Ivan 2 (Her Russian Protector #9) - Roxie Rivera Page 0,27
side with the money and the connections that makes them all dangerous.”
She cringed and groaned. “Oh my god! No wonder they made that face when Amos and Karima sat down!” She looked at her hand and made a face. “Ew! I touched them both!”
“I don’t think you can catch hatred like a germ, angel moy.”
She rolled her pretty eyes. “Obviously! I just mean that I sort of enjoyed their company. Not like I want to be friends or anything, but I thought they were okay. Now, I find out they’re tiki-torch-wielding white power weirdos!”
“Well, we don’t ever have to see them again.”
“We might,” she countered. “If you want to develop some of your property—M'
“Our property,” he corrected.
“Our property,” she amened. “We may have to deal with him. I already said I would make a meeting with him.”
“Go to the meeting. See what he has to say. When it’s over, pretend you’re thinking about it. Give it a day or two to think it over and tell him no. Diplomatically,” he added. “The last thing we need is problems with someone like that.”
“What about Ruby? I’m worried. I still haven’t heard from her.”
“She’s probably being shuffled between parts of the jail.” He wanted to ease her fears, but secretly, he worried something bad had happened to her sister. “A lot of prisoners reaching the end of their stretch get moved from one cell block to another or to ad seg.”
“I’m sure that’s it,” Erin said softly. “I’ll be glad when we get her home.”
He didn’t share those feelings. “I know you will.”
She pressed a kiss to his jaw and slowly untangled herself from his arms and the sheet. “Want to take a shower with me?”
“Like you have to ask?” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. He stretched, and his stomach growled loudly. Rubbing his hand over his abs, he admitted, “I’m starving.”
“Of course, you are! You didn’t have your giant tumbler of protein sludge, your gallon of water and twenty eggs.”
“It’s not sludge,” he grumbled. “And I’ve never eaten twenty eggs in one sitting.”
She patted his empty stomach and then gave his backside a swat. “I’ll order some room service before I hop in with you. We’ll be dressed when it gets here.”
He stole a quick kiss and pinched her bottom in retribution for the swat. She squealed and playfully smacked his hand. Laughing, he strode to the bathroom and turned on the shower, adjusting the heat of the various heads until they felt right. He took advantage of the privacy to relieve himself and then stepped into the shower. He had barely gotten his head and shoulders wet when Erin barged into the bathroom. “Ivan!”
“What’s wrong?” He shoved aside the sliding glass door and stepped onto the bath mat where she stood with her phone in her hand.
“Last night, I had a call from a number I didn’t recognize. I assumed it was a misdial or a spam call, but listen.” She held out the phone and tapped the speaker icon on the screen.
He recoiled at the sound of a woman screaming. His initial assumption that it was Ruby screaming was quickly dashed when the woman started begging for help in Spanish. Her pained cries and the slap of something—a belt, he thought—against her body echoed in the bathroom. There was no mistaking the grunting in the background. His stomach turned at the realization they were listening to a rape.
The voicemail ended mid-scream. Erin’s hand shook as she lowered her phone. She looked ready to crumble, and he quickly grabbed her around the waist, hauling her against his soaking wet body to keep her upright. He pressed his face to hers and hurriedly assured her, “It’s not Ruby. You know that, right?”
“I know,” she said, starting to cry.
“It’s just some asshole trying to scare you.”
“It’s working.”
He clenched his jaw, hating that his wife was being tormented like this.
“What if that’s been happening to Ruby?”
Hearing her voice his concern didn’t make it any easier for him to say, “It’s possible.”
“Do you think that’s what she saw? What they want her to be quiet about?”
“It could be,” he confirmed reluctantly. “Or, it might be some sick bastard who is taunting you.”
“I need to call her lawyer.”
He started to tell her that there was nothing Ruby’s lawyer could do. There was no way to prove the call had any link to her sister. Ruby was getting out in just under forty-eight hours. Her lawyer wouldn’t be able