Page 17 of Relentless Refuge

Isabella walks a little more slowly than usual as we cross the warehouse. I hide my smirk, knowing why she is walking a little differently, and place my hand in the small of her back. This morning in the shower was exceptional, and I expect the incredible sex will only continue to satisfy me in the future. For now, however, I need to focus on this meet.

Glancing over my shoulder, I make sure our group is together. We’re on the buyer’s turf here in this old, empty warehouse. Isabella’s father had business with this man for years, but he’s a little skittish about my joining the party. Or perhaps he’s uncertain about Isabella being a woman in charge of the organization. Either way, I’m here to put his mind at ease and ensure he continues his partnership with her. But the guys from her Family who follow us don’t seem to be all too happy to be here.

I watch two of them—likely, brothers, based on looks alone—who’ve been whispering back and forth since we climbed out of the cars. They came with an older man, perhaps an uncle I haven’t met yet, and Isabella rode in my car with me and Darnel.I’m surprised Nicolo hasn’t joined us today. He seems very interested in making sure Isabella is taken care of. I like that about him.

“Mr. Laslov, so good to see you again,” Isabella says as we approach her buyer. He stands tall, with broad shoulders and a full crop of silver hair. His hands are clasped in front of his body, and he stares at Isabella’s outstretched hand as if she were a leper.

“Ms. D’Angelo,” he says, nodding. After a quick survey of our group, he blinks once and takes her hand to shake it. “It’s such a shame what happened to your father. I expected so much more from him.”

Isabella’s jaw tightens and her lips purse as she nods. I can see his comment pricks her heart. She hasn’t brought her father’s death up in conversation once, but I know how it affected her. I feel her tossing in the night, whimpering her father’s name in her sleep.

“We all did.” She sighs softly and gestures at me, and behind us, we hear the door to the warehouse open and shut. She turns as she says, “This is my husband, Marco. And it looks like our friend has joined us now too. Shall we get down to business?”

The man eyes me warily and then turns to Isabella’s Family. “I’ll say, I’m rather surprised to see you have taken your father’s place.” His eyes train on the older man behind Isabella, and I glance at him to see a calm expression on his face. It’s clear these two know each other well. Maybe he used to attend the meetings between Mr. Laslov and Isabella’s father.

“I am the heir to his throne, sir. And my Family supports me.” She says the words with confidence, but I see the looks hercousins give her. One is indifferent, and the other is downright upset. I’m beginning to wonder if these are the two who threatened her. She never told me their names or who it was, but judging by the way the taller one is getting antsy, I can see we may have an issue on our hands again.

“Sir,” I say, turning back to the man, “Isabella is more than capable of leading her family. She is her father’s daughter. I assure you, the D’Angelo name is in good hands with her.”

He looks up at me with mild curiosity in his eyes. “And who are you to speak for her, Mr. Romano? I’ve heard a lot of things about your organization, and not all of them are good. Am I to believe you are trustworthy as the spouse of someone I’m in business with? Is my business to be threatened by yours?” His eyebrows peak in the center, and I hear shifting behind me. From the corner of my eye, I see Darnel watching the younger men. His expression reveals he, too, senses their unease.

“My reputation speaks for itself, sir. I have plenty of references to that fact. Now, I believe we are here to reaffirm your commitment to my wife’s organization and nothing more.” I notice the supplier standing on the other side of Darnel. He scratches his bearded face and nods his head in silence. If things go well for us, he is assured a large profit off all of this, and he’s finally come around to trusting the arrangement since I’ve increased security across the board.

“I’m not sure that we can come to an agreement without certain concessions.” Laslov looks down his aquiline nose at Isabella and narrows his eyes. “I want a five-percent discount on all of our contracts from now on. It’s the least you can do to assure goodwill.”

There is a bit of a scuffle behind Isabella. Her cousins whisper harshly and push each other a little, and I glance at them with a scowl on my face. She ignores them fully and shakes her head.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Laslov, but my father would never agree to that. Business is business. If you want access to our resources, you will pay the price you agreed upon with him.”

The shoving gets more dramatic behind her, and the older man gets involved.

“Stop it, now,” he whispers harshly, but now Laslov is interested in what they’re saying.

“Do you two care to share what you’re disagreeing about?” Laslov’s eyebrows rise in curiosity, and he sidesteps Isabella so that he’s standing in front of them. The taller one, the one with the glare, puffs his chest out and tugs at his shirt to straighten it.

“Yeah, we don’t agree that she’s the rightful leader of this Family.” He eyes Isabella, who merely scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest. I see the butt of her weapon peeking out of the back of her jacket and how calm she is. I’d be putting these two dimwits in their place right now.

“Is that so?” Laslov asks, and I hear her uncle mutter something under his breath.

“Yeah, and we want a ten-percent increase.” If it were possible, his chest puffs out farther, and then his brother chimes in.

"Yeah, ten percent across the board.”

“It’s nice of you to chime in, boys, but I can handle this.” Isabella turns back to Laslov with her shoulders squared, and as she does, the taller one pulls his gun on her, but before he can evenget it on aim, I have my pistol pressed to his temple and my finger on the trigger ready to go.

“Do as the lady says, or your brains will be all over your brother’s face,” I growl and watch Darnel pull his weapon and point it at the shorter of the two.

The supplier backs away, looking frightened, as usual. And Laslov chuckles as if he’s entertained by this. These two are here to be her security and support, not to try to overthrow her authority. I push the barrel of my gun into his temple harder, itching to pull the trigger, and Isabella slowly draws her weapon.

“If you could bear with me for one second,” she tells Laslov, then she turns to her cousin. “Owen, I tried to warn you ten days ago that I wasn’t to be trifled with, but you just didn’t learn your lesson.” She removes the safety from her gun and points it at his kneecap and fires. Owen drops to both knees then rolls to his side, screaming in pain. His gun slides across the floor, and Darnel picks it up. The older man behind him gasps in shock and falls with Owen, checking on him as Isabella points her gun at her other cousin.

“And Chase, you know better,” she says, firing off a round into his knee too. If it were me, these two would have been breathing their last breaths. Chase falls alongside his brother, though his weapon is still firmly tucked into his waistband. I keep my gun trained on him as he wails and moans and holds his knee.

“Now, I apologize you had to see that, but where were we?” Isabella asks as she safeties her weapon and puts it back into her waist band. Darnel and I exchange glances as Isabella’s uncle starts dragging the boys out. I can only imagine he is one very upset father after seeing that, but hopefully, she has proven to them that she is serious this time.

“Impressive, Isabella. Your father would be proud to know you handle yourself well, but I believe you missed.” Laslov pulls a cigar from his pocket and trims it carefully, then lights it and takes a drag.

“I hit my target.”

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