Page 76 of Iron Crown

“What the hell kind of question is that?”

“A simple one.” She looked me up and down. “We live in a world where women are property. Accessories that are used and abused. So is that what she is to you?”

I couldn’t keep the disgust from my face. “She is mywife.”

It was taking everything inside me not to punch this woman in the throat.

“I treat Kira as the woman she is. I do not question her.” My arms tensed, ready for a fucking fight. “She is mywife. That word might mean nothing to the Bratva, but it means something to the Irish. It sure as hell means everything to me.”

And if tomorrow she ceases to be my wife, she will still be my Muse.

“Any more questions, Miss Vasilieva?” I could not keep the offense, and scorn from my words because I was damn tired of being doubted.

To my surprise, her face melted into a smile.

“No. I just had to be sure.” She slapped me playfully on the cheek.

She turned around and began walking again as if the interaction hadn’t happened at all.

“Keep up, Irish! Your wife is going to meet us there.”

Chapter twenty-four

Danger Zone

Kira

Eoghan was sitting with Yuliya Vasilieva when we arrived at the briefing room. A pang of jealousy hit me then, because Yuliya was tall, strong, and a warrior, like Eoghan. Like Jericho, Blink, and everyone else in the room. In the short walk here, Blink had quickly briefed me on her lethality, as well as the personnel we’d be going in with. Whatever my place was in the inner circle, I apparently would need to know who I was dealing with now.

I wondered if it would have been better to continue to keep Blink as my handler. There were so many people that it was overwhelming, considering everything else that was going on.

So when I saw the highest-ranked woman in Paradigm sitting with Eoghan, the two of them shoulder to shoulder, I saw red.

At least until Eoghan came to his feet, his hand outstretched to me. I took it, and he yanked me against him, our bodies slamming together as he gave me a deep kiss.

“Everything alright, Love?” he asked when we finally pried apart.

“Everything is fine,” I said quietly.

“Jericho looks murderous,” he said.

“That’s just his face, apparently.”

I took his hand and we moved to sit down. Eoghan led me to his old seat, placing me between him and Yuliya. Strangely, that comforted me.

It was always nice to be a buffer between him and others. Call me jealous, but it was a quiet thoughtfulness that made me feel like maybe he still cared.

Blink stood up front with the projector and began to describe the elements.

There would be several moving pieces; the first movement would be me and Blink. We were to secure the exterior perimeter—lay down distractions, road blocks, checkpoints, and other things, dressed as construction workers. We were to create a detour to ensure all traffic was diverted away from the attack site.

We couldn’t have civilians, or law enforcement, coming in.

The main effort would be Eoghan and Yuliya. They’d be leading two separate elements to overtake the highly guarded, and incredibly dangerous, Durante compound.

“Cosima is, in effect, in charge. Eugenio is now an impotent figurehead. She has certainly been shrewder than her father,” Blink said, as he clicked a button on the laptop, moving to the next slide. “We are talking strategically placed landmines, cameras, at least a hundred guards who are always on call, 24/7, and weaponry. She has been building up these defenses for the past year, at least.”

He turned to us, his face somber.

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