Before I even say anything, she knows the drill. I leave her in the middle of the night at least every other day. As much as I hate to do it, I have no choice. She seems to get that. I just hope that one day she doesn’t get tired of me slipping out into the night.
“Sorry, doll,” I whisper against her temple. I kiss her forehead before pulling back enough to see her beautiful face.
“Are you coming by the bar tonight?” Her eyes are understanding, but her voice gives her away.
“There is no other place I’d rather be.” I press a kiss to her nose before I pull away to get dressed.
“Oh, I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to my brother’s wedding.” Her soft voice causes me to pause. She has a brother? I turn to face her and see her sitting on my bed still wearing nothing but a hopeful smile.
Stalking towards her, I lean my head down and suck her nipple into my mouth, gently biting down before soothing it with my tongue. “Didn’t know you had a brother,” I murmur against her skin.
She leans back on her arms as I move to the other side, giving it the same attention. “You mean you didn’t find that out when you were my personal stalker?” She gives me a sly grin so I bring my mouth to her neck, sucking hard enough to leave a mark on her fair skin.
She yelps when I bite at her collarbone next. “No.” I pause for a second to look into her eyes, but I see that she’s telling the truth. “You were the only child born to your parents and there are no adoptions listed either.” Her face pales and she starts to shake her head no.
“No, that can’t be,” she states. The look in her eyes isn’t one I’ve seen before. “I need to see it.” Her eyes are begging me to give her the information. “I need to see it for myself. Please.” She looks panicked, almost like she’s about to fall apart at the seams.
“I have the information in my office.” I pull her closer to me and place a kiss on her forehead. “Get dressed and I’ll take you to it.” She nods her head before moving away from me. She pulls her clothes on quickly as I finish dressing. Instead of wearing a tie, I leave the top button of my shirt undone.
My attention goes back to her and I see her biting her thumbnail while looking unsure of the information I told her. I still can’t put my finger on it, but there has to be something going on. Why would she have a brother and there be no record of him anywhere in her family information?
Reaching out, I wrap my arm around her and pull her to me. Her hands go to my chest and she starts to mess with the buttons on my shirt. “I will find out whatever you want to know. It’s going to be fine ,doll.” She finally looks up at me and I see the tears welling in her eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll figure it out.” Slightly nodding her head, she wipes her tears away.
“Thank you.” Her soft voice is clouded with tears and it pains me to see her like this.
As soon as we walk out of the room, I see Harlyn coming out of her room. She looks at us both before she makes her way across the hall to Ruslan’s room. She gives me a weak smile and I know that she’s doing this because I’m not giving her an option anymore. Harlyn may hate me for a while, but I’m okay with that as long as she starts to be the mother my nephew deserves.
She disappears behind the door and it shuts softly. Grabbing Ivelisse’s hand, I lead her towards my office. Unlocking the door, I lead her inside and shut the door behind me. No one comes into this room except me. I don’t trust anyone enough to ever let them in here without me being present. If anyone knew the kind of information I keep hidden in these walls, there would definitely be a war on our hands.
I keep dirt on every one of my men as well as their families and our enemies. I even have dirt on my own brother. Mainly I keep this information for leverage, but I also keep it so I can predict who our enemies will go after as the weak link. Although I know Stavros will never turn on me, I can’t say the same for his men. They are a ruthless bunch and I don’t deny that they can turn on me on a dime to get what they want.
I lock the door behind us and I see her whole body tense up. “I’m not going to hurt you, doll,” I whisper in her ear. She starts to relax finally so I lead her to the chair across from my desk before walking over to my chair, taking a seat. Grabbing the key to the drawer that I keep my personal files, I unlock it and pull out the file that has her name written across the top. Handing it over to her, I watch as she slowly opens it. Her expression stays neutral as she starts to read over documents. Not once does she look surprised at what she finds in the file.
I have information on past jobs, past boyfriends, and even the man she married when she turned eighteen. I know when she comes to that detail because her eyes look up at me and she looks ashamed.
“I would never judge you on who you married,” I say without her even having to say anything. She bites her lip and I know that she’s nervous about it. “If you decide on telling me one day, great, but I’ll never force information out of you.” No words come from her, but she nods her head.
When she goes back to reading, I open my laptop and pull up the search program I use to find out information. “What’s your brother’s name?” I ask. Her eyes shoot to mine and she pauses for a second. I don’t even see her chest move up and down.
“Leif Garrick Lucha.” I type the name into the search parameters and wait for something to come up. When I don’t find anything on the name except a birth certificate and a social security card, I expand my search on the Leif Garrick name. A dozen hits pop up and I see a few things that don’t match. When I look up, I see her staring at me.
“Did you find him?” Her voice is weak and sad. I motion for her to come over to me and she practically jumps out of the chair and comes running to me. Grabbing her hand, I pull her into my lap and continue searching for something I can work with.
After about ten minutes, I change my parameters again and something pops up. I scan over the article quickly and I see a name I’ve heard about, but don’t know personally. Grabbing my phone off the desk, I dial a number and wait for an answer.
“What?” Stavros barks out.
“What do you know about Petrus Salvi?” The line goes silent and I know I’ve asked the right person at least.
“Why?” he finally asks.
“His name came up in a search. I need details on him.” I feel Ivelisse tense up in my lap, but she remains completely silent.
“I’m not saying shit over the phone. Meet me at the clubhouse. We can talk here,” he barks out like I’m one of his men.
“Fine. I’ll be there in an hour,” I resign. I don’t want to start shit with him right now, especially if Uncle Viktor is stealing his shipments.
The sound of silence is the only thing I hear. I set my phone down on the desk and turn my attention to Ivelisse. “I’ll let you know what I find out tonight.” She doesn’t say anything, but she rests her head on my chest. Rubbing my hand up and down her back, I close my eyes and try to remember something about the name. I feel like I should remember something about the guy, but I keep coming up blank.
Looking back at my computer screen, I see a few details I didn’t catch the first time.
The Italian mob.
Fuck. If Stavros has something to do with the Italian mob, I’m going to fucking kill him myself. My phone starts to ring again, but this time it’s my uncle. “Yeah?” I answer. He’s probably going to tell me to get Stavros on a leash again, but it’s not going to work.
“Where the fuck are you?” he yells into the phone. I look at the time on my watch before responding.
“What the fuck does it matter to you? You’re not my damn keeper.” I hear his snort over the line and sometimes I swear this shit would be easier if he wasn’t the damn head of the family.
“It matters because ever since that fucking brother of yours came back into your life, you’ve been disappearing and going against my orders,” he grates out. I’m pissing him off which isn’t a surprise. I’ve done it since the day I joined the family.
“He hasn’t done shit. If anything you’re the one who is trying to take over his shit.” Most men wouldn’t get away with talking to my uncle this way, so I’m surprised he’s letting me.
“I told you to get a handle on him and you didn’t. This is on you.” He hangs up before I can say anything else. Shit is about to go sideways on me. I can feel it.
“Is everything okay?” Ivelisse asks.
I run my hand down the back of her head and set my phone back on the desk. “Yeah doll, everything’s fine.”
She doesn’t question me and I’m kind of glad she doesn’t. There is no way that I’ll be able to explain to her the type of relationship I have with my family.
“You still want me to go with you to the wedding?”
Her head pops up and she gives me a fake smile. “Yes. It would make me feel better if you were there, especially after what you said about him not being my real brother.” Cupping her cheek, I pull her mouth to mine.
“Everything will be fine. I’ll get the information I need and I’ll let you know if something weird is up with your brother.” Her eyes never leave mine as I press my lips against hers.
The uncertainty in her eyes kills me. After she goes to work, I’ll be looking further into her parents. I need to find out what connection they have with Petrus Salvi.
Releasing her mouth, I just hold her to my body. She doesn’t move and I don’t force her to. When my phone rings again, I feel her blow out a breath. I need to get my guys settled today or all they will do is keep calling. Plus I need to head to the Draconic Crimson clubhouse to find out what the fuck Stavros knows about Salvi.
Ivelisse grabs my wrist and looks at my watch, before jumping up and out of my lap. “I have a dress fitting in twenty minutes. I have to go.” Before she can get too far, I wrap my arm around her and pull her back to me.
“Give me a kiss.” A saucy grin spreads across her lips and I see a little bit of herself come out again.
“And if I don’t want to?” she asks.
“Then I’ll be bending that sweet ass of yours over my knee and spanking you.” Lust burns in her eyes and I see that she’s thinking about her options. Like I said, she is starting to like all things dirty.