"You should have called me immediately. I should have been told that you were facing off with a damn cartel!"

He wasn't sure how Dimitri had found out but it didn't much matter now.

"I didn't want to put you or Benny at risk. It's the same reason I didn't call Ivan last night. Vivian is already involved by her association with her father and Lena so calling Nikolai seemed the best possible move. He has the connections I need, and he'll want to keep a close eye on Vivian, especially with her father getting out of the pen any day."

Dimitri sighed loudly. "Listen, you need to let me set you up with another bodyguard or two. I don't like the idea of you and Lena having only one guard watching your movements. It's exhausting for the guards and it puts you at a higher risk."

Yuri conceded that Dimitri knew his business well. "Fine-but I want one of us watching her."

"A Russian?"

"I need someone I can trust not to be in the Mexican's pocket."

"The only one I have on my roster is safely tucked into Nikolai's pocket."

"That's fine. I'll take him. He'll be more afraid of him than of any cartel drug lord. Who else do you have available to watch her?"

"What about Kelly?"

"The bouncer at my club?"

"He's a highly decorated Marine and a solid guy. His father is sick and he needs the money. I trust him."

"Okay. I'll take Kelly."

"I'll send them to her apartment to keep an eye on her."

"Send them to my house. She's staying with me."

Dimitri seemed to perk up at that tidbit. "Oh?"

"Yes."

"It's about damn time you made your move with her. I worried that someone else was going to sneak in and take her from you before you'd worked up the courage to even ask her out on a date."

Dimitri's worries mirrored his own. Feeling comfortable discussing his relationship with his friend, he admitted, "I royally fucked it up the other day. I very nearly lost her but she gave me a second chance. I'm not messing this one up."

"Make sure that you don't. If you hurt her, Ivan, Nikolai and I will never hear the end of it from Erin, Vivian and Benny."

Yuri laughed. "No doubt."

"Are you sure that bodyguards are all you need? I'd be happy to come by and watch her personally."

"No." Yuri firmly declined the offer. "You need to take care of Benny. I won't have you putting yourself at risk, not now when everything is coming together for you." Before Dimitri could argue with him, he added, "I've handled the docking arrangements for the big yacht. Everything is squared away on my end for your wedding."

"Benny will be relieved to hear that. And Johnny?"

"He's already transferred to that yacht's crew. There shouldn't be any problem bringing him in for the wedding."

"Good. That will make her so happy."

"I'm sure it will." His car pulled up to the curb outside the renovated warehouse where Vivian kept her studio. "Listen, I'm running late for a meeting. Can I call you later?"

"Yes. I'll touch base with you as soon as I have my two guards on their way."

Yuri hesitated before asking, "Are we okay?"

"We're fine-but don't keep things like this from me again. We've been through a lot together. There's no reason to start keeping secrets now."

"You're right. I apologize."

"Yeah. Okay. I'll talk to you later."

Yuri pocketed his phone and stepped out of the car. Derek's gaze jumped between a sleek black car across the street and a maroon sedan down the block. "Those cars are making me nervous, Boss."

Yuri glanced at the cars in question and laughed. "They should. If I'm not mistaken, that sedan is probably holding a couple of plainclothes police officers. I'm sure they're enjoying their staring contest with Kostya."

Still laughing, Yuri strode toward the locked entrance and hit the buzzer. A few moments later, Vivian came across the intercom and unlocked the door for him. Derek kept close as they made their way to the second floor. Nikolai used the ground floor as storage but the second he'd converted into a massive studio space for Vivian's twentieth birthday. It was the kind of gift a man gave to a woman he loved but Nikolai maintained that he only viewed Vivian as his ward. Yuri wasn't convinced.

"Hey!" Barefoot and wearing a paint-splattered apron, Vivian greeted him at the entrance. She glanced at Derek. "I see you've brought reinforcements."

"This is Derek. He's one of my private guards." Yuri gestured toward the windows. "I see you've got two sets of babysitters on you."

Vivian rolled her pale eyes. "Is that ridiculous or what? I stepped outside of my apartment this morning to go run and walked right into Kostya. I came home from the run and found two of Eric's off-duty buddies watching me."

Yuri didn't like the idea of Vivian's detective cousin sticking his nose in where it didn't belong but he couldn't blame the man for wanting to look out for his family. The detective had saved Dimitri and Benny's life and had given Ivan a chance to make things right with the Hermanos and Albanians so Yuri hoped the man would stay out of it this time around as well. Lena's father's life depended on it.

"Derek, why don't you have a seat over there?" Vivian pointed to a cozy corner with a couch and reading material. "The small fridge has water and soda if you're thirsty."

"Yes, ma'am."

Vivian crooked her finger. "Yuri, this way."

He followed her to a corner of the warehouse she'd set up for photography. There was a simple stool sitting against a gray backdrop. "I suppose I'm sitting here."

She nodded. "I doubt you have as many tattoos as Ivan or Kostya so this won't take long. You can put your jacket and shirt on that table."

A quiver of discomfort pierced his belly as he started to undress in front of his girlfriend's best friend. Clearing his throat, he asked, "May I see the other pieces in the collection?"

"Sure." She shot him a playful smile. "Would you like me to turn around while you take off your shirt? I promise I won't peek."

He chuckled. "Funny."

"Sorry. You seem tense."

"The last few days have been rather intense."

Vivian's expression turned sad. "I couldn't believe it when Nikolai called me this morning to tell me about Lena's dad. That's just awful. She tried to play it off when we talked earlier but I can tell she's terrified." Picking up her camera, Vivian added, "I'm really glad she has you in her corner, Yuri."

His eyebrows rose with surprise. "Are you? Even after the way I messed things up on Monday?"

She shrugged. "I realize you made a mistake. I know you'd never deliberately hurt her. I've seen the way you've watched her over the past few months. I know that look."

Yes, I'm sure you do, he thought silently.

"I know Lena is really good at projecting this tough, badass bitch character when she's scared but a lot of it is bravado. Yes, she's more than capable of taking care of herself, but she needs someone to lean on, Yuri."

"I want to be that someone. I've made it clear that I'm in this for the long-haul with her."

"But she's giving you that mistrusting, uncertain vibe?"

He nodded. "I can tell she's been hurt badly by her parents. Her father seems to have broken so many promises to her and her mother ran off and died."

"Yeah," Vivian said, her voice unnaturally tight. "She definitely has some issues that you'll have to work out together."

"She's worth it. Hell," he said with a self-deprecating laugh. "I'm not exactly baggage free here. I've got my own hang-ups."

"We all do, Yuri." She pointed to the stool. "Ready?"

Naked from the waist up, he sat down and straightened his back. "Like this?"

"Yes. Just so you know-I'm not doing any face captures. I'm only interested in your tattoos." She moved closer and held the camera up to her face. "Do you have a story behind this tattoo?" The camera came down to reveal her smile. "Obviously it's about brotherhood."

"I had it done while I was in the military. Dimitri and I were stationed in different areas. Nikolai and Ivan were in prison." He absentmindedly touched the tattoo as Vivian crouched down to snap a photo from a different angle. "It made me feel close to them again. It reminded that our bond could survive anything."

Vivian finished her quick photo session. "I like that description. I'm going to find a way to incorporate that feeling into the painting."

His part finished, Yuri grabbed his shirt and slipped back into it while Vivian uploaded the pictures and made some notes in a spiral notebook. She glanced over at him as he fixed his cufflinks. "Thank you for doing this. I've been so lucky to have such great friends willing to sit for these photos."

"I'm happy to do it. I'm glad you consider me a friend."

"Well, you are my best tipper at the restaurant," she said with a cheeky grin.

He laughed and teased, "I think you're setting the bar for friendship a bit low."

"Probably."

"Since we're friends, perhaps you wouldn't mind helping me with something?"

"That depends. What kind of help?"

"It's for Lena." He slid his arms into his suit jacket. "She was wearing this really beautiful blazer this morning-"

"The poppy red one with the black piping?" Vivian interjected.

"Yes."

"I love that color on her. Isn't it great?"

"Very," he agreed. "I noticed that her left wrist looked a little bare. I wanted to get her something pretty."

"Something pretty?" Vivian leaned back against the table. "Like jewelry?"

"Yes. Gold, I think."

"And you want me to-what? Recommend something?"

"I thought you might know if there's a piece she's had her eye on or maybe a certain style she prefers."

She reacted with mock shock. "You're asking me for advice on how to woo a woman? I thought you were supposed to be some internationally renowned playboy."

Yuri took her playful jabs in stride. "It's different with Lena. She's not just any woman. With anyone else, I'd go to my jeweler and ask for something bright and gaudy and obscenely expensive. I want to get it right with her. I want something that's special to her." Letting some vulnerability into his voice, he said, "I want this to be perfect for her. Please?"

Vivian's expression softened. "We went window shopping a few weeks ago. I'll make you a list and some recommendations."

"Thank you."

She picked up a pen and her notepad and gestured to the far wall. "Why don't you look at the paintings while I make this list?"

Yuri crossed the warehouse to the horizontal racks storing her canvases. The unit had swinging arms that allowed the canvases to be flicked through one by one. He couldn't help but wonder what Nikolai had spent on this little contraption.

Studying the first canvas, he finally understood what Lena meant. This series of paintings staggered him. He leaned back as he gazed at the canvas so he could take it all in and digest it. The haunting portrait showcased a torso marked in prison tattoos. They weren't the Russian tats he was so used to seeing but the kind a man would get in a place like Mexico or Central America.

A few more canvases flicked by and he found Dimitri's phoenix. She'd painted the broad expanse of his back and the fine detail of his tattoo in the foreground but the background was a swirling mass of flames and smoke with fine ash littering the bottom edge of the canvas. If Dimitri didn't make an offer on this one after her show, Yuri intended to snatch it up for his gallery wall.

At the very back of the collection, he spotted a canvas covered with a cloth. Curious, he lifted the cloth and took a peek at the painting underneath. His heart stuttered in his chest as the sight registered.

The painting depicted an eerie night scene with a dilapidated two-story house and broken window along the top story. Bloody streaks marred the pointed shards of shattered glass. There, in the shadowy background, a tattooed chest was barely visible.

Yuri's gut clenched as he realized what she'd painted. It was the night she'd been shot while breaking into a house for her father. It was the night Nikolai had saved her life. It was the night the two of them had been inextricably bonded.

It was the night the lies between those two began.

Hearing her approaching footsteps, he hastily covered the painting. He tried to look nonplussed but she wasn't fooled.

"I don't mind you looking at that one. I prefer to keep it covered because it's an ugly memory." She touched the covered painting. "Sometimes I think I remember more of the man who shot me but it's never enough."

Yuri eyed her carefully. "What do you remember about him?"

"Just that he had that strange tattoo in the center of his chest," she said while touching her shirt. "He didn't speak. He just shot me." She had a faraway look in her eyes. "And then I was falling and I hit the ground so hard. When I woke up again, Nikolai was standing over me. He had a hand on my stomach and he was whispering so softly." She inhaled deeply. "And then I blacked out again and woke up in the hospital."

"They never had any leads?"

She shook her head. "Nikolai said that he'd seen a dark-haired man running from the house after the gunshot. For a while, the police suspected my father had accidentally shot me. Then the theory was that one of the many men he'd crossed had done it." She shrugged. "It doesn't really matter anymore. It's in the past."

How Yuri wished that were true! He cast one final glance at the covered painting before asking, "Has Nikolai seen this collection?"

"No." She held out the folded sheet of paper but didn't let go when he tugged on it. "I'd prefer that you didn't tell him. I want the collection to be a surprise when he comes to the show. I want him to see what kind of beautiful art I'm able to create because of this wonderful space he gave me."