by Kay Loren
“And the baby?” Nikki asked. “Your doctors appointments? I want to be there with you. You can’t just leave me!”
“I’m not leaving you,” Audrina chuckled. “I just want to get away… Figure it out.”
“What are you going to tell Michael? He’ll fucking rage if you leave.”
“I left him a note,” Audrina shrugged thinking of the simple handwritten note she left on his dresser next to his aftershave. It’s over, it read. It was clear to her that he was never going to change. “He’ll most likely get it tomorrow morning… He’s been coming in late… again… I’ll be gone before then.”
“Did you plan this out? What?” Nikki stumbled on her words as she was in bemusement. She glanced at the bag Audrina had been carrying. “Is that all you’re taking with you?”
“I thought long and hard about it,” Audrina said. “I want to leave everything behind and start fresh where I can have the baby in peace and not be worried about anything. I know I got myself into this mess but this is what I’m going to do.”
“Let me come with you at least,” Nikki offered.
“No. You have a life here,” Audrina sighed glancing at the small, silver clock on Nikki’s side table. It was almost time. “I’ll call you soon, okay? I promise.”
“I’m fucking terrified when Michael finds out you are gone,” The thought sent chills up Nikki’s arms. Good thing Sergei was staying with her most nights, or else she’d be really scared.
“Don’t be. I got to go or I’ll miss my train,” Audrina stood up from the couch. “I love you.”
Nikki hugged Audrina close. She felt as if it was the last time she was going to see her friend.
“You better call me once you settle in wherever you go. I’ll be there no matter what,” Nikki said. “I won’t tell anyone what’s going on.”
“I will,” Audrina promised.
She kissed Nikki quickly and left her apartment. She took a cab down to the train station and -while in the backseat- placed an oversized coat around her, big sunglasses and a hat on her head just to be safe. She didn’t want anyone she or Michael knew recognizing her and telling him. She boarded the awaiting train quickly and did not look back.
Chapter Twenty- Three
“He’s late” Sergei commented.
“Isn’t he always?” Nikolai said exhaling a cloud of smoke.
Michael had called an emergency meeting between him and Nikolai. Nikolai knew this was coming sooner or later. He had his men positioned all around the abandoned field where Michael usually called all his meetings. Most of his men were Ex KGB and men who served in the Soviet army. All trained killers who vowed to protect him. All of the men worked for him would die for him at the drop of a hat.
Several SUV’s began to drive into the field. The day seemed even gloomier as they continued to approach. Nikolai instructed Sergei and the men around him not to make a move until he gave the signal. He knew Michael was looking for a war.
Michael stepped out of the back of one SUV. The look on his face was undeniable. He was pissed. His men surrounded him like a swarm of flies, especially those two twin brothers who always guarded him.
Nikolai flicked the cigarette from between his fingers. It landed right before Michael’s sleek shoes, stopping him where he stood. There was a good two feet in between them.
“So a little birdie told me, you helped that junkie mother fucker flee town,” Michael stated when he stood across from Nikolai. “I should have known you Russian scumbags stick together.”
Nikolai shrugged. “I was never going to let you touch one hair on Sammy’s head.”
Michael smirked and stroked his jaw. “I already fuckin knew that would happen… You see, I’m not pissed about that. No.”
Nikolai sighed, his hands in his pockets. He continued to stare Michael down. Either Michael worked it all out or he didn’t.
“Tell me Nikolai, how long has it been since you’ve been working with those no good illegitimate D’Amuri fucks!” he raised his voice. “Long enough to try and fuck me over?”
“That was the plan,” Nikolai shrugged.
Michael laughed and shook his head. “You see I’m already ten fuckin steps ahead of you. You dumb bastards didn’t even see it.”
“The heir to the Cathan family is dead,” Nikolai stated. “No one is getting that fortune. All the connections and trades died over twenty years ago.”
Michael laughed. Really began to laugh so hard it irritated Nikolai. It took all his strength not to pull out his gun.
“Is that what you think?”
Nikolai didn’t flinch.
“The Cathan heir didn’t die,” Michael shook his head once his amusement ceased.
That wasn’t news to Nikolai. He knew someone had to have forged all the documents. How Michael knew was a mystery.
“The heir is still alive and breathing… and pregnant with my child.”
Nikolai glanced at Sergei who kept his eyes focused on Michael. What the fuck? Is he joking? Or maybe Nikolai was hearing things.
“I don’t understand,” Nikolai huffed.
“Audrina is the fuckin heir to that damned fortune!” Michael laughed. “Didn’t you know?”
All the breath left Nikolai’s body. There is no damn way. He had looked up Audrina’s file. It was real. She even confirmed it. She was in foster care… born to a young couple in Maine that had died in a crash. There is no way in hell she is connected to all of this.
And she is pregnant. Nikolai didn’t know what to feel. Angry or sad. This can’t be real.
“You wouldn’t have known that,” Michael shook his head with that annoying smirk that Nikolai wanted to wipe off his face. “No, you were too busy trying to fuck me over to know.”
Michael lit a cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke. “You should know by now I have the whole fucking East coast in my pocket… including Sarg. He knew. He knew all along who the heir was. Who do you think introduced me to her?”
Nikolai’s grip tightened on the gun in his coat. Fury took over him. Michael never loved Audrina. He just wanted what was left for her.
“I wasn’t interested at first,” Michael shrugged. “But when I saw her I fuckin went in for the kill. I never knew that ugly fuckin Cathan man would have a knockout like Audrina for a daughter. Perfect tits, ass, face and she fucks my brains out every night.”
Michael kept going on and on, gloating about Audrina and what he was entitled to now that she was carrying his child.
Before Nikolai could blink, he pulled out his gun. The sound of guns prepared to fire made the field more eerie than it had been. Guns pointed in every direction waiting for further instruction.
“Now that wouldn’t be wise,” Michael tutted. “You kill me and your little sister gets it. You see that man there.”
Michael pointed to one of the twin bodyguards who Nikolai disliked the most. Giuseppe. He remembered how to distinguish which brother was which based on the mole Giuseppe had on his cheek. For some reason it made him appear more sinister than the other. Nikolai glanced at him briefly before training his eye back on Michael. The man had a phone to his ear with a ghost of a smile on his tanned cheek.
“Why at this very moment your sister is at church with, unbeknownst to her, a revolver pointed at her back,” Michael informed. “One shot at me and she gets it. All it takes is one word.”
Nikolai felt helpless. He wanted to kill this son of a bitch yet he knew Michael was not bluffing. He had walked into his trap. He had no choice but to lower his gun.
“That is wise,” Michael nodded. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get home. My heir and all that fortune awaits me… “
Audrina… Nikolai heart clenched.
Michael turned on his heel to leave but then turned back with a cold glare in his eyes. “I hope you’re ready for a fucking war.”
Michael left the field with his head held high. He had all the power. Pretty soon, he’d have half the fuckin world in his palm. Nikolai was
astonished.
Michael had won.
“We got to go Boss,” Sergei pulled Nikolai towards the car. “It’s done.”
“I want to fucking kill him!” Nikolai slammed his fist into the side of the car door with such rage the car looked as if it was dented with a big bat.
Sergei nodded in agreement.
“Drive me to Svetlana’s church. Quickly!” Nikolai commanded. “When I find the bastard who has a gun at my sister’s back, I will skin him alive.”
Nikolai sat at his desk, head in hands, defeated. As soon as he retrieved Svetlana and returned home, he had to quickly ramp up security. The whole perimeter of his home was guarded by at least a hundred men. Every door was manned by two and he especially had Svetlana under heavy guard after Michael had threatened her just hours ago. He couldn’t bare to tell her just how close she came to death. He just had to tell her it was for safety reasons only.
A throbbing pain began to radiate throughout his head when he thought about Audrina. He tried to remind himself that she had made her choice, yet he could not stop himself from worrying about her. He couldn’t help himself. Even though she was pregnant with Michael’s child, he was in love with her.
A knock at the door jolted his head up.
“I got Nikki,” Sergei said as he came into the study. “It wasn’t easy.”
Nikolai had pressured Sergei to pick up Nikki as soon as possible and bring her to his home. Sergei was crazy about Nikki and Nikolai knew Michael would have went after her to get to Sergei. It didn’t matter to Michael if she was so close to Audrina. Michael would have killed her without a second thought. Placing Nikki under his protection was the least he could do since he started all of this.
“Go,” Nikolai waved him out. “Go get her settled in.”
Sergei shifted from foot to foot. He clearly had something to say.
“What?” Nikolai growled his annoyance when Sergei did not speak and only continued to stare at him.
“Audrina is gone.”
Nikolai’s stomach dropped. He looked up at Sergei. “Gone?”
“Nikki said she left town earlier today…”
Nikolai let out a deep breath. “Where?”
“She doesn’t know,” he replied. “It took me a long while but she said she took the train out of town… and as far as Michael knowing about her being pregnant, there was no way. She had left him without telling him.”
“I’m lost,” Nikolai replied. His head was giving him so much trouble. He couldn’t process anything with everything he was feeling. “She left Michael?”
“According to Nikki she left him the day after she talked to you… The only people who knew she was actually pregnant, were Nikki and Dr. Jones… the one who fixes all of us up.”
Dr. Jones was the widow of one of the men who worked for Nikolai’s father. She was a Dutch woman who Nikolai liked a lot. This poor woman had patched up gun wounds, lost limbs and saved men who were nearly dead. Nikolai scolded himself… He felt as if he couldn’t trust anyone as of the last few hours.
“I asked Nikki if Audrina said anything to anyone else but she’s sure she did not,” Sergei added. “She says Audrina was just as surprised at the news of being pregnant.”
Nikolai rubbed his eyes. Then why in the fuck would Michael say that? Maybe someone either saw Audrina go to the doctor or she did something in front of Michael to make him know she was pregnant. He was elated to hear she had left Michael. He didn’t deserve her.
Then it dawned on Nikolai. If she wasn’t with Michael, then she was out there somewhere alone; alone and pregnant. He had find her before Michael realized she was gone.
“We got to go,” Nikolai stood up. ”We got to find her.”
Sergei held up his hands with a nervous chuckle. “We’re not going to find her Nikolai… She left without telling Nikki where she was going. She could be on a plane and gone by now.”
“Give me the keys to the car and I will go find her myself.”
Nikolai needed the drive anyways. He would drive all over the city and knock on every door until he found her. He wanted her safe and with him where he could protect her.
Sergei shook his head. “No, I’ll go with you… Let me just check in with Nikki and put Alek with her…”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Audrina reached her destination late in the night. She knocked on the big oak door and waited. She pulled her coat around her body when she felt the cold wind hit her. The door opened seconds later to reveal Jeana. Despite her tired face, messy blonde up do and her oversized pajamas, Jeana was all bright eyed and cheery.
“I thought you changed your mind,” Jeana smiled when she hugged Audrina tightly. “It’s so good to see you!”
“You too,” Audrina smiled.
She ushered Audrina into her home and shut the door.
“Welcome. Take off your coat,” Jeana said.
“I’ll keep it on,” Audrina said and pulled her coat closer to her body. She didn’t want news of her pregnancy out in the open.
“Who’s that?” her husband called from atop of the stairs.
“No one honey!” Jeana answered sweetly. She turned to Audrina and pulled her into the direction of the kitchen. She beckoned Audrina to sit on one of the wooden stools near the kitchen island.
“Wine?” Jeana offered.
Audrina nodded but then remembered she was pregnant. “Actually a tea would be nice.”
“Of course,” Jeana nodded after a moment of pause.
A few minutes later she poured hot water into two mugs and gave Audrina the choice of peppermint, chamomile or black tea. She opted for the peppermint to settle her stomach. Jeana took the stool next to Audrina and faced her.
“I was surprised you wanted to stay the night over,” Jeana admitted after a sip of tea. “I always assumed Michael didn’t like me.”
Michael couldn’t stand Jeana for many reasons. The main one being how liberated Jeana was and how her views were that a man and woman should be equals in all ways. Michael hated that. He felt as if she would have an influence over Audrina and poison her mind.
“Thank you again,” Audrina pressed her lips together. “For letting me stay the night.”
“So you left him finally huh?”
Audrina lowered the steaming mug from her lips. Was it that obvious? She didn’t tell Jeana anything when she called her. She just asked if she could stay the night.
“Yes,” she nodded.
“Thank God you came to your senses Audri,” Jeana shook her head. She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it.
“What?”
Jeana looked down at her hands and then back up to Audrina. “You know who Michael is right?”
Audrina shrugged. What does she mean?
Jeana shook her head and put her hand on top of Audrina’s. “I mean do you know what he actually does for a living?”
Audrina shook her head. Michael only described himself as a wealthy business man. As to what ‘business’ he was in, he never said. Audrina knew Michael was no nine to five guy, but he was always working.
Jeana set her mug down and looked Audrina square in the eye. “Michael is the head of the Mancini crime family…”
Audrina let out a shaky laugh. Jeana must be mistaking. But then slowly, it all came to Audrina. The unexplained amount of money he always seemed to have... the frequent trips, the armed guards and all the secrecy. Then Audrina remembered something in particular that rattled her to the core.
It was when she first moved in with Michael. He had come home really late one night and she had stayed up worried. When she saw him walk through the door, he was covered in blood. He told her he had ran over a deer and had to drag it off to the side of the road. Stupidly she believed it and helped him clean up and that’s when she had seen the gun in his waistband. He shrugged it off. He always had an answer for everything. And she believed everything he fed her.
“How do you know?” Audrina whispered.
; “Jack told me after we attended your engagement party,” she replied. “Apparently Michael tried to put him on his ‘pay roll’… as most of these criminals do.”
Audrina felt bile rise up to her throat. How could she have been so blind? Of course he was into crime. The people he hung around should have been the first damn sign.
“I can’t believe how stupid I am!” She covered her eyes with her hand.
“You’re not stupid,” Jeana rubbed Audrina’s arm. “Michael is very charming. I could see how you fell for him as quickly as you did.”
“Yeah, stupidity,” Audrina answered in short. She put a hand to her stomach. The possibility of Michael being her baby’s father scared her. What kind of life would the baby have?
“Does your stomach hurt?” Jeana asked when she noticed Audrina’s hand lingering on her stomach.
I can’t tell her I’m pregnant.
Audrina nodded. “What you just told me is making my stomach do back flips.”
It was kind of true. Audrina didn’t know how to process everything. The day was full of revelations and she just wanted to fall asleep and pray when she woke up, that it was all a bad dream.
“Come on. Let’s get you to bed,” Jeana said. “I set you up in Kyle’s room.”
The room was filled with posters of bands and sport trophies giving the room a high school boy vibe. It was Jeana’s son’s room after all. The only thing that gave way that no one had been staying in the room was the fresh, gray linen on the full bed and smell of polish on the pine wood floor.
“Will Kyle mind?” Audrina asked.
Jeana waved her hand. “He’s living on campus and only visits one weekend a month. You know how boys are.”
A boy… She briefly wondered what it would be like to have a son.
“What is he studying?”
Jeana sighed with a little eye roll. “I wanted him to go to med school but last minute he changed it up to become a marine biologist.”