An Obsession with Vengeance (Wanted Men Book 3) (24 page)

She slowly straightened her spine from its exhausted curve. “Blackmail, Detective? Really? Isn’t that against the rules?”

“You’re not walking,” was all he said.

She reached out, and her fingers wrapped around his forearm. So touchy-feely. Was she like that with everyone? “I know what you’re doing,” she said softly. “And it’s really sweet of you, but I’m all right.”

“Go.”

She nodded and gave him a real smile before heading down the hallway, shrugging out of her lab coat as she went. Lore nearly groaned out loud. Those scrubs. Fuck, there was just something about those scrubs on her that was—

Yeah.
And he was being an asshole. He turned away and headed for the lab to fulfill his part of the deal, embarrassed already by what he was going to have to admit to thinking about at confession next time he went.

Lore was leaning against a large tree that stood next to the emergency entrance fifteen minutes later, watching the day lighten, when Tegan came out.

“I didn’t have much to do with it, but your screen was being handed to the doc who relieved you when I walked through your department on my way out here.”

“I talked to him already, and I was right, unfortunately.” She winced as two uniformed officers passed them by. Lore nodded at them. “Thanks for your efforts, Lore.”

He shrugged her appreciation off since he hadn’t done much to earn it. “You hungry? We can go grab a bite,” he offered.

She shook her head and burrowed into her navy bomber jacket; the fur around the hood looked like a tabby was trying to strangle her with its tail. “Can’t eat after a shift. But once I wake up, watch out. I’ll take your arm off.”

He’d like to see that, he realized as they headed north on Ocean Parkway. He kept the subject on long shifts and tough days for a few, wanting her comfortable before he began excavating. He stiffened for just a second when she absently took his arm and snuggled up.

Relax, man
, he told his libido when it came awake again with a jerk.
She’s chilled; I am not. Get that she’s sharing in how fucking overheated I suddenly am. No big. I’m not going to be an ass by reading something into it.

Now straight on that, he concentrated on their conversation and wasn’t surprised to find he still enjoyed talking to her as they strolled through the chilly early morning.

“Your schedule sounds a lot like mine,” he admitted. “Ashlyn and Michael stopped giving me hell for canceling plans long ago. I feel like shit about that, but what can you do?”

“Some would say allow someone else to pick up the slack? And by someone I mean Maksim.” She laughed, dropping the intro right into his lap. “He lectures me all the time about my hours. Says they’re worse than his.”

“He still has Rapture?”

“Yup.”

“How’re the boys doing?”

She looked up at him. “They’re good. Better than the last time we saw you. I don’t know if you heard, or care, but Nika and Vincente came together.”

“Did they? Last I saw, the idiot was walking out on her.” He remembered being surprised Vincente had had it in him to leave the injured redhead after the way he’d been with her.

Tegan sighed. “Yeah. Isn’t he the sweetest thing? He was so afraid to love her. But they’re great together. She’s a doll. They both are. I mean, Nika and Gabriel’s wife. They were best friends growing up in Seattle, so now they’re like sisters-in-law or something. Cool, huh?”

“That’s Vasily Tarasov’s daughter?”

She nodded but didn’t volunteer anything more.

“That house out there is really filling up,” he said casually.

“In a good way,” she said, always seeing the positive. “Eva’s pregnant, and Gabriel’s freaking out.”

That was news. Nice news. Though how they could bring an innocent child into their world was beyond him. “That’s great. Tell him congratulations for—” He paused. “That is, if you don’t mind letting him know you were talking to me.”

She yanked him to a stop. “Lorenzo Anthony Russo. Do you know who you’re speaking to? You think I’m going to bullshit one of our friends and hide the fact that I saw you? Why? There is, and
never really was
, anything wrong with keeping in touch after you dropped your bomb about what you wanted to do for a living. I don’t know why you guys went as far as you did—well, okay, I do,” she admitted reluctantly. “But it still screwed up a good thing. For all of you. For all of
us
.”

He had the strongest urge to pull her into his arms and hug it out, but she drew him into a walk before he could. Not that he really would have. Dr. Tegan rose-colored-glasses Mancuso. Did she really believe what she’d just said? He’d been responsible for putting away members of both the Tarasov organization and the Moretti family, for shit’s sake. He’d been one of the first to respond when Gabriel’s parents had been brutally murdered and had been on the secondary investigative team—they’d found fuck-all, natch, and the murders were to this day listed as a cold case. Who knew what really happened? Lore didn’t. But he was sure Gabriel did.

“Things are as they’re meant to be,” he finally said. “Or so Michael tells me. And I have to agree. It’s good that you’re still close with them, though,” he added, skating the edge.

“Yeah.”

“Does their lifestyle ever bother you, Tegan?” he couldn’t help but ask.

She tipped her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “How about, to save our nice stroll through the streets of Brooklyn on this lovely morning, we don’t go there. Okay? You know me, Lorenzo, and I think deep down you don’t really need me to answer that question for you.”

Fuck.
He laid himself out before she shut him down completely. “Do you know anything about the car bomb that almost took out Kirov’s woman this morning behind Club Pant? Or I guess it was yesterday morning now.”

Tegan stopped them again and absently indicated a door they’d already passed—they’d made a complete circle around the block. She moved him over to let a guy with five rather well-behaved dogs on leashes pass them by.

“Was anyone hurt?”

“Two dead.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, shit. What happened? Was Maksim there? What woman are you talking about?”

Lore honestly wasn’t sure whether to be relieved that she appeared clueless or disappointed because he’d have nothing to give his buddy at the Manhattan precinct. Relieved won.

“Sydney Martin, the owner of the club. It was her car that was targeted, and it blew out in the alley behind her building. Nearly killed her and her son. The two unidentified bodies found on scene are assumed to be the incompetent bomb planters. At least until the evidence proves different.”

Tegan released his arm and sat back with a bump, her bottom connecting with the iron railing belonging to a short set of stairs that led to what had to be her lower unit in the three-story brownstone. “Maks is seeing a woman who has a child? Why didn’t he tell me that? Are you sure?” she asked dubiously. “If that’s true, which I don’t believe it is, he must be freaking out. Well, Maks doesn’t freak out, but you know what I mean.”

“You haven’t talked to him?”

“No. I’ve been work—” Those blue eyes came up slowly, and so did she. “What brought you to my hospital tonight, Lorenzo?” she asked suddenly.

“I came by to talk to you,” he said honestly, seeing no point in lying to her when she obviously had his number.

Her brows pulled down in the center. “You came to me specifically to get information on our friends?”

He shrugged and felt what he’d call windburn heat his cheeks. Seeing her shiver and bury her hands deeper into her pockets, he brought her down the three steps so the staircase next to them could cut the wind.

“I came to see if men I once cared about were involved in something more dangerous than the shit they usually play with.” Partial truth. “I’m not even on the case.” Full truth.

Her expression morphed into something he couldn’t read but that made him nervous. “You once cared about? Sounds to me as if you still might.” She winked and smiled slowly. But she sobered again while he tried not to stare. She was stupid beautiful. “I should call Maks to make sure he’s okay. Or maybe Micha. Better yet, one of the girls might know what’s happen—”

“Who do you belong to now, T?” She halted midword, her lush mouth half-open. And didn’t Lore want to slide his thumb through those parted lips and have her suck on it for a beat before he kissed the chattiness right out of her. “You spend a lot of time up at that house. Who do you spend it with?” He should shut up now.

Her movements deliberate, she leaned her back into the door so that her oversize hood covered the number
4
and a peephole. One perfectly shaped brow rose as she looked up at him through her lashes. “How do you know where I spend my time, Detective?” she drawled quietly.

She was baiting him with the sexy look and soft tone. Drawing him in. And he was allowing it. “You with one of them now?”

A burst of wind had the dry leaves swirling around their feet; some of them became airborne. One landed on his shoulder, and Tegan’s attention was captured for a moment before it came back to him again with a new heat. “What if I’m not with anyone?” She stepped forward, which brought her flush against him because the space was so cramped, and plucked the leaf off to run it along his jaw. “Are you offering to keep me company, Lorenzo?” she whispered.

His chest tightened as he struggled not to allow his breathing to go haywire. His cock filled swiftly, ready in an instant. He slid his hand into that hood and cupped the side of her face, tilting her head back so he could see her better. “Are you in need?”

Something hot yet vulnerable flashed across her face as she sucked in a swift breath. “Today I am.”

So was he. Which was why he found himself claiming her mouth. She opened for him without prodding and kissed him slowly and deeply, her lips soft and cool. He did the same and took his time learning her, becoming familiar with her sweet taste. He reeled at the turn of events. It had been Jak she’d wanted when they’d been younger. They’d all known it. Had he had her? Had Jakson Trisko taken Tegan before leaving to do his tour overseas?

As the rattle of keys sounded, and with the feel of her curves brushing against him right then, Lore couldn’t find enough interest in the answer to dwell on it.

He went in a little harder, and that changed things. She made a small sound in her throat that struck something so deep inside him that Lore felt it resonate right down to the soles of his feet. Her hand came up to slide smoothly around so she could tangle her fingers in the hair that reached the back of his neck.

“You’re not going to leave, are you?” she asked as her quickened breaths pushed warmly against his lips.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her in tight, allowing her to feel what she was doing to him. “Not unless you tell me to.”

“Oh, goodie,” she gasped as the keys jangled in her grip. The kiss turned urgent as the scrape of metal on metal sounded. And sounded.

Lore reached around and took the ring that held only one key from her fumbling fingers and felt around before inserting it and turning. All the while she kissed and licked at his mouth as she burrowed into him with a desperation that seemed to match his.

He didn’t delude himself into thinking this had anything to do with them as individuals—much. He figured Tegan was in a place where she needed to lose herself after the night—possibly nights, or weeks, or even months—she’d had. He’d been there way too often not to recognize it.

And he wasn’t going to judge her for the ways in which she chose to silence her demons. They all had their vices, their methods of coping. And it really would be his pleasure to be used by her, for as long as she wanted him.

He walked her backward into her place and kicked the door shut without breaking stride. She pulled open and pushed his jacket off his shoulders, and he jerked when she delved under the hem of his shirt with her cold hands. He broke the kiss to look down at her as she scraped her nails up his abs.

“You’re good with where this is going?” He had to confirm. Had to.

She released him to unzip her own jacket and let it drop to the floor. The simple act was more erotic than any stripper’s routine he’d ever seen. “If that’s with us playing in our birthday suits, then yeah, I’m good with where this is going, Lore.” She smiled and reached for the hem of her faded green top.

He put out a hand to stop her and pulled her in by the nape. “Leave the scrubs,” he begged as he kissed his way down her neck.

Her quiet burst of laughter turned into a moan. “Ah, you’re one of those, huh?”

He was one of those. And Lore proved it by taking his MD to the floor and having her right in the front entrance of her lower-level unit. He eventually lifted her boneless form and moved it into the bedroom, and it wasn’t until early afternoon that they finally got that sleep they both so desperately needed.

CHAPTER 14

The hum of voices was the first thing Maksim heard when he opened the door to come up from his lair—the basement of the sprawling house in Old Westbury. Because he was human, he’d attempted to grab a few z’s when he’d arrived home and had actually managed it. In truth, he’d fallen asleep in front of his computers and now had a crick in his neck that felt like something ROLD GOLD packaged and sold in stores all across the country.

Crossing the foyer, he nodded a good morning—barely still morning, but morning just the same—to two of Gabriel’s boys stationed at the front door. What was with the in-your-face presence of the enforcers? he wondered. They were always around, but normally in a much quieter capacity. To have them on guard in such a way showed someone was concerned.

Following the low murmurs and odd feminine giggle, Maks came to the entrance of the main room, where everyone seemed to congregate when home.

The scene before him would have made one fucked-up Christmas card.

“Would you people get the fuck away from my wife and kid,” Gabriel had just grumbled, sounding as if it hadn’t been for the first time. He’d also sounded as though he hadn’t really meant it.

Eva was lying on the leather sectional—dark-blue eyes lighting up in a flattering, and completely platonic, way when she saw him—arms behind her dark head, long legs draped over her husband’s lap. Her black leggings had been pushed down, her bright-blue tank pushed up slightly to expose her small, almost five-month-old baby bump. Nika—who also gave him a pleased look—was on the floor in a similar uniform of leggings and tank. Her fiery hair all but crackled around her shoulders and down her back as she held a wandlike thing in her hand. She was pressing the base of it gently into the taut skin of her best friend’s belly. Vincente was next to his woman; Alek leaned his back on the couch beside him. Micha was in the corner, a copy of
Soldier of Fortune
in his grip. He took a drink from his mug and put two fingers up in a silent wave without lifting his head. Quan was in the opposite corner next to the pool table, also with a coffee in one hand; he had an iPad in the other and a crooked smirk on his face.

“I had my turn,” he said when Maks raised a brow at him. “Fascinating. Wait for it.”

“Taking turns now? Shit. I
have
been missing out. What’s that?” he asked Nika, tipping his chin at the wand.

The girls glared at him for the wisecrack, but Nika still waved him over. “Tegan brought it over the other day. Listen.”

She flicked a switch on the small unit and ran it over Eva’s belly as though she were painting her skin—

A quiet flutter and then a quick little
thug-thug,
thug-thug,
thug-thug
sounded in the room, and all Maksim’s amusement fell away. He looked to where Gabriel had both arms stretched over the back of the sofa, fingers nearly reaching each end. “That your kid’s heartbeat?”

G nodded once, his pride palpable.

“Holy shit,” he whispered, mind blown. “Put it back,” he barked at Nika when the sound disappeared. He wanted to hear more. Technology was fucking awesome.

Nika giggled. “He moved. The little sneaker’s playing hide-and-seek.” She rolled the wand again, going lower, and caught the
thug-thug
, smiling broadly.

“He?” Maksim questioned after a minute of listening to the fascinating sound.

“I’m having a boy,” Gabriel bragged, offering up a fist.

Instead of bumping, Maks took it and opened his friend’s hand for a heartfelt shake. “Shut the fuck up,” he said with genuine warmth. “Congratulations. Both of you,” he added. “I take it you have something to do with this?” he questioned Eva.

“A little.”

Gabriel ran his hand down her calf in a tender caress. “
We’re
having a boy,” he dutifully corrected.

At least Maksim wasn’t the only one who sometimes thought the world revolved around himself. Alek, he noted, was still on the floor, studying the instrument he’d taken from Nika.

“Surprised to see you here,” Gabriel said.

Eva also looked curious as she fixed her clothes and sat up to cuddle into her husband’s ribs. “How’s the Australian girl?” she asked hesitantly, adding, “My dad told me about her.”

“She’s good,” he said shortly, not wanting to think about “the Australian girl” right now. He went over to the bar to pour himself a coffee from the tray their housekeeper-slash-babysitter had just set down. “Morning, Sammy.”

“Mr. Maksim. Can I get you some breakfast?”

“Sure. Something I can eat while I drive, if you don’t mind. Thanks.”

The smiling Cambodian nodded and took a single cup over to give to Eva. “Decaf,” he said quietly before leaving amid her thanks.

“Where’s Tegan?” he asked anyone who’d answer. “I haven’t seen her in days.”

“She worked last night, so I’m assuming she stayed at her place in Brooklyn.” Gabriel took Eva’s steaming cup and stole a sip. “Can’t even tell. This one’s definitely better than the last.” He looked at Maks, winking as he nodded at his wife. “Miss Fussy is being a pain in the ass about being deprived of the taste of real coffee.”

Eva tsked, affronted, and slapped his thigh, careful not to spill as she placed the cup down on the coffee table. “I am not. It’s just taking some getting used to. That’s all.”

“I don’t blame you. If I had to drink decaf, I wouldn’t bother.” As Eva gave Gabriel a told-you-so smirk, Maks got back on topic. “Tegan was on nights last week, too. What’s up with that?”

“You miss her or something?” V asked as he got up, pulling Nika with him. They settled like two opossums on the other section of the couch.

How did Alek stand being around them? “Kind of. But I’m more concerned she’s staying away because you brought that asshole back with you from Seattle,” he said to Gabriel. He had a sneaking suspicion Tegan was avoiding Jak. The two had a history. Nothing too deep, but the guy had hurt her way back when, and Maksim found he was holding that against the fucker. He took G’s glare head-on as the French doors leading out to the pool opened and the clip and scrape of toenails sounded on the tile. Charlie came bounding in, going straight for Nika. He hopped up onto the sofa and nailed her hard, knocking her into Vincente, tongue dragging up her cheek as she hugged him, laughing.

V grabbed the heavy dog by the scruff and pulled him off. “Settle the fuck down, boy,” he growled with little heat. “You just saw her five minutes ago.”

“She doesn’t complain when you act like that—why should you berate the dog?” Maks drawled as he went over to shake Vasily’s hand. His Pakhan had followed the enthusiastic Rottweiler into the room. When he got bumped in the leg, Maks squatted and gave Charlie a good scratch under the collar before sending him on his way. “Didn’t expect to see you here,” he said as he came to his feet, wondering if he shouldn’t just stay on his knees and silently beg forgiveness for what he’d done with Sydney last night.

“Same.” Vasily looked at him closely, and Maks held his stare. “You didn’t go back to the safe house last night?”

Who’d have known shame could manifest into an almost physical pain? His chest was aching from it. “I needed some things, and Anton said all was quiet when I spoke to him.” He went back and got his coffee, and took a big gulp before continuing on to the bar to place the half-empty cup on the tray. “As soon as Samnang gets back with my to-go, I’m heading over. You ready, Micha?”

“Whenever you are,” came the reply.

“Can I have a minute before you leave?” Alek asked, stepping over Gabriel’s legs.

Maks nodded. “Sure, brother. What’s up?”

He was patting his pockets. “Let me grab my phone,” he said, going out into the foyer.

“He’s going to ask you about Sacha.”

Maks turned at the quiet statement to find Vasily pouring a coffee. Gabriel chose that moment to ask Vincente about a building his construction company was breaking ground on, conveniently creating some background noise.

“Be warned,” Vasily went on, keeping his tones hushed. “I didn’t wait for permission, and I’ve had zero luck locating her. But keep that on the DL. I’m afraid she may have left New York.”

Playing catch-up, Maks nodded. “Here or there, I’ll find her. If that’s what he wants.”

“He wants,” Vasily assured him. And then in a normal tone, “You should probably take her home today so she can get some of her own things. Do you think she’ll give you a hard time when you insist she leave her club in her staff’s care for the next few nights?”

Smoothly sliding into the ruse when he saw Alek was back, Maks wanted to say Sydney easily gave him a “hard time” just by blinking, but he didn’t. Probably should have because Vasily almost expected the bullshit comments from him now. “I’m sure you’ll hear her bitching from a block away. Wait for it.”

“Well, feel free to tell her the order came from me. It would take too much manpower to cover her during working hours, even if she stayed in her office.”

“I’ll do that.” Maks nodded toward the foyer. “What’s with the obvious presence at the door?”

Vasily’s expression turned sour. “We had an exchange interrupted the other night. A few of our boys were meeting with Vex to take a look at some new product that recently came into his possession—RPGs, long-range stuff I might have a buyer for. Detective Smythe was spotted closing in, and they had to bail.”

Anger boiled anew in Maksim’s gut. “Vex mentioned it last night. Who the fuck tipped them off?” he demanded, already knowing about the mole Vasily was trying to smoke out of the organization. If he’d allow Maks to help, he’d have the fucker on his knees before him within the week. But his Pakhan was holding him off for some reason.

“I’m getting close,” Vasily said, shaking his head and grimacing. He carefully placed his cup on the bar and walked away, leaving the room.

“Fuck.” Maksim felt his stomach roll. Judging by that reaction, the one who’d been trying for months and months to fuck them all, was someone close to them. He looked around the room and refused to believe it was anyone here today. Couldn’t be.

But it could. It always could.

“Come on,” he muttered gruffly, grabbing Alek by the scruff. “Let’s go get to know each other better.” He dragged him out through the French doors and into the cool November air. They settled on a couple of bare loungers on the edge of the covered pool, and, within seconds, as predicted, Alek brought up the ex.

“I need you to find her.”

“Figured.” Her name wasn’t necessary.

“Yeah?”

He gave his boy a sidelong look. “Alekzander,” he said patiently. “You’re a fucking zombie, brother. I think it’s an understatement when you say you ‘need’ me to find her. I would have used the word
imperative
. And that’s me talking.”

Alek nodded and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He dug the heels of his hands in and gave his eyes a good rub. “She must hate me.”

“Well, you did end things like an asshole. But”—he shrugged—“if her feelings are anything close to yours, she’ll get over it.”

“I didn’t fuck that other woman, Maks.”

Because Sacha would never have believed he’d had a change of heart about them, Alek had set it up to look as though he was cheating on her. Sacha had dropped by TarMor one day and “accidentally” walked in on Alek “banging” one of Maksim’s dancers.

“You don’t have to tell me that. I know you’re too loyal to have done that to your woman. Making Sacha think it was one thing, following through . . . Why would you?” He’d never understood that before. He’d always wondered why Alek hadn’t gone ahead and fucked that dancer once the show was over. Unfortunately, he was beginning to understand now.

Alek gave him a weird look. “Really? You get why I didn’t—why I don’t—screw around?”

“Excuse me for being a little slow on the uptake. I’m there now, so let’s move on, shall we?” How could he not be insulted by that tone?

“Yeah, move on. Not my thing.’ He shoved his dark-blond hair off his forehead, but it landed in place like a magnet was drawing it back. “I wish I could give you some place to start. I tried keeping an eye on her at first, watching her . . . but it was a fucking nightmare. No way could I have stayed away. So I asked my cousin to take over, but he lost track of her somehow.”

That shouldn’t have been a surprise. After the way Sergei had lost his family, Maksim couldn’t imagine why the guy didn’t just eat a bullet. Remembering that brutal time, they’d all understood how the incident had spooked Alek into ending things with Sacha. The guy hadn’t wanted to risk the same happening to her.

“I figured Sergei losing track of her was a sign, and I should just let it go,” Alek continued. He got up and stretched out his back, craning his neck like he had a cramp. Maks rose, too. “But I can’t. Not even for her own good.” He shook his head. “Honest truth? You’ve been right all along. I am spoiled and I do want what I want. I never knew how fucking weak I was until that woman came into my life.”

A niggling of unease slithered down Maksim’s spine at that; his apparent weakness for a certain blonde waved at him from a dark corner of his mind. “I’ll need any informa—”

Alek waved his cell. “I’ll send what little I have right now.”

Maks chuckled as his phone beeped, and he withdrew it to see the usual: DOB, Sacha’s full name and place of birth, last known address, and so on. He’d find her.

Alek looked out over the covered pool to the frost-tipped grass. “I’m . . . concerned.”

“I’ll find her. So don’t be.”

“Not about that. Well, about that, but more.”

Frowning, Maks asked, “What exactly?”

“What if . . . What if she’s with someone else?” He shook his head, making his longer-than-usual hair fall into his eyes as his hands curled in on themselves. His expression turned savage. “She belongs to me. Has from that first day Gabriel and I saw her in that diner, and will until the day I die. If someone has moved in on her, I will not hesitate to kill him, and that’ll upset her. I don’t want her upset, Maks.”

Maksim had to laugh. “Seriously, man, you’re my favorite.” He threw his arm around his boy and turned to lead him back toward the house. “I love the way your mind works. And don’t worry—I remember the way Sacha was with you. There’s no way she’s moved on. No fucking way.”