Page 6

Walking away from her is one of the hardest moments of my life.

I’ve already told myself I can’t let this type of thing happen. So, why did I kiss her? But now that I have it’s like a switch has flipped inside me and I have no idea how to turn it off.

Pausing outside her bedroom door, I lean against the wall and clench my jaw tightly together.

My brothers are still here, my family is downstairs enjoying the last of the dinner. I have to go back down there and pretend like nothing happened up here.

I take a deep breath and push myself off the wall.

By the time I’m down in the dining room again I’ve managed to externally pull myself together.

“What happened?” Renat asks.

“She got overwhelmed by the family vibes. She, uh, she lost a brother earlier this year—“

“Oh shit. That’s terrible,” Ruvim says, scrunching his face.

“I’m sorry to hear that. That must be tough to go through.” Rodion nods.

“I think she’s going to stay upstairs for the rest of the night, just relax and gather herself,” I say, sitting down in my seat again.

“Well, we are almost done here anyway so it’s almost time to head out,” Ruvim says, dishing up the last of the chicken wings.

“Are we still on for tomorrow?” Roman asks, looking expectantly at me. My mind draws a complete blank.

“Tomorrow?” I mumble, still thinking about her and her lips pressed against mine.

“The whole fiasco with the Enzo brothers interfering with the warehouse again—“ Renat says, shaking his head as though I’ve lost my mind.

“Oh, fuck, yeah, we’re on for tomorrow. Who's meeting me there?”

“Roman, Ruvim and I,” Renat says.

Rodion stands up. “Yeah, sorry I can’t join you, I have to attend to that shipment.”

“We’ll be fine without you.”

“You guys please be careful,” Ruslana says, also standing up. “Come on Raisa, I’ll drop you at home.”

Raisa yawns loudly and stands up too. “Thanks for an amazing evening, Radmir. I really like Jade. She’s sweet.

“She is,” I nod, absentmindedly.

I follow everyone as they filter out of the house and towards their cars. When I close the door behind them all, I breathe a sigh of relief.

Fuck.

I really fucked up tonight.

I can’t believe I crossed that line after promising myself I wouldn’t.

A part of me wants to go and talk to Jade again, to apologize, to make sure she’s ok. But I can’t do that because I don’t trust myself. Not right now.

So instead, I head up to my bedroom, leaving the mess in the dining room for the housekeeper to deal with in the morning.

I don’t have the heart to face anything.

It’s like something has been drained out of me and the only way I can refill it is by kissing her again.

***

Early morning air bites against my cheeks as I step out of my car and walk towards the warehouse.

Entering the doors I immediately see the chaos.

It’s even worse than Ruvim described over the phone when he first reported it. I should have come through two days ago, when it happened, but I’ve been distracted.

I sigh as I step over broken crates and damaged products strewn across the concrete floor. My eyes must look thunderous because our employees are scuttling away from me in nervous jitters.

One of them looks at me with pursed lips and mutters, “Sir, Renat told us not to clean it up, he said you would want to see it exactly how it happened.” As a way of trying to explain that no one was being slack, they were just following orders.

I smile tightly, hoping my face looks at least somewhat reassuring.

“It’s ok, Berton. I know.”

Entering the office on the second level, I raise my brows high and shrug my shoulders. “It’s a fucking mess down there.”

Roman, Ruvim and Renat are already here, sitting around a small coffee table which is covered in paperwork. They look up at me and nod in greeting.

Technically, I’m late. I had a rough night with very little sleep and struggled to get out of bed this morning. Even now, I am heavy and distracted, but this is important, and I couldn’t call them and cancel.

“Yeah, we know, did you take a look around?” Renat asks.

“I desperately need a coffee first,” I say loud enough for Renat’s personal assistant to hear, hoping she will magic one into existence in an instant.

“Tammy,” Renat calls her name and a few seconds later she peaks her head into the office. “Three coffees with milk and one black,” he says.

“Yes, sir.” She hurries away.

I grab one of his office chairs and drag it closer to where they are sitting. Sighing heavily, I slump into it.

“You look like shit,” Ruvim says, looking back down at the paperwork.

“Thanks,” I mutter. “So nice of you to say.”

Ruvim and Renat both chuckle.

“Alright, give me the low down.” I lean forward to look at the floor plan of the warehouse printed across the paperwork.

Ruvim points to the back of the warehouse on the plans. “They came in through here. The camera was taken out, but the locks were broken so it had to be the point of entry.” He traces his fingers across he paper. Walking the path the intruders took. “All along here there is damage to products and equipment.

“Was anything taken?” I ask.

“No, just vandalism. To the point where the product is useless again. It’s going to cost an arm and leg.”

“Just like last time,” I sigh heavily.

“Fucking Enzos,” Renat mutters angrily. He leans back in this chair and folds his arms across his wide chest. “What the fuck are we going to do?”

“I say we march right in there and show them who the fuck we are. That we aren’t to be messed with,” Roman says.

“That’s a great plan except for the part that these little rat assholes are so good at going into hiding that we have no idea where they are. They haven’t stuck their heads out of the ground since we took a shot at them outside Tony Aroma.”

“So?” Ruvim throws his hands in the air in annoyance. “We just wait? We just sit around?”

“We don’t have much choice.” Renat raises his brow and pulls his mouth to the side.

“Fuck,” I mutter, feeling my energy drain even more. “Fuck,” I say again, fueled by anger. “These fucking rats are becoming a far bigger problem than they should be. They are powerless against us, yet they keep getting the upper hand in these incredibly pesky situations.”

My brothers are all nodding, just as tense as I am.

I stand up. “I’ll take a look around downstairs. I’ll write up a report on how I think they carried out the attack. In the meantime, you get everyone on the streets and the moment we hear anything about where they might be—we strike.”

Tammy walks in, carrying a tray of coffee.

“Thanks,” I mutter, grabbing one of them with relief and marching out of the office to get this over and done with.

I’m downstairs on the main floor with my phone in my hand so I can take voice notes of the things I notice. The tools they might have used. How many men I think were involved. Motives. Ideas. Anything.

I’ve been walking the path of destruction for over an hour, back and forth to make sure I don’t miss anything and I’m even more annoyed and more tired than before.

“Rad, I need to talk to you.” Renat’s voice tugs my thoughts away from the trail. “Yeah?” I sigh.

“It’s that girl.”

“What girl?” I ask, confused, looking around the warehouse, expecting to see a girl walking towards us.

“Jade,” he says. Fuck, yeah, of course.

“What about Jade?” I ask, not wanting to talk about her because I already struggle to keep her out of my thoughts and I need to finish this up so I can get out of here.

“I don’t know if we are making a mistake by trusting her.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I sigh in agitation.

“We don’t have any idea who she really is. She could be working with the Enzos and you have her living right there in your house, eating dinner with your family—“

“Renat, what the fuck man, don’t you think I haven’t taken precautions. I looked into her. I did my research. Her story with the delivery runs and the internship—it pans out. She had no idea they were mafia.”

“I dunno.” He shrugs and his persistence starts to really grate at my last nerve.

“So, what then? Should I just kick her out of my house and let the Enzos kill her because she saw something she shouldn’t? Do you think she deserves that?” I yell. Some workers standing nearby begin to hurry away, giving us privacy.

“You know that’s not what I’m saying—“

“Should I put a bullet in her head myself? Kill the traitor before she can do any damage?” I snarl.

“Stop being so fucking dramatic. What the fuck is wrong with you?” Renat snaps, throwing his hands in the air.

“Mind your own fucking business, Renat, and stay the fuck out of mine.”

“Are you kidding me? Your business is my business! ” he shouts.

“Not when it comes to Jade!” I shout back.

We glare at each other for a moment before I shake my head. “Fuck this. I’m done here,” I mutter, and march straight out of the warehouse to my car.

I’m fuming, angry that I was so quick to aggression, annoyed that I’m tired and confused and frustrated. I don’t fight with people. I play fair and talk things out. That in there—that wasn’t me.

I don’t know what the hell is going on with me.

Climbing into my car, I slam the door and take a deep breath before I start the engine.

I need to get home, eat something, chill out and try to figure out why my head is such a mess.

I intentionally drive slowly because the other alternative is that I am going to be screaming and tire screeching around corners and letting my aggression out on the road. But I can’t do that I would prefer to arrive at the house in a much calmer state. There is no reason for Jade to see me like this.

I open all of the windows and let the cold air rush through the car in an attempt to drag my annoyance away with it. It doesn’t really work but the discomfort of the cold is a distraction from my foul mood, at least for a moment.

I might almost have been ok when I walked into the house if one of the guards hadn’t come up to me almost immediately to tell me that the woman staying with me managed to sneak out.

It’s not like she was a prisoner here, but why the fuck would she leave knowing she was putting herself in danger?

“When?” I snarl, all of my anger and more returning in a flash.

“We noticed she was gone about thirty minutes ago, sir. “

“Son of a bitch—“ I growl, storming back towards my car.

Jade is a civilian, there aren’t very many places she would have gone to if she left. I did my research on her like I told Renat earlier and the only place I can imagine her going is back to her own apartment.

I’m back in my car, this time driving like a maniac. The tires are screeching around corners and the adrenalin pumping through me is like liquid fire, pushing me forward, threatening to explode at any moment.

Why the fuck did she leave?

What if something happens to her?

Is this because I kissed her? Did I push her away and make her feel unsafe? I’m such a fucking asshole for doing that to her. I told myself not to, but I still fucking did it.

Her apartment isn’t far from the city center and I arrive relatively quickly. My heart is racing a million miles an hour when I park the car and climb out, all but running towards her building.

I pause mid stride, seeing Jade walking out of the entrance and stepping onto the street. She looks left and right, appearing calm and confident in her movements. Her head held high, but her face scrunched as though something has annoyed the hell out of her. She still looks in control though. Not fearful or trembling like she was when I first found her.

She turns towards one of my cars, the one she must have borrowed in her escape. Behind her I see men I recognize as Bratva. Mafia.

It must be the Enzos.

They are closing in and in a split second I know this is an ambush. They are about to try and grab her. I start running, my body is heavy with panic. I have to save her. I can’t let anything happen to her. They are so much closer to her than I am. Fuck. This is bad.

She left the safety of my mansion because of me and now I’ve put her out in the open—in danger.