Tempted & Taken (Men of Haven #4)(78)

So, he’d caught the same bits and pieces Knox had. Which meant the rest of his brothers probably had as well.

Sure enough, Jace leaned into the table and braced both his forearms on the dark-stained wood. “All right, brother. Break it down. What the hell’s going on?”

“In a nutshell? Some jackass in the Russian mob named Ruslan Sokolov is after Darya.”

Jace stared at Knox another beat, scanned the row of computers on the table, then glanced at the screens on the wall. “I take it the fact that you’ve got this place locked up tighter than the White House means things between you and Darya have shifted?”

“Oh, they’ve shifted all right. She’s mine.”

Axel chuckled and Beckett scoffed a classic I told you so. The rest of the guys shared a mix of knowing grins and eye rolls.

Jace just twirled his ever-present toothpick, the look on his face a mix between humor and pride. “Gotta say, when you go down, you go big. Care to share when you ramped from taking things slow to a quarter mile sprint?”

“About a nanosecond after I found her with her bags packed and ready to bolt.”

Beckett’s head whipped from the screen he’d been looking at to Knox, the surprise on his face no different than if Knox had pulled a gun on him. “What?”

Despite the volume behind Beckett’s question, the women kept on with their chatter, only Darya’s gaze sliding to the men with a touch of curiosity.

Knox cast what he hoped was a reassuring smile her direction then refocused on his brothers. “Apparently, me sleeping with her makes me not only an automatic target, but a fluorescent one with landing lights pointed to it.” He couldn’t give a shit less about being a target, but remembering the punch that had come with seeing her bags packed on her bed kicked his heart up to an uncomfortable rhythm. “I love my family. With what she says this guy is capable of and the risk it could bring down on everyone else, it might have been safer if I’d let her go, but I can’t.” He scanned his brothers. “She’s mine and I’m keeping her.”

“Now, there’s a lad who knows his mind,” Axel said. He looked to Jace. “I’ll back his play.”

Beckett reclined against his seat back. “Took him long enough, but I’m in.”

“Hell, yeah,” Trevor said.

Zeke lifted his Bohemia Weiss. “Then the taken men officially outweigh the free agents, ’cause I’m in, too.”

Danny twisted in his chair enough to lean one elbow on the table and met Knox’s gaze head on. “If I vote yes, does this mean your little black book’s up for grabs? If it does, you get my vote.”

“Not thinkin’ Darya’d let me within a city block of any woman I’d even thought about sleeping with, so yeah.” He crossed his arms on his chest. “Although, I’m a little incensed you’d think I’d actually store the names and numbers of phenomenal hookups on paper.”

Jace huffed out a low laugh. “Well, I’m not gonna say no to Knox nabbing himself a good woman, so aside from passing down Knox’s top ten list, that only leaves one more thing to deal with.” He locked gazes with Knox. “Tell us more about the Russian jackass we’ve gotta take out to get our girl safe.”

For the next twenty minutes Knox did just that, rehashing the same details Darya had haltingly shared with him on the ride to the loft. How she’d caught Ruslan’s attention. About her job with Yefim and how he’d used his ties with another mafiya family to help her escape to the US. How she’d tied the name Koschei and the security footage outside their building together and realized Ruslan was closing in.

“And she thinks this Ruslan guy would stoop to leveraging one of us to draw her out if necessary?” Trevor asked Knox.

“She was certain of it. Said he was cutthroat enough to whack his own boss to take over the family.”

“Greedy,” Danny said under his breath. “If he’s ballsy enough to take that route, a woman or kid wouldn’t even be a blip on his conscience.”

“Nope,” Beckett agreed.

Zeke nodded as well. “Makes sense to keep an eye on the women, but if you knew you were gonna claim her, I don’t get why you came here. Yeah, you’ve got more gizmos and gadgets and a whole slew of new screens to keep an eye on things, but we’ve got a hell of a lot more room at Haven.”

He’d thought about that. Had even started to point his car toward 75 North the second he’d pulled out of Darya’s parking lot, but his instincts had taken over and steered him home. She belonged with him. Someplace where he not only knew every nook and cranny, but had eyes on them, too. Not to mention a host of escape routes and easy cover.

Axel chuckled and answered before Knox could wrap words around his thoughts. “Yeah, he’s not budging on that one. Gonna be a while before the caveman lets his new prize out of his bed. Doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t spread out at Haven. Sends the wrong message for us to all be cooped up under one roof anyway.”

“Right,” Jace said. “Best way to tip our hand is to let on we know we’re being watched by huddling under one roof. Better we split up tonight and make it look like it was just a family get together on the off chance you didn’t catch their tail. The women and Levi can bunk with me, Axel, Trevor and Zeke at Haven. Danny, Beckett, Knox and Darya can stay here.”