Page 66 of Sacred Vow

“Oh, sure. Sorry.” I grab one for myself and step away, wiping off the water.

It was the zoo. We were at Lincoln Park Zoo the last day I was with him.

I rip open the bathroom door.

“I need to talk to Andrei.”

“You can’t hide her, Andrei. We have a right to question her.”

“I’ve assured you, if there is information important to you, it will be relayed.” Mason Patruli is lucky I haven’t had him dragged out of this office and shot in the back alley. As much as his presence makes my trigger finger itch, a deal was struck that keeps him breathing.

But there is a limitation to my control. The shields that kept him safe seven years ago have since cracked, making his position weak.

“It’s a conversation.” He leans back in his chair, forcing a placating smile. “Just a conversation.”

There’s no fucking chance these assholes are sitting in the same room with Isolde. “I won’t be bringing her to meet with you.” I press my fingertips into the edge of the table.

Mason looks to Viktor sitting beside me then to Sergei beside him.

“Talk some sense into this guy for me, will you?” He gestures while chuckling lightly.

“What he does with his woman is his business.” Viktor shrugs and drums his fingertips on the table.

“She’s not his woman just because he keeps her locked up in his penthouse,” Douglas, the oldest Patruli son, snaps from beside his father. Mason leans toward him and pats his arm.

“She’s mine because I say she is.” Douglas hasn’t been out of school for more than a year. He’s sat at his father’s side for even less time, but he thinks to speak at my table about what is mine and what isn’t.

The idea of having them both dragged outside and shot becomes more appealing the longer I’m stuck in this damn meeting.

I left Izzy at the penthouse to wait for me. She’s promised not to attempt any secret visits to the zoo before I am able to take her this afternoon, but the longer I’m stuck with these stubborn assholes, the less my chances of her being at the penthouse when I get there.

“For almost a week, you’ve been trying to track her down. I reached out to you but heard nothing back. You didn’t want my help with making a meeting between you and her, until it became apparent that you wouldn’t be able to get her alone.”

“You’ve kept her under lock and key.” Mason’s smile fades. “The deal was if her memory returned, then we would get the information.”

“Her memory hasn’t returned,” I say. “And when it does, if it does, any information pertinent to you will be sent. That was the deal.”

“You don’t know who you’re fucking with,” Douglas spouts off again.

I gesture to the boy, while speaking to the father. “You should control him. He’s going to say something that might make me rethink the agreement that allowed you to keep your fucking life.”

Douglas shrinks back slightly.

“The deal was brokered to bring peace; you’d break that now?” Mason leans forward.

“If you continue your pursuit of Isolde, I will end you.” I sweep my eyes to his son. “And your son. And anyone else who presents a threat to her.”

Mason’s lips press together, and his fat cheeks redden with frustration. “You forget who started this fucked-up shit show in the first place.” Tiny drops of spittle land on the tabletop.

“I remember how this started. But a deal was brokered, and you will honor it, or I will help you honor it. You are to stay away from her. Do not show up at her work. Stay away from her apartment. If you so much as breathe the same air in the same building as her, the deal will be void and true vengeance for what your family did will be extracted.”

“None of my men have approached her.”

“No, but mine have seen your stupid spies.”

I’m not a good man. I’ve taken lives over deals for money. I have no trouble killing to keep Isolde safe.

Though it’s the first time I’ve considered a woman as important to me as my work. I was positive once I had her, I’d feel differently.

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