Page 61 of Daddy Brigadier

“So, you and the kidnapper are serious?” he asks, casually holding his cigar, barely meeting my eyes as he takes a puff.

“I asked her to move in with me,” I inform him. “I haven’t told Andrei yet.”

Nikolai bursts into laughter. “Guess I shouldn’t kill her after all.” Once she rescued us from the Italian mob, I knew Nikolai would back off—he clearly saw she wasn’t a threat.

I shrug. “I prefer her pretty face to stay the way it is.”

“I swear I’ve seen her before,” he muses, scrunching his nose in thought. “She reminds me of someone, but I can’t quite place it.”

I’ve been thinking the same thing.

“I think I love her,” I confess.

“Fuck! Valentin, you’re in trouble.”

“No more than you,” I snort, recalling his own romance with a notorious assassin.

“Who knew men like us could fall in love?” Nikolai laughs, still puffing on his cigar, an amused grin stretching across his face.

“Apparently, Andrei and Dmitri,” I remind him, thinking back to when they both fell in love, we vowed that it would never be us.

Nikolai leans in and whispers, “If she breaks your heart, I’ll kill her then.”

“Thanks,” I reply, reaching out for a fist bump.

“Brigadier. Colonel.” Chase bursts into the room, sweat streaming down his forehead as fear grips him tightly. Reflecting on it now, I recall that the last time we were here, Nikolai pressed a gun to his head. Lucky for Chase, the chamber was empty.

I rise from my seat, adjusting my suit jacket and shaking out my leg to smooth my slacks. “This better be worth the wait,” I growl, furrowing my brow to let Chase know I’m not pleased with the delay.

“You’ll see, it was worth the wait,” he says, raising a finger and gesturing for us to follow.

We move down the hall, passing several closed doors leading to playrooms designed for indulgence. Behind one of those doors lies a hidden room, and as it swings open, we find a man, bloodied and restrained to a metal chair, with plastic sheeting spread out on the floor to catch the blood that drips from his face.

“Why does he look so familiar?” I ask, stepping closer, trying to place where I’ve seen this man before.

“He’s one of Petrov’s top men,” a voice interjects from behind me. I spin around, caught off guard.

“Why shouldn’t I put you in the chair next?” I challenge the boy, narrowing my eyes at him. Nyx Petrov, Ivan’s stepson, leans against the wall, his knuckles smeared with blood.

“Because I’m loyal to the Coalition,” he answers, and something in his voice resonates with me. I know Nyx has long despised Ivan, as he spent much of his childhood at my home with Daniel. He holds Ivan responsible for his mother’s overdose, a tragedy wrapped in whispers. Though there was noproof, Ivan wasted no time marrying his mistress and starting a new family, leaving Nyx feeling abandoned.

“Is that so?” I snort, spreading my arms and daring him to try to cross me.

Nikolai glances over at me before marching toward the man in the metal chair, his fist clenched tightly at his side. I give a brief nod, and I notice something dangerous flash in his eyes just before he slams his fist into Petrov’s man’s forehead.

“Where is Petrov?” I ask the man, blood gushing from his forehead.

Honestly, I shouldn’t even have to ask. The man knows who I am and what we will do to him if he doesn’t talk.

“I don’t know, Valentin,” he answers. My knuckles cross his jaw, and a crack resonates across the room.

Who does he think he is to address me by my first name? “Valentin?” I ask him.

“I’m sorry, Brigadier,” he says, voice quiet.

By now, Lev has joined us, and he hands me a cloth to clean the blood of this disgusting scumbag off my hands. Usually, I leave the questioning to Lev, but this time, it’s personal. I protect what’s mine.

I suck in a sharp breath through my teeth and press again. “Where is Petrov?”