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I shake Niko’s hand. “Fatherhood looks good on you.”
“You’ve been busy, Liam.”
I nod, accepting a glass of whisky from Donovan. “But there’s still more to do. That’s why I’m here.”
“You’re not here because of Kate?” Donovan asks.
I do my best not to respond to hearing her name. She’s the past. She has to be for me to have any semblance of sanity.
“I’m here because Babichev is still breathing. That motherfucker is like smoke.”
“I figured as much.” Niko sits behind his desk. I take a seat in the chair offered while Donovan stands, leaning against the wall. He studies me in a way I don’t like. It’s as if he thinks I’m a sonofabitch. He’s right, of course.
“Any chance that’s who broke into Kate’s home?” Saying her name sends the usual stab into my heart. I’ve come to realize that I’ll always have a hole there. It’s fucking hard to learn to live with.
“Anything is possible,” Donovan says. “How good is he at fucking with surveillance?”
“As good as any of us, I imagine.”
“But why now? It’s been four months. You haven’t had contact with her. She’s living a quiet life now. It doesn’t make sense,” Niko says.
“Cops think it was a glitch in the system. Or maybe the wind. There was no sign that anyone was in the home. Our men haven’t seen anything. Could be nothing,” Donovan adds.
I nod. “My intel says Babichev is heading north, to Canada. But he’s a ghost. I don’t want to track him north only to find out he’s here.”
“Can’t blame you for that,” Niko says.
“You know the answer is to accept that you love her and?—”
I shoot Donovan a death glare.
“He’s right.” Niko earns a glare as well.
“Even if that were true, which it’s not, she doesn’t want to live in our world. And I can’t leave it any more than you can, so shut the fuck up about it.”
“Liar,” Donovan says under his breath.
I scowl at him.
“Look, I get it, you want her to live a happy, normal life, but don’t pretend that it’s all a matter of duty that you’ve got a hard-on for her safety. Face it, Liam, you love her.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I sound like a petulant child. “What matters is that Babichev dies. Are you going to help me or not?”
“We’re going to help,” Niko says with a warning glance at Donovan.
Niko’s door opens and Lucy strides in. “I heard you were here.”
I stand, buttoning my coat. “I’m heading out. I’ll be at the casino for the day, so?—”
“What is wrong with you?” Lucy gets in my face. I look to Donovan to control his wife, but he smirks.
“You broke her heart, you fucker.” She pokes a nail into my chest.
I grip her wrist, pushing it away. Donovan straightens from the wall he was leaning on. This meeting is going to hell. I need their help, but right now, all I’m earning is a potential beat down by Donovan.
“You think I had a choice?” I say, releasing her.
“Of course you had a choice. We all have choices. Niko had a choice to love or let Elena go. Elena had a choice to leave or stay with Niko. I had a choice to love Donovan. Donovan had a choice?—”
