Page 56 of The Bratva's Forced Innocent Bride

“We’re on fire,” he shouted over a rush of muddled noise in the background. “Some kind of explosion.”

“Who’s on fire?” Why the hell was the manager of my diner calling about something getting blown up in San Diego?

“We are! The Hustle,” he said, advising me to get my ass down there in as polite a way as possible under the circumstances.

A flood of text messages followed as soon as I hung up. Two of my younger brothers, Ivan and Nikolai, were already on their way, and it seemed like the fire department was as well. That damn diner was like a child to me, and I’d learned every facet of running it from the ground up. It was the one thing I’d accomplished on my own, even getting teased relentlessly for not just investing and sitting back and raking in the profits. Somehow, Luca’s people had found out my other weakness, and when they lost their grip on Brooke, they’d attacked there.

Were my employees safe? It was late, but since the Hustle was also a bar and nightclub, they were there until past three in the morning most of the time. It was just past midnight, the height of the action. Hell, were any of the patrons harmed? I needed to be there.

But how could I leave Brooke? More messages crowded my phone’s screen, begging for me to answer questions. The manager of the place was cracking under the pressure. I strokedBrooke’s cheek again. Ultimately, she was safe here, and fast asleep. My house was crawling with security on a typical day, and I had that number doubled right now. She was out like a light, and probably wouldn’t stir for hours. I could nip down there and assess the situation, give a few orders, and hurry back before she woke up and knew I was gone.

As I hurried out the door, I called Olivia, apologizing for waking her up.

“I’m already on my way to the diner,” she said.

I didn’t bother to ask how she already knew, and was just grateful to have such a great assistant. “No, come here,” I told her. “I want Brooke to see a friendly face if she happens to wake up while I’m still gone.”

At the diner, it was a bigger mess than I expected. The building took up almost an entire city block, and nearly every inch of it was ablaze. The neon sign was in blackened pieces on the sidewalk as firefighters tried to douse the flames that licked toward the smoggy night sky, making everything a sickly orange color. It was probably going to be a total loss.

That fact tightened my chest, but not nearly as much as the news from Ivan when I finally found him in the crowd of onlookers and harried first responders. He was on the other side of a barrier, cursing into his phone. When my younger brother spotted me, he ended his call and hurried over to my side, getting into a screaming match with one of the cops who was trying to keep everyone back.

I dragged him halfway down the block to get away from the roar of the fire and the loud chatter of all the excited rubberneckers watching my beloved business turn to ashes.

“Everything’s fucked,” he told me.

“Yeah, that’s clear,” I answered. I still had to find the manager and see if anyone was hurt. “What do you know?”

“Nik managed to catch up to one of the guys from the Italian crew as soon as we got here. Damn firebug was just standing around watching his masterpiece and didn’t notice us until I knocked him over the head.”

“Nik has him now?” I asked, my stomach sinking.

My youngest brother tended to get a bit overzealous and we’d lost out on getting information in the past due to… losing the subject of the interrogation. Not that Ivan was much better, but he definitely had more finesse.

“Don’t worry about him,” Ivan said. “I think he got everything there was out of the guy, anyway. The most important part was this guy was gloating about worse stuff coming our way if we didn’t release Luca. You know what that’s about?”

I had completely forgotten not everyone knew about the months long private war I’d been waging with Hollywood’s heartthrob. Or about my marriage to Brooke.

“Yeah, I know about it,” I said. There wasn’t enough time to explain, and while Ivan was a hothead, he could listen and follow orders. And like all my brothers, I trusted him with my life. “And I’m not releasing him.”

Ivan grinned. “I guess we’re going hunting?”

Wiping my hand over my face, I nodded. We needed to find whoever was in charge of this convoluted rescue mission and make them see they’d chosen the wrong side. I had no problem letting them slink back to Italy and pretend they weren’t related to the little snake they’d stupidly aligned themselves with, but I had to find them first.

“Let’s go relieve Nik,” I said. “If that guy knows where his boss is hiding, I’ll have a better chance of getting it out of him.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty hard to talk when your neck’s been snapped,” Ivan said, almost gleeful.

I glared at him. There was no time to explain just how serious this all was, and my look had to be enough for now. The smirk slid off his face as he led me to where his car was parked outside of the traffic jam the huge fire that was consuming my once great diner had caused.

I let him drive so I could keep in touch with my security detail, then checked in with Olivia. Brooke was still asleep, and I let Olivia know she could answer any questions she had when she did wake up.

“She deserves that much,” I said.

“Sure thing, boss,” my ever-faithful assistant said. “Anything else?”

I swallowed hard. “I’ll be back before she wakes up,” I told her. “But if she does wake up and asks—” This was the right thing to do. I wasn’t giving up. I wasn’t even letting go. Just letting Brooke decide. “If she wants to go, she can go when everything’s settled.”

There was a long silence, but Olivia didn’t ask any more questions, finally agreeing before I ended the call.

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