She raised her chin, and Alonzo could have told his brother that wasn’t a good sign. “Who will keep you and Gorya and Sevastyan safe, Timur? You count. All of you do. I’m not willin’ to lose any of you. Do you have to do this, Fyodor?”

Love for her nearly overwhelmed him. She could bring him to his knees. She didn’t ask him again what he was doing, nor did she protest. Clearly she was worried for them and knew it was something big. She also had to assume it was something illegal.

“Solnyshko moyo, I can tell you this much. Emilio Bassini is shipping guns overseas disguised as furniture. If we don’t stop that shipment, those guns could be in the hands of terrorists. He’s a major player in gunrunning. We haven’t figured out where his source is yet, but we will.” He gave her that much. The truth. She needed to know what she was facing living with him.

She took a breath, comprehension on her face. “All of you are in on this. Now Jake and Drake make sense. They didn’t before.”

“I’ll never be entirely clean, Evangeline. Never. We’ll have to go to our graves with others believing we’re dirty, and they’ll be right. We’ll never be out of danger from either side. That’s what I’ve dragged you into.”

She didn’t hesitate, but then she never did. “I love you, Fyodor. All of you. Your crazy brother and cousins as well. I’m with you one hundred percent. Just be safe. All of you come home. Every single one of you.”

He hooked his palm at the nape of her neck, dragged her to him and kissed her hard. It would have to be enough to sustain him until he got back safely.

*   *   *

“ARE you ready to go, Evangeline?” Ted Freemont called. “Get a move on.”

“Warm up the car, it’s freezin’,” she called back. “I’m lookin’ for my gloves. I’ll be right out.” She wasn’t about to tell him she’d misplaced the keys to the bakery again. It was something she’d done more than once, and they had warned her over and over to hang them up on the key rack.

“You’re nuts, woman. It isn’t freezing. It’s warm this morning,” Ted called back. “I’ll have Max bring the car around to the front.”

“You know I could drive my own car. It’s goin’ to have problems sittin’ in that garage.”

“Boss got rid of that death trap a while ago.”

Evangeline’s head snapped around as she caught up the keys to the bakery. “He did what?” It would be just like him to get rid of her car and not say a word to her. “He’d better not have.”