by S. C. Daiko
Holy shit! Is she fucking with me? “How did you get my number?”
“Vadim took Ludmila’s phone. He carelessly left it on his desk. I snuck a peek when he wasn’t looking. Your number’s on there.”
“How do I know you’ll do what you’ve promised? I mean, what proof do I have you are who you say you are?”
“Why else would I give you access to Vadim’s? You need to take him down now, Gleb. You’ve been pussyfooting around too long.”
Her words hit me in the chest. She’s right to call me a goddamn pussy. I should have done this weeks ago. The woman is fucking dangerous, crazy even, but what choice do I have? Vadim is holding Eva’s mom. The sooner I get her away from him the better.
I crack my knuckles then phone Yuri again. “Get the whole team assembled. I want everyone armed to the fucking teeth.” I tighten my fists. “Ring Dmitry and tell him we’ll be back a little later than planned.”
“Yes, Boss,” I hear the smile in Yuri’s voice. He’s been urging me to go to war with Vadim ever since Eva moved in with me.
Kiska has made me soft.
Too fucking soft for hers, Kir’s and my own good.
Vadim’s sprawling estate is on the opposite side of town to mine. Besides Yuri, I have four other men. I know for a fact Vadim has a similar-sized cohort of henchmen; we’ll be evenly matched. I updated my Will as soon as Kir came into my life; he and my kitten won’t lack for money should I be killed.
Except, if I die I won’t be able to protect them...
Cool, calm and collected on the outside, but every muscle in my body tightening in readiness, I pile into the SUV with my men. They see me as their leader; they are soldiers in the line of duty and I steel myself not to show any weakness in front of them. We approach Vadim’s place about thirty minutes later.
The Merc rolls to a halt. Stealthily, we follow the perimeter fence until we come to an entrance at the side. I can’t stop my heart from thudding. Where the fuck is Natasha? I touch my hand to the gate, and it swings open.
Before I can say or do anything, Ludmila comes running toward us, her face bright red and her hands flapping. “Are Eva and Kir alright?”
“Perfectly fine,” I stare around for Natasha. “Where is everyone?”
“They’ve all gone.” Ludmila’s voice is hysterical. “They left about half an hour ago.” She tugs at her skirt, sobbing. “They locked me out of the house. There’s no one here but me.”
Jesus, fuck, Natasha is a fucking conniving bitch. I know with utmost certainty she’s played me like a goddamn fiddle. Probably acting for Vadim, the low-life cunt.
With nervous fingers I pick up my cell and call home.
First Dmitry.
No answer.
Crap!
Next my kitten.
No answer there either.
Holy fucking shit.
I grab Ludmila’s hand and pull her along with me. “Get back in the car now, everyone. I hope I’m wrong, but my guess is our place is under attack.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
Eva
Kir is in my lap, sucking on his pacifier. I smooth the dark brown hair back from his forehead; his big blue eyes stare up at me, trustingly.
“You’re safe now, sinochek, “I bend and kiss his soft cheek.
His eyes shut, but I don’t lay him down for his afternoon nap. Even though we’re in his room, I need the comfort of his warm body close to me. A lone tear trickles down my face. I’m so freaking scared for my mom.
Where has that bastard Alik taken her? And why has he taken her?
I glance at my watch; Gleb should be home already. Where the hell is he?
Suddenly, I hear a door slam downstairs and the intruder alarm goes off.
Shit!
Men are shouting.
My heart almost beats out of my chest.
Gunfire.
I hold back a scream.
What the fuck’s going on? Where’s Gleb?
With shaking arms, I lower Kir to his bed and tiptoe across the floor. There’s no time to think rationally. Gleb told me when we got back from Colorado where he keeps a spare gun; I need to retrieve it and protect my baby.
I close the door and lock it. Keeping my back to the wall of the corridor, I make my way slowly toward Gleb’s office.
It takes forever. My feet drag, my knees knock stiffly, and I keep looking behind to check if anyone has come upstairs. Dear Lord, please don’t let anything bad happen.
More gunshots echo. I flinch, distress coursing through my veins. The alarm has been turned off. My breath bursts in and out.
Has Gleb arrived? Is that why the shooting has started up again?
Panic-stricken, I run. Everything revs up to fast motion. I slide the key to Gleb’s desk from where he keeps it hidden behind a painting. With trembling fingers, I unlock his drawer and grab his spare Glock. My heartrate skyrockets, and something dark and dangerous stirs within me. I will do what it takes to defend my baby.
Out in the corridor again, I stop and listen.
There’s an ominous silence.
I grip the gun, my knuckles white, and creep toward Kir’s room.
Before I can reach his door, I sense a presence behind me.
A bright, white light explodes somewhere behind my eyes. Pain ricochets through my head. With a muffled cry, I crumple to the floor.
“You were supposed to meet me,” Natasha’s voice slices through my rapidly-dwindling consciousness. “If we’d talked I could have averted this train-wreck.”
Don’t black out, Eva.
Through sheer force of will, I struggle against the dizziness. The Glock has fallen next to me and I reach for it.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Natasha makes a grab for the weapon at the same time as me. But I’m quicker. I squeeze my hand around the muzzle and lift it, bringing it down on the side of her face with all my strength.
She keels over; I’ve knocked her out. I struggle to my knees and crawl toward Kir’s door. If I can get back in there and barricade myself inside it will give me time to call Gleb. I’m thinking rationally at last. It took a blow to the head to knock some sense into me; I should have phoned him from the outset.
Except, before I can insert the key, strong arms grasp me; the sour stench of male sweat fills my nose. “Not so fast, bitch.” I scuffle my feet on the carpet, attempting to resist, but I’m suddenly dizzy again.
Pinpricks of light.
Then blackness.
I regain consciousness down in the kitchen, still being held in a vise-like grip. My gaze darts around the room and bile clogs my throat. Oh. My. God. Dmitry is lying in a pool of blood on the floor. Two other bodies are by the fridge, members of Gleb’s security team.
“We meet again, Kiska,” Vadim’s vile voice comes from where he’s standing next to a chair. A white-faced Olga has been tied to it; she’s crying, and Vadim is holding a gun to her head.
“I’m not your kitten,” I splutter through gritted teeth as Vadim’s boyevik pushes me toward him.
“We’ll see about that,” Vadim sneers. “You’ll come with me. Now. And your son. I have buyers interested in the two of you.”
My stomach heaves. Vomit spews up. Projective vomit. It sprays Vadim’s feet. “Urgh,” he groans.
Suddenly, the thudding sound of running footsteps.
“Get down, Eva,” Gleb’s baritone voice booms. “Your mama is safe. I told her to wait in the car.”
Oh, thank God.
I curl myself into a ball and shut my eyes.
Guns roar.
Bullets fly.
Olga starts screaming fit to wake the dead, and all the men are shouting at each other.
I whimper, my entire body quivering.
Oh God, oh God, oh God.
Finally, there are no further shots. Just the groans of the wounded.
“Gleb?” I look around, fucking terrified I’ll see he’s been killed.
“I got him, my love. Vadim is dead.” Gleb p
icks me up and holds me to him. “Where’s Kir?”
“Locked in his room,” I breathe, relief flooding through me. “He’s safe.”
My befuddled brain is struggling. There’s something I should have remembered, but I can’t figure out what.
A shout from the doorway. “You didn’t recognize me, Gleb.”
Crap, Natasha.
Gleb spins me around and places himself in front of me.
A shot, and he falls sideways.
A second shot followed by a gurgling scream.
What’s happening?
Shaking, I lower myself next to Gleb.
Blood is everywhere; it covers my face, my arms and my chest. Oh, dear God, it’s Gleb’s blood.
He’s lying slumped to the side, eyes closed, face ashen.
There’s a fucking bullet wound in his torso.
Jesus, no...
Hands trembling, I pull off my t-shirt and clasp it to the injury. Must stem the flow. My fingers are cold... so very cold.
Yuri has crouched down; he’s phoning someone. “Gleb has a severe gunshot wound,” he says, “there are fatalities and what look to be minor injuries in a couple of his boyeviks.”
I gasp, tears running down my cheeks.
“Dmitry didn’t make it,” Yuri glances at Olga who’s kneeling next to her husband, sobbing and rocking his inert body. Someone must have untied her. “We got all Vadim’s men,” Yuri adds, “including Alik.”
I stare at Gleb’s team, standing protectively in a circle around us. Two of them are bleeding from their shoulders.
Yuri hands me his jacket. I’m only wearing my bra and I quickly cover myself.
He doesn’t say anything. Just indicates with his eyes.
My own eyes snap to where his gaze has landed.
Natasha is lying on the tiles, her lifeless eyes staring, the Glock I retrieved from Gleb’s office in her hand.
“Fuck knows why she shot Gleb,” Yuri grunts. “It happened too quick for me to stop her, but I took her out before she could shoot anyone else.” He shakes his head. “Dr. Hughes is on his way to the ER to meet us. We should go now. Gleb is losing a lot of blood.”
I bend to Gleb’s ear and whisper, “We’ve got you, my love. Hang in there.” Sobbing, I hold his hand. “I’m so sorry.”
His eyes blink open momentarily. “Kir?” he manages to moan before passing out again.
Yuri lifts him as if he weighs nothing and starts making his way toward the front door.
Oh, God, I’m so torn. I want desperately to go to the hospital with Gleb, except I also don’t want to leave my son.
“I heard the shots,” Mama’s voice is right behind me.
I turn and hug her, quickly explain everything that just happened. “I’m so scared for Gleb.”
“Shush,” she strokes my arm. “I’m here for Kir. Go to the ER with your man.”
I give her a weak smile. “Keep your cell switched on, Mama. I’ll call you as soon as I have any news.”
Mama stares at me. “I lost my phone.”
I don’t know what to reply, but Olga must have heard. “You can use mine,” she sobs, and I join Mama in thanking her from the bottom of my heart.
Again, I’m torn. I so want to check on my son. But, at the same time, I need to be with Gleb. “Go,” Mama gives me a push. “There’s no longer any threat to Kir. I’ll stay with him when he wakes from his nap.”
Mama behaving calmly under pressure throws me momentarily. I wonder what went down at Vadim’s to cause such a personality transplant. Something I’ll ask her later, obviously. With stumbling feet, I follow Yuri carrying Gleb toward the car; my fingers are already pressing speed-dial on my cell to call Daniel.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Eva
“Will there be trouble with the cops?” I ask Yuri. We’re on our own in a private family room at the hospital, waiting for Gleb to come out of surgery. I’m so scared for him, but I’m also worried about the consequences of the shoot-out at his place.
Yuri gives me a look like I’ve just asked a stupid question. “Haven’t you heard of cement overcoats?”
I shake my head.
“The boyeviks will put the bodies in receptacles and cover them with cement.” His eyes are cold and my insides shiver. “When the cement hardens, they’ll dump them in the sea.”
“Surely they won’t do that to Dmitry?” I blurt out.
“Of course, not. He’ll be buried with full Bratva honors.” Yuri lowers the pitch of his voice. “Gleb will bribe the authorities not to investigate. He’ll also pay off the families of those who died.”
I nod then lapse into silence, thinking about what Yuri has just told me. It’s a harsh world I’ve entered.
Hard and unforgiving.
Do I really want Kir to grow up in a world like that?
A quiver slips down my spine.
“Has Gleb ever fought a turf-war before?” I stare at my hands.
“Never had to.” Yuri shrugs. “He only became a Vor when he moved to Fairwood ten years ago.”
I twist my fingers together; there’s still a lot I don’t know about the man I love. Oh, God, please let him be okay. Kir needs his papa, and I need him just as much. I swallow the sudden bile at the back of my mouth. If Gleb dies, what will happen to us? I’m sounding weak and whiny even to myself, but freaking hell. Are we still in danger? What did those words mean that Natasha called out before she shot him, when she’d said he hadn’t recognized her? I pick at the loose skin around my thumbnail. Was she the woman Gleb and his friend had shared at Harvard? It wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility Natasha was living a Fatal Attraction kind of scenario. But why had she been so eager to talk to me, claiming it would have averted disaster?
Shit, I left the key to Kir’s room in his door when she hit me, I suddenly remember. She could have gone in there and she was crazy enough to have harmed him.
A bleep comes from my phone, and I pick up. The caller ID identifies Olga, but it’s Mama on the line. “How’s Kir?” my voice shakes.
“He’s awake and asking for you. I said you’ll be home soon,” she soothes. “Any news of Gleb?”
I blow out a thankful breath Kir is okay, then explain Gleb is still in surgery. In hushed tones, Mama tells me about the clean-up operation going on in the kitchen, and how Olga has even been helping with it. “She’s still in shock,” Mama clarifies, “maybe this is her way of dealing with it...”
I can’t imagine how I’d be feeling if I had lost Gleb, and I tell Mama so. “He isn’t out of danger yet,” I add.
The door to the family room opens, and Dr. Hughes appears. I quickly say ‘bye to Mama, telling her I’ll be back asap.
“Mr. Sokolov has come through the procedure.” The doctor gives me a sympathetic look. “Fortunately, the bullet didn’t pierce any vital organs. He’s lost a lot of blood, however. The trauma surgeon has decided to keep him sedated so he can rest.”
Relief zings through me. “Can we see him?”
“Only for a short time,” the doctor turns toward the door. “Come with me.”
We follow him down the corridor to Gleb’s private room. My heart stutters. He’s hooked up to machines and drips, his face almost as white as the hospital sheets. I bend and kiss his forehead. “I love you,” I whisper. “I’d like to stay, but I’ve got to go home for the night.” I kiss him again. “I’ll be back in the morning.”
His eyes flutter open. “Kir?” he groans.
I reach for Gleb’s hand and squeeze his fingers. “I just spoke to Mama. He’s good, but he’s asking for me. And she needs to see to Papa.” I chew my lower lip. “Daniel is on his way.”
Gleb’s eyes close on a sigh.
I kiss him once more before leaving the room with Yuri. I’m still wearing the jacket he loaned me, and my jeans are soaked with Gleb’s blood. Suddenly, I’m shaking so much I can hardly walk. Yuri takes my arm. “Steady, Miss Petrenko.”
Gleb
Everything is
a blur. I don’t know if I’m awake or dreaming. One second, I’m holding Elousha in my arms; the next a pain unlike anything I’ve felt before explodes in the middle of my ribs. I drift off again, in and out of consciousness. Eva’s sweet voice is in my ear, and then she’s gone. Slowly, I come to; there’s a smell of antiseptic and I’m aware I’m lying in a hospital bed, machines beeping behind my head. A hazy figure is sitting close by.
My mouth feels dry and I whisper, “Water.”
“I’ve got you, bro’,” Daniel places a sponge between my lips, “suck on that.”
“Wh... wh... what happened?” I shut my eyes, trying to remember, and blink them open again. “How did you get here? Where’re Eva and Kir?”
Daniel shakes his head, “I came as soon as I could. They’re safe at home. You need to rest now. Get over the effects of the anesthetic. I’ll tell you everything when your mind is clearer.”
My head sinks back on the pillow; I’m so fucking tired I gratefully fall back into oblivion.
Minutes or maybe hours later, I can’t be sure, I wake up. Dr. Hughes is checking me over. “You’ve had a lucky escape, Mr. Sokolov. The bullet grazed a rib and lodged itself less than an inch from your heart. Your lung partially collapsed.”
“Jesus,” I release a breath. Even breathing is too much effort; I let sleep overtake me again.
The third time I waken, my gaze lands on Daniel sitting in an armchair, reading. I grunt that I’m thirsty and he pours some water into a plastic cup, then holds a straw to my mouth. “Just a couple of sips or you’ll feel nauseous.”
I do as he says before asking him to explain what happened.
The sorry tale he tells me brings everything back. Apparently, Yuri filled him in.
Daniel leans toward me, his bearded face troubled. “I wish you’d give up this life. It’s not a safe environment to bring up a child.”
He’s right.
He knows it.
And I know it.
“Not that simple,” I groan.
“Nothing worthwhile is ever simple.” His dark eyes are filled with concern.