Page 34 of Demetri
Hours later,feeling rested for the first time in days, Glory and I finally make our way downstairs — the smell of bacon cooking in the kitchen lingers in the air. Spotting Logan and Jake sitting at the bar, both nursing a cup of coffee, I snag Glory around the waist, stopping her. "I need to talk to the guys. Why don't you go ahead and get yourself some breakfast," I press my lips to hers.
Striding across the room, I stop beside Jake. "Jake." I extend my hand, and he shakes it.
"How's it goin', brother?"
I look around the room, finding most of Jake's brothers are hanging out. "Looks like most everyone is here." I look at my son, Logan, and ask, "Where's Nikolai?" Before he can answer, the clubhouse door opens, and Nikolai walks in.
"It's good to see you." He walks up to me, and I notice his irritation.
"What's bothering you, son?"
"Nothing I can't take care of." He gives a vague answer. Knowing I won't get more out of him until he is ready, I let it be.
"Well," Jake stands, clasping his hand on my shoulder. "Let's get this shit show started, shall we?" Walking toward the other end of the room, he bellows, "Church." And all his brothers stand following suit.
"Dad," Logan walks beside me.
"Son. How are Bella and my grandchildren?" We stop just outside the door where church is held.
"They're good."
"And your brother? He seems to be wound a little tight this morning," I mention.
"Not sure. He's been like this for a few weeks now. I'm guessing it has to do with a certain brunette." Logan smirks, and Nikolai's moodiness starts to make sense.
Once everyone has filled the room and taken their seats, including Victor, who was the last to enter, Jake slams the gavel on the surface of the table. "Alright, listen up. As you all know, we had ourselves an incident that took place out at Charley's." Jake looks to me. "Neither one of those fuckers had any identification on them, so we put the word out trying to identify who they are. Unfortunately, none of our contacts or people in town knew anything about them, and believe me, in this town people notice new faces hanging around."
"I contacted Lex and asked him for a favor. I sent him images of the guys from the security feed at Charley's. If he gets any hits on the FBI database, he'll email the results."
"These men threatened Demetri's woman. A threat none of us are taking lightly." Jake peers around the room. "With that said, I'm givin' the floor to our brother." Jake jerks his head toward me.
Leaning back, I let the words whispered in my woman's ear play on a loop in my head. Whoever is behind both threats wants to do more than hurt Glory. They want to hurt me. It's personal. "As most of you already know, a threat was made against Glory, and those details were shared with you. Because of that, and now with what happened here in Polson, I have to assume, both threats are related, yet we have no leads."
"Well, I sure as hell was hoping for more answers than what we have. Now, all we've got are a bunch of dead men and zero leads on who's fuckin' with my family," Logan quips.
"Unfortunately, my son is right." Standing, I stride to the corner of the room where a fresh pot of coffee sits and pour myself a cup. "My soldiers found nothing. No fingerprints left on the package. Surveillance video from the restaurant shows nothing but a young delivery boy arriving shortly after we did. The boy took off down the street. Nobody has seen the young man since. It was Victor who felt something was not right and opened the box." My anger builds thinking about the events.
"Where was Sergei during all of this?" Nikolai asks.
My hand tightens around the mug in my hand; his betrayal still fresh. I glance across the table at Nikolai. "Sergei is dead."
His face is indifferent as he asks. "How?"
"I killed him." Nikolai's eyes flick to the other side of the room where Victor sits, his arms folded across his chest. He gives my son a confirming nod.
"Why?" Nikolai asks.
"He stole from me. Over two million dollars to be exact."
Logan leans back in his chair. "Do you think he was behind these threats against Glory?"
"No. None of that leads back to him or the men he was selling my inventory to. Sergei simply became blinded by his own greed. In the end, it cost him his life," I tell him.
"We'll keep our ears to the ground. In the meantime, I want everyone here to keep their eyes open. Report to Demetri or me if you hear or see anything." Jake slams the gavel. Jake and I hang back as the rest of the men file out of the room. From where I'm standing, I catch sight of Glory sitting at the bar with Grace, the two of them laughing.
"She's a strong woman," Jake states.
"Yes," I agree with him as I continue to stare at my woman. Her head turns, and her eyes connect with mine.
