Page 24 of The Enemy’s Defector (Ivanov Syndicate #3)

KATERINA

W ife.

Hearing Nik refer to me as his wife was a poignant moment.

Then listening to the firmness in his declaration that I was an Ivanov was something else entirely.

It sank in with an utter weight of seriousness, convincing me that for better or worse, I’d made my choice to marry him. I couldn’t take it back. I didn’t want to take it back.

But once we neared the end of this unexpected fight from yet another ambush, I willed my heart to calm down so I could brace myself for what would come next.

The assassins retreated, backing up out of the apartment. Between the Kozlov soldiers loyal to my uncle and the Romanos who’d participated in the effort to stop me from marrying Nikolai, they seemed to come to their senses that they wouldn’t win.

They’d outnumbered us in the beginning. When I took the Ivanov officiant’s gun and the wounded Ivanov soldier stood back up to keep shooting after he’d taken a bullet, we proved that we would not be killed or stopped.

The wedding had already happened. Maybe that was all it took for these assholes to leave.

They’d failed to stop me from marrying Nik.

Now, as they ran away, I imagined they were impatient to bring the news to my uncle and Dominic Romano.

Dust settled from the damage in the apartment, but between the two soldiers who’d come likely to be the witnesses to the wedding, things would be under control.

“Go ahead,” the first soldier told Nik. “I’ve got another crew coming.”

He probably meant a crew for backup and to clean up. The officiant was barely alive, but in case he passed away, they’d all team up to handle the damage and mess without involving the local law enforcement. Cops didn’t need to bother here.

Instead of lingering, the wounded soldier led us down to the car he had waiting out back.

“Go on. Get in,” Nik ordered once we reached the car.

“No. I insist.” The wounded soldier hissed in pain as he reached for the door handle to the driver’s door.

“Peter,” Nik said with a tired sigh. “No. You’re shot, and I’m not going to have you drive us and pass out at the wheel.”

I nodded, gesturing for him to get in the back with me.

He eyed me warily, still skeptical.

“You heard him,” I quipped. “I’m an Ivanov now.”

He slid into the backseat and watched me get in as Nik went to get in the driver’s seat. The soldier kept a big gap between us as he frowned at me. “You shot your men.”

I rolled my eyes. So, this is how it’s going to be… “No, I didn’t. Those men weren’t mine .”

“She’s no longer a Kozlov,” Nik reminded him as he started the car and drove. “You saw. You were right there as I married her.”

“But—”

“I was born a Kozlov,” I said, wondering how many times I’d need to make this case to win the Ivanov organization’s trust. “But my ‘family’ ended when my father was killed and my uncle took over.” Setting my backpack on the floor, I reached in for a shirt.

“Here.” I handed it to him and indicated for him to compress the wound.

“You’re serious about this?” the soldier asked, facing Nik via the mirror instead of me as he used my shirt on his injury.

“Yes,” Nik replied. “Katerina is my wife.”

“Does Maxim know about this?” he asked, glancing at me.

“He will in about ten minutes,” Nik replied, smiling at me for a second before paying attention to the road.

He was glad.

But his smile wasn’t infectious this time.

I was too nervous to smile back.

It had been many, many years since I’d been to the Ivanovs’ building. When my father was alive, he brought me along with him when he visited. I’d had lunch with Anastasia. I played hide-and-seek with the boys. I had been welcomed then, but I doubted I would be now.

Per this soldier’s reaction, I prepared myself for a lot of doubt, many questions, and severe moods about my entrance to their family. All because of my uncle, I was prejudiced as the enemy.

So far, the news of my marriage to Nik wasn’t being received that well.

An ambush and shootout to stop the wedding from happening had to be the ultimate sign of misfortune.

It left me feeling unsettled, so by the time the car pulled past the gates and Nik drove into the circle at the back of the property, I felt like I’d throw up.

“Relax,” Nik advised once he’d parked and got out to open the back door for me.

“Easier said than done,” I quipped.

He took my hand, leading me into the building. “You know my brothers. They’ll fall in line.”

I didn’t reply at first, too scared to speak up as he brought me into his home. Sure, I knew his family. But it was from long ago. Anton had changed everything.

Maxim looked the same as I remembered. He must have heard from the soldiers that Nik was marrying me or that we’d been ambushed.

As he strode toward us through the massive foyer on the first floor, he was as stern and serious as ever.

Since taking over as the Ivanov boss, stepping in as the Pakhan while Grigory recovered from his poisoning, he seemed to have aged years.

Responsibility could do that to a person.

It seemed like I hadn’t just seen Maxim a few months ago at that wedding we’d both been guests to.

“Nik,” he greeted, focusing on his brother first.

I stepped aside, letting them have a moment as they hugged and patted each other’s back.

“Finally decide to come home, huh?” Maxim joked wryly.

It shouldn’t have been possible to almost joke about Nik not being here.

He’d been kidnapped. But of course his brothers would understand and respect that Nik had wanted to stay captured all so he could be the spy he was born to be and collect as much intel as possible.

I had no doubt they’d all been worried about him, but it showed a huge leap of faith that Maxim had for Nik in that he let him stay away, too.

“I didn’t decide,” Nik replied, stepping back and taking my hand. “A certain someone got worried that I had to be freed.”

I stood tall, not flinching as Maxim studied me. I didn’t react when Damon entered the foyer, too. I knew they’d want to size me up and determine their judgments of me.

“And with a plus-one,” Maxim said coolly, eyeing me as Damon and Nik were reunited, greeted with hugs and happiness.

“A permanent plus-one,” Nik said as he took my hand again.

I cleared my throat and arched a brow.

“Okay. Plus-two.”

Damon and Maxim reacted to that. Both raised their brows and glanced at each other, clearly surprised.

“You’re pregnant?” a woman asked as she entered from behind Maxim and Damon.

I leaned over to see my former maid. “Lucy!”

She didn’t look worse for wear, but she had changed up her appearance. While I bet we’d still look similar, she wasn’t my doppelg?nger anymore. Her hair was shorter and dyed. An enormous engagement and wedding ring combo rested on her finger.

“What’s going on?” Lucy asked, going straight to Damon and taking his hand.

It was impossible to miss how she leaned on him, how possessive he was with her near him.

“Are you…” I huffed, letting out that small, incredulous laugh. “Are you married?”

She frowned. “I am. Just like… you expected I would be.”

The men didn’t move off as I approached her, worried whether she’d hate me or forgive me. She sure didn’t look upset or hurt or bothered. If anything, she was cool and calm, happy and content to be here like she was right at home.

“Yes, but…” I laughed again, tempted to smile and relax. “I mean you’re still married!”

She crossed her arms, getting more defensive. “And I will stay married.”

Damon came to her side, tucking her against him with his arm around her shoulders. “What’s going on here?” He looked at me, then Nik, and settled back on me with a stern, dark glare.

I held my hands up in a truce. “I’m not here to interfere.

” Damon had earned the nickname Demon for a good reason.

He wasn’t exactly a cuddly, cozy sort of man.

Respected and feared as the Ivanovs’ main torturer, he was a difficult guy to get used to.

But it sure seemed like Lucy had. And she was glad to be his wife.

“You said you’d send word to me when I could divorce,” Lucy said, taking Damon’s hand. “I have no interest in that.”

I shook my head, smiling and wishing she would too.

I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but obviously, she’d found her happiness here.

It was a shame she’d hold a grudge against me for asking her to be the bride in that arrangement when she’d found her husband and wanted to keep him after all.

I hadn’t been sure which brother she might’ve had to marry.

Damon was a surprise, but they looked good together. Happy. If guarded with my appearance.

“I’m not suggesting that you two get divorced,” I explained. “Not if you don’t want to.” Stepping back as if showing I would back down, I sighed. “But I meant what I said. That if you came here in my place and had wanted to leave, I would’ve helped you do so.”

Lucy frowned, narrowing her eyes at me more. “I don’t want to leave.”

“You won’t leave,” Damon inserted. “You belong with me.”

She smiled up at him but returned a cool glare at me. “Took you long enough.”

I nodded, hating that even she wouldn’t welcome me here. We’d almost seemed like friends at the mansion, but I supposed she felt used and discarded when I asked her to fulfill that arrangement in my place. “I didn’t realize it’d take me so long to look for what I needed to find.”

“Nik?” Maxim guessed.

I nodded again, but then shook my head. “When I heard that he’d been taken, yes, I tried to go through the surveillance footage at Anton’s properties. But while Anton was out of the country, I had to put all my efforts into finding the proof that he’d killed my father.”

“Anton killed Thomas?” Damon asked, clearly surprised.