Vow to Protect

I have nothing left to lose.

9

Adrian

If I snap at everyone a little more throughout the next week, well, they can fuck off. Even my five give me a wide berth as I go about my business. The only one brave enough to talk to me is Kai, and he keeps things to the point. Until I drop my coffee mug all over the table in my distraction.

“What’s up? Your mood wouldn’t have anything to do with that Novak girl coming to the fight the other night, would it?”

I scowl at the fine weave of his suit, trying to identify it like I always do, but again, I’m distracted. All I see in my head when I close my eyes is her. The soft fall of her hair as it sifts through my fingers, the cupid bow of her full lips begging for a proper kiss. Hell, the scent of her and how her entire body went rigid when I dropped to my knees to help her dress. Of course, now, after expecting her to show up the following morning, she’s nowhere in sight.

“Can I help with something?” Kai offers. It’s only because he doesn’t push me that I answer him this time.

“What is Novak up to?”

Kai shakes his head, uncertain, a place he definitely doesn’t like to be. “You mean Ms. N—”

“Not fucking Val.” Although now that he mentions it, I do want to know why she isn’t currently in my bed naked and sleeping off an orgasm. But I don’t tell him that. “No, her father. He’s been out of town for a while. His business trips don’t usually last so long, and when they do, he takes Sal with him. I want to know where he’s been, what Sal has been up to in his absence, and where Valentina is at all times.”

Kai nods, clearly relieved to be given a task in his purview, and heads out of the dining room. I should eat something, but I can’t focus. Even more so now that I have spilled coffee all over the place and need to change.

I’m forced to put up a mental barrier to Val and the disruption of her in order to focus. As soon as she’s here, and she’s mine, I’ll be able to relax. Until then, everything reminds me of her and the fact that I don’t have her here with me, safe and sound.

Once I’m cleaned up, I head down to the command center, a large room my trusted lieutenants like to use to debrief or prep for something. It’s a big enough space to hold us all and doesn’t feel as formal as the dining room or living rooms.

Vincent, my first lieutenant, second only in rank to Kai, has his big feet slung up on the desk, his blond ringlets mussed, his white button-down straining against his solid frame. I shove his legs off the table when I come around it and take a seat between him and my fourth lieutenant. Alexei is dressed up today in a suit and tie, which isn’t his usual uniform.

“Kai have you on recon today?” I ask Alexei, even while glaring back at Vincent, who’s grumbling at me.

“Yeah. Kai is sending me to monitor your little princess.”

I shove him out of the chair before he can react and spin away from my grip. “She’s not a fucking princess. And when she does come here, you’ll be the perfect gentleman.”

“But what about you, boss? Are you going to be the perfect gentleman?” he says, backing toward the door.

I stand, my hands crushing the leather of the chair I’d been sitting in. “Let’s be very clear. If anyone touches her or so much as looks at Valentina, I will kill him.”

The room is deadly silent as I continue. “You may be the people I trust most in the world, but she will be my wife. She just doesn’t know it yet.”

Both men stare at me with their hands up in an attempt to calm me. I feel foolish. Snapping at my men is not something I usually do. I’ve seen how easily a man can tear down his entire world by treating his men poorly.

Alexei rushes out before I have time to come up with some kind of an explanation. I won’t apologize, but he deserves to know me snapping at him was more about me than him.

That leaves Vincent. I glance over at him, resuming my seat, and stare up at the oversized monitor on the wall. It keeps track of any current operations in my range. But today, it’s blank, nothing but a news show on mute with the subtitles scrolling at the bottom.

“You okay, boss?” Vincent finally dares to ask.

“I’m sure Kai has already briefed you. I’m waiting on something, and you know how much I love to be kept waiting.”