He let out a small sigh. “You have her eyes.”
I blinked. Out of all the things he could have said, that wasn’t something I expected.
“I think it’s time we break up this party. You men are good. I almost missed you, and if you’d had as many years of experience as I do, you might have been able to fool me. Go home.”
I opened my mouth to tell him we weren’t going anywhere without an address when the door to the library opened, and Catalina walked through the door, fear straining her brown eyes as a man I didn’t know was holding tightly onto her and another was pointing a gun at her head.
Maxim and Leo came in next, their guns out, but they wouldn’t do anything. Not with Catalina at risk.
Her eyes met mine, so much fear in them, it felt like a punch to the fucking gut.
Damien moved and pressed his gun to Ricci’s head.
“Let her go,” Damien said quietly.
Ricci looked directly at her, his eyes taking on a look of surprise. I wondered what it was about Catalina that surprised him, but I didn’t have time to care about that. Strange men were touching her, and the only thing I wanted to do was kill.
I turned to him. “Tell your dogs to stop touching her, or I’ll fucking kill everyone in this room.”
“Call off your men first,” he replied.
“Maxim and Leo are just protecting her,” Nikolay gritted out and came up to my side. He had his gun trained on the man pointing his gun at her, while I had mine on the motherfucker with his hands on her. “Don’t test me,” Nikolay said to the man. “You want to see whose bullet will fly faster? I’ll tell you now. You’ll lose.”
Ricci fixed his tie, unconcerned. “I’m not talking about those men. I’m talking about the ones you planted at my niece’s birthday party. She’s just a child—an innocent. I won’t hurt your woman if you tell all your men to leave my niece’s party. Promptly.”
No one said anything for a moment. We were at an impasse. Nikolay might be the quicker hand, but I wasn’t willing to gamble with Catalina’s life. And I knew Damien and Nikolay felt the same.
“Call off the men. Tell them to leave right now,” Damien said to Maxim.
Leo opened his mouth, looking like he was going to say something. I shook my head, letting my hard gaze settle on him. He smartly shut up.
We waited while Maxim made the call. Several minutes passed, and another man came into the room.
“They all left,” he told Ricci.
“Good,” Ricci said, nodding to his men. They let Catalina go, and she ran right into my arms. I looked at the older man.
“Leave, Mikhail. Don’t look for me again. Understand?”
He knew where my mother was. Henry was right. But Ricci wasn’t going to give up that information. I knew he could tell from the look in my eyes that I wasn’t done with him. But the way Catalina clung to me was a stark reminder that she took priority.
I nodded at Damien, and he let Ricci go. We walked out of there.
I passed one of the men who had dared lay his filthy paw on Catalina.
I handed her over to Nikolay and pulled my fist back, hitting him in the nose. He let out a small scream and fell backward, blood squirting everywhere, and still, that did nothing to stave off the anger I could feel boiling in my blood.
A car waited for us outside the property. Catalina got in first, followed by Nikolay and Damien before I got in.
Catalina came to me at once. The feel of her solid form worked to take away some of the sting.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly into my chest.
I cupped the back of her head. “Shh, it’s okay, kotyonok. There is nothing you have to be sorry for.”
She continued as if she didn’t hear me. “They cornered me in the bathroom. They had a gun pointed to my head, and Maxim and Leo couldn’t do anything.”
“I know, baby. I know. It’s okay.”