Page 57 of The Ecstasy of Sin (Brutal Brotherhood #1)

Pulling out his phone from his pocket, he takes a few seconds to pull up a program before turning the phone to face me.

“The entire security system is accessible by three points. The main command center is here in the house, in the front room near the entrance. A secondary access point is in the security building by the gate. Lastly, we can access it from our phones.”

I nod. “I’ve decided to train Hunter as Wren’s service dog. So I want to add one more dog to the working roster. That gives us three patrol dogs and Hunter, who’ll double as backup in emergencies. I’d rather him stay with me and Wren full time, though.”

Wren leans toward me, her voice low. “More dogs?”

I nod, offering her a smile. “Yes. We’re going to bring some new pups here, and their assigned handlers will make sure they have a lot of fun and exercise every day.”

Ryker chimes in next. “I’ve deployed my most loyal men to your team, Dom. I’ve got plenty of new hires in training, so it wasn’t any real loss to send my best here. Especially if we’re all moving in.”

Torin leans forward, his scarred arms resting on his knees. “I know you already gave us rooms, but I’d like to move in permanently.”

Wren perks up slightly, listening intently. Torin glances her way, hesitating, then looks to me for guidance.

“She’s family,” I remind him. “We keep no secrets here.”

Torin nods. “I’m barely ever at my place anymore. And never at night. I don’t… do well with the quiet of an empty ho use, and...”

He trails off, and I study him. It’s not easy for him to admit this out loud. Torin hasn’t handled nights alone since the nightmares started. He’s been crashing at my place more often than not anyway.

“Move in whenever you’re ready. You three are already sleeping on my couches half the week. Might as well put you in your own damn rooms. I imagine the three of you will be roaming the halls before the end of the week.”

“What is this? A haunted fucking manor?” Ryker cracks.

I shoot him a sharp look. “It will be, if you keep running your fucking mouth.”

Ryker blows me a kiss, which earns him another smack to the back of the head from Ghost. Ryker retaliates with one of his own, landing a hard slap between Ghost’s shoulder blades.

Ghost stiffens. “You must have a fucking death wish.”

I sigh, dragging a hand down my face. “Knock it the fuck off.”

“Moving on,” Ryker mutters, the edge of humor gone from his voice. “Killian tells me Dimitri went into hiding after the incident with Wren at their safe house. You still want to kill him yourself?”

Wren turns toward me, her brows lifting in silent question.

“Like I said the other night, his death is mine.”

Torin shrugs. “As long as he dies, I don’t care who pulls the trigger.”

“And the Bratva fallout?” Ghost questions, always two steps ahead. “Losing both brothers won’t go unnoticed by the Motherland. ”

Ryker leans back into the couch, one ankle resting across his knee. “Killian’s ready to clean house the second Dimitri falls, but we won’t know exactly how Russia will retaliate until they do.”

I nod. “We’ll have to strengthen our new alliance with the Irish, at least temporarily. Our plan to dismantle the Bratva before Dimitri dies should make their job easier.”

Ghost leans forward. “I’m on it. I’ll leak identities to CSIS, drain their accounts, hijack their surveillance systems, and forge intel to turn their men on each other. By the time I’m done, and Dimitri is dead, they’ll be broken and divided.”

Across from me, Wren sits frozen. Her eyes are wide, and her face is pale, like she’s struggling to keep up with the reality of what we’re discussing. I lean in, brushing my shoulder gently against hers. “Do you need a break?”

She nods slowly. “Where’s the bathroom?”

I point to the door across the room, and she gets to her feet, offering a faint smile before slipping away.

As soon as the door clicks shut, I exhale and turn back to Ghost. “Offload whatever you need on me, depending on how time-consuming this shit gets.”

Ghost shrugs. “It won’t be a problem. I’m basically a computer in a meat suit at this point. But yeah, I’ll loop you in. Finding Dimitri is the priority now that the slimy motherfucker’s in hiding. I’ll be monitoring surveillance feeds nonstop until we find him.”

I nod. “It’ll be a pain in the ass, but once we get eyes on him, it’s over. ”

Ryker sighs, dragging a hand through his blonde hair. “Can’t fucking wait. I’m sick of his men showing up at the club. A few days before your fight, they stepped into my office uninvited and told me how easy it would be to kill me and just take over everything we’ve built.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “You failed to mention that to me.”

Ryker shrugs, unapologetic. “And give you a reason to go on another murder spree? Especially now that you’ve got a woman making you ten times more impulsive?”

I rise from the couch, slow and deliberate. Ghost mirrors my movement, cutting me off.

“Do not feed the fucking troll, Dom,” he warns, placing a firm hand on my chest. “Ryker is just aching for another beat down, and he doesn’t know how to ask nicely.”

I shift, angling my body to glare past him, locking eyes with Ryker. “You’re lucky I love you, you fucked-up little masochist.”

Ryker grins like it’s a compliment. “Love you too, you sadistic fuck.”

Torin uses pain and violence to level himself out when shit gets too dark for him, but Ryker needs it for another reason entirely.

Ryker blames himself for not being strong enough to stop the shit we endured in the foster system. He takes pain like it’s penance, like punishment he owes for the helplessness we all felt.

He’ll never admit it, though. Which is exactly why he is constantly pushing our buttons, hoping we lose our shit and wreck him. Hoping we make him suffer the way he thinks he deserves to .

He doesn’t. None of us do. What happened to us was out of our control, and no one’s fault but the adults who were supposed to protect us, and the system that failed us.

Torin may have gotten the worst of it, but all four of us were starved, beaten, neglected, and made to believe we were weak.

“Is everything okay?”

Wren’s voice cuts through the tension. I blink out of my thoughts and realize I’m still standing, fists clenched.

I nod toward her and hold out my hand. Ghost gives me a parting slap on the shoulder before sitting back down. Wren slides her hand into mine, her touch immediately calming me.

When I sit, I pull her into my lap, her weight anchoring me like it always does.

I glance at each of my brothers, then fix my attention on Ghost. “The priority is finding Dimitri. When we do, he’s mine. He will suffer and he will bleed for what was done to Wren.”

Ghost nods. “I’ll find him.”

Wren shifts in my lap, a yawn parting her lips as she rests her head on my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her, grateful that she feels safe enough with my brothers to relax like this for me.

“Ryker, set up a meeting with Killian Kinahan. Soon.”

Ryker dips his head in acknowledgment. “I’ll set up a meeting at Blood Siphon after hours.”

I scan each of their faces, their loyalty as solid as the walls surrounding us.

“Don’t think for a second that there won’t be repercussions for this.

Bratva men will come from Russia, and they’ll be looking for revenge.

Thankfully, we have the greatest assassin in the world in our brutal little brotherhood. ”

Torin inclines his head, his expression stoic. “Consider them all dead.”

Ghost leans back, crossing his arms. “I’ll have software monitoring air traffic from Russia to Canada. If any of the Bratva land on Canadian soil, I’ll be notified.”

Wren’s breathing deepens. I glance down to look at her, my chest aching with the intensity of my love for her. Her eyes are closed, her full lips slightly parted, the warmth of her breath brushing against my throat. She’s exhausted, especially after the hour-long brain scan with IV contrast.

I shift slightly, holding her more securely, and turn back to the others. “This place is safe. You all have keys. I’d rather you move in so we can take care of each other, but I’m not going to force you.”

All three of them nod.

“Anything else we need to address?” I ask, my voice lowered as my arms tighten around Wren’s sleeping body.

Ryker’s eyes flick to mine. “You want off the roster for awhile?”

I nod once. “Yeah. I’m going to take some time to train Hunter, and get Wren…” I pause, searching for the right words. “...comfortable with her new life.”

Ghost grins, and Torin lifts a brow.

Ryker smirks. “What he really means to say is he’s staying balls-deep in her pussy and never leaving bed again.”

I tense. “Watch your fucking mouth, Ryker. Last warning. You may be my brother, but if you ever talk about her body again, I’ll rip out your tongue. ”

Ryker lifts his hands, palms up in surrender. “Easy there, King Kong.”

Ghost sighs, then grabs Ryker by the collar of his jacket and yanks him to his feet. Ryker doesn’t resist, doesn’t even crack a joke or flash his usual smirk. He’s silent as Ghost shoves him toward the sparring ring.

“I’m gonna level this motherfucker out,” Ghost snaps, already rolling up his sleeves. “He needs a goddamn attitude adjustment.”

The smirk on Ryker’s face is all for show. It’s the look in his eyes—the fractured glint of something buried and bleeding—that sticks with me. That haunted fucking stare always cuts deeper than his mouth ever could.

I turn my attention to Torin, shaking my head. “You need help bringing your stuff over?”

He shakes his head. “No. I don’t have much. I can handle it.”

I shift Wren’s weight gently in my arms, careful not to wake her as I rise to my feet.

Torin’s voice stops me. “Dom.”

I pause, giving my brother my full attention again. “Hm?”

“Thank you.”

I offer him an easy smile, then speak the mantra we’ve spoken to one another ever since we were kids. “We survive together, we fight together, we die together.”

Torin walks with us toward the elevator, but at the last second, he veers off toward the couch instead. “Send Hunter down, will ya? I have a feeling Ryker’s gonna need him when they’re done.”

“I’m going to get Wren in bed. I’ll bring him down after.”

Torin doesn’t respond, just grabs the remote from the table and drops onto one end of the oversized sectional.

Life is about to get really fucking bloody, but at least we have each other.