Their Battle for Love (The American Soldier Collection 15)

“With those two gallery owners?” his father asked. He knew he saw them talking to her at Malayna’s birthday party. It was quite obvious to everyone that Ellington and Pierre found Malayna attractive. Who wouldn’t? His chest tightened. She belonged to him and his team now. They would make that clear very quickly and hopefully tonight’s actions spoke in volumes.

“You and your brothers allowed that?”

“What do you mean?”

“You want her. You’re in love with her and it’s pretty damn obvious. She’s lucky that you were with her exiting the club. This concerns me, though. As Nicolai’s daughter she is an instant target. With our business dealings and the work you and your brothers do, you’re targets as well. What has Nicolai said about this situation?”

“He is furious that they went after Malayna, but it was apparent from their bad aim that it was supposed to be a message of intimidation. I don’t think they expected us to be the ones with Malayna when she left.”

“Lucky you guys were with her or she could have been shot or killed.”

“I know that, and the ones who did the drive-by are no longer a problem, which sends Pedro Cruz a clear message,” Star replied as he poured himself a large drink of water as he looked out at the city.

“I told Nicolai he had my support, our support in this from the start. Apparently your actions have landed us smack in the middle of this situation, too. Especially since you decided to handle the shooters yourself.”

“They had it coming. Malayna is my top priority.”

“Is she now? Is there something you would like to share that may have changed since her birthday and this business date with Ellington and Pierre?” his father pushed.

“She is here with us at the penthouse. I don’t plan on taking her back to Nicolai’s and I already spoke to him about it,” Star told his father.

Daren cleared his throat. “Nicolai accepted this?”

“He didn’t sound too pleased about it, but he didn’t demand we take her home or give me any indication that we wouldn’t get his approval or blessing.”

“Well, you didn’t ask first. There are rules and procedures when staking a claim of guardianship, and I hope marriage, to a woman who is the daughter of a boss.”

“Well, it’s done, and the moment we know she’s safe we can make everything official.”

“Your mother will be quite pleased. She likes Malayna a lot.”

“And how about you?” Star found himself asking, not even knowing why. He never made personal decisions based on his parents’ approval or thoughts.

“Are you kidding me? Malayna is exceptional. She is not only beautiful on the outside but also on the inside and she is extremely talented. You are going to need an increase in security for her, too, considering her work is so exceptional that she may become quite famous for it.”

“Believe me, I have thought about that. There are going to be a lot of changes, but as I said her safety is top priority for us.”

“Good. So what do you need from me?”

“A sit-down with Pedro Cruz.”

“What?”

“I can’t have this man thinking he can go after my woman. I’ll officially claim guardianship of her and spread the word, but to a different organized crime family this may mean shit.”

“You need to speak to Nicolai. The dispute is with the two of them.”

“It was, until he took potshots at my family. Set it up. I’ll work it out with Nicolai.”

Star disconnected the call to find Lucca standing there.

“When did you make this decision, and I’ll accompany you,” he said to Star.

“Last night as we made love to Malayna. She is our woman, will be our wife, and it’s our responsibility to protect her at all costs.”

“Yes, but the problems with Cruz were with Nicolai and him,” Lucca said to him.

“Not when they took shots at Malayna and us. The moment those shooters saw us they should have squashed their plans to intimidate and scare Nicolai. Now they’ve pissed us off and we aren’t going to stand for it. The second we do and back down is when they don’t take us seriously and Cruz tries to take what he wants. Not happening.”