The man immediately got tohis feet and came around the table.
“If you touch her, I’llbreak your arm.” Ryan said calmly while turning his head slowly andlooking up at the man now standing behind her. He shot Peter anunsure look, his hand hovering over Katya’s shoulder.
Kat was too busy shoutingat her father to hear anything Ryan said. “You can shoot me for allI care,” she spat at him.
Peter did hear Ryan but Katwas the focus of his wrath at the moment. “You’ll listen younglady—”
“Go to hell!” She stood up,shoved by Peter’s man, and briskly walked away with him followingclose behind her. He tried to touch her arm but she turned andslapped him, hard, across the face, and swore at him.
Ryan started to get up tofollow her, and Peter stopped him. “I’m not done Mr. Casey. Sitdown.” He gestured with his fork again.
Ryan resisted watchingKatya leave and did as he was told. He couldn’t let them see hisconcern. It took every ounce of his self-control not to seize thatfork from the older man and stab him in the neck withit.
“She will stay here. Shedoesn’t have a choice.” He tossed the utensil on his plate with aresounding clang. Then he picked his napkin off his lap and dabbedat his mouth furiously before tossing it on the plate with thefork. “Fucking women, nothing but fucking trouble. That cheatingwhore should have given me sons.” He waved his arms in frustration.His men mumbled their agreements. Then he turned his hot stare toRyan. “And as for you, you do not threaten my men.”
“My job is to protect yourdaughter. No one touches her,” Ryan answered calmly. “She’s had toomany men abusing her lately. Having someone touch her forcefullywill not only set her therapy back, but have her out of this houseand your life. I don’t think you want another daughter to gomissing. Then the feds would really have a good look at you.” IfRyan knew Peter like he thought he did, it wouldn’t look good if apowerful man such as himself couldn’t even control his own family.Maybe there was a slight worry there about Katya actually talkingto the feds too. Good. He was going to use that.
Peter actually looked alittle surprised. “Do you think she’d run?”
“Yes.”
“Has she saidanything?”
“No, but she’s scared anddespises everything here. You are giving her an excuse toleave.”
Peter cursed in Russian,then nodded. “All right, all right. I’ll leave her be. You makesure she stays.”
“I will.”
“Back tobusiness.”
“I’ve given you my answeron that.”
Peter waved a handdismissing that subject. “Did you get a lead on thesedan?”
“No.” Ryan said stiffly. Itwent undetected. He just couldn’t get past the abrupt change ofsubjects. Katya was his blood, his daughter, yet he was moreconcerned with his business. It was a good thing she was related toPeter, though, especially after speaking to him like that. He wascertain that any other wouldn’t still be breathing.
“Really? I have a feelingthat you have resources that I don’t have. Can you get anyinformation from them?”
“I’ve already tapped intothem. There’s nothing Mr. Nickolov. There are over six hundred BMWsof that year, that model, in the system, cruising around Miami aswe speak. The plates, well, they were stolen.”
He swore again. He wasirate. He was hemorrhaging money and he had to stop it. Two of hiscocaine shipments were hit last week and the damage wascatastrophic. He lost six good men. He knew Ryan was good and hecould send him in to supervise the shipments, but he didn’t want toput his most elite employee in the middle of a war when he coulduse his intelligence elsewhere. “No forensic evidence, no leads.That leads me to believe that someone is leaking inside informationon my business.”
“It would seem that way,”Ryan agreed. In fact, it was possibly the only answer.
Peter eyed Ryan carefully.It wasn’t him. He knew nothing of Peter’s business outside ofprotecting his daughter because he purposely kept him in the dark.It certainly wasn’t Ivan. He was too loyal. He turned and lookedaround the table. These were his most trusted men. “Those we hiredin the last month. How many?”
“Three, sir.” Ivananswered. “But they all checked out.”
“Maybe you missedsomething, Ivan. Of the three, find out who’s talking. If one turnsout to be a fucking cop again, put a bullet in hisbrain.”
No one noticed Ryan’sexpression. It was deadly.
“Yes sir.” Ivan waved atthe other men to follow him as he got up and left.
“Well, it looks as though Idon’t need you after all. My daughter will besatisfied.”
Ryan felt his entire bodyburn. At the moment he was turning the knife from his place settingover and over between his fingers under the table. He wasstruggling internally whether to kill this man now or later. Heknew the logical choice would be later. He wanted to take theempire down around Peter first, but now he knew, he was right aboutthe organization involved in his brother’s death. He just needed toknow who pulled the trigger. Although he had a suspicion of who itwas, he still needed to be sure. “Excuse me then.” He wrapped theknife in his napkin and placed it on the table and left.
This hasn’t been going ashe planned. Despite what had happened to Katya Nickolov, heexpected to babysit a spoiled princess, but instead ended up withone of the most incredible women he’d ever met. She acted the partwell in society though. He knew because he’d seen footage of her atsocial events and did his research, but the side of her that shelet him see was different. She was treated no better than Petertreated his wife and other women in his life. Yet, she was proudand intelligent. She was also not a door mat and was brave enoughto stand up to her tyrant father. The only thing that saved herfrom not ending up in a shallow grave, was the fact she was relatedto him. He had no use for women, except to use them. He also didn’tdiscriminate on gender when it came to murder. Secondly, he was nocloser to who killed his brother. He needed to know. He needed tokill the
