While Katya perused the room service menu, I rewound the security footage and watched Yuri’s men boldly enter the casino, walk up to the cashier’s cage and abscond with close to a hundred grand. They stared straight into the cameras and smiled.

One of them flipped me off before he took the money and walked out. They knew no one would call the police because any connection to the mob would bring the Feds in, and I didn’t need them snooping around. We were running a clean operation now, but I still had years of books to doctor in case something happened and we were audited or our financial records were seized. Dad hadn’t been that diligent. He was the kind of guy who would deal with the punches as they came. I preferred to be prepared, so I let Yuri’s goons walk out free and clear.

Ultimately, the joke was on him. I’d have paid ten times that amount for each night with Katya. Hell, I was getting ready to turn my back on my family for her.

I closed my office door to make my next call. My gut twisted when Sergei answered the phone.

“I knew you would call. You seem like a smart man.”

“You seem like an asshole.”

Sergei let out a belly laugh so loud, I had to pull the phone from my ear.

“It would appear we’re both accurate,” he said.

“Here’s the deal. I won’t give you the casino, but I will give you the deal my father gave Yuri. I’ll hold your high stakes gaming, launder your money, and serve your watered down alcohol to my patrons. In exchange, you’ll break off the marriage to Katya and get Yuri on the same page. There won’t be another offer coming, so take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it, but…I want something else. I want something for Dima’s death.”

“I didn’t kill Dima; he killed himself.” I had the coroner's report on my computer and pulled it up and pressed send to Sergei. “Your cousin was a sick bastard. He got off on cutting up women. He got what he gave to others and couldn’t live with it. I’m not giving you anything for his life.”

I heard the ding of the incoming message through the phone. There was silence while I imagined he read the report.

“It makes no matter how he died. He wasn’t supposed to die.”

“Neither was my father, so that makes us even.”

“I didn’t kill your father,” Sergei replied.

“And I didn’t kill Dima.” Not to say I wouldn’t have. I was not like Alex; I had blood and lives on my hands, but the people I killed always deserved it. I wouldn’t have blinked an eye at killing that bastard. “If we want to compare apples to apples, you’re in debt to me because your boss had me shanked in prison. You owe me, asshole.”

There was a grunt on the line before he spoke. “Yuri is not my boss. I will deal with him. You will answer to me.”

“Now you’re delusional. I’ll never answer to you. You heard my deal, take it or leave it. Dima for Vince. The other stuff for Katya. You won’t talk to her, or look or her, or contact her again. Final offer.”

Sergei spoke Russian to someone and then growled. “Deal.”

When I hung up the phone, I knew I’d made a deal with the devil, but I did it because I was in love with an angel.

My next call went to Alex, who had met with Liam tonight. Part of me prayed he wasn’t Katya’s father, the other part hoped he was because as far as mobsters went, Liam was at least fair. My only concern was Katya going from one mafia family to the next when all she wanted was to be free of the life. Sadly, in saving her, I’d made sure we were in for the long haul.

“What do you know?” I asked when Alex answered.

The silence ate me up.

“I hope you like Guinness, because the timeline matches. Turns out Liam met Anya at the spa. She knew who he was, but she also loved him despite it all. He’d asked her to leave Yuri early on. She wouldn’t because of Mikhail. He didn’t know about Katya. They had ended their affair long before her birth.”

“So my little Russian is actually an Irish hellion with a Russian accent.”

Alex chuckled. “She’s half-Russian and half-Irish. That’s a dangerous mix. Are you sure you can handle it?”

“God help me. What about Liam, does he want proof?” I had no idea how I’d get it to him, but I would if he required it.

“Yep, he wants DNA evidence before he steps into the picture. He knows once word gets out, all hell will break loose between the Russians and the Irish. If she is his daughter and you intend on keeping her, then that will stir up stuff as well. Her marriage to you isn’t one that will bring something to the organization, and because you’re my brother and Faye’s my wife, there will always be the distrust since Faye’s father is FBI. Boy, we know how to create turmoil.”

I thought about my deal with Sergei and wondered if I should come clean now, but it seemed more important to tell my brother face to face. I owed him that much, especially since he’d removed us from our life of crime. Of course, he could walk away, but I knew he wouldn’t; we were like the damn musketeers, and the all for one and one for all motto would be lived.

“What’s the plan? Will they meet and give blood? How does he want to do this?”

“He doesn’t want to rock the boat until he knows for certain. All I need is a piece of hair, preferably from the root. I’ll set up the testing, just get me what I need.”

Hair was easy. Hell, that woman’s DNA was everywhere, from my shower to my sheets.

A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. I got up and opened it to find Katya dressed in my T-shirt and boxers. Behind her was a room service table full of dessert, but my eyes went straight to the can of whipped cream.

“Got to go,” I told my brother. “Dessert just arrived.”

I picked Katya up and tossed her over my shoulder. I swiped the whipped topping off the tray on my way to our room. She wanted dessert and a movie. I’d satisfy her sweet tooth first.

An hour later, we stood in the shower, rinsing off the stickiness that we hadn’t licked clean from each other's bodies. I spied a single hair standing up and plucked it from her scalp.

“Ouch,” she rubbed the spot. “Why did you do that?”

I pressed the strand to the tile for later retrieval. “It was sticking up.” I pushed her against the wall until my length slid through her thighs.

She reached down and gripped my shaft. “This is sticking up. Should I pluck it from your body?”

“You can try.” I lifted her into my arms and pressed myself inside her body. “But I think this is a better use for my part than having it plucked from between my legs.” I slid in and out of her heat. There was no place I’d rather be than deep inside Katya. I knew I’d won the argument when she moaned and covered my mouth with a kiss. It didn’t take her long before she shattered in my arms. I loved it when she gave everything over to me.