I opened the safe and handed weapons out like candy on Halloween.

“Yuri’s got her.”

Alex walked in and took the last gun from the safe. “How the hell did Yuri get her?” He removed the clip and checked the ammo. “You live in a damn fortress.”

“She snuck out. I asked her about the journal. Told her we needed it to put the bastard away. She knew I’d never let her go back alone to get it. Maybe she heard my deal with Sergei.”

Alex lifted his head and narrowed his eyes. “What deal?”

“I wanted to ease you into the idea that we were back in business, but seeing Katya with a gun to her head changed the plan.” I stepped back as he stepped forward. For an instant, he looked as mean and foreboding as our father. One thing was certain. When his fist connected with my chin, I knew he was stronger than Vincent Wilde. Not expecting the hit, I stumbled back into the wall.

The security team around us didn’t know what to do. They worked for the family and couldn’t take sides, so they moved furniture and stepped back.

“You put us back into the life I worked so damn hard to get us out of?”

I was ready for the next hit. I ducked and delivered my own punch to his ribs.

“I made a deal to save Katya. It was the deal Yuri had, except now Katya would be free.” Alex ran at me, and when his body hit, we fell to the floor. He had the upper hand being on top, and the first few punches hit their mark. No doubt I’d be black and blue in hours.

“My wife almost died so we could get out of the business. God, I wish I had Dad’s cane right now.”

The mention of Dad’s cane sent a raging fire through my system. How many beatings had Alex taken for me? He had a crosshatched back to show for all the times I’d pissed Dad off and he’d stepped in to take the punishment. I owed him, so I stopped fighting and let him get in another hit or two before he realized I wasn’t fighting back.

He rolled off me, and we both tried to catch our breaths. Seconds later, there was a screech from the doorway.

“What the hell is going on here?” Katya stood with her hands on her hips, scowling.

At seeing she was safe, everyone stuck the extra weapons in the safe and disappeared. I jumped to my feet and wiped the blood from my face with the edge of my T-shirt and helped Alex up from the floor.

He looked at me and shook his head. “You’ve got shit to straighten out.” He turned his head toward Katya. “Start with her, and then figure a way to get us out of that deal with Sergei. Out means out, Matt. You can’t have one foot in the mob. It’s an all-or-nothing assignment.” He swiped at his bloody nose and walked out of the room.

When I heard the click of the lock, I moved on Katya like tape on lint. “What the hell were you thinking?”

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “I was thinking I could sneak in and sneak out and get home and be back in bed before you noticed.” She reached up to touch my bleeding lip.

I pushed her hand away. “You don’t get to touch me until we get this settled.” I stormed by her on my way to the kitchen to get ice. I could already feel my nose getting too big for its skin. “I saw him with the gun at your head.”

“Oh good, that was my plan in case you had noticed me gone.”

“Oh good? That’s what you have to say?”

She pulled up her jeans to show a checkerboard of bruises and reached for her own ice.

“I’m going to kill that asshole.” I forgot about my injuries and tended to hers. She winced when I took my ice pack and pressed it to her shin.

“You won’t have to kill him. I already did.”

I stood up and looked into her eyes. “You killed Yuri?”

Her head tilted slowly from side to side. “No, I didn’t actually kill him, but I started something that won’t end well for him.”

I lifted her from the counter and took her into the living room. Half of me wanted to turn her over my knee and spank her ass for putting herself at risk. The other half wanted to kiss the hell out of her for being here and being safe. The second half won. I pressed my lips to hers and ignored the pain. She melted into me and let out a sigh of contentment.

“I’m sorry. I just…I wanted my mother’s journal. I wanted my ribbon. I wanted my damn computer.”

I cupped her face and nipped at her lips. “You can’t do that anymore. I’ll never survive if I don’t know you're safe. Promise me you won’t put yourself at risk again.”

“I promise I won’t sneak out. I can’t promise I won’t be at risk. Being raised by Yuri puts me at risk, regardless. Loving you compounds it.”

She was right. Being Katya Petrenko came with risks. “I love you. When I saw the gun near your head, I called in the cavalry. We were planning a coup.”

She laughed. “You were going to go Scarface for me?” Her hand fell to the Glock I had tucked into the waist of my pants.

I gave her an exaggerated brow waggle. “You want to meet my little friend?”

She gripped my erection. “I wouldn't call him little.”

Even though I wanted to throttle this woman, making love to her seemed the better plan. “I’m going to make you beg for me, and then we’re going to talk.”

She rose from the couch and walked into the bedroom. “I’m so glad you want to tackle the important stuff first.”

God, I loved this girl. She was tough as nails and soft as satin, and she was mine. I made sure for the next hour she realized what she’d miss if she snuck out again. After, we showered and met at the dining room table.

“You want to tell me what your brother was talking about? What deal did you make with Sergei?”

I touched my sore nose. I hated to have to explain myself. I hated more that there was a good chance Katya would fist up and punch me too. She wanted out of this life, and my deal made sure she never would be if she stayed with me.

I really hadn’t thought it through. All I wanted was a guarantee that she wouldn’t have to walk down the aisle to marry the Bull.

“Before you get mad at me, I need to tell you my love for you got in the way. All I cared about when I made the deal was that you’d be free of Sergei and Yuri.”

I told her what we had agreed on. She rose from her chair. Like my brother, she flew at me, but her fists didn’t connect with my face. Instead, she threw herself into my lap and kissed me.

“You would have sacrificed everything for me?”

“I did sacrifice everything. That’s why Alex kicked my ass.”

“No one has stood up for me like that before.”

“I’d die for you.”

“Oh…oh…” She bounced in my lap. “I almost forgot. You no longer have a hit on you. At least not tonight.” Her smile was as bright as the sun.

“You negotiated a cancellation of a hit on me?”

“Yes, I did. I got caught in the house trying to sneak out. Yuri threatened to take me to Sergei and have him dispose of me, but I told him I had dirt on Sergei that would change his life.”

“What did you tell him?”

She smiled that cat and the canary type of smile. “I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t know. I didn’t tell him what I found out that could change everything and put him back in the position of power. Yuri doesn’t need to wield power over people. He’s a poor leader.”

Katya was talking in riddles. “What do you know?”

She wiggled in my lap, making it almost impossible to pay attention. I lifted her and sat her in her own seat. “You need to stay here, or we’ll never get to the good stuff.”

She stuck her lip out in a pout. “I thought I was the good stuff.”

“The best. Now tell me what you’ve got on Sergei.”

“How much would you love me if I have something so big on Sergei that it could release you from your deal?”

“I’d love you forever?”

She pursed her lips. “You’re going to love me forever anyway.”

“That’s true, but let’s pretend otherwise, and that will make you want to tell me everything.”

She rose from her chair and went to the bar in the corner, grabbed a bottle of vodka and two glasses. “This is going to take a few stiff drinks.”

“Oh hell, it must be good.”

She poured us each a shot, and then another. It was rounding on three in the morning, and I was wide awake.

“First, you should know that I told Yuri that the Bratva wanted him dead.”

“Is that true?”

She shrugged. “Does it matter? It’s believable. I advised him to take his money and run.”

“Will he?”

“Probably not, because he’s not that smart. I’m so glad he’s not my father. I hope when I find my father, he’s at least got an ounce of intelligence and a pound of compassion.”

I smiled because the more I looked at her, the more I saw bits of Liam in Katya, from her blue eyes to her smile, but I’d promised my brother I wouldn’t say a word, and this was a promise I’d keep.

“Mafia families are different that way. We grow up hard but privileged.”

She rolled her eyes. “You grew up privileged and with choices. Yuri was a dictator.” She tucked her chin and mimicked his body language. “You will marry whom I choose,” she said in a deep voice tinged with her accent. “You will do as I choose. You are my minion.” She poured another shot and emptied it. She dropped her chin. “Not all families are like that. Look at Kirsten O’Leary. She’s a veterinarian, and she probably gets to choose who she marries.”

It took everything I had not to blurt that he was probably her father too. “She may be able to marry who she chooses, but she’ll never marry someone who doesn’t fit in her father’s plans. You know the deal. They have to be on board, or they’re a liability.”

“Fine, back to Sergei. You know he didn’t want to marry me. I’m not his type.” She gave me a pageant worthy smile. “You understand what I’m saying, right?” She cupped her breasts before she moved a hand between her legs. “I’m. Not. His. Type.”

“No shit?” My mind was blown. Sergei was a badass, and no one would have guessed he played for the other team. “How do you know this?”

“I caught him in the act?”

“And you’re not dead?”

“I can be quiet and sneaky if I have to be.”

No shit. “You’re banned from room service.”

“What if they only bring a tray? I love the cobbler.”

I was a sucker for this woman. “Fine, but no covered tables.”

“What now?” she asked.

“We call another meeting with Sergei.”