Page 26 of Be My Vengeance

“Cute.” Maksim opened the door and got out.

“Careful now,” Danny said once we both exited the vehicle. “There are a lot of bears here.”

“Then we better get inside.” Maksim winked and walked up the front steps.

I needed to get Danny alone and figure out what the fuck he had planned, because if that piece of shit touched me, I’d rip off his hands and make him choke on them.

Once inside Danny moved to the kitchen. “Drink?”

“What do you have?” Maksim followed after him, and I tried to signal to Danny that I wanted to talk to him.

“Beer, wine, and scotch.”

Maksim grabbed the wine. “This will do.”

“Great, I’ll pop it open. If you’d like, you can use the restroom. It’s down the hall, third door on the left.” Danny smiled as he pulled three glasses off the shelf.

“Oh, yes, please. I need to get that beefy idiot out of my mouth.”

Danny chuckled. “Spare toothbrushes should be in there.”

“Be right back.”

Once I heard the bathroom door shut, I rounded on Danny. “What in the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Seizing an opportunity.”

My eyes widened. “When I do shit like this, I’m told I’m being a liability, acting crazy. When you do it, we’re calling it opportunistic?”

He huffed. “I’m going to put a little something in his wine, and he’ll be asleep within ten minutes.”

“And what happens after that? Because Gideon only wanted us observing and finding out what Maksim was up to.”

“That’s what I’m doing, Alex. He’s here, and this is our chance to get information from the pakhan’s son.”

It was tempting. It was also something I’d do and then get raked over the coals for. “You gotta tell Gideon.”

“I will.” He poured the wine and in one of the glasses sprinkled a white powder. “I’m doing this for you, Alex. It’s against everything I’d normally do, but I thought if it was in a controlled setting⁠—”

“You could monitor me?” My voice rose slightly, so I took a breath to calm down. “And what happens after we’re done talking to him?”

“When we’re done questioning him, we’ll let Gideon know what we have and ask him how to proceed.”

I hung my head. “He’s going to kill us both.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Danny

This was who Alex and I were to each other. He’d fight me but support me, and I’d do the same for him. I didn’t want him killing himself, and the way he was going about eliminating the Bratva, he was going to do just that. I was aware that I was being stupid, but it was controlled. Would Gideon rip me a new one? For sure. But if it meant giving this to Alex, it would be worth it.

I handed Alex his wine and I took mine, leaving the drugged one on the counter. When Maksim returned, he helped himself, taking a huge gulp.

“Oh, that’s good.”

“How about we take this into the living room?” I offered.

“Yes, I definitely want to get more…comfortable.” Maksim slid his hand across my pec, and I swore I heard Alex growl. I was probably just hearing things.