The Enforcer (Chicago Bratva 3)

I throw my arms in the air in frustration, demanding to know where Story went.

“Relax.” Maxim emerges from the kitchen drinking a glass of grapefruit juice. “Story’s up on the roof with Sasha.”

The roof. I shake my head, already reaching for the door.

“They’re safe up there—you think I would allow it if they weren’t? There’s no clear shot onto that roof from any direction. I promise.”

I relax my grip on the door handle slightly, debating if I should go put on pants before I storm up there, since it’s not an emergency, when I hear screams and the sound of bullets piercing metal from the rooftop.

Everyone in the penthouse flies into action. I fling open the door, running. The footsteps of my brothers pound behind me, Maxim at my neck. Pavel and Nikolai are further back, both with guns drawn. I take the stairs three at a time and throw open the door to the rooftop with a whack. Sasha and Story crouch together in the hot tub, covering their heads.

“They’re shooting at us!” Sasha yells to Maxim in Russian.

Maxim whirls, checking the buildings around us, calming the women at the same time. “It’s all right,” he tells them. “There’s no clear shot. I promise you. The places where there might be, we put up bullet-proof glass.”

I want to kill Maxim for letting Story out of his sight, but I struggle to let his words seep in. They really aren’t in danger.

Ravil and Dima arrive on the roof, also with pistols in hand. A few more shots are fired, I see Maxim was right. They hit the tall HVAC unit, bounce off the bullet-proof windows below.

“Over there.” Ravil points to the building beside us that has one of the windows removed. “Get a team in that building now,” he barks.

I can’t think of anything but getting to Story. I jog to the hot tub and pick up one of the towels lying over a chair to hold out to cover her. She’s in nothing but her panties, and I want to murder every one of my bratva brothers for glimpsing her tits, not that they’re looking.

She scrambles out and jumps on me, straddling my waist, arms around my neck, soaking my clothes with the hot water. I wrap the towel around her back, holding her tight.

Maxim pulls Sasha out of the tub and into his arms.

I’m still not breathing. Not able to stop the terror rushing through my veins.

“It’s a message,” Ravil says grimly. “Someone’s trying to scare you.”

I’m going to kill all of them. Every last person who threatened Story’s life. I turn and stalk off the roof, carrying Story like she’s the only thing keeping me alive.

“I’m okay,” she murmurs in my ear, even though she still clings to me as tightly as when she flung herself into my arms. “It just scared us. We didn’t know we couldn’t be hit.”

My swallow. I never want to put her down again. I carry her into my bedroom and pace in a circle with her.

“I’m okay,” she repeats. She leans her cheek against mine. “Your fever broke. Are you feeling better?”

I pace another circle.

“Put me down, big guy. I need to get dressed. Of course, I have no clothes to wear.”

I set her gently on the dresser and fish out a long-sleeved t-shirt for her to wear as she peels off her wet panties. She pulls the shirt over her head. The sleeves drape down over her hands, making her look like a rag doll. She laughs and takes her arms out of the sleeves, then pushes them up through the neck hole, bringing it down below her shoulders. She then ties the long sleeves under her breasts, creating the appearance of a strapless shirt-dress. It’s bohemian and beautiful. I gather her back up in my arms and kiss her forehead.

“I’m all right,” she says again. “Come on, let’s get back out there to talk about this.”

I know she’s right, but I’d rather keep her locked in my bedroom.

Indefinitely.

I’m also extremely distracted knowing she’s wearing no panties beneath my t-shirt. My hand covers her ass as we walk out together, my fingertips tracing the curve of her buttocks.

She tips her head up to me and gives me a secret smile.

Everyone’s in the living room when we get there. Sasha has also changed into her clothes, and Lucy’s standing with baby Benjamin over her shoulder, patting his little diapered butt. Her expression is tight. I’m sure the high-strung lawyer doesn’t like any of the bratva violence coming close to her child. It was the reason she tried to hide her pregnancy from Ravil in the first place. Ravil only won her over after abducting her and holding her as his prisoner.

“We were too late. The team found the office building they were shooting from, but the shooter had already escaped,” Maxim reports to me.