Page 83 of The Enemy's Defector
No matter what, I would never fail her.
In the morning, I managed to take her mind off the more sober things in life with a quickie in the shower. Sex was a big part of any successful relationship, but I knew better than to only focus on it.
We dried off and cleaned up together, calm and ready to face the day. My first plan of action was to speak with my brothers and the top supervisors who’d spent the entire night at that warehouse looking for evidence of Anton being included in the kills. With such a big attack, there would be days of cleanup to manage.
The calm we found was shattered the instant we’d stepped out of the room, though.
Seeing my grandmother and Joann seated on a loveseat with two Kozlov guards pointing guns at them to silence them chilled me. Before I could speak, before I could react, Anton stood from the armchair and aimed his gun at me.
Katerina didn’t wait. She grabbed the gun from my holster and held it up at her uncle. Not wanting to risk a bullet flying anywhere in this room so close to my wife and child, or the other two, I put my hands up and let the roles be reversed.
She would protect me.
Katerina would not only stand by me but would also stand up for me. She would protect me and our child, our family, because that was the woman she was. Wanting a family all her life, she would do everything in her power to make sure we weren’t harmed.
“How dare you,” Anton snarled. He narrowed his eyes on her, not trying to hide any of his malice. Hatred emanated from him as he kept his gun aimed at me, but it didn’t scare Katerina.
She marched right up to him, not stopping once. Not a single hesitation or pause followed as she unerringly approached him, my gun aloft and aimed directly for his head.
Holy fuck.
Fuck.
Fucking hell.
I couldn’t do anything but stare. Holding my breath as my heart thundered in my ribcage, I stared at my wife as she stalked right up to get in this asshole’s face. No fear. No sympathy.
She was a woman on the warpath.
I was terrified. My heart could stop with the rush of trepidation that threatened to overrule me, but I had to repay her and trust her, to have faith in her and her abilities.
Because as far as I was concerned, there had never been any excuse to question her loyalty to me andmyfamily.
Ourfamily.
She was born a Kozlov, but by loving me, she was an Ivanov at heart.
Without a word, she let her actions convey any reply she’d give him. Stopping only feet away from him, almost toe-to-toe, she steadied her grip on that gun and came close enough to damn near jab the end of the barrel at his head.
“How dare you defy me, you pathetic whore?” he snarled, too stuck on belittling her and trashing her like this to react to her putting a gun to his head. His guards reacted. One stepped back from the loveseat to aim his gun at her while the other watched both Joann and my grandmother.
Still, with a gun aimed at her, I knew she would be the victor. Her hatred of Anton would triumph. It would only take one step from me to block that Kozlov from hitting her with a bullet. This time, I would take a shot for her. I would always take a hit to keep her safe.
“How dare you defy me?” Anton shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. “I always knew you were a whining, ungrateful fucking brat. A sniveling little piece of shit I shouldn’t have ever put up with.”
Katerina didn’t budge. With her jaw tense, her lips pressed in a thin line, she stared him down with a lethal glower as she maintained that direct aim of her gun at his head. One pull of her finger on that trigger and a bullet would sink in right between his eyes.
“I provided for you after Thomas?—”
She tilted her head to the side. Just slightly. Almost like an animal perking up to a command or code that would cause an action.
“What?” He demanded it hotly, like he was in charge. “Your father would be fucking ashamed of you, you bitch. You defied me. You disobeyed my orders. You defected from the family.”
If he was trying to win by guilt-tripping her, he wasn’t going to succeed.
“You have disrespected my orders and showed me no honor. I am your leader. Your boss, and no matter how you think you can get away with playing games like this, you will always belong to me and report to me.”
Still, Katerina glared at him, almost as if waiting for him to get through and say his piece so she could finish him with the final word.
