Page 175 of Hidden Empire

I doubt Matteo will ever be someone I’m close with, not in the way that I can see a future friendship between Apollo and me, or even in the same way my strange relationship with Nico developed. But Matteo is Jade’s first best friend, brother or not. If he wants to come with us, it’ll be for her, and I can never deny my wife anything.

“I won’t turn him away,” I reply diplomatically.

Before the questioning can continue, a red light flashes from Apollo’s watch, and a quiet alarm begins to beep from it. Silence blankets the room, and I automatically understand that something is wrong.

“We have visitors,” Apollo announces coldly, jumping up from his seat and tossing his glass aside. He doesn’t flinch as it falls from the table and shatters onto the ground. Pulling his tailored suit jacket away from his hips, he pulls out his pistol at the same time that I stand up.

“Anatoly, go check on Jade and Ivan,” I command, but he’s already heading to the door to do just that. “Don’t let her out of your sight until I come get you.”

“Heard,” he growls, not at me, but at the situation.

“Armani, go get everyone else. Make sure they’re awake and on guard,” Apollo instructs. “Nico and Dmitri, you’re with me.”

We don’t hesitate to follow him, knowing the property guards have sent him a location. Apollo doesn’t wait for his father, jumping into action with Nico and I as his only real backup. I wouldn’t be waiting around for instruction, either. Heirs have to step up when things like this happen, and we’ve been waiting for this for long enough.

Not too far from the front gate, we find a swarm of guards, all surrounding a small figure poorly disguised in black—guns drawn. Her frame is small, meek almost, but her face can’t hide the venom that’s coursing through her.

From the picture Dante showed me, I know exactly who this is.

She’s exactly who we’ve all been waiting to take out.

Karina.

My blood starts to fucking boil as we approach, a sick disgust swelling in my gut. The temptation to execute her right now without permission is so strong. The fact that Bruce isn’t by her side is the only thing keeping my finger off of the trigger. We might need to use her to find him. Fuck, he might even be here.

“Finally decided to show yourself?” Apollo asks, voice hard and cold.

Karina smiles at him, and I know she can’t be here alone. No one has that much confidence while being surrounded by wolves if they don’t have an escape plan.

Instead of addressing him, she brings her eyes to me, attempting to appear alluring. “Dmitri Morozov,” she purrs. “How’s Mom?”

I know what she’s doing.

She’s confirming she had contact with Nina—that she helped her mess with me while on the island. That’s fine, I was already suspecting the two of them crossed paths. I’m not sure why Karina would think this could rattle me in some way.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” I ask in return, my gun leveled for a perfect shot between her eyes, and my hands are lethally steady. “You’ll be going to the same place, after all.”

Karina tries to remain unaffected, but she can’t hide that small flicker of fear in her eyes. “Where’s your coward boyfriend?” I demand, sneering down at her while she tries not to tremble on her knees. “Did he send you here to die for him?”

Her fearless mask fully slips, but she tugs it back into place. “He’s going to kill all of you. And then, I’m going to burn this place to the ground with that slut Jade still inside of it. She deserves to be fucking incinerated!”

Try as I might, I don’t understand Karina’s delusion that Jade is some kind of scheming harlot. Insistence from Bruce, perhaps. Maybe he sold her on the idea of torturing Jade because of the way she “looks at him” or something even more ridiculous.

“Get her inside,” Nico barks, angry with the insult to his sister.

Fury is radiating through all three of us, but we can’t pull the trigger. It’s not our call to make, it’s Dante’s. Jade may be my wife, but she’s his daughter, and she was stolen from him. He missed out on damn near eighteen years of her life, and he should be the one to kill who’s responsible for it.

Bruce, though, whoever gets their hands on him first is going to eat him alive.

The guards manhandle Karina, dragging her off of the ground and hauling her up to carry her inside. Typically, business would be handled anywhere else. A warehouse, a barn, the middle of the woods… but we don’t exactly have the ability to move right now.

“I want half of you combing the property,” Apollo instructs with a harsh demand to the guards. “She’s not alone.”

“I’m getting Jade to the safe room,” I tell him once Karina is struggling too hard to hear. “I’ll send Ivan and Anatoly down.”

“She won’t go,” he deadpans. “She won’t hide from this.”

Curling my hands into fists, I ignore his words, even though he’s probably right.

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