“Ive, no, I’m not leaving you. Didn’t you see what just happened?” Charlotte asked.
I saw her starting to panic.
Pulling her in for a hug, I hold her tightly, wrapping my arms around her. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
I couldn’t gowith her, I had no choice but to stay here. This was where my men needed me.
“Ive, please?” she asked.
I hold her a little more tightly, and then pull away to stare into her eyes.
“I need you to gowith Hubert. I’ll be there as soon as possible, okay?”
“What if you die?”
“I won’t die.”
“People die.” Her lip quivered. “They die. You can’t die.”
“I won’t die,” I said.
She nodded her head. “You won’t die. You promise me?”
“I promise you.”
“You’re coming home?”
“Yes.”
Charlotte nodded and I placed her handin Hubert’s. “Take care of her.”
I trusted him to do as Isaid. Hubert and Charlotte left, giving me, Vlad, and my men the chance to head into the back of the kitchen.
Four men were dead. Two had no insignias on them. One of them had the Evil Savages MCpatch, and the other, well, he was part of the Irish mafia. No sign of the cartels. They had gotten into my fucking restaurant and planned to take me out. Now I was pissed. The sneaky fucking bastards.
Lottie
I sat on the sofa, knees curled up to my chest. I had already taken a shower. The dress was in the laundry basket. I didn’t know who did our laundry. Every day when I woke up, the basket was gone. I never saw anyone carrying laundry. It just appeared.
“Charlotte, are you okay?” Hubert asked.
This wasn’t the first time he asked this.
The doctor had already been by and checked me over. I didn’t have anything wrong with me. Not a scratch or a graze. I was perfectly fine. But I felt sick to my stomach, and the only person I wanted to see was Ive.
“It happened,” I said.
Hubert crouched down in front of me.
“Yes, it did. Things like that seem to gofast. While it’s happening, it’s in some kind of slow motion.”
Our apartment door suddenly began to rattle. Hubert pulled out his gun and this made mecover my ears. I wanted Ive.
“Charlotte!” I heard Cassie yell through the door.
“It’s my sister,” I said.
He still held the gun as he went to answer the door. I had gotten to my feet and watched as Cassie shoved open the door and then came running toward me. Rage followed behind her. My sister pulled me in for a hug.
“We just heard. Are you okay? What the hell happened?”
I held onto my sister tightly.
“I, er, I don’t really know. Ive had taken me out to dinner. He’d picked this newrestaurant. Everything was going so well. He had to order for me because I can’t speak French. The waiter delivered the food and I was about to eat something, and Ive told me to stop, and then it was all a blur. People started to shoot at him.” Tears filled my eyes, and I had been able to keep them at bay but with my sister’s arms wrapped around me, I just couldn’t.
I honestly felt fear. Real fear. I wanted Ive. He still wasn’t home and I didn’t like that. Why wasn’t he home?
Rage stepped toward me and held me close. “Ive’sfine,” he said.”What if they attack him? What if they hurt him? Kill him?” I didn’t want anything to happen to Ive.
Cassie took my hand and led me back to the couch. We sat down, and I sank, resting my head on her lap.
I knew our marriage was an arrangement and meant nothing to Ive. I was probably just baggage that Ivan insisted he have. It made no sense for me to react this way. Ive and I were not a love match. I didn’t even know much about my husband. I knew next to nothing, but I didn’t want him dead.
Rage and Hubert were talking but I ignored what they were saying. None of it made any senseto me in the first place.
This wasn’t the first time I’d been shot at. It was the first time with Ive and in such a social setting. The club had been attacked afew times while I’d been in it. I remember my dad had hoped I was dead. I lived to see the disappointment in his eyes every single time.
Time passed. I don’t know how long it was, but the moment I saw Ive step into his penthouse suite, I didn’t think. Ijust reacted. Leaving my sister’s lap, I ran across the apartment and threw myself into his arms. It was stupid and childish, and completely inappropriate, as he had Hubert, Rage, and my sister there. I also noticed another man with him, one I didn’t recognize, but I think he was at the restaurant tonight. Ivan Volkov was with him as well.