Page 27 of The Enemy’s Defector (Ivanov Syndicate #3)

I was surprised he’d paid that much attention to detail. He’d been drinking and living it up that night too. Saul often appeared to be the most laid-back of us all, but lurking beneath the surface of his personality, he was observant.

‘I’m not surprised at all,” he told me with a smile. Lifting his coffee, he hoisted it like a toast. “Cheers, Brother.”

“Thanks, Saul.” At least I’ve got one brother as a solid support.

“I’m not surprised either,” Damon admitted. “But I’m also biased to judge or have an opinion on Katerina coming here after the marriage arrangement since it impacted me. We thought Lucy was Katerina at first, and after we realized she wasn’t, it took a while for her to get her footing here.”

I hung my head, exhaling a long breath. “I understand that you’ll have mixed feelings.” Facing him and letting out a harsh laugh, I said, “But fuck, am I glad Katerina didn’t come and marry one of you assholes while I was kidnapped.”

Damon smirked. “It really made me feel uncomfortable. Like he said” —Damon gestured at Saul— “we’ve all been aware of how close you and Katerina seemed over the years.

If not close or interested in each other, some kind of bond.

I struggled with the fact that I’d marry a woman you might have wanted yourself, but someone”—he shot Maxim a look—“asked me to go along with it for the sake of doing my duty. When we sent word that we’d take Katerina as a bride, we thought it really would be her and that she’d be coming here as a spy. ”

“And I expected you to get intel from her,” Maxim said. “But it was Lucy, not Katerina.”

“Yet, Katerina is here now.” I set my hands on the edge of the table, looking at him dead in the eye and as serious as can be.

“And if you have any questions about anything, she will be upfront. I’m not trying to sell this situation or persuade you.

Try her. Ask her. She has zero loyalty to Anton.

She has spent years wishing to defy him and she is glad to do so now. ”

“She’s really helped you before?” he asked, still harboring too much skepticism for my liking.

“Yes. She is a skilled hacker. She can be an asset—” I held my hand up to cut off that thought.

“No. She won’t be an asset. Not like that.

She’s my wife. She’s carrying my child. Those are her roles and purposes.

But if you ever do want her assistance later, after she’s settled and we can ascertain her pregnancy is going well, I guarantee she’ll be eager to help. ”

“I’m not an invalid,” she said, surprising me as she came into the dining room.

Dressed in clothes Sloane offered her, she looked relaxed and refreshed, minus the scrapes we’d earned from running for our lives.

She came up to kiss my cheek then took a seat.

“What do you need help with?” she asked them all, settling her gaze on Maxim.

“I need help believing that you’re not here to spy on us and report back to Anton,” Maxim said, not missing a beat.

I flipped him off as I moved to sit next to Katerina, but as I went, she shoved my arm down. “I owe him nothing but hatred, Maxim. Anton killed my father,” she stated. This was the first time she said it without tears threatening. “The only thing I ever want to offer Anton is his death sentence.”

Damon raised one brow. “You’d kill him? You’d kill him yourself?”

She huffed a wry laugh and shot me a sarcastic look. “As if he would let me now.”

I smiled. “Damn right, Wife .” I leaned over to kiss her. “Now that I’ve got you somewhere safe, I’m not taking any risks with your security.”

“So I can’t go after him?” she asked.

“No.” At her disappointed look, I added, “Not yet, and not without me.”

Resting her hand on her still-flat stomach, she almost smiled.

“I understand. I want to think that now is the time for new beginnings. New life. New… families.” She once again looked at all my brothers.

“But I understand it won’t be a simple process.

” Facing Maxim again, she didn’t flinch or try to flatter him.

Businesslike and serious, she nodded once.

“Whatever I can do to help you trust me, I’ll do it.

And whatever you’d like help with in regard to my field of expertise, you only have to ask.

Even though my husband seems prone to wanting to hover and act like I need to lie around in a bed now, being on my laptop isn’t strenuous work.

I’m no genius, but I can help however you’d like. ”

Maxim chuckled. “Nik? Hovering? No. I don’t believe it.”

I rolled my eyes.

“You’re going to get along great with Sloane,” Saul said with a grin. “She’s been trying to get Maxim to relax and not act like she’s going to suddenly pop out a baby at any second all this time.”

“I’m not that bad,” Maxim growled, irritated to be the subject of humor.

Saul made a goofy face at Katerina, holding his hand up in a mock attempt to hide his expression from Maxim.

This banter was good. Their joking around was nice. While it wasn’t a sure sign of my family warming up to my bringing “the enemy” into our home, I wanted to think that it was a first step in the right direction.

No matter how hard it would be to convince every single member of the Ivanov organization, I would do everything in my power to persuade them all to open their eyes and realize that Katerina belonged with me, with us.

She belonged here, where we damn well would usher in a new beginning and a new life.

Just so long as I can end the past.

She was right. I wouldn’t be a fan of letting her avenge her father’s death. I wasn’t in the mood to let her out of my sight or give her a hint of permission to kill Anton.

I would.

For her. He was already on my black list. He was a dead man walking for any involvement in my kidnapping and my father’s poisonings. And if the Romanos needed to pay for their part in this crusade to end my family, I would handle them too.

Now that I could trust that Katerina would be protected here, an understanding that Maxim had already extended to us since telling us to relax and settle in at home, I was impatient to finish the real enemies who had once threatened my life and those of my loved ones.

Because I did. Watching Katerina talk more with my brothers at the breakfast table, I sighed and knew without a doubt that was what it was. Love.

That was what had stitched us together for so long.

I loved her.

And I wouldn’t ever stop defending her place here, with me.