The smile she gave him was … breathtaking.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ivan closing in.

“Well, thank you,” Roger said, excusing himself from the guests. He put a hand on the base of Aurora’s back, and I wanted to snap it off. No one touched my wife. “It is always a pleasure doing business with beautiful women, Miss…”

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s Mrs. Ivanov, and you know, my husband would love to have a word with you as well.” She grabbed Roger’s arm and held her other out to me. “Hello, darling. I told Mr. Hampton you wanted to speak to him about investment. If you will excuse me, I see someone I must talk to.”

Like that, Aurora left just as Ivan joined us, along with Andrei, Ive, Victor, Peter, and Oleg. The six main district brigadiers, all present and all joined forces with Ivan Volkov.

The look on Roger’s face was priceless.

He turned to run, but Ivan had him, and together, we marched him out of the room, heading toward a private office where no one was around.

I checked the room, Ive and Victor covered the door, and Peter and Oleg took the windows while Ivan and Andrei dragged a struggling Roger into the room.

We wouldn’t hurt him too bad.

He hadn’t won yet, so all the power he had was nothing.

With my hand on my gun, I stood waiting.

“Mr. Volkov, I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” he said.

“Really, because for the past two weeks, you’ve been able to avoid my calls and every single chance to talk to me.” Ivan shoved him into a chair. With the doors closed, there wasn’t much we could do.

“Well, if you phone my secretary, we can arrange a meeting, and I know I’m fully scheduled.”

Ivan clucked his tongue. “Actually, I think right here and now. You see, the speeches you’re giving, they’re a little trying on my nerves. I wonder how the general public would feel to know the very man they’re putting all their faith in has a … gambling problem. The people that feed you, you want to rub into the dirt.”

I was bored as Ivan pulled out a blade. The security in this place was easily bought. It was how we got our guns through. Everyone here was on our payroll, which was why no security footage was being recorded.

After the standard five minutes of my presence, I made my excuses and headed in the direction of the security office.

As per my instructions, the guard on the door had taken a stroll.

I sat, glancing over the footage as Ivan made his threat. Within ten minutes, Ivan was leading Roger out of the room as if he’d not just threatened him. I extracted the data, wiped the system, and was heading back to the dance floor when I noticed my wife walking into the bathroom.

Following her inside, I stopped her from locking me out of a stall. The door closed, and I pressed up against her.