Page 40 of The Brutal Arrangement (The Ivanov Syndicate #2)

DAMON

L ucy nodded against me, breathing steadier and easier. With her relaxing like this after that scare, I felt like I could too.

“You are one of us, Lucy.” Tipping her chin up until she gave me the gift of gazing into her blue eyes, I kissed her again. “Not because of that arrangement. But because I love you, and I will never stop.”

She smiled, leaning up to kiss me back. “And I love you, husband. I trust you with that love.” As she glanced around at the others, she acknowledged them all. “Just like I’ll trust you when you swear to protect your own.”

“Once you’re in,” Sloane said in a teasing, wry tone, “you’re in for life.”

“Unlike the Kozlovs,” Lucy quipped just as dryly. “Anton seemed to loathe Katerina. He fought and argued with her constantly. There was no sense of family or love there.”

I glanced at Maxim, then Saul. “Which makes me wonder why Katerina gave up a chance to get away from him.”

“What do you mean?” Lucy asked, peering up at me.

Satisfied that she seemed unharmed, I tried to let go of this possessive urge to whisk her away and check her over in a private setting, just the two of us. Better yet, I wouldn’t mind pleasuring her in any and every way she wanted just so we could further put today’s incident behind us.

“She could’ve married into our family,” I said.

“And she seemed to think the Ivanovs were ‘decent’ people,” she added.

“She said that?” Maxim asked.

“Yeah. It seemed like an oxymoron to me at the time. Seeing how Anton and his men were, I assumed all Mafia families were like that. Until…” She smiled up at me. “Until I came here and learned otherwise.”

I kissed her cheek. “So with her knowing she could’ve come here and gotten away from Anton… Something had to have motivated her to give that opportunity up.”

“She said she had to look for something,” Maxim said, referring to that conversation he’d had with Lucy over lunch that one day. “Right?”

Lucy nodded. “That’s what she said. She also made me wonder if she was just interested in someone else. Or something else. Almost like she didn’t care for the idea of marrying at all.”

That would be an odd take for Katerina to have. Women grew up in our world knowing that they’d be expected to marry. Not very many crime families lasted well with a single woman in the lead.

After Beatrice’s betrayal, I doubted I’d ever follow a woman’s suggestions.

And my grandmother pissed me off in her delay to call for help with Father acting the way he was.

But Lucy?

I would spend the rest of my life worshiping the ground she walked on.

“I’m not interested in figuring out Katerina’s motives,” I said, holding Lucy’s hand again. “While we are all gathered here right now, I want each and every one of you to hear me loud and clear that no one is to ever threaten my wife again. Ever.”

I caught the attention of the guards behind my family members, those who were always stationed in the background.

“No one is to ever look the other way and be confused about this order,” I added, still stunned that a couple of soldiers had actually obeyed Father when he was out of his mind like that.

“This is the mother of my child.” Leading Lucy to stand in front of me, I draped my arm over her in a hug as she leaned back against my chest, setting her hand on my forearm. I was addicted to how possessive she could be of me like that, even in the smallest ways and simplest touches.

“This is the love of my life,” I declared then kissed her temple.

“Should anyone disobey me and slack in her protection, I will kill you myself.”

Sloane grinned, giving me a thumbs-up. “And they say romance is dead.”

Saul chuckled as Maxim shook his head at her teasing.

“You truly are pregnant?” Grandmother asked, coming toward us.

I didn’t relax in my stance, keeping Lucy with me like this. Maintaining some thread of contact between us would prevent me from rehashing that nasty sensation of seeing her in a cell in the dungeon or hearing my father tell me to kill her.

My wife grounded me, and I wasn’t afraid to admit it now.

“Yes. I took a test a couple of weeks ago,” Lucy said.

“Oh…” Grandmother sighed and clasped her hands together, seeming sincerely happy about that news. “This is wonderful.”

“So one minute, you’re not sure if you can trust her, then the next, you’re a happy relative gushing about her expecting?” I asked, not caring if she was bothered by my tone.

“I’m sorry, Lucy.” She looked at me, too, frowning deeper. “I’m sorry I wasn’t quicker to call for help. I’ve been overly nervous about the Kozlovs’ intentions. When Lucy showed up instead of Katerina, it felt like the first step of a big trick.”

“I don’t know if Katerina’s intentions match what her uncle wants,” Lucy said. “In fact, by asking me to take her place, I’m sure of it. She was adamant about hating her uncle.” She furrowed her brow. “She went so far as to admit that she thought her uncle could’ve been behind her father’s death.”

“We’ve all wondered that,” Grandmother replied. “Anton and Thomas had never seen eye to eye. There was no brotherly love between those two.”

Forgiving my grandmother wasn’t something I was in a rush to do.

She disappointed me in being so slow to help my wife, and I didn’t care for how slow she was to trust her being here.

With this news of our baby on the way, it looked like she’d come around, but I wouldn’t chance anything with my wife again.

I’d talk with all the men in the organization if I had to. I’d personally warn every member of the Ivanov Syndicate of Lucy’s standing with me.

Satisfied that the situation was under control now, I turned to Lucy as my grandmother left us.

“Are you sure that you are okay?” I asked, needing to check again.

She nodded, reaching up to kiss me. “Yes, Damon. I am. I knew deep down that you’d come to save me from any danger.”

“I always will.” Letting out a deep breath, I frowned and hated that I would ask her to wait for me upstairs. Being close to her would appease me after this scare and tension, but first, I was more than primed to unleash all my anger. “Are you okay to go upstairs and wait for me there?”

“Where are you going?” She nodded, though, obeying my wishes even if she was curious about them.

“I need to speak with more guards here about today’s incident.”

“Oh. Sure.”

I caught Sloane’s attention and gestured for her to come over. Even though everyone would be on the same page now—not listening to my father no matter how lucid he seemed and also that Lucy would be safe here—I didn’t want her to be alone.

“Sloane, I have something to handle. Could you…?”

Lucy laughed lightly. “Okay, cut it out. I don’t need a babysitter now. I’ll be fine waiting for you upstairs.”

“No, no, no. I’m freaked out about what happened.” Sloane draped her arm around Lucy’s shoulders. “And I want to talk shit about Ana with you, too,” she said in an exaggerated whisper.

I smirked, annoyed that she’d have that attitude. We were a family, backing each other up. But seeing Lucy roll her eyes the way she did, I knew that she was taking Sloane’s comment as a joke.

“Can you stay with Sloane for a while?” I asked Lucy.

She sighed. “I don’t need a babysitter…”

“Soon we will, though,” Sloane said, laughing. “For our babies!”

Lucy lightened up, smiling more. Tugging on the front of my shirt, she pulled me in close for a kiss. “Don’t be long, okay?”

If I were ever prone to pouting, that would’ve been a fine time to make that expression. Hearing someone tell me to hurry wasn’t what I wanted to pay attention to before I headed down to deliver a punishment.

“Okay,” I replied, caving to my wife’s wishes.

When I approached the stairs to go back down to the dungeon, I raised my brows at Maxim and Saul following me.

“I can handle this.”

“We know you can,” Maxim said. “But maybe we’re fucking pissed, too.”

“Damn right,” Saul agreed, already rolling up his sleeves and getting ready to get dirty.

Down in the dimly lit dungeon, I thanked Owen for knowing better.

“I knew right away that something was wrong about this,” he replied.

“Sorry about…” I gestured at his jaw, where I’d hit him.

“I get it,” he said with a wry laugh. “If I were you and if anyone had taken my wife down here…” He shook his head, backing up. “I’ll leave you to it, sir.”

We didn’t need him to give us privacy as we punished the two guards who thought they’d do better to listen to Father instead of Maxim.

When Maxim took over—counting on it to be temporary—we’d made sure that everyone in the organization was aware of the change.

We’d tasked men with spreading the word to the world, ensuring other crime families would know that the Ivanov Family wasn’t weak or without a leader.

I’d told Lucy I wouldn’t keep her waiting, but once I got going punishing these two men for bringing Lucy down here, I couldn’t stop the mental image of her cowering in that other cell. So scared and trapped. Out of control.

I’d been in that position before. More than once, I’d been captured and held somewhere.

The worst experience was when Maxim, Nik, and I were held for over two months because of our mother’s affairs.

I’d survived it all. My brothers and I had gotten through those difficult experiences and lived to see another day.

Lucy hadn’t been in this cell for more than an hour from what it sounded like from Owen at the entrance, but even a minute was too long for the woman I loved.

Once the guards were dead from our efforts, I stepped back and cracked my knuckles. It couldn’t be healthy how much calmer I felt after killing someone. In this case, ending the lives of the men who’d dared to threaten my wife felt like I was righting my world back on its axis.

“Do you think Nik is in a place like this?” Saul asked as we all cleaned up at the utility sinks. The blood on our hands wouldn’t be traced. The piping and sewage were rooted to a location separate from the city utilities.

“I hope not,” Maxim replied.

“Hold on.” I glanced at them both, one to my right and the other to my left. “Have I been so distracted with Lucy lately that I didn’t get the latest memo? Are we worried about Nik now?”

I wasn’t joking. My charming, cunning, and more risk-loving twin, it was still very possible he was fine. And hiding while he spied.

“We’re still getting those messages,” Saul said. “He’s got his phone with him.”

“And able to charge it too,” I added. That detail stood out to me. “If he’s charging his phone for almost two months now, he probably isn’t in a dungeon like this.”

“No one’s approached with a ransom, death threat, or terms of negotiation,” Maxim reminded us.

“Or any announcement of killing him,” Saul said.

I finished washing my hands first, eager to get to Lucy. Drying my hands off, I spoke up again. “Even if we’re not officially worrying about him… I miss him.”

“Me too,” Saul said.

Maxim frowned. “Of course, I miss him. But I also trust him.” He shook his head. “Or I usually do.”

“What does that mean?” I asked as he dried his hands.

“I’ve been thinking about what Lucy told us. About why Katerina didn’t want to come here for that marriage arrangement.” He looked at me, then Saul.

“You think she’s looking for him?” Saul guessed.

I did. They’d always seemed to have something going on, and it was the biggest reason I’d struggled with the news that I’d have to marry a woman who just might have been more interested in my twin.

“Then that’s a good thing,” Saul said. “Right?” He tossed his towel to the laundry bin and crossed his arms. “If Katerina is looking for Nik or helping him, then that’s a benefit for us.”

Maxim sighed, leading the way upstairs, knowing like I did that Owen would delegate the disposal of the bodies.

“Sure. It could be a benefit,” Maxim said. “But if Nik is… pursuing her or something, then that’s another headache we don’t need right now.”

Saul laughed. It began as a chuckle then evolved into him cracking up. “Fuck, if something is in the air, I need to get out of here. Look at you guys. First you kidnap a stripper and knock her up.”

Maxim scowled. “Technically, I knocked her up then kidnapped her.”

“Then you are arranged to marry a bride who swapped at the last minute,” he teased, elbowing me. “And now you’re wondering if Nik is getting stupid to pursue a woman while he is held hostage?” He shook his head, chuckling again. “Don’t look at me. I like my life the way it is.”

“Famous last words, Brother,” Maxim said as my phone rang.

I took it out of my pocket, furrowing my brow at the screen showing Lucy calling. I really hadn’t taken that long in the basement…

“Lucy?” I answered.

“Hurry! Please come up here. She’s spotting and dizzy and—Hurry! We need to get Sloane to the doctor!”

We ran up the stairs. The moment for jokes with my brothers was over.

Once more, I was on edge and tense as danger loomed too close for comfort again.