by Leslie North
Daphne blinked hard and the thought of her tears made his chest ache.
Kaz’s phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket then frowned. “Excuse me, I need to take this.”
He got up and walked out to the foyer.
Nik frowned after his brother, torn. Part of him wanted to stay and comfort Daphne. The other part of him knew his duty was to be out there with Kaz, staying on top of Bratva business.
His mother shook her head and frowned at him. “Don’t ever forget what’s truly important, my son.”
Her warning only served to confuse him more. Was she talking about Daphne or his work?
Daphne pushed away from the table and stood, carrying her plate to the sink in the kitchen and Nik seized his opportunity, grabbing his own dishes and following her. He stood beside her at the sink, her warmth doing much to calm the storm inside him. “Are you all right? I’m sorry my mother—I should have told her not to bring up such a painful subject.”
“I’m fine,” she said, though the catch in her voice suggested the opposite. “I’m just worried about my mother and my job. I know I filled out that paperwork and everything, but what if they check up on it and find that I’m not at home, that I lied. If I lose my job, I’ve got no income. And if Hornbull gets to my mother and anything happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“I’ve doubled the guards around your mother’s suite at the nursing home,” Nik said, setting his plate in the sink then taking her hand beneath the running water. “I swear to you, baloven’, I’ve done everything in my power to protect you and your mother. Please believe me.”
“I do believe you,” she said, meeting his gaze at last. “It’s just—”
“Brother,” Kaz said, poking his head into the living room. “I need to speak with you. Now.”
Nik bristled against the tension in Kaz’s tone. Whatever that phone call had been about, it had not been good. Without thinking, he brought Daphne’s hand to his lips and kissed it. Then he glanced around and saw everyone staring at him and almost regretted his actions. Almost. Because he couldn’t really regret sharing this small tenderness with Daphne, not for all the wealth in the world. He held her gaze a moment longer then let her go. “Excuse me a moment.”
He joined his brother in the foyer and found Kaz pacing back and forth through the black marble room, his phone to his ear and his rapid-fire Russian echoing off the walls. “What the hell is going on?”
Kaz waved him over, his movements impatient. “Per Rezan, Hornbull has his officers at our Bratva warehouse on Wacker Drive. They have a warrant and are demanding to see inside.”
“Fuck.” Nik gritted his teeth. That warehouse was where he stored the Bratva’s smuggled luxury goods—artwork, antiques, rare Persian rugs. And they’d just received a new shipment this morning. There was no way in hell they’d be able to hide all that stuff from the cops. And Hornbull knew that, the bastard. “I need to get over there.”
“I’ll drive you.”
“No. You stay here with Mama and Daphne. Make sure they’re safe. I’ll take the Bentley myself.” Nik stalked back into the living room to grab his suit jacket and slipped it on. “I have an errand to run.”
“Is everything all right?” his mother asked, now standing in the kitchen beside Daphne at the sink.
“I’m not sure yet,” Nik said, pulling out his gun and checking it before sliding it back into the holster at his side. “Kaz will stay here and keep an eye on things while I’m gone.”
Daphne stared at him, a mix of fear and affection in her eyes. “Please be careful.”
“Always,” he said, holding her gaze a moment longer than necessary before heading for the door. “Don’t let anyone in besides me and Kaz. Be back soon.”
He took the keys from Kaz then rushed downstairs to the lobby only to halt abruptly at the sight of the doorman standing outside the glass doors of the building’s front entrance arguing with the cop who’d given Nik a hard time on the curb that first day outside Daphne’s apartment. The dirty cop was waving the paperwork in his hand, which Nik assumed was a warrant to search his mom’s place.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He’d brought Daphne here, thinking she’d be safe, but now it seemed Nik had put not only Daphne, but his beloved mother in danger as well. Screw the inventory at the warehouse. What was most important to him right now was upstairs and he sure as hell planned to protect it, no matter the cost.
Slowly, he backed into the elevator once more and used his key to head back up to the penthouse. The doors dinged open to the barrel of Kaz’s Glock staring him in the face.
“Shit, bro,” Kaz cursed as he lowered his weapon. “A little warning of your return would’ve been nice. I could’ve blown your brains out. You forget something?”
“No.” Nik walked out of the elevator and headed for the double doors leading into the apartment, his gaze narrowed and his steps brisk as he passed through the lobby. “Hornbull’s men are downstairs. Looks like they’re hitting us on all fronts. We need to get Mama and Daphne out of here. Now.”
“Shit.” Kaz holstered his gun and followed Nik inside the penthouse. “You handle Daphne and I’ll get your mother’s stuff together. Meet at the back door in five minutes?”
“Make it three.”
They each headed for a woman.
“Nik? What are you doing back?” his mother asked, looking startled.
“We need to leave now. Where’s Daphne?”
“In her room,” his mother said. “What’s going on?”
“Some dirty cops are downstairs with a warrant to search this place. I can’t let them find Daphne.” He stalked down the hall and opened the guest room door without knocking. Daphne was sitting on the bed, going through her bag.
“What the—?” she said, frowning as he walked in and grabbed her bag. “What are you doing?”
“Time to leave.”
“But we just got here.”
“Hornbull’s men are downstairs with a warrant. I need to get you out of here now before they find you.”
“Oh, God.” Daphne ran into the bathroom and grabbed her toothbrush and hair stuff, shoving them into her suitcase before Nik closed it and carried it from the room, one hand on the bag, the other tight around Daphne’s arm. “How will we get out if they’re in the lobby?”
“That’s where the secret exit I told you about comes in.” They joined his brother and mother at the end of the hall and he pointed to a panel in the ceiling. “Hope you aren’t afraid of heights.”
Before she knew what was happening, Nik and Kaz had hoisted her and their mother up through the opening in the ceiling, then followed behind them into what appeared to be a maintenance level, filled with rattling, whirring air conditioning units and dim utility lights. Kaz slid the panel back into place just as the sound of pounding on the front double doors echoed through the penthouse.
“C’mon.” Nik took her hand and hustled her through the maze of equipment and concrete walls toward a small window at the back of the building. Through the glass a metal fire escape was visible. He opened the window then tossed her bag through before gesturing for Kaz to help their mother through first. Daphne shuddered beside him and his grip on her hand tightened reassuringly. “Don’t worry. We’ll get through this. Trust me.”
She met his gaze, her blue eyes wide in the dim light. “Don’t have much choice at this point.”
Unable to resist, he bent and kissed her quickly before pulling toward the open window and the balcony outside where his family waited. His mama looked terrified, a look that Daphne shared. “I will take care of you, I swear, baloven’.” He helped her through the window then climbed out behind her. “I will.”
They climbed down a series of ladders to the alley way behind the building then regrouped at the bottom.
“What next?” Kaz asked, pulling out his phone. “We need to get to the Bentley.”
“I wouldn’t recommend that if I were you,” a voice said
from behind Nik, followed by the sinister snick of a gun being cocked. His stomach dropped. He knew that voice.
Nolan Hornbull. Nik swiveled fast, pulling his own weapon as he turned, coming face to face with his nemesis at last. They stood across from each other, guns drawn. A standoff.
Hornbull’s icy glare darted to Daphne before returning to Nik. “Guess you’ve got a choice to make, Volkov. Your family’s lives or the girl’s.”
Nik shoved Daphne behind him, without looking at her, a muscle ticking near his tight jaw, and kept his weapon trained on his enemy. He could take the bastard right now and end this shit once and for all, but could he do it before Hornbull fired? Behind him, Daphne’s labored breathing squeezed Nik’s chest with unbearable pressure. And here it was, his moment of proof, proof that work and pleasure should never mix. While his mother stood silent and stoic at his side and Daphne clung to him for protection, what the fuck could he do? Shooting his way out wasn’t an option. Neither was a physical altercation, not with his mom and Daphne so vulnerable.
“Fuck!” he yelled through gritted teeth. He slowly lowered his gun and placed it on the ground near his feet, though it went against every instinct he had. In the end, there’d been no choice at all. He’d promised to protect Daphne and his mother against any threat, even himself. “You harm one hair on their heads and you’ll have me to answer to, you worthless asshole.”
Hornbull merely smiled—all white teeth and coldness—the same emotionless expression as a great white shark just before it devoured its prey. He hiked his chin toward somewhere over Nik’s shoulder and soon, more of Hornbull’s men surrounded them, tying Daphne’s and his mother’s hands behind their backs with zip ties and putting them into the back of a nearby squad car before doing the same with Kaz and Nik, putting them in a separate car.
Then, lights and sirens blazing, they pulled away. Nik wasn’t sure where they were going or if they would even all end up at the same location. The only thing he was certain of was that location wouldn’t be anywhere near a police station. He gave Kaz a look as they huddled in the backseat, a look that said no matter what happens you protect the women.
Kaz gave him a silent nod of acknowledgement and Nik sank back against the seat, praying he hadn’t just signed a death warrant for them all.
Forgive me, Tolya. Forgive me, Dad.
8
Daphne
They drove back into the city, heading toward the north side. Daphne tried several times to free herself from the uncomfortable zip ties binding her wrists, but with no success. A glance through the window behind her showed a second squad car carrying Nik and Kaz behind them. Beside her in the car sat Regina Volkov, oddly quiet and restrained despite their tenuous situation.
She met the other woman’s eyes and saw both fear and steely resolve. Regina nodded silently, as if to reassure Daphne that everything would be all right. If only Daphne felt as confident. She sighed and sank back against the seat. It wasn’t that she didn’t think Nik could protect her. He’d made that clear in the week or so she’d known him. His hard-edged exterior alone proved he was not a man to be messed with. But she’d also seen the inner man—the softer, kinder, romantic Nik, the Nik who’d swept her off her feet last night in the hotel room and made her feel things no other man ever had. He’d been gentle and sweet and so incredibly passionate that she feared she’d lost her heart to him in those moments and would never get it back. Truthfully, that was what bothered her most.
Honestly, they barely knew each other. She had no business falling for him, especially knowing that as soon as this trial was over, he’d most likely be gone and she’d be back to her boring, lonely life again. If the trial happened at all.
From the front seat, Nolan Hornbull looked back at her over his shoulder, his icy blue eyes and rugged face holding the same ruthless certainty she remembered from the night of the shooting. She’d been so frightened to have stumbled upon such a violent scene—the two men, Tolya and Hornbull, caught in the midst of a heated argument, neither man backing down until Hornbull pulled his weapon and fired. Not once, not twice, but four times—at point blank range—all but obliterating Nik’s friend’s face and chest. Even now, nearly three months later, the phantom stench of gunpowder still stung her nose and the acrid taste of her own terror and adrenaline still coated her tongue each time she remembered the shooting. She’d huddled in the shadows for an hour, maybe longer, scared to move, scared to stay. Not knowing who was friend and who was foe. Hornbull had been carrying his badge that night and the glimmer of that silver medallion beneath the orange street lights was burned into her brain forever.
“Here we are,” Hornbull said, breaking her out of her thoughts. “I have someone I’d like you to meet.”
The car stopped in front a nondescript white ranch-style home in the blue-collar Polish neighborhood of Portage Park on Chicago’s Northwest side. Hornbull opened Daphne’s door and tugged her out of the vehicle while his partner did the same to Mrs. Volkov. Daphne acquiesced without comment, while Regina let her escort have it in rapid-fire Russian. She could see where Nik got his inner fire from. Part of her wondered if he’d inherited his loyalty from her as well.
Hornbull dragged her up the front stoop and through the front door of the home into a tidy, if somewhat worn, living room. The beige paint on the walls looked weathered and the brown shag carpet beneath her feet had seen better days, but it was newly vacuumed and neat as a pin. He shoved her down on a threadbare olive green and brown striped couch and told his partner to do the same with Regina. Then Hornbull walked out of the room with orders for his partner to shoot to kill if either woman tried to escape. Moments later Nik and Kaz were trundled in as well, though they were forced to kneel on the floor beside the sofa instead of sitting.
Once the other crooked cops had taken their places beside Hornbull’s partner across the room, Nik whispered to her out of the corner of his mouth, “You okay?”
“Yes.”
He leaned over to his mother next. “All right, Mama?”
She gave him a narrowed glance. “Yes.”
Daphne said, her voice low and her lips barely moving, “Where are we?”
“No idea,” Nik said.
They both looked back toward the hall as Hornbull reappeared, this time with a younger woman, who looked about Daphne’s age. She had the same icy blue eyes as Hornbull, though her skin was paler. Her dark blond hair hung straight and loose around her shoulders and her movements seemed halting, restless, almost as if her body wasn’t sure how to stop itself. Her bone structure was delicate and flawless, indicating she’d once been quite beautiful.
“I’d like to introduce you all to my daughter, Serena,” Hornbull said, his tone a mix of affection and sadness. “Serena, say hello to our guests.”
“H-hewoo,” the girl said, her speech obviously impaired. Daphne’s chest squeezed with sympathy over the girl’s plight.
“I brought you all here to listen to my daughter’s story,” Hornbull said, helping his daughter into a chair then taking a seat on the arm of it beside her. “Serena, please proceed.”
It was clear from the doting attention Hornbull gave his daughter that he cared for her a lot, but something about the way he directed her every action and controlled the girl’s every word struck Daphne as domineering.
Serena glanced around at all of them, her gaze wary, then sighed and stared at her hands in her lap. “I-I w-was v-vewy p-p-popu-l-l-lar w-w-o-once up-pon a t-t-time a-and—”
“What my daughter is trying to say is that she was always the best and brightest girl in the room,” Hornbull said, taking over, his tone impatient. “She was destined for great things—college, a loving husband, a family of her own. Then she tried pot at a party. The pot led to harder drugs like cocaine. Then one night she was sold some tainted heroine.” He all but spat the last word, his gaze zeroed in on Nik. “Those drugs did this to her. Her disabilities are permanent.”
Daphne’s heart ached for what Hornb
ull’s family must’ve gone through. In fact, her reality wasn’t much different from theirs. Her recent years had been shaped by caring for her mother. She knew the constant struggle and exhaustion of living with a person who was dependent on others for everything.
Nik, on the other hand, barely flinched at Hornbull’s damning words.
Hornbull stared at Daphne, his expression intense. “Serena is the reason why I can’t let you testify, Miss Allman. If I’m convicted of killing that drug-dealing scumbag there won’t be anyone around to care for my daughter. Not to mention that your boyfriend, Volkov here, and his pals could be pushing their tainted drugs all over the city, harming or killing so many more even as we speak. It’s my sworn duty to get these sick fuckers off the streets for good or more kids will end up damaged like my Serena, or worse, dead.
His words tore through her like claws, sparking anger in their wake. Yes, she pitied his daughter, but that didn’t give him the right to be judge and jury. “That’s why the courts are there, to bring these people to justice. You’re a police officer. Your duty is to protect and serve, not kill whenever you think it’s right.”
“Right?” Fury blazed in Hornbull’s blue eyes. “I think you’ve been spending way too much time with these criminals, Miss Allman. They’ve warped your values, corrupted your soul just like they corrupted their drugs to make a profit.” He stood and began pacing the room, forcing the other cops to step back into the hallway to make room for his frenetic tirade. “I brought you here to help you see the true victim in all of this. My daughter. But now I can see that these Bratva thugs have gotten to you first.”
From beside Nik, Kaz asked Serena, “Describe the dealer who sold these drugs to you.”
“You don’t talk to her, punk!” Hornbull rushed over and smacked Kaz hard across the face, sending him toppling to the floor.
Nik snarled. “You will pay for that crime too, you pathetic shithead.”