Page 84 of Beautiful Broken Obsession

I shake my head. “I will never complain about Celia cursing and fighting with me again. At least she has yet to give me stitches.”

His smile is sly. “The deepest love always leaves scars. Mine can be seen, yours cannot.”

Fuck him for being right.

“What did you find about Grigori?” he asks.

“My death is imminent as far as he is concerned. His sons are idiots and only following orders. They wouldn’t know what to do with Chicago or Philadelphia if it were handed to them on a silver platter. The plan for my death is something they fear but will do because he told them to. Nikita managed to get into their business. Everything is falling down around them. Valdez dug in and the Feds have a case so solid it’s embarrassing. They don’t want to move yet, though, trying to get as many under them and around them as possible. Another two or three months, tops.” I shrug. “At this point there is not talk of Celia as a target. I want it kept that way.”

“Move the dinner tomorrow out of the house and to a public place,” Aleksander suggests.

I consider it. “He is a coward who likely won’t go for it in a public setting. I’ll discuss with Valdez. I’ve brought in some of his people. You look like you need rest. I’ll leave you now.”

He nods. “Milos?”

“Yes.” I turn at his door.

“Threaten my woman again and I’ll give you stitches, brother.”

Laughing, I nod.

The woman is pacing. “He’s okay, right?”

I hold her gaze, it’s there. I missed it before in my anger with her. As much as she started out hating him, she’s fallen in love with him. Deciding to help her recognize it herself, I don’t reassure her the way she is begging me to. “Keep an eye on him. If there’s any change, call me. I’ll be staying in my condo three floors up to get here as quickly as I can.”

Her small hand covers her mouth. She whispers, “I will.”

Milos

Gettinginto the back of the car, I find Maxim waiting for me. “Where did you come from?”

“Two things: your woman pulled a tantrum and wouldn’t leave her mother’s home until she saw Sergei. So I indulged her. Second is far more important but knowing you, you won’t think so. Two men arrived in the city hours after Grigori. Valdez thinks something is up. One of the men is confirmed as a high-value hitter. Why the fuck can’t we kill him, again?” he demands in exasperation.

I sigh then order my driver to get me and Maxim to my condo. There was paperwork I needed there. “Killing him could lead to more problems in the end. The Feds are on his ass watching him. I’m talking with Nikita to see if there’s a way we can manipulate either of his sons to be the ones to do it for us. Give me a minute, let me plug into her audio on her phone.”

“You can hear and record audio from her phone?” His eyes are wide.

Nodding, I explain as I listen to her conversation with Sergei. “You know how social media knows how to show you advertisements on exactly what you’re thinking of? They are capturing your phone, television and in many cases computer audio and mining it for keywords. Valdez turned it around and made use of it. Why do you think we get our phones from him? He disabled the ability for our phones to listen in on our conversations and prevented anyone but him and us from tracking our location and phone calls. This shit isn’t cheap.”

Celia sounds pissed. It can wait. Maxim is right, the hitter in town situation needs to be dealt with. I call my restaurant, telling them to shut it down for tonight. Cancel reservations, only two waitresses and two kitchen staff are needed, everyone else can go home. Done with that, I call Valdez.

He answers on the second ring. “Yes, sir.”

“I’m moving the dinner to my restaurant Kotyonok, same time. I need you to turn it into the safest place in the city. Then I need your men among the crowd at Carlo’s for the engagement party. Any chance of taking out the hitter?” I bite my tongue to keep from asking if he’ll kill Grigori so all this shit can be over.

“Won’t be easy. He’s downtown and hasn’t left his room since he arrived. Those bulletproof clothes I told you about and your family buys now after you got shot, he wears them too. It would have to be a headshot by a man who never misses. I’ve got six of those, four are overseas, one is recovering from an injury, the other is in New York on another assignment. Let me check on that assignment. As far as the other, done. I’ll follow up with you once everything is in place.”

Frustrations seethes within me as I end the call.

Maxim runs his hand down his tie. “I think it’s best to wait on the wedding ceremony and move Celia somewhere safe until this is all over.”

I don’t give a fuck he’s right. If it were any other woman—the marriage she believed she was getting—I would. “I’ve gone more than four years with only snatched moments with her. I’m not ever letting her go again, not for a month, a week or a fucking day.”

His sigh is too damn loud. “Women.”

“Shut the fuck up, Maxim.”

Celia

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