CHAPTER ELEVEN
The sun was high in the sky before Ana opened her eyes the next morning. Her body hurt in places she didn’t know she had but at least she was alive. She heard a soft snore in her ear and she had to smile at the sound of it.
Turning her head slightly, she found herself looking at the man that changed her life. She didn’t come to this place to find love but that’s what she found. Her heart began to race at the thought of building a life with him here.
There were too many unknowns for her, could she really leave her brother and make a life here? He’d told her enough times since they met that she belonged to him but did he really mean it? Could she live with the fact that he was Bratva? Was this nightmare really truly over or would she be looking over her shoulder the rest of her life?
“Good morning.” Sazon interrupted her thoughts.
Ana smiled as she saw his eyes were open and he was smiling at her. “Good morning yourself big guy.”
He leaned in close and kissed her silly.
When he broke the kiss she whispered, “Now that’s a good way to start the day.”
“I know an even better way,” he murmured. He moved her to her back, nudged her legs apart and slid into her. He made love to her gently until he couldn’t take it anymore and slammed into her wet heat with purpose. A few strokes later and they both flew off the edge.
Sazon felt himself erupt as her pussy clamped down on his cock. He groaned when she called out his name in a hoarse whisper. Then collapsed on top of her for a long minute. When he went to pull away, she stopped him and he laid there for another moment before he moved to her side.
She groaned when he did and she told him, “You’re right that is a better way to say good morning. I’ll have to remember that.”
Sazon smiled as he nuzzled her neck. “I think we need to get up and join the others. We have to wrap this up, so we can get on with the rest of our lives.”
Ana watched as he sat up and reached for his pants. “Is this really over?”
Sazon turned and looked at her for a moment. “The threat to you and your brother is over. I’m sure by now, those men are at the bottom of the gulf. Roman would have taken them far enough out there, so no one would have seen the fire when the boat sank. Yuri’s men would have cleaned up any trace of them in town if that’s what’s worrying you.”
Ana sat up and shrugged. She looked down at her hands as they gripped the blanket. “What about us?” she whispered.
Sazon gripped her chin and raised her head to look at him. “What about us? I’m not letting you go if that’s what you’re asking. You belong to me now and that’s forever. I’ll put a ring on your finger if that’s what you want.”
“Is that what you want too? A ring on my finger?” She had to know.
“Yes, god yes. I’ve claimed you in front of my brothers the only step left is to get a ring on your hand and change your name to mine, so the whole world knows who you belong with.”
“Ok but I have to finish this first. I have to turn the daggers over to the Romanov heir. That was my grandfather’s last request. I only wish Drago could be here for that part. This involves both of us.”
“Well get your clothes on woman and let’s go find out what’s what.” Sazon slapped her on the hips. “Your brother can be here in a few hours by plane, you know.”
“Only if Gretchen has had the baby,” Ana warned him as she reached or her clothing. “He won’t leave her alone right now, nor would I expect him to.”
“Is he going to mind you’re moving down here?” Sazon asked.
Ana shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ve never been apart before. I don’t know how that’s going to affect the business either.”
“We’ll work it all out.”
“I hope so,” she murmured softly. “I hope so.”
Twenty minutes later, they entered the hotel and made their way to the elevators. When they got to Yuri’s floor, the doors opened up and they saw Kosta standing there. On a leash beside him was Dutcher and Ana smiled as she slid to her knees beside the dog.
Kosta was wearing a rare smile as he handed the leash to Ana and turned to lead them down the hall to Yuri’s door.
When they opened the door, they were surrounded by people. A lot of people. The men she knew from the past few days and some she didn’t know. Then there were the women. Yuri had his arms around a very small woman, as did two more of Sazon’s brothers that she hadn’t met yet.
Sazon shook hands with them and introduced them to her. “This is my brother Mikail and his wife Pepper and this is Barshan and his wife Talli.”
She greeted them with a shy smile and Sazon moved over to where Yuri was holding court. Seated next to him was another small woman with raven black hair. “This is Raven, Yuri’s wife and the mother of his child. She’s also Misha’s daughter and Sergi’s granddaughter.”
Ana smiled and was about to say something when her name was called. She recognized the voice and turned to see when she was grabbed up and swung around in a huge circle. “You little brat!” Drago called out to her. “I could spank you for what you did.”
Drago then suddenly found himself in a headlock by one angry Russian. Sazon’s arms were tight around his neck.
Ana begged him to let go.
Sazon glared at her and in a tight voice asked, “Do you know this man?”
She patted his arm. “He’s my brother Drago.”
Sazon let him go immediately.
Just then, Dutcher barked and went to jump up on Drago.
Sazon growled a command and the dog sat down immediately.
The whole room went quiet as Ana and Drago stared at Sazon.
Sazon frowned at their stunned expressions. “What?”
Drago turned to face him. “What the hell? How did you do that?”
“Do what?” Sazon replied.
“Command Dutcher,” Drago exclaimed. “He doesn’t obey anyone but Ana!”
Sazon shrugged. “I didn’t want him to knock Ana over, so I gave him a command. I also didn’t know you were her brother or that he knew you. I didn’t want to see the dog spill your blood on Yuri’s floor.”
Jethro laughed along with Sazon’s brothers.
Drago turned to Jethro and asked, “What the hell is going on here? I asked you to watch out for her.”
Jethro held up his hands in surrender. “I did. I watched over her the best I could but he found her before I got here and he hasn’t let her go since then.”
Drago looked back at Sazon and then to his sister.
Ana smiled at him and leaned close to him gently kissing his cheek. “I love this man and he loves me,” she whispered.
Drago raised an eyebrow at her statement. She’d only been here a few days. Then he turned back to Sazon and glared at the man.
Before long, Ana tugged at his arm and brought his gaze back to her. “What happened? Why are you here? Are Gretchen and the baby ok?”
Drago smiled at her and pulled her into a hug. Wrapping his arms around his sister, he announced, “Gretchen had the baby yesterday and it was a boy. She told me to come and make sure you were ok. We named him Ivan after grandfather. I think he would have liked that. They are both doing well. I had to find out what was going on here though. Did you find the man that killed our grandfather?”
“He’s taken care of,” Sergi informed him. “But in researching this one man, we found so much more.”
“I don’t understand,” Drago stated.
Ana took her brother’s hand. She looked him in the eye. “He claimed his name was Michael Tabrone but that was a lie. Everything we thought we knew about him was false. The real Michael Tabrone was a victim of a serial killer. He died at this man’s hands several years ago in Kansas City. In fact, we uncovered a pact made by eight very spoiled young men who have been on a killing spree for the last fourteen years.”
Drago sat down hard in the chair behind him. “You’re shitting me?”
Ana shook her head. “No we were just as surprised as you are. The man who killed grandfather changed his name after murdering the real Michael. His name was Caleb Stoner. He and seven other men formed an unholy pact in college a very long time ago. He went his own way, as did the rest of them and in the past fourteen years, they have murdered twenty three people. They have never been caught because they leave no clue to the why part of their crimes.”
“These young men thought no one would ever catch them and because no one had until now that gave them a feeling that they couldn’t be stopped,” Yuri stated. He glanced over at Pappy and his men. “We had an ace on our side though. Someone who could get the information we needed. I never met this woman but we owe her more than we could ever repay her. She’s the one who put everything together. She’s the reason we found out as much as we did about this pact. It was her help that allowed us to shut down this pack of godless men.”
Drago turned to Ana. “And Caleb?”
Ana sought out Sazon’s eyes briefly then faced her brother. “What can I say? His strength was not a factor in the fight at all.”
Drago surged to his feet and his eyes blazed with rage. His glare found Sazon then Jethro. “You allowed her to fight this bastard?”
“They did not have a choice,” Seri added.
Drago looked enraged. “I called on a friend to protect my sister and you couldn’t even do that.”
Sazon stepped forward and stepped close to him face to face. “Do you think for one moment I wanted her in the ring? That I wouldn’t have fought this bastard to my last breath? That I wouldn’t have put my own life on the line to protect hers?” He poked his finger into Drago’s chest and focused his own rage on the other man. “She didn’t give us a choice. When Caleb escaped a steel cage to come after her, she challenged him to the fight. She didn’t want anyone else to bleed for her. She wouldn’t allow any one of us to go after him. She knew this was a fight to the death that he wouldn’t allow her to win so easily. They both knew going into this that only one would walk out alive.”
“You can be assured those eight men will never kill again,” Roman quietly swore to him.
“He would have hidden in the shadows and picked us off one by one, but your sister challenged him to meet her in the ring,” Sergi continued the tale they had to live through. “None of us wanted this but your sister left us no choice. We knew it and so did she.”
Drago turned to inspect his sister. He found no obvious wounds and there was no sign of pain in her eyes.
Sazon turned to stare at her with proud eyes. “She met him steel to steel. She never faulted, never swayed from her objective. The blade in her hand because her armor and Caleb never touched her with his own blade. She made the match look effortless. The only blood spilled in that ring was his.”
“You and your grandfather taught her very well,” Pappy told him. “She knew every move the bastard was going to make before he made it and countered.”
“I put my blade right through his heart, just like grandfather taught me to do. When he fell to the floor and as death had not yet taken him, he thought to take me to hell with him. He thrust his sword one last time and I separated his head from his shoulders. He didn’t leave me a choice,” Ana whispered.
Drago grabbed her up and wrapped his arms around her holding her close. Tears ran down his face as he heard the pain in her voice. “I’m so sorry. I should have been here to face him. It should have been me in that ring, not you.”
“No young man, I don’t think so.” Sergi shook his head. “This played out just the way fate intended. Fate is often a fickle bitch but she will have her own way. Things happen for a reason. People are put into our lives at certain times for a purpose only fate knows about. This had to happen just the way it did. Ana had to face this monster. This was her quest to follow, not yours and not Sazon’s.”
Drago thought about his words for a moment then looked at each of the men in the room. He read the truth in their eyes. Turning to his sister, he smiled. “It seems I have no choice but to accept it as it played out. But don’t you ever put your life on the line like that again. I will turn you over my knee and spank the living hell out of you.”
“If you were to do that, you’d have to go through me first to get to her,” Sazon warned him as he pulled Ana out of the arms of her brother.
One by one, Sazon’s brothers lined up beside him. They were all huge men. Dangerous to take on.
Drago lifted an eye brow but didn’t say a word.
Behind him, Sergi chuckled. “I think their meaning is very clear.” He told the other man. “I believe your sister is in safe hands.”
Drago glared at Sazon as if not worried or in fear if him. “She’d better be in safe hands or he will answer to me.”
Ana watched as Sazon’s rage grew to match her brothers. Fearing an all-out war, she stepped between them and laid one hand on her brother’s chest and the other on Sazon’s chest. “Behave yourselves.” She bid them both.
Drago ran his fingers through his hair still glaring at the other men in the room. Turning his attention to his sister, he asked her, “Did you find the daggers or are they gone forever?”
Ana nodded. “We did find them. These men you see here were instrumental in that. And the sword Caleb used to kill grandfather. But I have learned something about the daggers I never thought I would.”
“What was that?” Drago frowned at her comment.
“They are Corsican War blades. Great grandfather forged a set of Corsican War blades for his Tzarina.”
Drago’s frown deepened. “Why on earth would he do that?”
“No one is sure of that answer.” Sergi shook his head. “I made some calls last night to a man I know would have some answers. He told me some unpleasant news that I can’t be sure is right or wrong. As you all know, the Tzar and Tzarina were well aware of the unrest the country was in at the time. Several failed campaigns were working against Nikolas at the time and his people were growing more and more discontented with his rule. It cannot be proven of course, as there is no one left alive that would know what was in her heart but my friend thinks she would have had the blades made to reinforce her husband’s position as a ruling Tzar. Both she and her husband never believed that what happened could ever happen. Not to them, they were royal bloods after all.”
“Speaking of royal bloods, we still have to search out the heir and turn the blades over to him or her,” Ana stated.
“I think I can help you with that.” Talli stepped up to the circle of men surrounding Ana. “I am Nikolas’s heir by rights of blood. It turns out that he was my great grandfather.”
Sergi stepped forward and took her elbow. “We found proof of her being the heir to the throne of old Russia. She is the last of his line, she is indeed Nikolas’s great granddaughter.”
Ana broke away from the group and went over to the table where the dagger case laid. She picked it up and brought it back with her. Handing the case out to Talli she said, “Then these belong to you. After all this time, please accept the daggers commissioned for a Tzar.”
Talli shook her head and refused to take the box. “I don’t want them. They belong to the past and the past should be left alone. These blades should never have been forged and the blood of a nation stains them.” Turning to Sergi, she asked, “Will you accept them and keep them safe? They seem to mean more to you than they do to me.”
Sergi seemed stunned by her request. “Of course, I will. I’m honored by your request. They are very fine blades crafted by a master. Blades truly worthy of a Tzar.”
Ana turned to him and handed him the box. Then she took a deep breath. A weight she wasn’t aware of was suddenly lifted from her shoulders. Looking over at her brother, she smiled. “Wow, I suddenly feel free.”
Drago nodded. “Me too. I never realized how heavy the burden of hiding those blades all this time was.” He took her hand and moved over to a quiet park of the penthouse. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“What?” Ana asked.
“Gretchen and I have been talking about something and now I need to ask you about it.” He began. “Ever since grandfather died, I’ve hated living in the house he raised us in. His murder fills that house with sadness and the smell of blood. No matter how often it’s cleaned, the scent of his blood is still there. I don’t know how to explain it any other way. I know you love that house but we just cannot live there any longer. His ghost still haunts the house and I cannot live with a ghost anymore. It just hurts too much.”
Ana interrupted his statement by shaking her head. “I loved it because he raised us there. He taught us his craft within its walls and we lived there because of him. I don’t think I’ll be going back there anytime soon. Sazon lives here and he wants me to stay with him.”
“Is that what you want too?” Drago asked staring into her eyes.
Ana smiled. “Yes, I want that. Sazon wants to put a ring on my finger and he wants the whole world to know that I am his woman.”
“Then Gretchen and I will move here. We can still make the blades our grandfather taught us to make anywhere and we can still do the business we were meant to do. My son can grow up strong and our children will know each other as they grow.” He turned and glared at Sazon and his brothers. “Although I am not happy with your husband being Bratva, it could be worse.”
“Sazon and his brothers are good people,” Ana assured him. “They have honor and that is something that is sometimes hard to find in most men. They learned that from men like Sergi, Misha and Nikoli.”
“Do you think they will mind us moving here?”
“Why don’t you ask him and find out?”
Drago grabbed her wrist and hauled her back to the group. “I have a question.”
Sazon crossed his arms over his chest. “And what would that be?”
“Ana and I have never lived apart from one another. She is my sister and we were raised to stand beside each other always. I knew the day would come when she fell in love and got married but the murder of our grandfather has changed what would have been. If she is going to live here, I want to move my family here too. I can’t live in the same house as our grandfather died in any more. There are too many memories there. I have a job that I love, forging blades and I can do that anywhere. I don’t need your permission to move here but I would like to know that you would have no objections to the move.”
Sazon glanced at his brothers and leaders then stepped forward with his hand held out. “I would be happy to welcome you to come here.”
Drago smiled slightly, turning his head to glance at his sister. “When we have the time I have stories I could tell you about how much of a brat she was growing up.”
Sazon and all of his brothers threw their heads back and the room rang with laughter. They all had run ins with her and knew she must have been a handful when younger as she was one now.
Ana charged her brother and wrapped her arms around him. “I have many stories too. About all the pranks you used to pull on me and how I got back at you each and every time.”
Drago hugged her close then unwrapped her arms and holding her hands he went over to Sazon. Putting her hands in the bigger man’s mans’ hand he told Sazon, “I am giving my sister over to you for safekeeping. Guard her life with your own because if you ever hurt her, I will come for you. You may be Russian but so am I and I know seventy different ways to kill a man, as I’m sure you have the same knowledge. When I get back home, I will forge a special blade and it will be on display in my home. This woman means the world to me and I would protect her from any harm including harm from you. The blade I make will be a reminder to everyone and I will use it to take you down. My vow will be as strong as the love I hold in my heart for this woman.”
Sazon nodded at the other man. “If I had a sister I would expect no less from the man I would give her to one day. You go ahead and forge the sword but know that you will never have to use it.” Turning to Ana, he spoke his own vow, “I will never bring her pain. I will never allow anyone to harm her and I will love her always.”
“And you will have to wait to make her your wife until I can be there to give her away,” Drago stated. “That is non-negotiable.”
“Then you’d better hurry up and get moved down here because I will not wait very long to claim her as my wife.” Sazon glared at him.
Jethro slapped Drago on the back. “Don’t you worry about that my man. We’ll get him packed up and on the road to his new home within a couple of weeks.”
“I will hold you too that,” Sazon stated as a hint of a smile showed on his face..
Ana’s heart grew full to overflowing. She no longer worried about the fact that the two most important men in her life wouldn’t be there for her. As much as she loved her brother, she also didn’t want Sazon to stand between them. Nor did she want Drago to stand between her and the man she loved and now she knew they would both stand beside her. A sudden beam of light shined through the window and she could feel her grandfather’s spirit standing next to her. It was over in a moment but she felt it. In her own mind, she finally said her goodbyes to the man who raised her and loved her as much as she loved him.
“Goodbye Pops, you loved me first, but they will love me now. You taught us well and we will teach our children the thing you taught us. I’ll always love you.”