I’d locked up the office and was walking to the apartment when Sam’s cell broke the silence. He held out his hand to stop me.

“Hold,” he turned to me. “Katya Petrenko is here, and she says she needs to see you.” His scowl said it all. Even the hired help thought she was trouble. “She’s downstairs and may be in need of first aid.”

At the mention of first aid, I rushed past Sam to the elevator.

“Sir, it could be a trap. Let me go and evaluate the situation.” He stood in front of the open elevator, blocking my passage.

“It’s not a trap, and if she’s hurt, I want to be there for her.” I shoved the big man aside and walked into the elevator. “Is she in security?”

He nodded and climbed in the elevator beside me. “You’re being careless.”

I turned to Sam. “I don’t pay you for your opinion.”

He shook his head. “No, you pay me to protect you, and I can’t do that if you act impulsively.”

He was right. I was acting without thought, but dammit, Katya wouldn’t come here unless it was important. I stepped out of the elevator. “Bring her here straightaway. I’ll take care of her.”

I rushed back to the apartment and got the first aid kit from the bathroom. It was like a mini emergency room that had everything from an IV bag to antibiotics. I paced the living room for the ten minutes it took Sam to return.

When he did, my heart fell into my shoes. I rushed to Katya, who looked broken and beaten. “Oh, honey, what the hell happened to you?”

Her breaths shook her body. A whimper released when she ran to me and buried her head into my chest. “He killed my mother.”

That statement pulled the floor from beneath her. She collapsed at my feet. I swooped her up and carried her to the bedroom, where I placed her on the bed and sat next to her. My poor girl was a mess. Her arms were full of scratches, like she’d crawled through brambles to escape. A cut about two inches long ran across her forehead, close to her hairline. Fury filled me. Someone was going to pay for every drop of her blood they spilled.

“Who killed your mother?”

“Yuri,” the warble in her voice gutted me. In a matter of weeks, her father had taken a strong woman capable of anything and turned her into someone I didn’t recognize.

“Your father killed your mother? How do you know?”

She rolled to her side so her head was in my lap. I pushed the hair from her face and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“He’s not my father.”

“Yuri isn’t your father?”

She shook her head and sobbed again.

I waited for the onslaught of fresh tears to stop. “No.” Her hand went to the cut on her forehead. “He…he…” She swallowed hard, like the words were stuck in her throat. “He was mad at me, and he wanted to hurt me. I wore green instead of black, and he told me I was a whore just like my mother.” She took in a shaky breath. “He had kept her final diary. He threw it at me and told me to read about my mother.”

It was a lot to take in, and I was removed from the situation. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for Katya to realize that she’s not Yuri’s. “Did he tell you he killed your mother?”

“Yes, he said she wouldn’t tell him who my father was, and so he pushed her over the balcony and left her there until she was found the next day.”

I pulled her into my arms and hugged her. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” She sobbed uncontrollably for the next fifteen minutes. I didn’t think a person had that many tears. When she settled down, I moved her off my lap and she told me the rest of her story. When she was finished, I told her to wait there.

She grabbed at me. “Don’t leave me,” she begged.

“Never. I’m just getting the first aid kit so I can take care of you.”

She eased her grip, and I ran so she didn’t feel like I’d abandoned her.

She winced when I cleaned the cuts and scrapes, and she sighed when I applied a soothing antibiotic ointment.

“It’s going to be okay,” I whispered after I had her patched up and in my arms.

She shook her head. “It’s never going to be okay. I don’t even know who I am.”

“You’re Katya, and you’re mine. That’s all you need to know for now.”

She burrowed into me and fell asleep.

When I was certain she wouldn’t wake, I climbed out of the bed and went to my office to call Alex. It was late, but he needed to know that Katya was here.

The phone rang once. “You okay?”

I chuckled. Of course, he would think I’d get myself in trouble. “Yes. I’m okay, but I have a problem.”

“Is she blonde, about five-foot-five and Russian?”

I kicked back in my chair and watched the monitors in front of me. Everything seemed to be running smoothly, but if I hid Katya, there was no doubt that would change.

“Yes, it’s Katya. She showed up here hysterical and injured. She also said those bullets at the funeral were meant for me. She said the hit was on me but the hitman screwed it up.”

“Shit.” Alex let out a stream of expletives before he calmed down. “You need to stay in the casino. We can protect you there.”

“I’m not going to be a prisoner in my home.”

“He’s lashing out at you because you’re coming between him and something he wants or needs. He needs Katya to marry Sergei, and she won’t do that if she’s in love with you.”

I’d never considered her love for me. I just assumed her feelings matched my own. I wasn’t sure what I felt for her was love, but it was all-consuming.

“She’s not marrying Sergei. I won’t allow that to happen.”

“Dammit, Matt, do you hear what you’re saying? You’re willing to put all of us at risk for a woman whose father is trying to kill you.”

“You’d do the same for Faye.” If I wanted my brother’s support, I needed to hit him in the heart.

“You’re right, but he’s her father.”

“That’s something else. Yuri isn’t her father.” I gave my brother the shortened version of everything she told me. “I’m not giving her back to that piece of shit. You may be willing to toss her aside, but I won’t. She belongs to me.”

I stood and walked around the office. The shelves had been emptied of everything. Gone were the pictures of my father with the Pope and the President. There were no more antique guns or other collectibles. They were bare and waiting for me to decorate them. I ran my hand over the mahogany finish. If I closed my eyes, I could see a picture of Katya on the center shelf. Down the road, I could imagine pictures of our children flanking hers.

I knew I had him when he let out a sigh. “Do you love her?”

“Yes,” I said without reservation. “I think I always have.”

“Fine. Call a meeting with Sergei. It’s time we took the bull by the horns. We can’t win if we can’t negotiate with him. No doubt he’s here to stay. Keep an eye out for Yuri. I’ll call Agent Holt and have him come and talk to Katya. If she can produce evidence, we can put Yuri away for good.”

“She said something about a journal, but she didn’t have it with her. It could be in her purse or car.”

“Does she know who her father is?” I could hear Faye in the background asking questions.

“No, she only knows he goes by the name Lucky.”

There was a moment of silence. “I only know of one man who goes by Lucky. There is no way she’s his daughter.”

I pressed my memory but came up blank. “Who?”

“That would be Liam O’Leary.”

“Holy shit. What if she is his? That’s a whole other can of worms to open.”

“Don’t open it yet. Let’s get Katya in a good place and attack this situation one thing at a time. If she is Liam’s and he never knew, there will be a body count like no one’s seen before. Given the fact that Sergei has a real problem with the Irish, we don’t want to let that piece of information slip.”

I considered his request. “I don’t want to lie to Katya. Hasn’t she had enough lies in her life? That asshole made her believe her mother killed herself. All this time, Katya thought she was worthless because not even her mother loved her enough to stay.”

“You’re not lying to her. We need to do the legwork before we start a different war.”

As usual, he was right. There was no use starting something if we didn’t have solid proof. “Okay, I agree. I don’t want to introduce another problem into her life if it’s not going to turn into something positive. We’ll have to figure out a way to approach Liam.”

“Leave that to me. Liam is reasonable, and his family is important to him.”

“You think he’d treat Kirsten the same way Yuri treats Katya?” What I really wanted to know was, if he were her father, would he try to control her future? I didn’t want her influenced by a father who didn’t have her best interests at heart.

“So far, Kirsten hasn’t been promised to anyone. I don’t know what his thoughts on daughters and marriage are, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. We’ll need to prove she’s his daughter first.”

We hung up, and I sent Sam to deliver a message to Sergei. If he got it, he’d be here tomorrow night for a meeting.

I returned to Katya, who was still asleep in my bed. She was so tiny buried in the covers. I undressed and slid in next to her.

Naturally, she sought me out and curled into my body. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight.

“You’re mine,” I told her. “I love you, and I will keep you safe.”

“I’m yours,” she whispered.