Taken By Nikolai

He nods. “Yes, it was a setup, an inside job. The Bullet went to take out a target but instead was surrounded by the Babic men. It’s unknown how long he was gone for but according to Yori, he was injured and is now recuperating.”

The Babics are notorious bastards. The Croats don’t care who they take out. They don’t meticulously plan their wars, instead, they go guns blazing. They have grown in the past decade, moving across the east of the country. Stupid is what they are, had they grown more steadily in the west, they’d have the numbers to take on the Gallaghers and Bianchis. As it is now, they start the war, they’re all dying.

“Find out who’s no longer available for the Alekseev family.”

He smirks. “Already done. There’s only three members of the family that are no longer available. Artur, Rodion, and Yelena.” He chuckles as he says her name. “Like Maksim would have his granddaughter be The Bullet.”

I suck in a sharp breath as I remember the bandage on Yelena’s side, the way she played it off as though it was nothing, the tattoo makes sense now, the gun, roses, and blood drops. How did Maksim manage to keep Yelena being The Bullet under wraps for so long?

“Thank you, Konstantin. Send Stefan in on your way out.”

“Boss, the suka is back. She’s currently staying at your hotel pissing off every single member of staff. She’s had a lot of phone calls, I have yet to uncover with whom, but I’m working on it.”

“Thank you, Stefan, I want the numbers on my desk by tomorrow morning.” I do not trust Adele as far as I can throw her and if she’s talking to someone, I wanna know who is.

Of course, boss." As he turns to leave, my cell rings. It’s Pavel, Lena’s driver.

“Boss, I have dropped Ms. Alekseeva at Crimson,” he tells me as soon as I answer the call.

I’m up on my feet and moving toward the office door. “Thank you, Pavel, I’m on my way.”

“Stefan, call Ilya, tell him to get his ass to Crimson.” My feet are moving as quickly as they can, the thought of anything happening to Lena makes me homicidal.

“Why are we going there?” he questions as he puts his cell to his ear.

Crimson is one of my clubs, it’s a money maker, a place that I don’t have to frequent often as it’s run well and kept clean.

“Lena’s there,” I tell him as I push open the back exit door toward my car.

The drive to Crimson is quiet, Stefan is on edge, not knowing how I’ll react to whatever the fuck is going on. I’m going to make her ass red for leaving the house and hiding from me. Three days she’s kept her distance and tonight it stops.

I walk into Crimson with Stefan at my side, Ilya is moments away. I don’t have to look far to find Yelena. She’s on the dance floor, her head thrown back as she dances to the music, her body moving in sync to the tempo. She’s dressed in the shortest, tightest motherfucking dress that I have ever seen. She’s definitely getting her ass red tonight. She doesn’t leave the house without a man on her dressed like that.

Fuck, my cock tightens. She’s beautiful.

The moment I step onto the floor, I see a man walking over to her. She shakes her head dismissing him but he’s persistent. She verbalizes her rejection, her eyes narrowing as he reaches out to touch her.

I move to them, the crowd of drunken people parting as I get close to them.

“Don’t touch me,” she says loudly, her words slurred as she steps away from him. I see that the man that is going to lose his life is Viktor, the bastard is a bouncer here at my club. He puts his hands on her hips and pulls her close to him, yet again, she’s telling him to stop touching her. Each time the words come out a little more slurred and unintelligible.

The moment he puts his lips on her, I lose it. No one touches what is mine.