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Tati—”
    “Because she’s up to something,” Anton interjected sharply. “Twice in less than two weeks she’s cornered me at either a place I frequent, or a place she would have needed direct information about. She’s acting like an annoying puppy sniffing at my heels, and my wife is being photographed in positions that make me rather uncomfortable. Both are odd.”
    “And you think Tati’s involved.”
    “I don’t think anything. What I know is even less, and I don’t like that.”
    The brigadier looked uncomfortable. Anton could understand that. The Jersey Bratva family had always been good to their side of the brotherhood, minus the birthday incident. If Tatiana or Sergei were involved in something like trailing Viviana—a well-respected Pakhan’s wife—no matter the reason, there would be hell to pay.
    “Are you looking at this from her husband’s perspective, or the boss?” Boris asked, suddenly interested in the white crescents of his fingernails.
    Anton expected that question, especially since the person of interest just happened to be one of his old lovers. To others, it could look as if the Russian boss was simply trying to avoid issues with his wife by ridding the source of the problem under the guise of Tatiana being dangerous to Viviana.
    Of course, Anton wasn’t stupid, either.
    “Tati was seen in my club a half a year ago causing her usual problems. More than one person heard the things she said to Viviana and any one of them would have construed it the very same way I have,” Anton explained calmly. Drumming his fingernails to the tabletop, considering his next words carefully, he shrugged and added, “I’ve looked at every other option. Who would want to hurt her, why, and what would be gained from doing so. The Italians are out of the picture.”
    “Can you be sure?”
    “Yes, I’m sure.” Anton scoffed, almost offended that his opinion was being questioned. “She’s cut all ties with the Cosa Nostra. I thought about possible enemies from the Bratva side, but the girl doesn’t have any connections other than what she’s made through me. It all leads me to the same conclusion.”
    “That whoever is doing it means to hurt you,” Boris finished with a nod.
    Anton hadn’t once mentioned the baby boy Viviana was carrying, or her importance to him. In fact, he’d stuck to the facts he knew, the pertinent issues at hand that they needed to deal with for obvious reasons. He knew it wouldn’t be missed by his brigadier.
    “So,” Anton said with a smirk, “I suppose you can say you’re dealing with the boss.”
    “You really think it’s the fire bug?”
    Exhaling harshly, Anton stood from the table. He tossed a hundred dollar bill down. It would more than take care of his meal, whatever Boris would choose from the menu, and still have quite a generous tip left over for the waitress.
    “Like I said, I want all the facts before I make any rash decisions. You can get the info the tracer needs, yeah?”
    “Sure, but I don’t know if it will get you your answers.”
    “No, but it’ll get me one step closer to whoever, or whatever, it is if it isn’t the Jersey scum,” Anton said with the cold indifference of a Bratva boss. “I need to know if it’s her, Sergei, or someone else following my wife. And I needed to know it yesterday. So get on it.”
    *
    “Tell me what happened.”
    Viviana turned away from Anton’s voice, not wanting him to see the tears gathering and fighting to fall. He’d found her sitting on the steps of the Long Island University’s library, waiting for him. The saddened, ruffled appearance she sported was enough for her husband to figure out something had gone wrong at her study group.
    And did it ever.
    A new girl had been invited into the group, Vanessa. She was smart and opinionated, but Viviana didn’t mind that. It was someone else who was willing to have discussions worth having on the topics they were currently studying. Viviana liked to be