Page 41 of Secret Bratva Baby
“Are you hungry? There’s a great place across the road that has toasted bread with the most amazing pastrami on it. They put rocket, sweet mustard, and—"
“It sounds incredible. I’d love to have lunch with you.” She laughs. Then she stands up a little straighter, realizing what she’s said.
“It’s a date,” I tease her, knowing I’m pushing my luck.
I could get used to this. Talking business with a beautiful woman, laughing, sneaking out for lunch, and enjoying her company.
This is what I want.
***
“Luka Andreev. It’s been a while.”
His voice grates on my nerves before I’ve even looked up to see his face. Rose and I are still in the doorway of the laundromat. The smile drops from my face, and my eyes turn tohard stone as I glare at my rival. I push her slightly behind me, not making it obvious.
“Romain,” I greet him coldly. Every fiber in my body is on high alert. My hand is ready to reach for my gun if this asshole so much as blinks wrong.
He’s not as high up in the ranks as the family who is after Rose, but he’s high enough to have an ego. And high enough to try something stupid, mistakenly thinking he can get away with it.
“You never did apologize for what you did to my truck last month. I warned you that you’d pay eventually,” he sneers, obviously looking for a fight. His hand is hovering over his hip, and I can see the bulge of his pistol beneath his jacket. My heart is racing, my skin feels as though there are a thousand needles scratching the surface.
“I believe you brought that issue upon yourself, Romain. Next time, keep your nose out of other people’s business, and you won’t end up in my line of fire.”
He doesn’t like my answer. Was he expecting an apology?
I steal a glance up and down the street, looking for anything suspicious. Romain might be a distraction.
“Speaking of line of fire…” He brushes his jacket back to reveal his gun. A direct, unmistakable threat. It’s bold of him. Incredibly stupid, but bold.
I tilt my head, daring him to make a move. He knows I’m faster than him. We’ve played this game before, and his brother ended up shot in the leg while he stood there with his weapon removed from his grasp. I was lenient that day. Apparently, he took my leniency for weakness.
Romain glances around, noting for the first time that I have two security guards standing just inside the coffee shop in plain clothing, undercover to the customers sitting inside waiting for their laundry. A normal person wouldn’t notice the weapons beneath their heavy jackets. Or the fact that they’re wearing thin Kevlar jackets.
I don’t need their backup for just one guy. I can take Romain on my own. But if he has a team hiding somewhere, their presence will be enough to throw him off—I hope.
“Maybe next time, we can talk about this again.” He pulls his mouth tight, angry to be standing down. Before he leaves, he takes a good, long, hard look at Rose, which angers me in ways I can’t explain. I push her further behind me. She has nothing to do with anything that’s happened between Romain and me.
Suddenly, I realize that her presence here has me ten times more anxious than I normally am in situations like this. I don’t want her hurt. I don’t want a single scratch on her perfect body. She is my weakness, and now Romain might have noticed that.
I watch him walk away, keeping my eyes tight on him, waiting for him to spin around and take the shot he threatened to take a moment ago.
Dammit.
I shouldn’t have reacted when he looked at Rose. I gave away her meaning to me. He could see it in the way I tried to protect her from his stare. Sure, I could explain it away. But people in my world know how to recognize those we care about. They know how to use them against us.
My stomach knots. This is bad.
And he ended the conversation so abruptly, I’m wondering if he has something else planned.
I glance up and down the open street; sometimes meetings like that are just precursors to something worse. My heart starts racing faster. I’m not willing to take that risk. Not with Rose here. Any other day, and I would’ve climbed into my car, trusted the armored protection of the vehicle and left.
Today I’m not willing to do that. I quickly decide on a more cautious option.
Turning, I grab Rose’s hand and push her back into the coffee shop. “We have to get you somewhere safe,” I snap, pulling her along with me as I bolt down the stairs behind the washing machines, past the door that states ‘Employees Only.’
“Luka, what’s going on?” she huffs, out of breath, as I hurry down a passage towards a locked room, a built-in safe place for bomb threats or attacks.
I push her inside, walk in after her, and shut the door. It can only be opened with a code. My brothers and I are the only ones who know it.
