Page 22 of Savage Boss

“None of your damn business.”

Vlad raised an eyebrow. “Let me rephrase. Tell me what Jane is working on and I won’t blast your tiny business so far into the ground it’ll never again see the light of day.”

Mack let out a humourless laugh. “You wouldn’t do that to Jane.” His tone was careless, but his gaze was steady on Vlad’s face, picking up each nuance.

Mack was the best bounty hunter in the business and a damn good poker player. Vlad had no doubt the man could read him like a book. Which wasn’t a problem. Vlad didn’t see a need to lie about his intentions.

“I’ve done a lot to my wife and she’s forgiven me every time,” Vlad pointed out. He knew it was a heartless statement, but it wasn’t wrong. He had the sudden driving desire to know what his wife was working on when she wasn’t at home and he was willing to play dirty to find out.

Vlad constantly battled the need to control every aspect of her life, while also wanting to give her the independence she craved. The two concepts were not compatible and caused a rift in Vlad’s marriage.

“Ask her then,” Mack said stubbornly.

Vlad leaned in his chair, placing his hands on Mack’s desk, staring at the other man. “I am being polite here, Hudson. You don’t want me to stop being polite.”

Mack made a disgusted sound and lumbered to his feet. He yanked a set of keys from his pocket and opened the file cabinet behind Jane’s desk. He grabbed a stack of folders and tossed them in front of Vlad.

“Happy reading,” he said sarcastically, slamming the cabinet shut and dropping back into his seat.

Vlad picked up the folders and immediately saw his name on the first one. “What the fuck?” he demanded, holding the file up for Mack to see.

A truly evil grin spread across Mack’s face and Vlad realized despite his hangover, or whatever was going on with Mack, he was enjoying this. He wanted to cause trouble between Vlad and Jane. For his sake, Vlad hoped the other man was just playing childish games. If he was seriously trying to cause a wedge between his business partner and her husband, Vlad would have to step in with a permanent solution.

“You thought she stopped checking up on you?” Mack asked. “That woman has had a hard-on for the Boss since day one. Marriage and motherhood haven’t slowed her down one iota. She’s never stopped digging up shit on you.”

Vlad’s stomach sank as he opened the file and started going through the contents. There were surveillance photos with dates ranging from before Vlad and Jane met to only a week ago. Vlad’s blood began to boil when he saw the most recent photos were of a meeting between him and Petrov’s second-in-command.

Kostya had travelled to the United States with a message from Petrov. Vlad was to hand over all of his Russian interests and several of his American companies to Petrov in reparations for murdering his son, Anton. Of course, Vlad had refused, sending Kostya away empty-handed. He expected trouble from Petrov and the fact that Jane got close enough to take the pictures turned his blood to ice. Petrov was not above going after Jane if he thought it would devastate Vlad.

The notes accompanying the photos indicated Jane had no idea who Vlad was meeting with, but she was digging for answers. There was nothing inherently illegal about the meeting, but pictures themselves could prove deadly if Kostya or Petrov ever found out about them.

Vlad stuffed the pictures in his coat pocket and tossed the file aside, reaching for the next one. What he read did not serve to calm his rage. Jane’s current casefile included a father who’d kidnapped his children and went on the run, a married man who suspected his wife of cheating, and an employer who suspected one of his employees of embezzlement. The final folder contained the criminal records of a man who was overdue for a court date in a witness tampering case. There was a price on his head indicating he was worth a pretty penny if handed over alive. Which meant he was most likely dangerous.

Of course she was chasing a bond jumper. The one PI activity he’d expressly forbidden her from doing. Vlad smashed his fist into the desk so hard the entire wooden structure shuddered under the impact.

The ever-unflappable Mack raised an eyebrow. “Problem?”

The smirk told Vlad that Mack didn’t give two shits about his problems. Tough. Vlad’s problems were about to become Mack’s. “Is there a reason my wife is chasing bond jumpers when that’s supposed to be your job?”

Mack frowned and reached across the desk. Vlad handed him the file and waited impatiently as Mack flipped it open.

“Son of a bitch,” Mack groaned. “She poached one of my guys. She fucking snatched the one with the biggest price tag on his head too.”

Jane wasn’t stupid, of course she took the one worth the most. “What kind of a business are you running? You let your partner steal your bonds?”

Mack scowled at Vlad. “Since you know your wife better than anyone, I’ll choose to ignore the bait you’re dropping. Ain’t in the mood for a fight.”

Vlad laughed grimly. “Since when?”

Mack’s face remained creased in a frown. “None of your damn business.”

“Lucy?” Vlad guessed.

Though Lucy was a sweet young woman, she had a spine made of steel. If she decided she wanted Mack to quit picking fights, she’d make damn sure he listened. Vlad almost wished Jane would take Lucy’s route when it came to getting what she wanted. Instead, Jane used bullets and a taser to make her point.

“Jane must’ve picked the lock on my file cabinet.” Mack lumbered to his feet and made his way further back into the office. The sound of a metal drawer opening and closing clanged through the office. “Fuck, she didn’t bother picking it, she broke the damn lock.”

Vlad would have loved to laugh at Mack’s consternation, but his damn wife was currently running down a bond jumper who looked like he could eat a cartel for lunch. Vlad glanced uneasily through the files again. He hated that she was involving herself in dangerous work. What happened when she tracked down the guy who kidnapped his own kids? A man desperate enough to resort to kidnapping would be desperate enough to harm anyone who came after him.

---