“Have you noticed you’re helping broke and damaged girls?” I asked.
Ivan glared at me.
“First, there’s Aurora. She was considered second best, right? Not worth anyone’s time. Ugly and all that. You gave her to Slavik. Then Adelaide, again, ignored, unloved. Pushed to one side as if she didn’t exist. Now we move onto Lottie. Not wanted by her MC president father. Beaten regularly, from what I could tell.” I’d seen the scars on Lottie’s body. I had to wonder if Rage knew about them. If he did, my time doing business with him would be numbered. “The three women you originally chose-Irina, Amanda, and Sofia-they’re not even around anymore. They’re socialites, with no real pain or problems.”
“Your point being?” Ivan asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t have a point. I just find it curious is all.”
“Let’s get back to business. I don’t have time for this.” Ivan stared down at the images Edmund had gotten for us. He’d also drawn a whiteboard of time stamps to clarify everything. “Oleg has nothing to do with Evil Savages MC, so we can use them. I’ve already set up a meeting with Demon. It goes down tomorrow night. Rage is aware of the details.”
As am I. We’re meeting at the docks, as per Ivan’s instructions. I’d already made the necessary arrangements. Rage heard of Demon’s plan to attempt to overthrow me and take back the city, but what his men didn’t know was the suicide mission. He planned to take a group of his men, kill them, make it look like Volkov was responsible, and that would bring his other chapters there to come and fight. Fucking coward.
I don’t mind taking responsibility for men I’ve killed. They’d probably do a sloppy job of it as well.
Rage was pissed off, because Demon intended for Lottie to die as well. He wanted to try and frame his daughter so it looked like she was a rat, and that way, when we gave her back, she’d answer to the club. All rats ended up dead. I didn’t like Demon. Never had. We were enemies from the start, and now I was going to take great pleasure in killing the bastard.
It was a shame he wasn’t going to get to see his club become our allies. I didn’t know how long that would last, but I was open to it.
“With Demon and his followers gone, we need to use the MC to get into Oleg’s territory. It’s the only way to sneak in.” Ivan looked at the paperwork.
“What do you think Oleg wants?” I asked.
“Power. He wants my seat. He didn’t like being a brigadier, and he didn’t like being picked sixth.” He clicked his tongue. “I had my doubts about him, but he showed loyalty to me. Greed, that nasty fucking bastard, got the better of him. Now he’s going to know real pain.”
“You know he saw the same thirst in Bethany. She has to die.”
“She will. They all will die. All of those that follow Oleg will fucking die.” Ivan slammed his palm down on the table. His body was physically shaking with the rage consuming him.
I stay still, not that I’m afraid, but I know he’s angry. I heard about the redheaded whore who’d turned on him. There were a lot of rumors surrounding Ivan’s fake death, but the only logical explanation was that someone close to him turned on him. Since then, I’d noticed Ivan had withdrawn a great deal. He no longer stopped by for personal visits. He kept to himself. I had to wonder if he still visited Slavik. I know he went to see Aurora and the baby, but staring at him now, I know something is different. He has changed.
Ivan lifted up. His hands were clenched into fists and his jaw so tight I thought he was going to snap his teeth.
“Tell me, Andrei, why are you loyal to me?” he asked.
His words took me by surprise. I didn’t know how to answer them. I stare at Ivan, not exactly sure what he wants to hear.
“Volkov, what is this about?”
“First Cara, now Oleg, I have to wonder why my men follow me. Is this the start of the end? Is this where people start to turn on me?” Ivan asked.
There was no emotion to his voice, or to his words. He was simply stating a fact. There was … nothing.
“I follow you because you’re the right man for the job,” I said. “I’m loyal because unlike other Pakhan, you earned it. You showed me who you are, and you rewarded that loyalty by allowing me to kill the very man that tried to take everything from me. I have no interest in taking your seat, Ivan. I’m happy to keep you in it, and anyone who tries to remove you is my enemy.”
They were not pretty words. They were the truth.
“Even though I dragged Adelaide into this world? If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t have gotten shot, or lost the baby.”
“Without you, she wouldn’t be in my life. I couldn’t stand Bethany. You knew that, but you had to make it work. Adelaide is my gift. I see that, Ivan. I will treasure her, always.”
“She has to earn her place and her ink.”
“I know.”
She hadn’t proven her loyalty yet, but I knew Ivan liked her. Adelaide hadn’t run scared. She was a fighter, I knew that.
“I suggest you go to her. There’s nothing more that can be done. We’ve got everything in motion.” Ivan slapped my shoulder and within half an hour, I’m back in the car, heading home.
Not to the penthouse. To our country home, with the bedrooms I wanted to fill.
All I want to do is look at Adelaide, but I can’t do that, because I’ve not been able to get the security cameras installed. My plan was to take her out on a date for an entire day, allow it to be her choice on what we do, and while that was happening, the house would be fully installed, so no matter where I was, I could look at her.
I missed her.
Pulling out my cell phone, I go to my images and pull one up of Adelaide sleeping beside me. She didn’t know I’d taken this. There are a lot of pictures she doesn’t know I’ve taken. Each one near and dear to my heart. I fucking love her so much.
“I … I’m so cold.”
I can’t help but remember the moment she collapsed in my arms, capturing her the second after she’d been shot. My world felt like it had come crashing down. From the moment I first saw Adelaide in that alleyway, helping people, she had gotten under my skin. She was the one weakness I had in my life, the one secret I had successfully kept to myself. Only I hadn’t. Ivan had known. There was no way anyone else had known.
I’d played my part well with Bethany. Behind closed doors the truth had come out. Bethany knew I didn’t want her, but she had no idea that I wanted her sister from the start.
Running a hand down my face, the moment I see my front gates, anticipation rushes through me.
I want to see my woman, right fucking now.
Adelaide