My men tensed up.
“Do you really think bringing my wife to this factory was all it was going to take? All this information gathered together, pointing the finger of blame at my woman?” I asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. She has polluted your mind, Vik. This is not you. Please, someone, stop him. He’s a traitor to Ivan. Kill him. Please, kill him.”
I pointed my gun at Cara’s head.
“You thought you could get away with it, but Cara, the moment you started to steal from Ivan, I knew. I knew the funds being taken, the men who started to attack. You’re not the brightest woman. All you’ve ever been able to sell is your cunt. Sex is all you know and you think you could take this from Ivan? From me!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of my men approach my wife, and I raised my gun. “You touch her, and I will fucking kill you.”
“She’s a traitor, boss.”
I shot him in the leg and turned to look at all of my men. “Now would be a good time for you to come out.”
“I rather like the suspense and drama,” Ivan Volkov said, removing the hat and scarf he’d used to cover himself so I could get him on a plane and back to my city.
Cara gasped. “Ivan. I knew it. I knew you were alive. Please, tell him to stop. You know I would never hurt you.”
“Oh, honey. You were sloppy, darling,” Ivan said. He looked around at the information Cara had left.
I’d known from the start of the attacks she had something to do with it. At first, I wasn’t sure why. The little crumbs she’d left me to work with didn’t give anything away. The money she stole was used to take Ivan out, but as she did, she got sloppy.
Cara was never much of a thinker or a planner.
“This is all Aurora and those Italian bastards!”
Ivan moved toward my wife and offered her a hand. “I am so very sorry for all of this mess.”
My wife continued to shake.
I’d pointed a gun at her to play along, to draw Cara away from my wife so she’d be out of harm’s way. I still held a firm grip on Cara’s hair, but all I wanted to do was go to my woman, to pull her into my arms, to kiss her, to tell her it was going to be okay.
Tears fell from her cheeks.
“Oh, Cara, you were doing so well. I have to say when Slavik told me of your involvement in this months ago, I told him he was lying. There was no way you’d hurt me or the Bratva.”
“I wouldn’t. You know this. You know me.”
“Exactly. I know you and I told him to get the proof. Until I happened to overhear this.” He lifted his cell phone and played the recording he got.
“Remember, do not come back until Ivan is dead. I want him gone. Send me a picture if you have to, and I will make sure your debt is removed. You will not owe me a thing. The Bratva will be mine, Cara’s.”
Ivan clicked off his cell phone. “I’m a cautious guy. Men can be bought, as can women. Nothing is ever sacred anymore, so I designed my own security system. I know when people are in my house, Cara. Your guy was dead before he even finished the call. You finished that conversation with me.”
Cara’s face went pale.
Ivan had called me. Told me exactly what to do and so I did. I left my wife and immediately went to his side. I made the final announcement of his death, and with it, we waited, making our way back to my city where Cara refused to leave. I knew something was going down today the moment I watched her enter my apartment building. Aurora’s guard had called me as soon as Cara entered. His call had stayed with me until the moment he died. His family would be taken care of.
“No. No. No,” Cara said. “You’re lying. You’re bluffing. It’s all that whore’s fault.” She started to cry, but the tears never made an appearance.
Ivan crouched down to be on her level. “You want to tell me what is going on?”
Cara went silent. “You think I don’t know about her? You think I didn’t know when you changed our plans?”
Ivan’s jaw clenched.
“You’re never going to be happy with her. I won’t allow it. I will hunt you down, and I will kill you,” Cara said. “You and Slavik, you’re both mine, and you gave him away. It was supposed to be us three against the world.”
“Cara, you had the job you wanted. You had everything you wanted. I offered you more power and you refused.”
I’d been there when Ivan had told her to take any city or cities as her own. She’d told him no. All she wanted was her own brothel. To control men. To help him from the ground. We’d always accepted that. I put as much protection on her as Ivan did.