Page 78 of Hunter

“Excellent news to toast to,” Harrison says, reappearing with a bottle in one hand and a white rose attached to an envelope in the other. “This was on your windshield.” He strolls over as if it’s completely normal for someone to leave a random rose on my car, placing it down on my desk. The word scrolled across the white paper readsFriends?

“Rodion,” I say under my breath while considering how the fuck he got onto my property unseen. The bastard is bloody good at moving mysteriously. I look up at my men, who all watch intently to see how I’m going to respond.

Is this an olive branch or a threat? Can there truly be an alliance now the unrest has passed? We won’t know until one of us is asked to pick sides again.

I visualize him again, standing across from the church, a ghost in black. Yesterday he lifted his hand like a friend. Now he leaves roses as a symbol. But Rodion Anastasov doesn’t have friends. He has leverage. He was always a showman.

But the question is, is the message a token of respect or reminder of a debt? We’ll find out.

“He’s watching,” Damon says, cool as ice.

“Good, I’d be worried if he wasn’t.” With that, I point to the bottle still lodged in Harrison’s grasp. “Open that, Waite. Let’s drink before someone needs to draw their knife again.”

Connor grabs five crystal glasses from the sideboard, holding each one as Harrison pours then passing one to each of us. We stand in a circle, and gently clink them together. No one speaks straight away, waiting for someone to take up the role of speaker.

“To winning,” Russell says, louder than necessary like always. We all take a deep drink each one emptying their glass, Harrison moves to top us all up. I lift my hand to stop him.

“You boys enjoy your morning whiskey. I’ve got one more promise to keep.”

After placing my glass down on the table, I leave them to their drinks and find Isabella exactly where I expect to—in the living room with Kasia at her side. They both pore over the notes in front of them, the ones I deliberately left on her bedside table so she would see them as soon as she woke.

Harrison had given me the intelligence yesterday before the wedding. I’d kept it to myself, not wanting to interrupt the day ahead I knew would be eventful anyway.

The two women look up as I enter, beaming smiles on both their faces. But it’s when I look at my wife that I know I made the right choice. This is the path I want to be on.

For a moment, I don’t move. I watch them. Two women who should have been broken by this world but refuse to be., including the one I nearly lost forever. This is the only war I care about winning—the one that makes her proud to be my wife.

“You found them,” Kasia shrieks, jumping to her feet and running toward me. I’m taken aback by the open affection. Isabella steps up behind her, and, once Kasia releases me, wraps her arms around my neck.

“You have no idea how proud I am to call you mine,” she says.

Kasia’s family were found deep in rural Russia under the protection or capture of the Anastasov family, whichever way you look at it. They’ve been confirmed as unhurt by a mole on the inside. Money can make anyone talk.

With Isabella still in my arms, I turn to Kasia.

“The lawyers have what they need to bring them to London,” I say simply. “I’ve sent men to collect them. The deal is done, and they will be released as soon as we arrive.”

“Thank you!” she wails, slapping her hands over her mouth with the shocking news. Tears begin to fall, big and wet, running down her cheeks. Isabella leaves me and goes to console her, and they cry together, a mixture of pain and happiness about everything that has passed and what is to come now. “I never thought I would see them again. You didn’t have to.”

“No, but you gave Bella the truth when no one else would. Your family deserve to live and not be wrapped up in someone else’s war.” I reach forward and squeeze her shoulder. “I did this because I can.”

My wife returns to me and takes my hand in hers. The three of us stand in silence for a few moments, then Kasia makes her excuses to leave, muttering thanks as she disappears. Bella turns back to me. “Shall we go upstairs?”

“Careful, wife. I’ve been waiting all day for the invite.”

Chapter thirty-six

Hunter & Isabella’s Home, London

Isabella

I don’t look back when I say it. “Shall we go upstairs?” I don’t need to. I can feel the shift in the air.

His voice echoes behind me. “Careful, wife. I’ve been waiting all day for the invite.”

I sashay my way along the hallway and up the stairs, him behind me, hunting my every step. By the time we reach the bedroom, my heart’s already pounding. Not from nerves, just pure heated expectation. He hasn’t touched me yet, but I can feel the way his gaze slides over my skin. The electric pulse that beats beneath, more powerful by the second. Every step I take, every sway of my hips, is deliberate. I’m not teasing.

I’m offering.

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