Page 40 of Bound in the Dark

Rage at the thought burned in his gut. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. It took a few minutes, but once he had himself under control he followed her inside.

Several of his Brothers and most of the Old Ladies were awake and scattered around the large main room of the Clubhouse. Of the men who had been at the battle tonight only Hawk and Sharp were present. They sat at a table with Nadya and Tomasso Minetti.

His Old Lady was standing at the bar next to Cami who had her laptop open. The two women seemed to be having an intense discussion. No one would know by looking at Diana that they had just been outside arguing.

When she finally looked up, she stepped away from the bar like a gunslinger getting ready for battle. Finishing their discussion in private was probably the wise thing to do. But that would give her the opportunity to walk away again. They needed to have this out now.

The way Nadya looked back and forth between the two of them was almost comical. The eye roll that followed was typical teen. “Damn it. You guys were supposed to work out your problems on the drive here. Why didn’t you guys pull over somewhere and fuck it out or something?”

Most of the people in the room burst into laughter. Hawk's daughter was a handful and Highdive was glad she wasn't his problem.

“Fuck it out?” Diana’s voice held muted amusement. “Did your mother teach you that phrase?”

“Nope.” Nadya popped the p. “Blame the internet and tech ignorant nannies. No one ever installed content filters on my computers.”

Cami cackled and gave the girl an encouraging thumbs up. Hawk looked like he was struggling between annoyance and amusement.

“As amusing as your idea is, little rabbit. There are more important things to discuss." Diana gestured to the laptop. "I just gave Cami the location of the files my contact gave me. There was information on Petrov and several months of data from Tony’s email and phone showing he had been working with the Russians for a while.”

Tomasso slammed his fist on the table. “If you knew he had been working with the Russians for a while, why didn't you tell me?”

Highdive was glad the look Diana gave the Italian wasn’t directed at him. It felt like the temperature in the room dropped several degrees. How was this intimidating woman the same person as the soft, sweet sub he had held in his lap so many times?

“For one, Mr. Minetti, I don't work for you. I do, however, occasionally work for your father. I've told him my concerns about Tony for years. Did he not pass them along to you?” The look she gave him said she knew he had.

“He did but—”

“But nothing," she cut him off. "You ignored your father because you thought he was being paranoid and Tony was yourfriend. You don’t have the luxury to ignore warning signs like that Mr. Minetti. Until tonight I didn't have proof, or I would have shared it. I think what you meant to say was 'Thankyou for stopping Tony from putting a bullet in my head.'”

Was his woman insane? It took brass balls and a death wish to be so hostile to one of the most powerful men in the Mafia.

The silence stretched as rage and frustration played across Tomasso's face before he nodded. “I apologize for my tone, Tishina. Thank you for what you did tonight. My family and I owe you a debt.”

Tomasso’s calm words and the sincere, if grudging, respect in his voice shocked Highdive. He would have bet good money that there was no way the Italian would be backing down publicly to anyone even if he was in the wrong. What kind of influence did Diana have that she could make someone like Tomasso apologize?

The silence stretched until she gave Tomasso the smallest of nods. Unease settled at the base of Highdive’s spine. Why was she continuing to push the man? He really needed to talk to her before she dragged them all into a war with the Minettis.

Highdive decided to end the stare down. “Diana, we need to finish our conversation. Now.”

Her gaze whipped over to him and he was glad looks couldn’t kill. She looked like a warrior goddess descended to the Earth ready to slaughter her enemies. It was definitely not the time or place, but the lower half of him couldn’t wait until the two of them could ‘fuck it out’like Nadya had suggested.

“You want to finish our conversation, now?" She walked towards him like a leopard stalking its prey.

"Yes." The heat crackled between them and made him want to fuck her against the wall until she melted into him. If the situation wasn't so critical he might have acted on the impulse.

She put her hands on her hips, the motion drawing his gaze down her wonderful body. "Fine. I’ll summarize your argument for everyone to save us some time."

Privacy didn't appear to be an option. Fuck it. If their fight distracted attention away from her disrespect of Minetti he would willingly let everyone in on their disagreement. Knowing she would continue whether he wanted to or not, he nodded.

Diana's smile was anything but comforting. "You want me to clear with you anything I do that may be dangerous or have possible repercussions."

Why did she sound like he was being unreasonable?

"Yes."

"At the same time you intend to keep me in the dark, so I can’t possibly knowifwhat I’m doing might affect you. And ifyoudetermine something is dangerous, I will either not do it or I will allow you to assign someone to back me up. Someone who you say will have better training than me.”

Nadya must have swallowed her drink wrong because she began coughing. The girl leaned forward, a shocked look on her face.

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