Page 94 of Konstantin
I ignore him, glaring at each one of them. “Tessa is off-limits. Do you all understand? You disrespect my wife, you disrespect me.”
Aleksei flicks his ashes into the tray on the desk in my study. “We understand, brother. The help is now your wife.”
“Watch your fucking tone!” My fist connects hard with the desk, my anger vibrating through me.
The smirk fades from his face, irritation lingering instead.
Kirill raises his glass and cuts in before things can get ugly. “Vso normalna.”Everything’s fine.“We’ll all be on our bestbehavior. If she matters to you, that’s enough for us.”
Aleksei nods once. “Yeah, all good. We will protect her with our lives, if that’s what you want.”
“That’s exactly what I want.” I rise, heading to the bar in the corner, needing a drink. “Now, tell me what you’ve got on the DeLucas.”
Aleksei’s mood intensifies. “They’ve got someone on the inside. A cop.”
I glance at him over my shoulder. “Name?”
“Don’t have one yet. They’re keeping his info well-guarded. All we’ve heard so far from the ones we spoke to is that whoever this cop is, he’s in deep with their organization, and only the top lieutenants in the crew know who he is.”
I return to my chair. “That’s not news. Cops have been dirty since the beginning of time. Why should I care about this one?”
“Because this one isn’t just helping them,” Kirill adds. “This one might be leading them.”
That gets my attention. “You really think this cop is the one running things?”
He gives a small shrug. “If not running, then pulling strings. Explains a lot, no? Why they’ve been bold lately. Why they keep testing us and aren’t scared of consequences.”
It does make sense. The DeLucas used to know their place. Then suddenly, they started reaching into territories they’d never dared to touch before. Contracts we had locked down began to slip. Rumors of suppliers switching sides. It wasn’t desperation; it was arrogance. The kind of arrogance that only comes when someone powerful is whispering in your ear.
A cop. Someone who could cover tracks, redirect investigations, give advance warnings. Someone who made them feel invincible.
I sit back, processing it all. “Find him. And when you do, I want him alive. I want to know who else he’s working with, what he knows.”
Kirill nods. “We’re already looking. He won’t stay hidden forever.”
I glance at the time, then fix my brothers with a look. “Be back here at seven sharp.”
Kirill grins, that dark humor lighting up his face. “I swear I still can’t tell if you’re joking or if you’re actually serious about her.”
“I’m always serious. Especially when it comes to what’s mine.”
Anton watches, his eyes searching, as if trying to grasp what it’s like to care for someone.
“Seven,” I repeat. “Don’t be late.”
They get up, one by one. And just like that, the room empties. But the remnants of what we just discussed remain.
If there’s a cop helping run the DeLuca crew, then he’s their shield. If that shield cracks, so does everything they’ve built.
And I plan to be the one holding the hammer.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
EMILIA
Konstantin’s brotherswalk in for dinner, along with Kirill’s son, Lev. The greetings are brief, just polite nods. None of them meet my gaze for more than a second. And something about their silence feels off.
Maybe Konstantin told them not to talk to me so they don’t say something they shouldn’t. Or maybe they really don’t like me—which is fine, because the feeling’s mutual.
