by Nicole Fox
“Kill her!” Gino screams.
Augustin’s gun cocks with a metallic click.
For the second time in the last five minutes, I close my eyes and wait for the horrible fate that awaits me and the baby in my womb.
And for the second time, I’m saved.
Everything happens fast. The door flies open. Augustin spins around. Two shots fire in quick succession. I open my eyes and try to comprehend what just happened.
Eitan is slumped in the doorway, gushing blood from a bullet hole in the dead center of his chest. And next to me, Augustin’s body is sprawled out on the ground. His face is a hideous, exploded mess of blood and brain. I fall to my hands and knees and retch.
No one needs to tell me Augustin is dead. I know it in my gut. Shoes scuffle across the floor and I swing my head toward Gino. He’s scrambling to the desk I was hiding behind moments ago.
Nikita jumps towards Gino. He gets a hand wrapped around the Italian’s ankle and drags him back to the middle of the room.
“Fucking Lavrin! I will end you,” Gino screeches. “Get the fuck off me!” He’s fumbling in his pocket for something as Nikita reaches for his gun where it clattered to the floor earlier. I’m frozen with fear. I can hear Eitan gurgling in pain behind me.
Gino withdraws a knife from his pocket, unfurls it, and starts to drive it towards Nikita’s turned back.
Nikita grabs the gun and starts to spin back.
For a long beat, it’s like time stops. Gino’s knife, speeding up with deadly intent, freezes in the air. Nikita’s gun is rising to level with Gino’s face.
But it’s too slow. He’s not going to make it.
No. No. No. I can’t let this happen.
I reach out blindly to my side. My fingers close on a steel pipe, fallen from the ceiling during the shootout. I raise it over my head, then bring it down with a bone-shattering crunch on Gino’s face.
Then time kicks back in, and the room is filled with screams and the smell of blood. Gino’s knife falls to the floor and skitters away. Nikita stands and looks at me with wide eyes. Gino moans and groans and remains on the floor clutching the back of his head.
Nikita runs over to me and grabs me in his arms. “Are you okay?”
“I think so,” I say, running my hands over my body to make sure I haven’t been hit by a stray bullet.
I sigh and my shoulders slump. I’m okay. I survived. My baby and I survived. My body tenses once again and I avoid Nikita’s gaze. Not really the best time to tell him I’m pregnant. God only knows what we may have to fight against outside to get out of here.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nikita
Having Annie in my arms safe and sound is all that I wanted. I squeeze her tight, unwilling to let go. She buries her face in my shirt and cries softly. She was brave today. She saved my life. I fully expected her to run the first opportunity she got, but she didn’t. And her face when I was shot told me all I needed to know. She cares about me.
“I’m so sorry I pushed you away,” I say as I kiss the top of her head. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if they’d hurt you. Or worse.”
“I’m okay,” she mumbles, but squeezes me tighter.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I pull away slightly and push the hair from her eyes.
She looks up at me and nods. Her expression softens as she looks over me to make sure I’m all right as well. How have I survived without her these past weeks?
“Annie, I love you. And I know I’m an idiot for running away scared because of how I felt. But I swear I won’t do that again.” I place my hand under her chin and tilt it up so that she looks at me as I say my next words. “I love you with all my heart. That means I will defend you with my life even if the odds are insurmountable. It means I will comfort you in the difficult and painful times. It means I will rejoice with you when times are good. It means I will never betray you, never give up on you. I’m yours into eternity and I will never abandon you.”
I bend down and kiss her lips. She tastes so sweet, like honey and apricots, her skin soft and smooth. I bask in our kiss, hungry for more.
“Did you memorize that speech?” she asks me.
I grin; I can’t help it. “I’ve been working on it for a while,” I confess sheepishly.
Annie reaches up and her hand caresses the side of my face. She searches my eyes and takes a deep breath. My nerves fire and butterflies swarm in my stomach because I’m unsure if she’ll return my affection or reject me. And her rejection would shatter my soul.
“I love you too. It’s confusing because of the way we met. But our night together in the mountains, the way you protected me, the way you held me. Somewhere along the way I fell in love with you. I know you’re different than my father, that you would never hurt me. You’ve proven that.”
Annie pushes to her tiptoes and plants a kiss on my cheek. It’s the best feeling in the world. My chest expands and there’s a weightlessness washing over me as if all the chains, fears, and turmoil have evaporated, allowing me to finally be happy.
“Fuck!” I curse suddenly, remembering abruptly. Annie and I both turn to face the doorway. Eitan has lost consciousness. Blood pools on the tile beneath him. I rush over and take his head in my hands.
“Eitan, Eitan! Wake the fuck up! Don’t you dare fucking die on me,” I bark.
He wavers in and out, eyes fluttering. His hand grabs mine weakly. I look up at Annie. “We need to get him out of here.”
Just then, I hear two sets of footsteps pounding towards us. Two of our soldiers appear in the doorway. “We found a secret way in and barricaded ourselves in here, sir. The rest of the men are holding off Antonio’s troops,” one of them reports. “But I don’t think we have long.”
Annie grips my shoulder in fear. “What are we going to do, Nikita?” she whispers.
“We wait,” I say. “Some friends of mine are coming.”
Everyone looks at me in confusion. But moments later, a cascade of sparks comes lancing into the barricaded door at the end of the hallway. The blades of a power saw poke through the metal, and soon, the whole door comes crashing inwards.
In the space opened up, a man steps in. He’s got a braided beard, a dozen piercings, and a leather vest on that reads “East Side Boys MC” across the back. When he sees me, he grins.
“Not a moment too soon, eh, Nikita?” he growls.
Behind him, his men come pouring in, armed as they check the area for any remaining enemy troops. A club doctor follows them, and when he notices Eitan bleeding in my arms, he sprints towards us. “He needs a hospital immediately,” the doctor says. I nod, and two East Side Boys come up with a makeshift stretcher and hustle him outside, the doctor running alongside them.
We’ve won. My enemies are conquered. My woman is safe. But my advisor is on death’s door.
Everything has come at such a cost.
***
The hospital is noisy. Patients whine, machines beep, a TV overhead mumbles staticky nonsense at an irresponsibly high volume. I’m in an uncomfortable chair outside of one of the rooms.
Someone opens the door and emerges into the hallway. “Mr. Lavrin?” says a nurse with a clipboard. I stand immediately and then fall back in my seat. I’ve already been tended to and bandaged. The wound on my leg is going to keep me limping around for months, but it’s better than most of the alternatives.
“Is Eitan okay?” I demand immediately.
The nurse shakes her head. “Your friend is still recovering from surgery. We don’t know anything yet. But your, uh ...”
My heart stops. I push inside without waiting for her to finish.
Annie is propped up on a hospital bed. She smiles at me nervously when I enter. “Are you okay?” I ask. My voice comes out in a whispered rasp.
She bites her lower lip and dips her head. Her face is marked by furrowed brows and a clenched jaw. My heart stutters again and breathing becomes difficult. Something must have happened. Did she get shot
? Stabbed? Raped? The possibilities horrify me.
“There’s something I need to tell you and I’m scared,” she says.
My heart beats a mile a minute. Was I too late? Did Gino hurt her? A hurricane builds inside me, one of anger and confusion and sorrow. “This is my fault.”
“Um, sort of, yeah.”
My mouth opens and closes but words don’t come out. Her response isn’t what I expected. I mean, yes, it’s my fault she was put in danger. And Annie hasn’t lied to me yet, so I’m not sure what I expected her to say. I sigh. I know what I wanted her to say—that it wasn’t my fault. That somehow whatever she’s worried about telling me has nothing to do with me or the life that I lead.
Annie hesitates, then says, “Nikita, I’m ... uh ... I’m pregnant.”
Words leave me. I stare into those bright, wide eyes, burning with insecurity, and my heart falls silent. But I can’t will my lips to move.
“Do you have nothing to say? Please tell me what you’re thinking,” she begs, her eyes desperately searching mine ... waiting.
Instead of answering her with words, my lips slam down on hers as I press my tongue to the seam of her lips and when she opens for me, I delve inside her mouth. The kiss is hot, fiery, passionate, and demanding. Her arms reach up and tangle around my neck, moaning as she presses her body against mine.
She pulls away and clasps her hands on either side of my face. “I take it you’re happy?”
I nod and place my hand on her belly. I’m going to be a father. I’m going to have a family. I smile from ear to ear. Finally, a chance to be a role model like my father once was to me. “Yes. Yes, I’m very happy.”
I lace my fingers through Annie’s. We’re going to be parents. “I swear that I’ll protect both of you for the rest of my life.”
A knock catches my attention and both Annie and I swing our heads toward the doorway.
Eitan.
He’s holding onto an IV stand, dressed in a hospital gown, and he looks like absolute hell. His eyes are bloodshot, his skin is pale, and he’s barely managing to keep his feet. But the smile on his face is pure and genuine. I’m guessing he overheard our conversation. Part of me expects him to shoot me one of those ‘I-told-you-so’ looks but he doesn’t. He just walks over and hugs Annie and congratulates her, kissing her cheeks.
He turns to face me. I want to tell him something—thank you, I suppose—but instead I just embrace him. He was my father’s advisor, and then mine. But he has become so much more than that. My best friend. My brother.
I open my mouth to tell him that I owe him my life, but before I can speak, two nurses come bounding into the room after him, furious. “You aren’t supposed to be out of your room for days, sir!” they screech. He sighs and says nothing as they load him into a wheelchair and whisk him away.
***
One Week Later
I turn and look to the chair. Gino is strapped to it. His face is still bloodied and swollen. Every breath he takes rattles through the shattered bones of his nostrils.
I run my hands through my hair three times in quick succession and fix Gino in a stare that could have frozen the Atlantic. What the hell to do? The Italian bastard threatened my family, my unborn child. He wanted to kill me, to end the Lavrin reign. So many of my men are dead.
All because of him.
“Nikita, this matter needs to be addressed,” Eitan says and holds out a gun. He’s still in a wheelchair, but he’s recovered enough of his color and energy to be discharged from the hospital. This will be his last act before a well-deserved retirement.
I grab the gun and growl. I stalk over to Gino and put the muzzle of the gun to his temple. The man deserves to die for all he’s done. If I hadn’t arrived when I did, he would’ve raped Annie. My arm shakes and my finger brushes the trigger. Gino deserves to be killed. No one will ever be safe with him alive.
I swallow and turn my head to see Annie. She demanded to be here for this. She wanted to see the end of him, she told me. To watch a monster finally get what he has long deserved.
But when I look at her, I don’t see the woman I love. I see instead the stories she told of the man whom she considered a beast: her father. It’s a look I never want to see again, especially not from the mother of my child. And I never want my child to tell the same stories of me. To think of me as a monster.
Because I refuse to be that. Maybe I was once. But not anymore.
Annie’s father destroyed everything that should’ve been held sacred: family, his own flesh and blood. Maybe that’s why my father showed mercy. He wanted to hold onto his humanity. All those times I thought of him as weak, he was actually being strong. He was fighting back against the darkness, fighting to keep himself from becoming what he hated most.
I turn back to Gino. His face is blank and his pupils dilated. He probably can’t even comprehend exactly what is going on. The strike of Annie’s pipe back in the warehouse did a serious number on his mind. But there’s enough of him left to know what’s about to happen.
This is the end of him.
Or is it?
I take a deep breath and pull the gun away from Gino’s head, tucking it into the waistband of my pants. “Contrary to what you think of my father and me, we aren’t weak. We just aren’t the soulless monsters that you are.”
A soul.
“What you waiting for Lavrin?” Gino grumbles.
“I’m not going to kill you,” I say.
Eitan wheels forward so he’s at my side. “Nikita, what are you thinking? He’s a danger to us all. He’ll try again. You know this.”
I nod. “He will, I’m sure. But he’ll try with everyone. And if he does ... we’ll be ready.”
Gino’s eyes narrow and his lip curls up.
I kick his legs. “I’m not going to shoot you, but I’m banishing you from the city. If you ever step foot here again, you’ll die. The families that patrol the city will kill you.”
I turn to one of my soldiers, waiting at the door. “Untie him.” The man hurries to do as I said.
When he’s freed, Gino staggers to his feet and steps into my space. Everyone in the room immediately raises a gun at him, but I wave them off. He’s no threat to me now.
“You think I’m going to run like a chicken with its head cut off, Lavrin?”
“If you know what’s good for you ... yes.”
I take one last look at his ruined face. He’s here, in front of me, completely at my mercy—the man who tried to take everything from me.
And then ... I forgive him.
I pivot and walk over to Annie. Grabbing her hand in mine, I guide her towards the exit. Before I leave, I pause and look at the soldier standing guard.
“Escort Gino outside the city limits,” I say to them. “And spread the word: if anyone ever sees him here again ... kill him.”
The men grab Gino under the arms and drag him from the room. I’m not sure if he’ll make it that far. While I can control my men, I can’t control the other families who have put a price on his head. With Gino gone, I return my attention to Annie.
She smiles at me and my heart warms. Gone is the look of fear from her face. All I see is love. For me. I pick her up, turning in circles. She is beautiful and she’s chosen to be mine.
A part of me is sad for my father not being here. He would’ve loved Annie and I regret they will never get to meet, that my child will never get to meet his or her grandfather. Plus, I want him to see the man I’ve become since meeting Annie. And the man I will become once my child is here. I hope I’ll be just like him. Ruthlessness and violence will not enter my home. It will be a place of love and safety.
And if I falter, I know Annie will set me back on the right path. That she’ll stick by my side and guide me back toward the right path. I pull her down and kiss her once more. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of the taste of her lips.
It’s been a journey, a hard one. But in the end I’m king of the city once again. And this time, I’ll
rule differently. This time, I intend to be a king that’s loved, not feared. This time, I intend to do it the right way.
The Lavrin way.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Annie
Months have passed and everything has gotten better. Wendy and Jenna finally met Nikita, and learned the truth about what happened. They weren’t thrilled at first. In fact, they gave him major attitude for weeks. And I had to spend those weeks playing referee to keep the peace. Nikita understood and dealt with their wrath. More so because my mother was in their corner as well.
But everyone finally got past their emotions and moved forward for me and the baby. Well, not completely, as Jenna and Wendy then began arguing over which one of them would be the baby’s godmother. I still haven’t made that decision. How can I choose between my two best friends?
“Did you get lost in there?”
I giggle. “I’m fine. Hold your horses. I’ll be out in a bit.”
Moving in with Nikita is one of the best decisions I’ve made. Of course, the gigantic walk-in closet helped. Jenna and Wendy asked if they could move in, too, and then followed up by asking Nikita if he had any brothers he’d like to introduce them to. Nikita just shook his head, laughed, and walked out the room.
“Just making sure you and the baby are fine.”
I roll my eyes. While Nikita is very sweet—and calmer than when I first met him—he’s taken to hovering and being a tad overprotective, which tends to grate on my nerves especially when my hormones fluctuate. But he deals with my attitude, and completely ignores what I say because he continues to hover.
“Are we still going to my mother’s house for the holidays?”
“Yes, but I don’t understand why she just won’t come here,” Nikita answers.
“Because she wants to feel like she’s got family. She wants to get the house ready and cook and decorate.” I don’t know how to explain it to him, but my mom worked so hard for what she has, and now she finally feels like she has a family to fill her home. A grandchild to come and visit her.