Page 85 of Paved in Venom

“Did you doubt for one second that I was a monster who likes to buy women?”

“No,” she admits.

“That’s why I did it. I can’t have them suspecting anything. If you’d been alone, I wouldn’t have said it. I’m sorry if it scared you, though.”

“It didn’t scare me. I knew Danil would never let you hurt me,” she says, and pride blooms in my chest. I kiss her head and bring my hand to the nape of her neck, caressing her soft skin.

“You’re about to bleed out,” Lev tells Dominic.

“I’m fine. You shot three of my men,” he says, looking over his shoulder at their dead bodies and our men who are still standing around, waiting for orders. “They were good men.”

“Then you shouldn’t have brought them here and pointed your fucking guns at us and threatened my woman,” I tell him, making it clear that I don’t give a flying fuck who’s lying on the ground dead right now.

His lips curl up in a small grin. “I’m glad you’re not the monster I thought you were, but you’re still a fucking monster.”

There’s no point in denying it, so I don’t waste my time. Instead I tell him, “We know who’s behind all this, and we’re willing to share the information we have, but first you need to see a fucking doctor.”

“You know who they are?” he asks, desperate hope clinging to every word.

“We do,” Roman says, waving two of our men over. He tells them in Russian to take care of the bodies, and then switches to English to ask Dominic, “Do you have a doctor on your payroll?”

“Yeah. He’s in my contacts. My cell’s in the front pocket of my suit.”

Roman reaches in for his phone and then finds the number. Before he places the call, he looks at Dominic. “Are we going to work together on this, or do we need to finish you off right here and now?”

“I want these fuckers,” Dominic tells him. “I want the name of the bastard who killed my sister. I’m not going to hold a grudge about the men you killed tonight. No one will know you shot them. I’ll make up some story to the others. There won’t be any trouble between our families because of me. I’m willing to set everything aside to work together on this.”

Roman nods, understanding Dominic’s pain and trusting that the man will keep his word. He calls the doctor and hands the phone to Dominic who starts speaking rapid Italian. As soon as he’s done, he hangs up and says, “Thanks. He’s going to meet me at one of our safe houses.”

“Our men will drive you,” Roman says, pointing at the two closest men and then telling them in Russian to drive Dominic where he tells them. Before Dominic puts his phone away, Roman grabs it and adds his number to his contacts. “Call me when you’re well enough to work, and we’ll meet with you to exchange information and work on a plan.”

“I will,” Dominic says, pocketing the phone and then using the last of his strength to get in the passenger seat while two of our men join him and two others run off to follow in their own car.

We watch them drive off before Lev runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “Jesus Christ, Simona, if you ever run out of a bulletproof SUV again, I’ll join Danil in spanking your ass red.”

“Like hell you will,” I say, making him smile.

“I couldn’t just sit in there while you two died,” she says, looking up at me. “I couldn’t do it.”

“We’ll talk about it later, baby,” I tell her, kissing her forehead. “I just want to get you home right now.”

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Roman says while quickly texting Emily on the way to Matvey’s Camaro. “Emily about had a heart attack when I jumped out of bed to come here.”

“Sorry, man,” I tell him, because the last thing any of us wants to do is terrify a pregnant woman.

He waves off my apology. “I would’ve been pissed beyond belief if you hadn’t texted me.”

“I know,” I say with a laugh. Roman’s always been protective of all of us. He’s the oldest by a few months, and he takes the role of older brother very seriously. He has ever since we were kids.

We all pile back into our cars, leaving our men to dispose of the bodies and clean up the mess. We’re far enough from the main road to not be drawing attention, but cops usually swing through this park at least once or twice a night, so we need to get our asses out of here.

This time I sit in the back with Simona, holding her and knowing exactly how damn lucky we got tonight. Things could’ve easily gone another way, and it makes me more determined than ever to make what we have official and to appreciate every damn second I have with her, but first she needs to learn something. When I tell her to keep her ass in the car, she better goddamn well keep her perfect ass in the car.

By the time we get to the penthouse, Matvey and Roman are already inside, and I’ve just finished texting Vitaly and filling him in on everything that happened. He’s still at the club, but one of our men will be bringing him back once he’s able to sneak away. He said the place is still packed with a line out front, so it’ll probably be a few hours before he can leave.

The ride in the elevator is a quiet one. My arm is still wrapped tightly around Simona, and she knows I’m pissed that she didn’t listen to me, but that doesn’t change how much I fucking love her. As soon as the doors open, I lead Simona down to our room while Lev goes off to his with a soft laugh and a wave to the woman who’s starting to look a little bit nervous.

“He wasn’t serious about a spanking, was he?” she asks, looking up at me while I guide her down the stairs.

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