have most definitely stuck your manky Irish cocks where they don’t belong.”

The muzzle grinds beneath my chin, and he seethes, “Normally, Iwould’ve already rained your fucking brains across this bar. But I’m trying to extend a fucking olive branch here.”

A fucking olive branch? Really? This is his fucked-up version of a peace offering.

“ Malen’kayaprintsessa ,” he exhales, his tone softening but still dark and gravelly. “I just want what’s mine. This doesn’t have to be like last time.”

“Last time?” I ask in confusion, only to have my question ignored.

“If I get what belongs to me, no one has to die tonight,” Ivan promises, and Sasha’s hands slip from my shirt. My skin vibrates as she mutters against my back, but she’s so quiet I can’t make out what she’s saying.

She slides from between me and the bar, putting herself in clear view—and danger—of Ivan. His eyes light up the second he sees her, and my stomach flops with terror. She takes a step toward him, and I grasp for her arm. “Sasha, what the fuck are youdo?—”

“ Malen’kayaprintsessa ,” Ivan sighs delightfully, a relieved smile pulling at the side of his mouth. He grips her jaw with his free hand, and I snarl as he uses the hold to drag her toward him. Dipping his head, he places a chaste kiss against her lips. Not relinquishing her face as he stands, he whispers, “Alexandra… I’ve missed you, little sister.”