Page 94 of Desperate Desires

I knew Adrik, and the others, were pissed. Sammy had more than made that impression.

There was just one problem. One important fact they were all missing.

Michelle wasn’t just theirs anymore.

She was mine.

And it was time I told them.

The doors opened and in walked the imposing figure of Adrik Volkov. The man was a fucking mountain.

Even with salt and pepper gracing his hair, he still had that air of danger.

His hard mouth and black eyes showed nothing of his feelings. The men who followed were the same.

I’d never met them, officially. But when Adrik and Marat Volkov, Josef Aziz, and Andres Ramirez walked into a room, you fucking felt it.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Nico Fury was there, too. Along with his cousin, Angel, and Luc Batiste.

The King of the Vipers was quite well known to me, as were his cohorts.

After all, I paid them handsomely for use of the piers and docks my import business needed to thrive.

“Gentlemen,” I said, dipping my chin.

“Leave Shelly alone,” Adrik said, not bothering to beat around the bush.

I respected that. But I wasn’t going to fucking listen. I looked them each in the eye before answering.

“No.”

“Maybe you didn’t know, Bottarelli. Maybe you forgot to check. So we’re telling you now, Michelle is family. And you don’t want to fuck with our family,” Nico Fury said, stepping forward.

Fuck.

The man still looked every bit as powerful and lethal as he had when I’d first seen him years ago with my dad.

In fact, all of them held that same air of danger. Like they were all cut from the same cloth physically, and morally, too.

But it wasn’t their looks that earned them their reputations individually, and as a conglomerate.

No. Power was the reason for that. Each one of them had authority wrapped around them like an invisible cloak.

They wielded it like weapons or cash.

Ten years ago, I would have been shitting in my pants sitting with those men.

But not now. And not when we were talking about my wife.

“I appreciate you for being there for Michelle when she had no one else. But you see, gentlemen, Michelle is my wife,” I told the room at large, daring anyone to say differently.

“I am her family. And if you care about her, then you’re going to listen and you’re going to help me protect her.”

“Is that so?” Adrik grunted.

“That’s so,” I said, meeting his onyx gaze without blinking.

“You know, something, I think he means it,” Nico told Adrik, and both men looked at the others before facing me once more.

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