Red. (Den of Mercenaries #1)(57)

“It was in everything you did. Arguing with Mish every chance you got, or threatening to kill someone. Literally,” she said, giving him the side eye. “There wasn’t a day that went by when you didn’t threaten bodily harm to either Mish or Luka. But you’ve been here for what—twenty minutes already?—and you haven’t even mentioned, ‘the Russian,’ once.”

“That’s because he isn’t agitating me with his bullshit. Believe it or not, your husband acts like an entitled dick.”

“Really? Because the only thing I’ve seen is him trying to make amends for what happened to you. I don’t know what happened to make you hate him so much, Niklaus. I won’t even pretend like I do, but I see what he’s been trying to do ever since you popped back up. Mish loves you. And I know you care about him too, even if you won’t admit it.

“And before you say something smart, don’t bother. How many times have you risked your life to save me? Sure, you wanted to keep me safe, but you did it because you didn’t want your brother to lose someone the way you did.”

Niklaus frowned, not liking how her words made him feel, and the fact that she was right. “Mishca isn’t innocent in all of this.”

He could see the smile that was forming on her lips before she quelled it— he didn’t realize he’d said the Russian’s name.

“Of course not. And Mish, while I love him to death, he can be mean, cruel even, but if he cares about you, he’ll want to fix it. You just have to let him.”

She was right about that. Mishca had been trying to repay him in many regards for what went down. For a spell, Niklaus wondered whether he was apologizing for Niklaus getting kidnapped in his place, or for what he said in that apartment.

Or maybe he blamed himself for it all…

“Where is he anyway? I thought he’d be here.”

“Soon as Iosef told us you were coming up, he took off.”

“Why?”

Lauren leaned forward to place her glass on the table, holding her arms out for Sacha who was already walking towards her and climbed up into her lap—he was definitely a mother’s boy. “Believe it or not, Mish hates fighting with you. He figured you weren’t here for him anyway.”

Shit.

For once, Niklaus felt like an *, and for good reason. As he thought back over the last two years since he had walked into their lives, he had made it a point to make Mishca’s life a living hell.

Maybe now it was his turn to make amends.

“I’ll reach out.”

Glancing down at his watch, Niklaus realized he only had thirty minutes to get across town for more surveillance on the warehouse. It was time to go.

Climbing to his feet, Niklaus crossed the room, placing a kiss on the top of Lauren’s head, then grabbed Sacha up into a bear hug that made him squeal with laughter.

“I’ll catch you later. Shit to do and all that.”

“Be careful, whatever it is you’re doing.”

“Duly noted.”

His back was to her as he walked away, but she called out, “So when do we get to meet her?”

Niklaus paused, thinking over his answer before responding. “I’m not even sure if she’ll have me.”

Lauren laughed at that. “If there’s one thing I know, you two Volkov boys won’t take no for an answer. Just let me know when and I’ll cook dinner.”

Smiling as he boarded the elevator, Niklaus called out, “I’m not trying to kill her.”





Chapter Twenty-Three





Throughout the car ride, Reagan remained silent, staring out the passenger window even as Liam attempted to engage her in conversation. The last thing she wanted was to be in his car, riding along to meet the man that had sired the brothers. While not all children’s wrongdoings was the fault of the parents, Reagan couldn’t help but wonder what kind of man stood as the patriarch of the McCarthy family.

“I’m sorry,” Liam said, trying another tactic as he softened his voice, thinking that might goad her into actually speaking to him. “I didn’t mean what I said. You look fine.”

How did he expect her to respond to that? “Okay.”

Not taking his eyes off the road, Liam reached over, clasping her hand. The moment he did, she tried to pull free, but he held tighter, his grip painful—like he was daring her to try that again.

“You don’t have to make this difficult, Reagan.”

He was right about that, but she didn’t have to make it easy either. Instead of giving him what he wanted, Reagan let her arm go limp. There was no point in fighting him on it since he was significantly bigger than her, and probably wouldn’t mind using his strength to get that point across.

Liam fell silent, and she almost believed she had won that round until he hit the brake suddenly, sending her lurching forward, then back hard against her seat as they came to a stop.

She had barely looked in his direction before he grabbed ahold of her jaw, forcing her to face him.

“Don’t test my patience,” he said, his voice gone low as Reagan wrapped her fingers around his wrist and attempted to pull herself free, but he merely held fast. “You won’t like what happens.”

No, she was sure she wouldn’t.