Page 90 of Darkest Desire
“Sorry, Nico. Can’t help you with that. I have my own work to attend to. You can understand.”
I do but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to reach through my phone and slap Adrien upside the head. “Fine. You’re no help either.”
Once I hang up, I toss the phone back to Tony.
“What happened?” he asks.
I tell him everything. The fire. The dead guards. Mikhail taking my wife.
“It’s a shitshow,” I mutter. “I could send men to his house but what if he tries to kill Sasha? I can’t risk it.” Now I understand why Mikhail never got Irina and Ana out of Denis’s house: he never wanted to accidently kill them. He loves his wife. It’s his one weakness.
It’s also becoming my weakness. I care for Sasha more than I would tell anyone. If she were to get hurt…
I can’t even fucking go there.
“There’s always the Irish,” Tony suggests.
“What about them?”
“They hate Mikhail too. Maybe they’ll help you.”
I stare at Tony like he’s stupid. “I killed their previous boss. I don’t think they’re going to want to work with me to take Mikhail down.”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“Not if the Irish try coming for me,” I mutter. Fuck. I returned to New York to keep Sasha safe from Giovanni but now I’m reminded of all the dangers here from the Bratva to the Irish. I have to be careful.
“Do you have clothes I can borrow?” I ask.
After I’m dressed, I leave Tony’s house – with Tony’s phone. I need it more than him at the moment.
I also borrow Tony’s car and drive it to one of my restaurants. I just need a place to think and consider what I’m going to do next.
But of course things can’t be that fucking simple.
The moment I get out of my car, I notice a few men down the road get out of their car. They approach me.
“Who are you?” I ask.
There’s three of them, all in their twenties. They look like fucking punks to me.
“Liam O’Connor wants to talk.”
Fuck me. They’re Irish. Of course they are.
“Why does Liam want to talk with me?”
“Seeing as you killed his boss a year ago, he’s still angry about it.”
“How did you fuckers even find me here?” I ask.
They share a look and a laugh that makes me want to punch them. “He has all of us keeping an eye out at every property you own. He figured you would show up at some point. So come with us. We can do this the hard way or the easy way.” The leader flashes me his gun.
I roll my eyes. “I can’t fucking believe this.” The reality is that I’m outnumbered and they all have guns. I don’t have a weapon myself because Tony doesn’t like to carry fucking guns in his house.
“Fine,” I grumble. “I’ll go with you. It’s time Liam and I talk anyway.”
Chapter Sixteen
