Page 42 of The Russian's Revenge Bride

Lev leaned back in his chair, dragging both hands down his face. “We’re getting hit from all sides. Beaumont playing games with the media, now our own people putting bullets in each other. This is fucked, Maxim.”

The door swung open again, and Rafael walked in without ceremony. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, no pleasantries or small talk. Just business.

“I saw the footage,” he said, moving to lean against the wall with his arms crossed. “Clean work.”

I nodded, pushing the phone across the desk so he could see the video again. He watched without expression, those dark eyes taking in every detail. When it finished, he was quiet for a long moment.

“Thoughts?” I asked.

“Professional. Efficient. Someone who knows our protocols intimately.” His voice was measured, but I caught the edge of steel beneath it. “This isn’t about money or territory. This is personal.”

“Personal how?”

“Someone with a grudge against the organization. Against you specifically, maybe. The timing isn’t coincidental. Your marriage, Beaumont’s media circus, now this. Someone’s trying to destabilize your position.”

Cassandra pulled up another screen on her tablet, fingers flying over the surface. “I can have surveillance on all known associates within six hours. Phone taps, digital tracking, the works.”

“Do it,” I said. “But keep it quiet. If we have a rat, I don’t want them knowing we’re onto them.”

Lev cracked his knuckles, a sound like breaking bones. “What about Eleanor? She’s exposed up there.”

The question hit me like a physical blow. I’d been so focused on the immediate threat that I hadn’t considered howthis would affect her. She was already struggling with the isolation, the way I’d been keeping her at arm’s length. Now I’d have to lock down the house even tighter, restrict her movements further.

She’d hate it. She’d fight me on it. And I’d have to let her because keeping her alive mattered more than keeping her happy.

“Double the security detail,” I said. “No one in or out without my approval. And I want eyes on her at all times.”

“She’s not going to like that,” Cassandra observed.

“She doesn’t have to like it. She just has to be breathing.”

Rafael pushed off from the wall, straightening his cuffs. “There’s something else. Word’s already spreading through the network. People are scared. When Bratva starts killing Bratva, everyone starts looking over their shoulders.”

“Good,” I said, and I meant it. “Fear keeps people honest. Makes them think twice before they decide to play both sides.”

“Or it makes them desperate,” Lev pointed out. “Desperate people do stupid things.”

“Then we’ll deal with the stupid things as they come.”

I stood up, moving to the window that overlooked the grounds. Security lights cast long shadows across the manicured lawn, and I could see the shapes of guards patrolling the perimeter. How many of them could I trust? How many were watching for threats from outside while planning betrayal from within?

“There’s one more thing,” I said, turning back to face the room. My voice carried the weight of absolute authority, the tone that had made men twice my size step aside without question. “Spread the word that we’re at war.”

The silence that followed was heavy with implication. Cassandra’s fingers stilled on her tablet. Lev’s jaw tightened.Even Rafael, who’d seen more violence than most men could imagine, looked grim.

“Full mobilization?” Cassandra asked.

“Full mobilization. I want every asset activated, every safe house secured, every contact monitored. No one moves without authorization. No one breathes without permission.”

“What about the girl?” Lev asked, and I knew he meant Eleanor.

“What about her?”

“She’s going to ask questions. She’s not stupid, Maxim. She’ll figure out something’s wrong, and she’ll want to know why she’s suddenly got bodyguards following her to the bathroom.”

He was right, and I hated him for it. Eleanor had already been pushing against the boundaries of her situation, fighting for normalcy in a world that would never be normal. Now I’d have to take away even more of her freedom, and she’d resent me for it.

But better she resent me alive than love me dead.