Retribution (16 page)

Ryan remained unaffected.
Peter was in a rage because he was bested again. This man had no
love in his heart so he knew it wasn’t over concern for his dead
girlfriend. He didn’t even bother asking about Katya first. That
was the major indication. Ryan wouldn’t give a shit about anything
else if it was his daughter.

Peter suddenly turned his
anger back to Ivan. “He’s right though. She was
yours
.”

Ivan bowed his
head.

Well, obviously he was
already ripped to shreds over this. Ryan felt some
satisfaction.

Peter turned back to Ryan.
“Best damn lay I had in a month. Christ, she’ll be hard to
replace.”

Soulless
bastard
, Ryan thought.

“How is she?” Peter finally
asked, referring to his daughter.

Apparently the rant was
over with and
now
he wants to know about Katya. “A little cut up and
scared.”

He shook his head and
turned away picking up an envelope off the desk. “I got another
one. No body pieces this time, just a note.” He turned and gave it
to Ryan.

Ryan pulled out the note
and read it.

Peter waited, but shifted
about impatiently. “Well?”

When he was done, he looked
up at him. “It says that Porsha was a warning. Apparently she was
the target after all.”

Ivan actually looked
relieved. It alleviated his guilt a little, maybe this couldn’t be
prevented.

“What? Why?”

“It doesn’t say.” It didn’t
make sense either. Why would they kill someone not related to the
family? First the fingers that weren’t Anna’s, then this. Something
isn’t adding up.

“You are sleeping with
her.”

Both Ryan and Peter snapped
their heads in Ivan’s direction.

“That’s ridiculous.” Ryan
refused to play into Ivan’s Jealousy.

“She’s taken with you. I’ve
seen the way she looks at you.”

“You and I are going to
have a serious disagreement,” Ryan said steadily. There was a
definite challenge in his grey eyes.

“Are you threatening me?
You son of a—”

Peter surprised Ivan by
laughing, “You’re an idiot.”

Ivan looked
confused.

“Your jealousy is showing.
You’ve been drooling over her since she turned sixteen. I’m not a
fool Ivan, she will never accept you so I never worried, but it
keeps you loyal.”

Ivan actually flushed
bright red and cleared his throat.

A sardonic smile pulled at
Ryan’s mouth.

“Get out, both of you.”
Peter waved an arm again and walked over to a crystal decanter to
pour himself a drink.

“I’m not fooled by you
Casey,” Ivan said before they parted ways outside Peter’s
office.

You could be fooled by a
simple addition question
, Ryan thought
bemusedly.

Ryan went back up the
stairs and relieved the man standing outside. He went in and saw
that Katya’s room was dark. She looked to be sleeping. The bath
helped after all. He went back to his room removed his guns,
stripped off his shirt and pants, and pulled on a pair of light
cotton pajama bottoms.

Taking a seat in a chair he
pulled out his phone and messaged his superior. He didn’t need him
at the police station with the detective because he did nothing
wrong, but he promised Ned he’d stay in contact.

He set his phone down on a
side table and rubbed his forehead with his fingers. He could have
lost her today, and he was still no closer to finding his brother’s
killer. Georgy wouldn’t like this. She was an innocent, and since
when did he risk an innocent’s life?

“Ryan?”

He looked up and saw her
standing in the doorway. She was so splendidly beautiful that he
physically felt his willpower cracking from just her standing
there. “Go back to bed. You need rest.”

“So do you.”

He shook his head. “I’m
fine on a few hours.”

She approached him. She was
wearing a light purple satin nightgown that came to mid-thigh with
a matching robe. One edge of the robe slipped off her shoulder
showing a spaghetti strap and bare skin.

Apparently this was her
favorite night attire. He couldn’t blame her. The material would
have been light and cool on her skin.

She walked toward him with
the fluid grace of liquid sensuality. His eyes went down her body
and back up to meet her eyes. Her hair was unbound and framed her
lovely face halting just above her breasts. It did nothing for his
self-discipline. She was beautiful.

She knelt down beside the
chair and took his hand. “You look troubled too. Is it because of
Porsha?”

“No.” He wouldn’t take the
blame for that. It was going to happen whether he was there or not.
He pulled his hand out of her grip. To his surprise she looked
amused not offended.

“Me?”

He never said
anything.

“You saved my life
though.”

“In all honesty, they
weren’t after you Katya.”

She looked surprised. “How
do you know that?”

“I just do.” Regardless, a
stray bullet could have still killed her if he didn’t get her to
safety.

She looked away for a
moment in thought. “That doesn’t make sense. Why would someone want
to kill Porsha? She meant nothing to my father. She wasn’t wealthy,
or someone important.” she bit her lip. “It’s because of my
father’s dirty business, isn’t it?”

“You’ll have to ask him
that.”

“I’m not asking that man a
darn thing.” She stood up and stared down at him. “I hate him with
everything I have.”

“It does no good to harbor
hatred like that.” Look who was calling the kettle black. He was no
different. He studied her for a moment. She was very close to
tears. One horrible event after another just kept happening to her
and she didn’t deserve any of it. He stood up and pulled her
against him. What the hell was he doing? She was dangerously close,
and he was encouraging it. Yet, he felt the need to envelop her and
protect her after today. As he thought before, she was innocent in
all of this. He knew that and his conscience was killing him. This
was such a mistake!

She laid her head on his
chest. His body, as usual, warm and hard. “I’ll be okay
Ryan.”

He turned his nose into her
hair and closed his eyes to her scent. Roses, again. “I know you
will.”

“I believe you, you know.
That it wasn’t my fault.”

“Good.”

“I just feel terrible for
the things I’ve said to her.”

“We are only human. Let it
go.”

“I want to, it’s just
hard.” She lifted her head and looked at him. “Are we going to keep
pretending that we don’t notice what passes between us?”

A smile pulled at the
corner of his mouth while he met her eyes. His hand came up and
caressed her cheek. “There’s nothing.”

She pursed her lips into a
thin line and shook her head as her hand went to his chest. “I can
hear and feel your heartbeat. It’s fast like mine.” She took his
and put it on her own chest between her breasts. “Tell me you don’t
feel that.”

He pulled his hand away and
released her stepping back.

“Ryan?”

He shook his head, turned
away and ran his fingers through his hair. “Go back to bed,
Kat.”

“Are you seriously turning
me away?”

“I am.” He didn’t turn
around.

“Ryan—you are lying to
yourself! You can’t even face me and tell me that.” Yes, she was
naïve, but she also knew what she looked like to the opposite sex,
and had her experiences, to a degree, with men. She was going to
trust her instincts despite her insecurities. He
was
attracted to her.
That embrace was genuine—caring.

“To bed Kat.” His voice was
even, commanding.

“You have to
know—you
have
to
know that I’m not one of those women that throw themselves at you!
I’m not like that.” She wasn’t! She’d seen how women were around
him and he’d refused all of them. She couldn’t face being put in
that same category. She meant something more. Didn’t
she?

“Kat—”

“I have morals, and pride.”
Rejection wasn’t easy for her. She was close to tears for a
different reason—shame. She put it all out there and was getting
rejected.

“I know.”

“I don’t just walk around
picking up men!”

“I figured that out after
five minutes of meeting you.” He finally faced her. “I’ve told you
before—”

“You’re an ass if you think
that’s working on me. A stupid ass.” She turned on her heel and
left, shutting the door between them.

Fuck
. He lowered his face in his palm.

Kat wouldn’t go to him
tonight if she had the night terrors. She’d be strong and deal with
them on her own. She didn’t need him for anything. If he wanted to
be an employee, she was going to treat him like one. She’d never
put her heart on her sleeve like that, and he rejected her. Tears
rolled down her cheeks. It would be a cold day in hell before she
did that again.

***

The next morning, Peter was
at breakfast and so were several of his men, including Ivan. He
could feel an icy chill from Katya who sat beside him. Well, he
couldn’t really blame her. Rejection wasn’t easy for a woman, and
she was as stubborn and proud as a mule. It would hit her a little
harder.

“I want you on this case
with Ivan,” Peter said out of the blue staring pointedly at
Ryan.

“What case?” Katya
asked.

She was ignored by her
father. “I want these people caught. The ones that killed
Porsha.”

“That wasn’t the condition
of my hire,” Ryan reminded him evenly.

“What case? Who killed
Porsha?” Katya repeated. Her eyes went around the table, trying to
make sense of this. When she looked at Ryan, she could see the
muscle in his jaw bulge. He was angry, but his expression remained
neutral. She knew he didn’t like being told what to do either, but
unlike him, she wasn’t going to hold back.

“I’m changing that
condition,” Peter said abruptly setting his eyes on his daughter
finally acknowledging her, but not her question. “You are now
homebound.”

Her expression altered to
rage. “You hired Mr. Casey for me because he’s the
best.”

“That’s why I need him with
my men. These dum-dums have uncovered nothing.” The men shifted
uncomfortably in their seats and exchanged guilty
glances.

“Do I mean that little to
you?” she further argued. “He saved my life, and now you want to
take him to play tag team with murderers? Do you honestly
think
that’s the best
use of his skills?”

“Katya, you will do as
you’re told. If you don’t leave this house, we don’t have a
problem.”

“That’s where you are
wrong!
You
are a
problem, and it’s because of you Anna is dead! You also forget that
you actually can’t tell me anything. I’m an adult and do
not
need your
permission,” she protested vehemently. “The only reason I’m here
and nowhere else is because of Anna, what they did to Anna!” She
hated to admit that she needed the protection that her father could
provide.

Ryan saw that Peter’s face
swelled up in anger, then turn blotchy red. It might have been
amusing to him in any other setting, but he was unsure of how he
was going to deal with his daughter’s defiance. He watched the
older man’s body language carefully for some sort of indication he
was going to explode. He was certain that if it was anyone else,
their heart wouldn’t still be beating.
If
the man made one move toward her, he’d get between them. He was
also a little surprised at Katya’s rebelliousness, but couldn’t
have been more impressed that she stuck up for herself. It wasn’t
easy to stand up to a murderous tyrant. It probably had something
to do with a carryover from the night before. He knew that any
woman wouldn’t take rejection well, and Kat had a lot of pride and
he’d hurt her.

“You will not speak to me
like this in my house Katya!” Peter jutted his fork in her
direction “Do you want to end up like Porsha, like
Anna?”

“It’s a hell of a lot
better than being trapped here like a chained dog!” she shouted at
him.

He half rose out of his
chair, his face turning scarlet. “I’ll have you whipped and tied to
your fucking bed, you ungrateful bitch! You will listen.” He nodded
to one of his men. “Take her to her room until she calms down.
Carry her if you have to.”

The man immediately got to
his feet and came around the table.

“If you touch her, I’ll
break your arm.” Ryan said calmly while turning his head slowly and
looking up at the man now standing behind her. He shot Peter an
unsure look, his hand hovering over Katya’s shoulder.