“I’ll miss you,” I told her, emotion in my voice. After my parents died, I tried to make it a point to let Irina know that I cared for her. The words didn’t come easy sometimes, but I felt like my sister knew she could always count on me to have her back.
She walked to the door, turning back to blow me a kiss. “Get some sleep, brother. You look like death.”
Chuckling, I watched as she left the room, shutting the door behind her. My sister was right. It was time for me to tell Emma how much she meant to me, no matter how uncomfortable it might be for me in the end. She had been through shit because of me, but I wanted her to remain my wife. I wanted her to know that she deserved to be by my side, to become the woman that I knew she could be. I wanted her love, her trust, everything.
I wanted her to be the mother of my children.
I let out a low breath before draining the rest of the vodka and leaving the rest of the food untouched for now. I needed fucking sleep if I was thinking about kids and shit. To have a family meant I had more to protect, but the thought of Emma swelling with our kid brought an altogether different emotion inside me.
I stood, and my phone buzzed again, the name on the screen causing me to answer it. “What?”
“You need some fucking sleep, cousin,” Anatoly drawled.
“Then why the fuck are you bothering me?” I asked hotly, the alcohol now pleasantly buzzing my empty stomach.
“I found him.”
I froze. “You found the old man?”
“No,” Anatoly stated. “I found the asshole biker. I thought you would want to be here when we interrogate him.”
Shit. That would mean I would have to leave the mansion again.
And Emma. “Yeah, I will be there.”
“It’s only an hour away,” Anatoly said, likely hearing the indecision in my voice. “You will be back before you know it.”
“Send me the coordinates,” I stated as I walked toward the shower. “And give me two hours.”
“You got it.”
***
Two hours later, I walked into the biker bar that Anatoly had sent me to, flanked by two guards. All eyes were on me as I passed through the space, ignoring those that were starting to get riled up behind me. Anatoly pushed away from the wall he had been leaned on, and we approached the table in question, seeing the wide-eyed gaze of the biker I had called mere days ago. “Dom,” he stated, visibly swallowing. “What brings you here?”
I glared at the man next to him until he moved out of his seat, sliding into the chair. “You see, I have a problem, and you are going to help me identify if I should kill you or someone else.”
He held up his hands. “I did what you wanted. I found your woman for you.”
I tapped my finger against my arm. “That’s not what I am talking about. There’s been a…what would you say…an injustice against someone that I was protecting, and I want to know where he is.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
I grabbed the front of his leather vest, moving both of us forward until I had him pressed up against the wall. A commotion started around me, but I didn’t care, watching as the man started to sweat. “Where is he?”
“Who?”
“You know who I am talking about,” I growled, reaching in my pocket and pulling out a knife. It wasn’t a big one, but as I flipped open the blade, the biker started to make sounds in his throat. He knew what I was capable of. I brought it up to his cheek, allowing him to feel the cold of the blade pressed against his skin. “Tell me where he is.”
“I don’t know!” he cried out. “I swear it, boss! I wouldn’t cross you. I would be a dead man if I did so.”
“That is one thing we agree on,” I told him, sliding the blade down his cheek, barely hard enough to draw a thin line of blood on his skin. “Your name was one that was given to me that had him. Tell me why I should believe you.”
“I can get him for you!” the biker shouted, his face mottled red. “I can. I swear it! Just give me a few days and we can consider our favors paid. Please.”
I wanted to put my knife in his gut and walk away, but I held back. If he didn’t deliver, I could still kill him. “Four days,” I told him before releasing my grip on him and forcing him to sag against the wall. “Four days, and then I will come after you. And this time, you will not take another breath.”
“Thank you,” he wheezed. “Thank you, boss.”
I turned away from him and headed outside, into the cold air, where Anatoly joined me by the car. “You want me to burn this shithole down?”
I shook my head, my hand on the door. “No. Let’s see if he can come through.”
“You look like shit, boss.”
I grinned at my cousin as I opened the door. “Yeah, I know. So do you. Are you gaining weight?”
Anatoly grinned back, patting his stomach. “Maybe. I told you I was eating good.”
I rolled my eyes as I slipped inside the car. “It’s been one fucking day, Anatoly. Get a fucking grip.”
His laughter trailed me, and I shut the door, leaning my head against the seat. Fuck me, I felt like shit.
Now that this was out of the way, I could focus on how the hell I was going to tell Emma about how I felt. I had never done something like this before, opening myself up to care for another.
I just hoped it didn’t backfire on me. I really didn’t. I wanted to give Emma the world and was ready to make her my wife in all aspects. She would be a boss’ wife, with her own measure of power as part of the bratva. She had no idea what awaited her as my wife, but I wanted it to be her choice now. I had already forced her into marriage. This time it was going to be her decision.
A thought crossed my mind and I grinned as the car took me toward home. Maybe I could show her a side of me she hadn’t seen yet, a side that could bring her closer to me in the end.
But first, if I didn’t get any fucking sleep, I would be like a walking dead man.
It was the wee hours of the morning before I arrived home, nodding at Vincent as I climbed the stairs. “Everything good?”
“Everything’s good, boss,” he responded. “No issues.”
Code word for Emma being good for us, for once. I paused at her closed door, my hand itching to grasp the knob and open it, just for a glimpse.
I didn’t, though, letting her have her space, and continued on to my suite, falling into my bed a moment later. I know I had told Emma that I slept in the nude, but fuck, I was too tired to take my clothes off.