Chapter 14

Kris was roused from sleep the next morning as he had been the night after their first date, with Raisa licking and kissing down his neck and across his chest. He grabbed her and pinned her to the bed, returning the favor, only starting lower than she had ended. When they were both satisfied and happy, he pulled her up and kissed her. “Is this the way it’s going to be every morning, my love? You waking me with kisses and having your way with me?”

She grinned at him with lidded eyes. “For as long as I can, I think it will.”

He frowned. “What does that mean?”

She bit her lip, and a tear leaked from her eye. “I came so close yesterday to being hauled away and forced into Gregori’s bed. I know you are doing everything you can to keep me safe, but we have to be realistic; eventually he will get me. I told you, everyone has tried to tell you. Gregori always gets what he wants. I just want to enjoy as much time with you as I can.”

Kris reached over and hit a button on the control panel on his nightstand and a television lowered from the ceiling. Reaching into the drawer, he pulled out a remote and turned on the local news. After the weather report, a story started and Kris pointed at the tv.

“In local news, agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency today told of a late night raid at three drug staging areas for the crime family known as the Syndicate. According to our source in the DEA, over twenty-million dollars’ worth of illegal drugs were confiscated and thirty mid-level members of the Syndicate were taken into custody. Because of the amount of drugs and the weapons found at each scene, they are being held at county lock-up without bail pending trial. It is a great day for the citizens of our fair city and a blow to suspected Syndicate leader Gregori Volkov.”

Kris turned off the television before turning to Raisa. “There were actually thirty-three gangsters caught last night. Only I dropped three of them at Volkov’s back door with a warning that as long as he has your restaurant and is pursuing you, more reports like this will appear on the news.”

Raisa looked at him and he tried not to laugh at the shock on her face. “That was you? You took out three of his drug houses last night? When? And why would the DEA take credit for the busts?”

Kris nodded, “Yes, after you went to sleep last night I went to those three buildings and secured the middlemen for the DEA, then I called them and they raided the places and hauled the gangsters to jail and the drugs to federal lock up. Why they take credit? I’m not law enforcement, Raisa. I don’t arrest people. Evil men who are terrorists or help fund terrorists come to my attention and I stop them from ever hurting America or Americans ever again. Plainly put, I kill them.

But I’m not allowed to kill anyone on U.S. soil, however. So in our investigation into the Syndicate, you remember I mentioned a Cartel I’d disbanded. That Cartel supplied Gregori with drugs and weapons. The money he gave them went to fund terrorist cells around the world. That makes Gregori part of a terrorist organization, and I’ve been authorized to bring his operation to an end.

I can’t kill him or anyone unless they are trying to kill me or innocent people. What I can do is disable his men and turn them over to the organizations that can arrest them. He will not be a problem for you much longer, one way or another. Either he will give up and go away, leaving you and your family alone, or I’ll end him.”

She looked at him, shocked. “They could have killed you last night. You could still be killed.”

He thought about that and then nodded. “That is a possibility, but I’ve done this for close to fifteen years now, and I’ve never failed a mission. I don’t plan on starting to now.”

“How can you say that?”

“I can say it because I have better training and better equipment than Gregori does. I am careful, which he isn’t; look at yesterday with you. Nestor and those men weren’t careful. If they had been, they’d have seen me coming. They’d have been better armed and trained. Instead, I wiped the street with them. Then last night I would have expected retaliation if I was Gregori. Instead, he figured we were hiding and trying to outlast him. Now he knows if he doesn’t stop I won’t either, but will he sit and quietly plan his next move?”

She shook her head. “No, that’s not how Gregori operates.”

“Exactly, and yet my next move is already planned.”

“It is?”

“Yes, I plan to drag you into the shower with me and have my way with you again. Then I’m going downstairs and fixing us breakfast. After that, I plan on giving you a tour of the island. This place doesn’t belong to Blackguard, Raisa. It belongs to me. It’s the place I always thought I’d move to when it was time to settle down and start a family. I want that so much and I want it with you.”

Raisa blushed, and he pulled her into his arms. “I meant what I said, my love. I’m yours and you are mine. And once this Gregori situation is settled, I plan to ask you to marry me. That’s my plan.”

She smiled and laid her head on his chest. “I like that plan. Especially that shower part.”