The bastard needed to die.
“My wife and Lilly were pawns in Jonas’s game.” I kept my voice calm, hoping it would stay the anger boiling inside me.
It was time to be rid of Jonas Weber for good. And Malkovich. That bastard was going to suffer the fall of his organization before I took care of him.
“Yes.” Adrian ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck, I know what you’re thinking.”
“Don’t even think about interfering.”
First, I was going to take care of Mancheski and then I’d deal with Jonas and Malkovich. There were enough people sprinkled throughout the world who owed me a favor or two. I planned to collect.
“Dammit, Sebastian. You’re Interpol, a fucking cop.”
“Who’s broken laws of nearly every country to make sure the assignment was completed.”
Adrian released a resigned breath. “You know Ana’s going to kick my ass.”
“I’m not asking you to help. Stay with your pregnant wife. She needs you here.”
“You got it wrong. She’s going to kick my ass because she can’t be part of it.”
I smiled and knew Isa would probably have the same reaction. Thinking of her, I looked in her direction.
She still slept, the dark shadows under her eyes less visible. She needed her rest, and there was no way she could handle the journey home. The safest place for her was here, under the protection of a retired Solon agent. Pregnant or not, Ana was dangerous.
Then there were her brothers—they would never let anything happen to Isa.
“You know we’re going to have to do a lot of groveling when we return to our wives,” Adrian said, figuring out what I had planned and deciding to join in.
“Groveling leads to phenomenal sex. I’ll take my chances.”
Chapter Twenty
Isa
“Come home, Schatz,” Mama pled over the phone as I tied the belt of my coat and leaned against the balcony of my room in Ana’s house.
After everything that had happened, I now had a better understanding of the reasons she and Opa had arranged my marriage to Sebastian. It was her way of protecting me. Her baby. Her only child.
I’d spent so much of the last eight months angry at her, and with one conversation with Sebastian, everything had disappeared. Our mothers and grandfathers had been trying to keep Sebastian and me alive.
It would have been great if I was aware of all that was going on at the time. It would have also been better to learn this information from my husband before he left on his “mission” as he’d put it.
But I couldn’t fault him for that bit. I wasn’t conscious at the time Adrian and Sebastian left to handle Jonas and Malkovich.
I hadn’t woken until two days after Sebastian returned to Germany and then it had taken me another two weeks to recover from the gunshot wound and concussion.
Now it had been two full months since I’d seen Sebastian and Ana had seen Adrian. The constant worry for our men was exhausting. It was worse for Ana—she was almost due and experiencing some of the milestones of pregnancy without Adrian. She had her crazy family around her, but it wasn’t the same as being with one’s own husband.
“Soon, Mama.”
“At least tell me where you are. Do you know how worried we are? Oma spends all her time at the chapel praying, and your father…” She paused as if trying to compose herself. “He isn’t himself.”
Sebastian had told me during one of my first conversations with him after he’d arrived in Germany that Papa had been ready to wage war on Malkovich when he learned I’d been shot. He’d gone as far as calling a meeting of all the heads of the allied families to garner support for a takeover without retaliation.
Thankfully Sebastian had talked Papa down from what could have been a very public and a very brutal fight with God knew how many casualties. Which meant the authorities would get involved and that would cause problems for everyone all around. Sebastian had convinced Papa to keep up the business-as-usual image, while Sebastian used their connections to topple Malkovich’s organization from the inside out.
That was the extent of the information he’d given me. He wanted to keep me out of the loop.
I’d essentially gone into hiding. Confined to Ana and Adrian’s property, with its state-of-the-art security and personnel. Truthfully, it wasn’t a hardship to be at the mansion.
At least I was able to communicate with the staff of my clubs to discuss operations. I guess it helped that Sebastian made periodic visits to each venue to make sure everything was running smoothly.
I missed Sebastian, so much. And the sporadic calls weren’t enough. I worried for him and what he was doing to make it safe for me again. He wouldn’t stop until he reached his goal.
The time apart also made me realize I did trust him. With my life, my body, and my heart.
Since the last time we were together and he’d told me he loved me, he’d ended every call with those words.
I’d held back.
There was no doubt I loved him, but it scared me to say it and be hurt again.
“I’m sorry, Mama. I can’t.”
“Have you spoken to him?”
“Yes. He calls me nearly every night.”
Though this time, he’d gone longer. Three days, in fact.
“So, the rumors are true. He’s doing all of this for you.”
“Doing all of what?”
From the information I researched daily, territory wars were in full swing throughout the major cities in Germany. They weren’t wars as most people believed but strategically planned assaults on major players where the lowest number of casualties occurred. There was never any mess for the public to clean up, just an underlying knowledge that something happened.
“He hasn’t told you?”
“Told me what?”
“Your father-in-law’s body was found last night.”
My stomach dropped. No matter if Jonas wasn’t Sebastian’s father or that he’d been responsible for
