Page 78 of Miki

That earned me a delightful giggle as her body shivered in response.

She grabbed the items, kissed me, and walked to the ensuite, with an exaggerated wiggle throwing a saucy look over her shoulder.

God, I wished I could join her in that shower instead of spending the day dealing with business. Being a pakhan really, really sucked.

While my sexy little detective was getting ready, I headed into the living room. Marko and Vlad were already there with Luca, who had just arrived from London.

We talked over the main part of the plan, and Marko updated us on the whereabouts of the key players.

“Have you figured out how we will get Mathieson out yet?” he asked.

“Still working on it,” I told him.

“Luca, you and Vlad will take him directly down to the C once we have him, but it is getting him away from the police operation that will be the hard part,” I said, running my hands through my hair in frustration.

My mind had rejected many ideas as I’d tried to come up with a way to get my guys in and out of the old factory where the handover was to take place safely, without them being caught up in a fight with the Thomas gang, arrested by Interpol, or worse, killed.

“There must be some way to get Mathieson out of there. You’ll figure it out, Miki. You always do,” Luca said.

“What do you mean, get Mathieson out?” Eilidh asked in a voice that could have made hell freeze.

Shit! My mind had been too busy with this bloody problem that I hadn’t even heard the shower turn off.

Little Miss Red would not like my plans for Mathieson, and I’d hoped to avoid telling her, at least until I absolutely had to.

Sighing in resignation, I turned to look at her.

Eilidh stood staring at me with her hands on her hips, looking livid.

Oh, oh!

“I guess we have more to talk about,” I said, sighing again. I’d planned on discussing things with her today, just not this.

“It sounds like it!” she said through gritted teeth, her eyes glinting at me in fury.

“We’ll talk in the bedroom,” I said, and she turned and stormed back inside with a huff.

“Bring Luca up to speed with everything else,” I told Marko.

He smirked at me, obviously amused at my predicament, and I sent him one of my signature death stares before following Eilidh into the bedroom.

Closing the door behind me, I took in the tension of her posture as she stood next to the bed, arms folded and mouth in a tight line.

God, I wanted to kiss that mouth.

So, I did.

Eilidh held herself rigid at first, but within a few seconds, she was putty in my hands.

Thank god!

“I’ll explain everything,” I told her when we finally broke apart. Relieved to see kissing her had been the right call, and she was much calmer now.

We sat on the bed, and I told her everything about being born into the Bratva, my parents’ death leading to me becoming pakhan for the UK, and the issues my family had faced since. She already knew about Krissa’s murder and how Mathieson had been not only involved with that but also about the recent attacks against our business. So, I just went into a little more detail.

“However, although we do illegal stuff, one thing we don’t and never will do is human trafficking,” I told her.

“And I can assure you that I’ve been working hard to reduce the amount of criminal involvement we have. My family wants out. Unfortunately, it isn’t a life you can just walk away from. But know that I’m trying hard to make that happen. In the meantime, if you remain with me, you’ll need to accept me for who I am and know that I will never harm you.”

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