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I resist the urge to let my lips curl into a smile.
“Oh?”
She nods with a small smirk. “Indeed, we have. The first was whether we were ready to bring new blood…so to speak…to the Table.”
I feel Taylor’s hand grip mine in excitement.
“And I’m pleased to inform you that you, Drazen, have been voted to a chair at the Iron Table, by unanimous vote.”
This time, I do allow myself a grin.
“Unanimous with one abstention,” Nikolai Antonov grunts.
“Yes…which brings me to the second vote we held. Also unanimous.” Yelizaveta arches a silver brow as her eyes stab across the table into mine. “We are in agreement that Vadik Belov has no place any longer at our Table. Whatever business he had with you, good or bad, is between the two of you. But there’s an honor code that comes with sitting at the Iron Table. The respect our Table commands from every Bratva family on the planet depends on following that code.” Her eyes narrow. “Inviting someone to your home as a guest, and then drugging and torturing them does not fit with that code.”
“Nor does backstabbing,” Kir hisses, glancing at Yelizaveta who nods for him to continue. “On the same night that Vadik attacked you two, there were assaults on several assets belonging to various members of this Table. I had a warehouse raided by fake cops in Paris. Pavel”…he indicates the head of the Nikitin family…“had his penthouse in Slovenia attacked by a rocket-propelled explosive.”
Pavel’s eyes narrow darkly. “My daughter was staying there at the time. It is a miracle she survived.”
Jesus.
“In our investigation into your reports of what occurred at Vadik’s home, we discovered evidence that he was behind all these other attacks,” Kir continues. “As such, he’s been excommunicated from this Table. Furthermore,” he growls, leveling a cold smile my way, “you have not only our complete endorsement to do what you will to Vadik and the Belov organization…” His brow cocks. “You have our aid, should you need or wish it.”
A smile creeps over my face as my fingers tighten with Taylor’s. I bow my head respectfully to them all.
“You have my gratitude, all of you,” I growl. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I need any assistance with dealing with him.”
But I won’t. I’ll be dealing with Vadik personally.
Very, very personally.
With my bare hands…and perhaps a rusty fork.
“And you,” Yelizaveta says quietly, turning on Taylor. “You have our thanks for helping your husband get out of that house alive. I hear it was you who found him, cut him down, and dragged him out of the house before calling for help.”
Taylor smiles, nodding. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.” Then I see her brow furrow.
“Something you’d like to add?” Yelizaveta asks.
“Actually, yes.” Taylor frowns. “I was obviously severely under the influence of what Vadik slipped us. But it really did appear that there’d been a battle of some kind at the house when I got out of the room where I was being held. There was a lot of blood, and the bodies of Vadik’s men.” She takes a breath. “When you were investigating at the house, did you find anything that would lead to answers about what happened?”
“That, I’m afraid,” Kir mutters, “is still a mystery. But we believe whatever happened is the reason Vadik himself took flight before you both were able to get free.”
“All the more reason to find him, then,” I growl. “I’ll add it to the list of questions I have for him before I cut his tongue out and feed it to him.”
I invite them all to stay for dinner before my helicopter takes them back to their respective planes at the airfield on Elba. After they’re gone, I officially tell Milos to release the proverbial hounds to find that slimy fuck Vadik.
“Alive, Milos,” I growl.
“I’ll do my best,” he hisses darkly before he leaves the island as well.
It’s late by the time Taylor and I are alone just the two of us. Out on the veranda giving off my—our—room, I join her on the loveseat overlooking the ocean. She giggles, squealing as I haul her into my lap.
“I have something for you.”
Her brows shoot up. “Oh?”
I nod. My hand slips into my pocket, pulling out the folded check and handing it to her.
