I don’t think she’s changed him. I think maybe Bohdan is just becoming who he was always meant to be.
There’s a softer side to him than the rest of us. Dasha has brought it out.
The door to the house Zoey and Vasily are staying in opens, and a small form comes out. I grin. Esme is the cutest. If my daughter has her smarts and zest for life, I’ll be a happy man.
She bends over and looks into the trough I’ve had planted for her. She told me she wanted to be a soldier, so I’m trying to redirect her interests into other things. Plants seemed safe. Call me old-fashioned, but women shouldn’t be in war zones, and I don’t care if that makes me politically incorrect.
Zoey comes outside holding something out to Esme. I think it’s a cardigan or a coat. I can’t tell from this distance. Esme goes to her mum and lets her put the garment on.
I don’t hate Zoey anymore. The more I see her with her daughter, and the more time I spend with my own daughter, the more I had to admit, I would’ve done the same thing.
I don’t hate her, but she still owes us a debt, and Vasily, the fucker, can be the one to pay it off by taking the first job with me.
Damen has come through with intel on the second-in-command of the Albanian gang. He left Paris straight after the hit on Elio, and now he’s residing in Berlin with his next in line. They’re setting up brothels in Germany, taking advantage of the lax laws. It makes me fume.
I’m as libertarian as they come. Want to smoke crack? Have at it. Want to watch porn until your dick falls off? Knock yourself out. Prostitution, though? Ever since I rescued Justina and found out just how many women in those dingy brothels were trafficked, it doesn’t sit right with me. I would close them all.
I can’t close them all, but I can close the ones The Starz Allianz are trying to open in Germany, and then I’ll kill the two fuckers doing it as they sleep.
After Germany we’ll probably be heading to England to hit the Russian head of the organization there. With help from Allyov.
I’m nervous.
Not about the plan. Not about the killing. No, I’m nervous about telling my wife.
I love Violet with the power of a thousand burning suns, and I made her a promise. I’m about to break it, and in doing so, I’m genuinely concerned I’ll damage our marriage.
I’ll be away, a lot, and putting myself in danger, getting right back into the murky world where we first found one another.
I glance up as the woman herself comes out of the house. She’s smiling at me, and it’s a secretive smile. A happy, giddy smile.
“Why are you grinning like the Cheshire Cat?” I ask her.
“I think all this talk with Cassie about being pregnant must make it catching or something,” she says.
“What?” Is she pregnant? “Are you…”
“No.” She laughs. “It would be too soon, but I want to be. I want us to have another baby. Maybe next year.” She smiles at me. “Do you?”
I take her hand in mine. “Baby, there’s nothing I want more.”
I pull her onto my knee. I should tell her now, but I can’t. I need this moment with her, holding her, loving her, before I go and possibly blow it all to hell.
“Love you,” I say to her.
“Love you too,” she replies.
I hope she loves me enough to understand why I have to do what I’m about to do.
I hope my marriage can survive what’s coming because without her I’m nothing.
I hold her tightly, and I do something I haven’t done in a long time. I send up a prayer.
MORE BOOKS BY SR JONES
RAW HEROES SERIES
RAW
HARD
FAST
DEEP
RAW HEROES BOX SET
BRATVA VOWS SERIES
THE TRAP
THE GIFT
THE HIT
MAFIA VOWS SERIES
THE CONTRACT
THE DEBT
THE PROMISE
THE PLEDGE
THE BETRAYAL
BRATVA BLOOD SERIES
THE SOLDIER
THE KING
THE WAR
THE GOD