Bonnie straightened and squared her shoulders. “Are you the one who did this?”
Asshole #2 stopped well out of reaching distance. His guards moved in on either side of him as though they expected her to lunge for the new man’s throat. Smart, because she was ready to throttle someone after too damned much time alone with her thoughts.
“My name,” the man said, “is Erick Rossi. You know as well as I do, your father’s health is failing. I do not beat on dying men. But your brother? Yes, I’m responsible for his condition. A consequence he earned by his foolish actions.”
Bonnie spun to Kevin. “What the hell did you do?”
“He tried to blackmail me,” Erick said. “Tried to steal more money from me after a job I paid him quite handsomely for.” He cocked his head. “I don’t take kindly to blackmail, Miss Drummond. Do you?”
“Boy, you’ve got shit for brains! What the hell were you thinking?”
“You can call me whatever the hell you want, but if you think Bonnie’s gonna have enough to bail you out with Pauley, you’re out of your mind.”
The argument between her father and Kevin came back crystal clear in a blink.
“This is what you two were fighting about?” she said to Kevin.
Kevin shrugged, but for the first time in Bonnie’s life, her brother looked like he had zero fight left in him. “What the hell else was I supposed to do?” He jerked his hand toward their dad, whose head was down. As it was, it seemed it took everything in him to stay upright. “He needs a fucking liver. The only way to get one at this point is black market. Were you gonna be able to pay for something like that?”
“Um, no. I’d have done the right thing, told him to lay off the booze and tried to get him on a legit donor list.”
“He ain’t gonna do that!” Kevin fired back.
A garbled laugh that was closer to a gurgling cough ripped up her dad’s throat. “Damn right I’m not.”
“Jesus,” Bonnie said to no one in particular. “You’re both fucking stubborn idiots.”
“Indeed,” Erick said, suddenly deciding to chime in. “So, as you can see, I’ve merely taken measures to protect myself from your brother’s actions. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“Oh, don’t give me that shit,” Bonnie said, stepping forward before she could check the action.
Erick’s guards pressed closer, and one of them pulled a gun out of his holster.
Bonnie backpedaled enough to get the guy to lower his gun, but kept on going. “Don’t go making this about you being a victim. You beat the shit out of an idiot who clearly doesn’t have good sense and sent men after me. Not once, but twice. And trashed my freaking apartment. That doesn’t make you innocent. That makes you a power-hungry douche!”
Erick’s mouth twitched as though he found her pathetically humorous. “I don’t care what it makes me. Business is business, Miss Drummond. For your sake, I hope the Russian you’ve been so familiar with of late appreciates that reality more than you and your family have.” He smirked and cast disapproving leers at Kevin and her dad. “Enjoy your time catching up.”
With that, he turned and left the room, his guards filing out into the hallway with him—including the one who’d watched her all night.
“’Bout damned time,” her father grumbled as soon as the door closed behind them. “Thought the lot of you were gonna talk me to the grave.” He started to stand, but fell back on his ass before he’d made it fully upright.
Bonnie caught him before he fell all the way to his back. “What the heck are you trying to do?”
“Tryin’ to get where I can look at the two of ya so I’m not lyin’ on my back.”
Kevin limped toward the bed and tried to heft their dad upright. “He’s gotta be propped up. All that fluid’s building up, and he can’t breathe if he lies flat.”
Right. That made sense.
Grabbing ahold of her dad’s other arm, she added her weight to the process. “Better?” she said once they got him so his back was up against the headboard and his legs stretched out in front of him.
He nodded, but the way his breath was rattling in and out of his lungs, you’d have thought they’d made him sprint a mile under water. “Yeah. Better.”
Behind her, the mattress of the other bed groaned as if slowly taking on weight. Bonnie twisted and found Kevin curling up on his side in a fetal position facing away from them.
She sat on the bed next to her dad. “Looks like you’re not the only one in a bad place.”
Buzz huffed out a rough exhale. “He’s gonna hurt like hell for a week or two, but he’ll live. Those guys know what they’re doing. Broke a few ribs and probably rattled his brain more than they should’ve, but they weren’t out to kill him.” He shook his head and looked at his boy. “Fucking idiot.”
Harsh words considering how Kevin had paid for his actions, but there was love behind the statement, too. A kind of you might be an idiot, but you’re my idiot tone.
Bonnie let out a sigh and squeezed her dad’s hand. “I’m sorry we got you into this.”
He smiled, but it lacked any energy. “You didn’t get me into anything. And I’m the one that’s sorry.” His gaze got distant and a sadness that broke her heart settled over his face. “Made a lot of bad decisions in my life. Didn’t think about how my shit was gonna rub off on the two of you.” He shook his head and huffed out another broken chuckle. “But it sure rubbed off. Wouldn’t be here right now if I’d done better. About a lot of things.”
Bonnie blinked. Several times. As though the physical act might somehow bring clarity to his words. Her father wasn’t a reflective man. Never had been. At least not without the aid of a whole lot of booze and none of his friends around to keep his mind off dangerous thoughts.
“I owe you an apology,” he said so low it was almost a whisper. “I wronged you and your brother. Taught your brother how to find the easy way outta everything and you how to be afraid.”
That last tidbit stabbed a little too close for comfort. “I’m not afraid.”
“Yeah, ya are. You keep people at a distance. Keep to your schedule and watch every penny so you don’t have to risk bein’ like the fools you grew up with. Can’t blame you for it. You did the best you could with what ya had to work with, but that doesn’t mean I’m proud for puttin’ you in that place.”
Holy shit.
He’d really thought about this. Meant every word he’d said.
The realization and the awe that went with it rattled through her with all the finesse of a giant gong. So much so, she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the topic. “Well, one of us had to pinch a few pennies,” she joked. “The extra money came in handy a few times, you know?”
His mouth hardened more than Bonnie thought he’d have the strength for. “Not proud of that either. The way you save money, you oughta have a tidy savings by now. Be done with college and doin’ something you love. I stole that from you. So did your brother.”
He swallowed hard and looked straight in her eyes. “I’m dyin’, kiddo. It’s gonna happen. Soon.” His gaze slid to Kevin, who was either already dozing off or had completely given up, then back to Bonnie. “Hard not to face dyin’ without seein’ the things I was too stubborn to before. I put you in a bad place. Lots of times. Your mom and brother did, too. I can’t fix it. But I can tell you I’m sorry for it.”
Five minutes.
They’d talked five minutes at most. Traded maybe a dozen or more sentences.
But it was like opening a window in a smoke choked room to the relief of a bright spring day. Cleansing. Fresh. Hopeful.
“I...” Words wouldn’t come. Hell, thoughts wouldn’t either. There was just emotion. A huge wave of it that clogged the base of her throat and drew tears to her eyes. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Nothing to say. Not for you anyway.” He fr
owned and jerked his head toward the door. “Except for explaining what that Rossi jerkoff said.”
Her mind went blank, the context of her conversation with Erick refusing to come back online after everything her father had said. “About what?”
“He said somethin’ about you bein’ familiar with a Russian. What’s that about?”
“Oh. That.” Talk about your can of worms. If she’d been tongue-tied before, now she was just struck stupid. What the heck was she supposed to say? Or for that matter, not supposed to say? “He’s my...well, he’s my boyfriend.”
Probably not the definition Roman would have agreed with, but in light of the situation and her father’s health, explaining more likely wasn’t the wisest course of action.
“You got a man?”
“Yeah.”
“Since when?”
Since Kevin screwed up and got everyone in this mess.
Again, not a good message no matter how accurate. “It’s newer. Good, though.”
“Good like that same ass wipe who stole from ya?”
A sharp bark of laughter ripped up her throat, startling Kevin enough to make him moan. Bonnie shook her head. “Roman’s nothing like him. Actually, nothing like anyone I’ve dated before. He’s smart. Made a life for himself out of nothing. Has a really good family that’s been super good to me through all of this and has helped me try to find you guys.”
His eyes narrowed. “He good to you?”
Warmth blossomed inside her and that same groundedness she always felt around Roman settled in her belly. “Really good.” She ducked her head and chuckled, thinking of the afternoon after she’d met Mr. Frannelly. “He took me to a restaurant earlier this week. Had the cook make me three different kinds of grilled cheese sandwiches just because he knew it was my favorite.”
“No shit!” Her dad smiled and patted her hand. “I might like this guy.”
“Yeah, you’d like him. A lot.”
Actually, he’d love Roman. Though, she kind of dreaded her dad finding out how Roman had also rented out the entire five-star restaurant to get her those grilled cheese sandwiches. Her dad might be sorry for how he’d raised her, but finding out a man she was serious about was loaded was like taking a newly recovering alcoholic to the bar.
“You think he’ll find a way to get Erick to let us out of here?” her dad said.
Oh, he’d find a way. Even if he did it with guns blazing. “Yeah.” She sighed, suddenly more tired than she’d been in weeks. “He’ll find a way.”
Her dad tilted his head and studied her face. “When’s the last time you slept?”
“Hell, I don’t know.” The clock on the nightstand showed 8:34 a.m. “Got up yesterday around this time, so about twenty-four hours, I guess.”
Her dad patted the mattress next to him. “How about you lay down and get some rest while you got a chance. Nobody’s botherin’ us right now. Best thing you can do is rest up for when you need some energy.”
“What about you?”
He laughed at that. A sad laugh that was more irony and pain than what he probably realized, but a laugh all the same. “Got enough sleep comin’ my way. Right now, I want my girl to lay down and take a load off. I’ll wake you up if I hear someone comin’.”
He was right. God only knew what they’d have to deal with in the future, and if she wanted to be ready, she’d be smart to sleep.
She crawled onto the other side of the bed, piled up the pillows and lay down on her side. “You sure you’re okay?”
With a contented sigh, he patted her arm. “Yeah, kiddo. Best I’ve been in a real long time.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
One punch against the heavy bag. Then another. Over and over until the ache in Roman’s arms, shoulders and chest disappeared and there was nothing but the raw fury seething inside him. Seventeen hours since Bonnie had been taken. Too long since he’d heard her cry out and failed to keep her safe.
Someone was going to die.
Brutally.
All he needed was a name and a location. Then he’d get his woman back and annihilate the kozel who’d dared to touch her. Who’d foolishly ordered the attack that had put bullets into two of their soldiers.
He would have his vengeance.
For Bonnie.
For Luke and Sam. Even for poor Jennette who’d been hauled out of the business the same time Bonnie had been taken.
But it wouldn’t negate his failure.
He’d known better. Had caved to his koroleva’s desires rather than listen to his instincts. Had made too many assumptions about their opponent and failed to put enough men on standby. For all of those reasons, he deserved to suffer. To bleed until he could bring Bonnie home.
In the mirror opposite him, Evette stepped into the doorway of Sergei’s private gym, leaned one shoulder against the jam and crossed her arms against her chest. “I don’t think this is what the doctor meant by rest.”
Roman ignored her and kept punching, every impact jolting lightning bolts up his arms.
“Roman, seriously. You’ve got a concussion. A really bad one. If you want to be ready when Kir and Knox figure out who’s behind this, you need to calm down and rest.”
With a roar and a wide hook, he nailed the bag one last time and spun on his vor’s wife. “I will not rest.”
Evette didn’t even flinch, just looked at him with a droll stare that said his anger didn’t faze her. “Won’t, or can’t?”
“What difference does it make?”
She shrugged and straightened. “I don’t know. Maybe nothing. But it seems to me now is a smart time for self-awareness. I guarantee you, Bonnie’s already suffering because she knows she flew off the handle. We don’t need you doing the same.”
“She is not to blame. I am.”
With a sigh, she padded forward, grabbed a hand towel from the neatly stacked pile near the weights and tossed it to him. “Of course, you’d see it that way. You being the big strong man and all.”
He caught the towel just before it smacked him in the face, but let it dangle from his grip. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“That you’re kinda being a thick-headed goof, that’s what.”
His head snapped back and the gruesome headache that had plagued him ever since he’d woken on the asphalt to find Bonnie and the van gone sent shards of pain through his temples and neck. Bohze, but the women in this family were fearless. Too much so at times. “It is my job to protect my woman. No one else’s.”
“Yeah, but you can’t protect people from themselves.” She stopped right in front of him. “Bonnie said it herself—she was either going to do this with you or without you. You chose the lesser of two evils and did the best you could.”
“I could have stopped her.”
“Maybe. But you’d have risked her resenting you. And let’s not kid ourselves. This job was big. Sergei said whoever was behind it, can’t be from around here. They were thorough, well armed and well trained, and you guys have already shut down anyone in Louisiana or Texas with those capabilities. If they hadn’t gotten Bonnie this time, they’d have found another approach and maybe put more of us at risk.”
Roman tried to process what she was saying, but his mind wouldn’t focus. His body was too strung out. Too wired to do anything but keep moving. “You are trying to console my conscience, but it is not that straightforward.”
“Okay, then try this on for size. How the hell are you going to be ready to deal with whatever we’ve got in front of us to get her back if you’re wasted physically from beating the crap out of that bag?”
She was right. Logically, he knew it. Acknowledged that they were dealing with a far savvier crew than he’d engaged with the first night Bonnie had been attacked.
But the pain twisting his insides was intolerable. A torture unlike anything he’d ever
experienced. His voice cracked when he spoke. “I must do something.”
“Fine, then go check on Luke or Sam. Or just keep moving around the house if you can’t stay still, but don’t wear yourself out before it’s time. You’re going to need your energy and a level head.”
His chest rose and fell on each heavy exhalation, and the nausea he’d yet to shake roiled in his stomach. “Has Kir said anything?”
She shook her head. “He’s still locked down on a conference call with Knox in Sergei’s office, but as soon as he knows something, you’ll be the first one he finds.”
Which meant more waiting.
More time for his mind to conjure up what Bonnie might be facing alone.
“Roman.” Evette inched closer and placed her hand above his heart. “Bonnie is a strong woman. She’s had to be her whole life. If anyone can make it through this, she can. And frankly, I’d put good money on her driving whoever has her insane before it’s all over.”
The truth in Evette’s words struck deep. Enough so a begrudging smile tugged one corner of his mouth. His woman was fierce. Bold and brave. A queen in every sense of the word. Whoever had her wanted something and, until they had it, Bonnie would no doubt make them pay for what they’d done in her own unique way.
He nodded and wiped the sweat from his face. “You are right. I will shower and go to Luke and Sam.”
Evette smiled and opened her mouth as if to speak, but closed it and followed the sound of his phone ringing from the side of the room.
Roman stalked to it.
Unknown number.
“Is it Kir?” Evette asked from behind him.
“No.” He slid his thumb across the screen to answer. “Hello?”
“Mr. Kozlov.” A man’s voice. One he didn’t recognize.
He faced Evette and for the first time since lunch the day before, his heart kicked with something not fueled by dread. “Who is this?”
The man cleared his throat. “I am the person who has someone you hold very dear.”
Roman turned to Evette and motioned for her to follow as he strode out of the gym to the main house. The fact that he kept his voice level while he ate up the precious distance to Sergei’s office was nothing short of a miracle. “You have Bonnie.”
Mine to Keep Page 24