“No. No. No,” Cara said. “You’re lying. You’re bluffing. It’s all that whore’s fault.” She started to cry, but the tears never made an appearance.

Ivan crouched down to be on her level. “You want to tell me what is going on?”

Cara went silent. “You think I don’t know about her? You think I didn’t know when you changed our plans?”

Ivan’s jaw clenched.

“You’re never going to be happy with her. I won’t allow it. I will hunt you down, and I will kill you,” Cara said. “You and Slavik, you’re both mine, and you gave him away. It was supposed to be us three against the world.”

“Cara, you had the job you wanted. You had everything you wanted. I offered you more power and you refused.”

I’d been there when Ivan had told her to take any city or cities as her own. She’d told him no. All she wanted was her own brothel. To control men. To help him from the ground. We’d always accepted that. I put as much protection on her as Ivan did.

We grew up together. Our lives were bound with one another, but Cara, she wasn’t the same person.

“I know what you have to do,” Cara said. “Do it. You think I won’t do it again? Next time, I’ll be better. Next time I’ll make sure every single person you love is dead long before I put a bullet in your head. I’ll make you all suffer. This … this will be a party in comparison.”

Ivan pulled out his gun as Cara continued to rant, pressed the muzzle against her head, and pulled the trigger. I let her go.

Her corpse lay on the ground.

I looked at Ivan for a split second before I went to my woman. Aurora collapsed against me with a sob. Her body shook in my arms, and I ran my hands all over her, trying to make sure she was okay. To find any sign that she was hurt.

“She was crazy,” Aurora said. “You were going to kill me.”

I cupped her face. “No. I was never going to kill you. I’ve seen how Cara is, and I knew she’d hurt you. She would have killed you, Aurora. All I did was get her away from you.”

I slammed my lips down on her lips, not caring about the men who surrounded us. They were already following Ivan’s orders, dealing with the body and the cleanup. All the information Cara had gathered would be destroyed. Breaking the kiss, I stared into my woman’s eyes. “I love you.” I spoke the words slowly so she wouldn’t have any room for doubt.

The amazement on her face made me laugh. “What?”

“I’m in love with you.” I could have lost her. One wrong move today and she … no, there was no way I’d let it happen. I refused to even think of losing her. “I will never hurt you, Aurora. Never. You are my fucking life, and not just because of the baby.”