Love Thy Enemy (Red Stone Security #13)(37)
She forced a smile, glad he seemed to be handling things okay. “I’m Dominique.”
*
Viktor eyed the fallen bodies, anger a live wire inside him, pulsing and ready to strike out at whoever had ordered this.
He didn’t recognize any of the men, and from experience he knew that these guys would be hired muscle. There were six men in all, each one wearing a bulletproof vest and armed to the teeth. They didn’t have on more tactical gear, however. Which made Viktor think they weren’t that well trained. Careful not to move the body too much, he pulled down the shirt of one and saw what he knew was a prison tattoo.
When he saw Lyosha striding across the lobby strewn with dead bodies, he frowned. “Why are you here?”
“Kir is with the woman and the others. They’re fine.” His words were almost dismissive, but Viktor knew better. He could see the worry in Lyosha’s gaze, faint that it was. “My priority is you. Are we calling the police or not?”
He looked around again. His men were all law-abiding citizens and worked for the security division of his company directly under Lyosha. He was their boss and from experience he knew they’d do whatever he said. “Someone could have heard the gunfire and called it in,” he finally said. He absolutely hated involving the police but sometimes it was better to show that he had nothing to hide. And getting rid of half a dozen bodies was doable, but not easy. He’d rather let the police take care of them and have all this on the record.
Lyosha nodded, clearly on the same page. “I’ll photograph all the dead men, remove any personal items—if there are any—and take their fingerprints before we call.”
“Good. I need you to take Dominique out of here. Kir can make sure the other two get home safely. I’m going to tell the police I was going over the layout of our new plans when we were blindsided. It will be like Dominique and the other two were never here.”
Lyosha nodded again. “Good. The chef is about to piss his pants, if he hasn’t already. I’ll make sure they know they’ll be compensated for their silence.”
Viktor nodded. It would be easier this way, less messy. He didn’t want Dominique dragged into anything and she didn’t deserve to get hauled to the police station where she’d be questioned for hours. No, she should be at his home, safe and resting. Her condo was easy to breach so that wasn’t an option. He needed her where he could control the environment more. “I’ll go talk to Dominique but I want you to take her to my home.”
Lyosha’s eyebrows raised. “I should be with you.”
“I need someone I trust with her. I need to know she’s safe while I’m dealing with the cops.” And Lyosha had been his driver for years, had joined him after he’d split from his father’s organization.
“Fine. But are you sure you can trust her?” There was no malice in the question, the only reason Viktor reined in his temper.
“Why?” Viktor wondered if his brother had said something about their history, but he immediately dismissed that. Abram would never betray his confidence.
Lyosha glanced around at his men and barked out an order for them to start taking fingerprints of the dead guys, before he turned back to Viktor. “I know the type of woman you like.” He rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable. “No disrespect. I just don’t know if you should completely trust someone like her, even if she’s yours now.”
He blinked, realizing Lyosha had misunderstood him before. “She’s not an escort—never was. She works for Red Stone. She is my…she’s mine.”
Now Lyosha cursed, as if that was worse than what he’d originally assumed.
Just to get another rise out of him because it was so rare, Viktor added, “She’s Porter Caldwell’s assistant.”
“You’re f*cking insane,” he muttered. “She works for those Boy Scouts?”
He didn’t answer, just tilted his head in the direction of one of the employee doors. He needed to see for himself that she was okay and then convince her she should go with Lyosha. From what he knew of her, he figured Dominique would argue and want to stay, but it wasn’t happening. He wanted her gone, mainly because he didn’t want the police to tie her to him. He’d been legit for a while but he didn’t want to give some * cop an excuse to harass the woman he’d fallen for.
Hurrying down the hallway, he texted Kir to let him know they were on their way. As they reached the door to the storage room, Kir peered out, his weapon in hand.
The door quickly shot open and Dominique practically shoved Kir out of the way as she hurried to him. Later he’d have to tell her that she couldn’t do that—that in a situation like this she needed to remain behind one of his men at all times until they knew for a fact that everything was clear, but…he liked the worry for him he saw on her face.
Not the actual worry, but he liked that she cared for him enough to be concerned.
“Are you okay?” She grabbed his upper arms, looking him up and down, her body slightly trembling.
“I’m fine.” He pulled her into his arms, needing to comfort her, to actually hold her. She was heaven in his arms, soft and sweet and his.
It was a foreign sensation to comfort another person, but he smoothed a hand down her spine and murmured to her in Russian. He knew she wouldn’t understand and he truly didn’t give a shit that Lyosha and Kir could understand him. If she played him for a fool he’d deal with the fallout. Right now, the only thing he knew was that his woman was upset and he needed to reassure her.