Chapter Fifteen

 

Ivan moved quietly through the darkened docks, taking care to stay out of the pools of light and stick to the shadows.

Pavel had not been a fan of this plan. “If you go out there and die, who will take over? The family will crumble.”

“You’re named heir,” Ivan had replied. “There you go. You take over.”

Pavel had thrown his hands up in the air. “See? See? That, that is what I am talking about, that sort of independence is what will get you killed.”

“You’re the one who told me to go out and find a mentor.”

“And you stumbled into one when you went to the wrong bar and are now looking into the possible beginnings of a gang war, sir, forgive me but this is not exactly what I thought we had in mind when we decided we were going to rebuild the family name.”

“I’m still your boss, Pavel. If I decide I want to do this, I get to do this.”

Pavel had folded his arms, glaring as Ivan had put on his holster and double-checked his ammo. But he hadn’t offered up any more objections—not verbal ones, anyway.

Now Ivan was at the docks, and decidedly on the Murphy side of them.

If he was caught, he’d have a hell of a time talking himself out of this one, and that was if the guards patrolling decided to ask questions first and shoot later. Not likely. Most people wouldn’t recognize him as the new head of the Sokolov family, but all they needed to see was that he was a guy who was creeping around, and they’d draw their own conclusions.

The Murphys were kind of fanatical in their single-minded goal of owning the docks. But then, Ivan couldn’t judge, most mob families were out to get whatever power they could and squeeze everyone else out of the picture. It was convenient, in this case, because a lot of the Murphy operations like some of their offices were located right on the docks.

It was a bit of a risk, but if he could get in and get a copy of some papers, it could seal the deal and tell him who the Murphys were using as a mole to stir up trouble with the O’Gills.

He heard a noise to his left and ducked back further into the shadows, pressing himself up against the wall.

For a long moment, he didn’t hear or see anything. It could be an animal or just his imagination. In the dark maze of shipping crates, small sounds became louder, pinging off the metal. The scuttle of a rat could turn into the scratching of a monster in the twisting shadows and corridors that the crates created. It was a simple trick the human mind played, and Ivan knew it, had been taught it almost from birth just as he’d been taught how to hold a gun, how to fire, how to break a man’s jaw. If you couldn’t see, your other senses would go into hyperawareness, but coupled with the paranoia of darkness, it also meant that each little sound was turned by your mind into something much more than it actually was.

But then, just when he was about to move again, he saw it. A shadow among the shadows, diagonally across from him. A figure, silently moving as he was.

Whoever they were, they were good. He couldn’t hear them moving at all even though he could see it. Someone standing in one of the pools of light from the streetlamps probably wouldn’t be able to see the person at all, the contrast between the light they were standing in and the shadows of the crates too much for their eyes to adjust to.

It wasn’t a Murphy person. Could it be the mole? But why would the mole be going to such effort to hide themselves?

There was the possibility that this person was here for reasons that had nothing to do with the O’Gill family. The Murphys did business with several families. One of them could be here looking to get a leg up. It could be an investigative reporter of some kind, there was usually one idealist who thought playing Nancy Drew would lead to a big break instead of what it usually led to, which was their death. Or it could even be a police officer who’d decided not to play by the rules.

But instinct told Ivan that this person was here for the same reasons that he was.

He broke off from his original course, following the other figure instead. Something about the way that they moved was familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite place it. They were wearing all black, nondescript clothes, including a black beanie, and they were definitely carrying.

Ivan crept up behind them, moving quietly but definitely more quickly than the other person was. If this was someone who had something to do with the O’Gill and Murphy issue, then he needed them alive.

He reached around, grabbing the person by the mouth and hauling them back.

Wham. An elbow slammed right into his kidneys, winding him and making him let go. The person spun around, their leg coming up to deliver a spin-kick to Ivan’s face. He ducked, jabbing, hitting the person square in the solar plexus and making them stumble back.

Now that he could see them from the front, he saw the softer curves, the breasts underneath the shirt. It was a woman. That meant…

Oh, fuck, he knew why those curves had looked familiar to him now.

“Kelly?” he hissed.

Kelly yanked the black bandana she’d had tied around the lower half of her face down, exposing her face and confirming her identity. “Ivan? What the fuck?”

“What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Investigating, it’s kind of what your dad asked me to do, remember? What are you doing here?”

“You shouldn’t be down here, you idiot,” Kelly whispered fiercely. “If you die then your family’s left without a leader.”

“I made Pavel my heir, it’ll be fine, and I’m not going to die.”

“You will if you get caught, did you bring any backup?”

“Did you?”

“I’m not the head of a family who’s putting themselves at risk here, I’m the passed-over daughter, remember?”

“You’re still dodging the question of why you’re here.”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “I’m investigating too. You thought I was just going to let you do all the work and trust that you weren’t secretly screwing us over as well?”

Ivan felt a rush of anger. “Are you telling me you think I had something to do with this?”

“No, but you could be taking advantage of it. You thought I tried to kill my own siblings, you can’t take the moral high ground now.”

Okay, that was fair. “Point taken.” Ivan folded his arms. “But you shouldn’t be here either. It’s dangerous.”

“I’m more than capable of handling myself.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Ivan rubbed at his side. That was going to bruise later. “I’m not saying you can’t hold your own, but c’mon, your father’s just lost one kid and he might lose another. It would kill him if he lost you as well and I’m not even sure I mean that metaphorically.”

“I’ll be fine. What even led you down here to the docks anyway?”

Ivan took her by the arm, steering them further back into the shadows. “I found not one but two trails of clues suggesting a lieutenant was a traitor. Each trail implicated a different lieutenant. So either your father’s been mismanaging this family for a long time, or somebody’s trying to set everyone else up and turn everyone against each other.”

“I found a trial as well,” Kelly told him. “The Murphys have known about our shipments for the last few months and have been reporting them to the police anonymously. I got a hacker friend to get into their records and I looked at our own and there was a match for income to one of our lieutenants and deposits/withdrawals made by the Murphys to a front company.”

“Which lieutenant is it?”

“Bates.”

Son of a bitch. Ivan felt like he should’ve known this, figured it out somehow, but how could he have? He didn’t have access to their damn bank statements the way that Kelly apparently did, and she knew the men better than he did.

It was clever of her, he had to admit, to have figured all of this out. Even if going down the docks by herself was reckless. But then, he couldn’t point fingers. He was doing the same thing that she was.

“Do you think it’s possible that Bates laid those other clues for anyone who was investigating?” Ivan asked.

Kelly nodded. “He and Father had their disagreements way back when but I thought—and Father thought as well—that it had all been smoothed over. He has access to pretty much everything. He could modify records, lift someone’s phone and text or make calls and then erase them on the phone but the data would have already been recorded… he’s had months to plan all of this.”

“And it would be easy enough for him to ask your brothers or their bodyguards about where they were going to be the night in question and arrange for a hit.” Ivan took a deep breath. “But Kelly, this means you’re in danger too. If he wants to hurt your father then he’ll want to kill you as well.”

“You think I haven’t thought about that?” Kelly asked. “Trust me, I’m well aware.”

“You need to get to a safe house and stay there.”

“Would you do that if you were in danger? If someone was targeting your family, would you just sit there idle?” Kelly looked into his eyes, and he must have given her his answer there, because she nodded once, sharply. “I didn’t think so. I’m not going to either. This is my family and damn it if someone is going after them then I’m going to put them down.”

Ivan wasn’t sure exactly how to argue with her on this because she was right, he’d be damned if their positions were reversed and he let himself just sit on his hands while his family was being attacked.

That’s when he heard it—voices.

“Shit,” Kelly hissed, and he knew that she’d heard them, too.

“Is there a shipment scheduled?” he asked, not knowing any other reason why that big of a group—there were at least five, going by the number of voices he heard—would be moving around the docks this late at night.

“Not that I know of, but these things change all the time. Could also be coming back from a raid or something.”

“Doesn’t matter.” The reason why these men were here wasn’t as important as making sure they weren’t caught by them.

Ivan looked around. There wasn’t really anywhere to hide. He grabbed Kelly’s hand and tugged her quietly farther down the row of shipping crates, away from the voices.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Kelly whispered, her voice barely audible.

“No,” Ivan admitted. He didn’t know the docks very well, his father—or rather him, now—didn’t have holdings in the docks, just used them and paid the O’Gills the fee like most others.

He turned a corner, taking Kelly with him. “Ivan,” she whispered, sounding almost scared.

The voices were growing, as if the men were following them. And then Ivan saw why Kelly was hissing at him.

This was a dead end.

Shit. Could they…? Nope, climbing up on top of the shipping crates would create way too much noise. And while he could boost Kelly up, he doubted she had the upper arm strength to lift him.

But there was a crate towards the dead end that didn’t look locked.

Ivan quietly hurried over to it, lifting the latch painfully slowly so that the metal wouldn’t scrape. Kelly bit her lip as she watched him, and he could see the nervousness in her eyes. A wave of protectiveness washed over him. He didn’t want to see her nervous. He wanted the confident, sassy Kelly back, the one that he’d grown to be almost comfortable with.

He swung open the door, wincing when it creaked slightly. “C’mon, get in.”

Kelly didn’t look too pleased with the idea, but she went inside, letting him close the door behind them. They couldn’t latch it from the side, but hopefully with the door closed none of the men would notice.

It was pitch black in the crate. Illegal immigrants would sneak into the country inside of these, huddled together. Ivan couldn’t even imagine what that must be like, the desperation that must drive them to put themselves in what was essentially a prison for weeks or months on end as they crossed the ocean, everything hanging on a fragile hope.

He felt around and could hear Kelly doing the same. Boxes, some of them open, filled with different fabrics of varying softness.

“I found a handbag,” Kelly whispered. “I think these are knockoff goods.”

That made sense. Ivan carefully felt his way over to Kelly, who had sat down on top of a crate. He stayed standing, just in case.

They waited with baited breath as the sound of the men drew closer. Definitely at least five. They were chatting about something, speaking in Gaelic.

Ivan leaned in, his mouth right at Kelly’s ear. “What are they saying?” he whispered, the words barely more than hot air.

Kelly turned, angling her head so that her mouth was now at his ear. He could smell the soft, floral scent of her hair and the tangy, salty smell of her skin underneath that. “They’re talking about the soccer game.”

Chatting about a sports game—clearly this was something routine that they were doing. They weren’t on the lookout for anyone. Thank god.

The voices stopped just outside the crate.

Oh, shit, was this why the crate was unlocked? Were they going to open it, maybe pick out some clothes and handbags for their girlfriends? Had he just put himself and Kelly right into the lion’s den?

He heard the sound of keys jingling, and then the metal creaking as another crate was opened. The one right next door, if he had to guess.

This close to each other, he could feel Kelly heave a sigh of relief. He could feel the heat of her body, and his treacherous libido was reminding him of the last time they’d been this close, and what they’d done and almost done to one another.

The men outside continued to talk amicably as things were moved around in the crate next door. Ivan could feel his skin itching with the need to do something. He hated just standing there with bated breath, waiting.

After what felt like an age—or maybe it was just a few minutes—the men locked up the crate again and started to walk away.

He heard Kelly heave a sigh of relief as the voices disappeared completely. “Good thinking,” she admitted quietly.

Ivan took a step back from her, not sure he could trust himself if he stayed so close to her. “No problem.”

“So.” Kelly heaved another sigh, this one frustrated. “We’ve got a mole, someone who’s trying to help the Murphys control the docks.”

“Your family is the only one standing in their way. They could make it a monopoly.”

“My family isn’t strong enough for a war with the Murphys,” Kelly admitted. She sounded bitter, like she hated saying that. Hated admitting that they couldn’t take down another family in a fair fight. “Especially with my father’s condition and Shane… but even if we were at full strength, we couldn’t. They’d smash us.”

Ivan thought about that for a moment. His family was the same way. He couldn’t stand up against another family in a fair fight. But if they teamed up…

“We could arrange a union between our families. A proper one.”

He couldn’t see her, but he could feel Kelly’s surprised glare at him. “Are you kidding me? I’m not marrying you.”

“Think about it,” Ivan said, warming to the idea even as he spoke. “Look, I know that we’re not exactly getting along…”

“I’m pretty sure we’re doing the opposite of that. I mean, call me a romantic, Ivan, but I was hoping that the man I married I would at least consider to be my friend even if I wasn’t in love with him. I know we don’t all get our sappy love stories. I do. But I was hoping that if I had to marry for politics it was going to be to someone that whose company I enjoyed.”

“We respect each other though, don’t we?”

“Well… yes, I mean… I don’t disrespect you.”

Ivan had to hold in the laugh he was about to give, knowing the sound was too loud and would echo in the small metal crate. “I don’t exactly disrespect you either. Think about it, Kelly. We’re both intelligent. We’ve both come to the same conclusion on this situation, for one thing. United, we could take down the Murphys. And we’re sexually compatible.”

Kelly scoffed. “Oh, please, seriously? That’s what you’re going with?”

“Are you denying it?” Ivan couldn’t keep the teasing note out of his voice. It kind of cracked him up, the idea that Kelly would be ignoring how they’d nearly fucked each other in an alley just the night before.

“I think you’re severely overestimating your charm there,” Kelly replied. Her voice sounded higher up now, as though she’d stood up and was no longer sitting on the crate.

Ivan took a step towards her. “So that whole you kissing me back thing last night, that wasn’t anything. You could’ve shoved me off. Hell judging by that spin kick back there, you could’ve taken my head off if you didn’t want that. But you… you kissed back.”

He couldn’t exactly tell where she was. He could hear her breathing, feel her presence, but he wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing, what her facial expression was. It made him, for the first time, hesitant to reach out. He couldn’t read her face, or her body language, couldn’t tell if she wanted this and just couldn’t say it out loud. He needed verbal confirmation.

“We might not be the best of friends, I’ll give you that,” he told her, keeping his voice low, intimate. “But our families united? We could end the Murphys. And we could do a hell of a lot worse. Neither of us is more powerful than the other so there’s no chance of your family absorbing mine or vice versa.

“You’re intelligent and now how the organization works—I could make you a lieutenant. You know that I need one and it’s more than you’ll get under your father. He’s never going to let you be in charge, not really. You have to know that. This could be a way to give each other what we need. And the fact that we’re attracted to each other… that’s a huge bonus.”

“I never said I was attracted to you.”

“Fair enough. I haven’t said it either so.” He risked taking another step closer to her. He could definitely feel her body heat now and her breath on his face and knew she was only a couple of inches in front of him. He lowered his voice. “In case it wasn’t clear. You’re gorgeous. And whether you want to admit it or not, the same thing that has us at each other’s throats also has us wanting to tear each other’s clothes off. We could make a good team, and we could have fun.”

“There’s just one little problem with your theory,” Kelly replied, and he might be imagining it, but he thought that her voice sounded breathier. “We haven’t actually had sex. So, all this? Is just hypothetical.”

“We could fix that.” He leaned in, his nose brushing against her cheek. “Go for a test drive.”

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?” Kelly told him, but now her voice was just a whisper. “You’re obviously overestimating yourself.” Her voice was soft and trembling though, and god, Ivan wanted her so badly. He could remember how she felt pressed against him and how she’d kissed him, full of passion and fire, giving him back as good as she got. He wanted that, wanted that bit of fight to it.

For a moment he could feel the tension in her body and thought she might slap him, but then he heard something click on and he had to blink against the onslaught of light right in his eyes.

“You brought a flashlight?” he said, holding his hand up so guard his eyes against the harsh light.

Kelly grinned at him. “What, you didn’t?”

She set the flashlight down on top of one of the crates. It threw everything into stark light and shadow, not fully lighting things up but providing enough that they could see one another.

“If this is something that we’re doing, I’m not going to do it in the pitch dark where I can’t see a damn thing.”

“Going to inspect the merchandise?” he teased.

Kelly folded her arms. “You think you’re real clever, don’t you?”

He smiled. “Maybe.”

Kelly gave him a slow look up and down, like she was in fact inspecting him. “Well?” Ivan asked. “Do I pass?”

“Oh my god,” Kelly said, and then she grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him in.

She kissed even better than he remembered, a little like she was trying to prove something, and he settled his hands at her hips, squeezing, tilting his head so that he could get a better angle to kiss her.

Kelly sank against him, making a little moan in the back of her throat. Her hands moved from the front of his shirt up to his shoulders, and she grew a little more pliant in his arms.

That’s it, he thought, enjoying the way she was starting to loosen up to him, getting relaxed, not fighting against him to prove something but more like she was fighting for the fun of it, to be playful.

He nipped at her bottom lip, earning a pleased little noise in the back of her throat in response. Kelly’s hands moved up to the back of his neck, tugging at the hair there, urging him to shift his angle a bit, changing the kiss from deep and consuming to something more playful and dirty.

Ivan hauled her against him, nudging her legs open and sliding his thigh between hers. Kelly gasped into his mouth and arched up against his leg.

“What do you think?” Ivan asked, kissing along her jaw.

“I think I like you better when you’re not talking,” Kelly shot back, but he could see her smiling as she pulled him back up for a proper kiss.

“I don’t know, I think you like it when I talk,” Ivan purred, letting his voice drop and his accent get a little thicker.

Kelly shuddered in his arms and spread her legs wider, arching against him. Ivan grinned in triumph, that as good as a verbal answer for him. Kelly shoved him in retaliation, making him stumble and fall back onto a crate.

She climbed up onto his lap, straddling him, grinding down onto him. Ivan went from half hard to fully hard so fast he felt dizzy with it, glad he was sitting down otherwise he might have fallen down anyway.

“I wonder,” Kelly mused, rubbing her hands over his shoulders, grinding down in small slow circles, “Would you be good and just put your hands down and keep still while I did this?”

“You like being in control, don’t you?” Ivan asked. He wrapped his arms around Kelly’s waist, but otherwise let her control her movements, circling her hips.

“You got a problem with that?” Kelly replied.

“No…” Ivan looked up at her, at the flushed face and the gleam in her eyes. He reached up to nip lightly at her ear. “But I think maybe what you really want is someone who’s going to not let you push them around.”

He slid his hands underneath her thighs and lifted her up, standing as he did so. Kelly gave a squeak of surprise, wrapping her arms around him and holding on tight as he turned to pin her against the wall of the crate.

Kelly’s eyes were dark, her pupils blown wide until only a thin ring of blue could be seen. “Fuck,” she breathed, catching his face in her hands.

“Did I guess right?” Ivan asked her. “I can guess something else too, I think.”

He leaned in, brushing his lips over hers, and told her in Russian, I’m guessing you like the accent more than you want to admit.

Kelly bucked against him, her legs tightening their hold around him and her nails digging into his skin. She shot Ivan an affronted look as he pulled back, grinning. “You—”

She cut herself off, kissing him fiercely, yanking at his shirt. “Get this off,” she panted, pulling back. “Fuck, why are you so attractive?”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you,” he shot back, helping her in getting his shirt off. “You weren’t exactly holding back last night either, not in that dress.”

Kelly gave him a wicked grin. “That was… kind of on purpose.”

“Oh?” As fun as the idea of wall sex was, nothing more was going to happen until they finished getting their clothes off. He pulled away, letting Kelly’s feet fall to the floor so that he could undo his pants and help her with her shirt.

Form-fitting athletic black clothes, not exactly conducive to romance. Next time—and so far, he was hoping they’d get a next time—he’d get a chance to do this properly.

“I kind of wanted to show off. As a… I don’t know, a middle finger to you.”

“Look but you can’t touch? I hate to tell you, but that plan flew out the window.”

“I’m well aware,” Kelly said dryly, but then she reached up and took her shirt off and whatever sarcastic remark Ivan had planned flew out the window.

god, she was gorgeous. He didn’t know how he wanted to touch her first, with his hands or his mouth, or where. He wanted everything, to touch her all over. All of that smooth, soft skin, those firm breasts, the pale long neck, he wanted to mark it all up and make it his.

Kelly looked up at him through hooded eyes, slowly undoing her pants as well. “Well?” she challenged. “You going to do something about this or are you going to just stand there?”

“You want me to take control?” Ivan asked, helping her tug her pants down and step out of them, pulling her back to him so that he could feel the heat of her skin on his, the way they fit together like puzzle pieces.

“I could put it in writing, if you’d like?” Kelly replied, reaching her hand down and stroking him slowly, teasing him, her grip not tight enough to get him off but just enough to drive the flames inside of him higher.

He took her wrists, gently gripping them and pulling them back, then turning her around so that he could press his chest up against her back. He slid one hand up to her breast, finally getting to feel it under his palm, getting to circle her nipple and tweak it lightly, feel and hear her gasping.

Ivan slid his other hand between her legs, almost startling at how wet she was. He’d never had this much fun during sex, never had banter and a sense of equality, and he’d been enjoying it—but he hadn’t realized just how much Kelly was enjoying it, either.

He circled his finger over her clit, rubbing lightly, and Kelly moaned, her knees buckling a little.

“You’re so wet,” he murmured in Russian. “Fuck, that’s hot.”

Kelly reached up, dragging a hand through his hair and pulling him down so that she could kiss him. Ivan dragged a finger through her folds, hissing into her mouth, pleased with how responsive she was—the way her hips tilted towards him, seeking more of him, even as her hands and mouth were greedy with him.

Pliant but not passive. He loved it.

“What do you think?”  he asked her.

Kelly gave a kind of purring, growling noise in the back of her throat. “I think you should make good on all of your promises,” she told him. “And show me why all those women followed you to your apartment.”

And, well—Ivan was never one to back down from a challenge.