by T. L Hodel
I know his words shouldn’t mean anything to me, but they did. Yes, he lied to me, betrayed us both, but he also risked everything to come here and save her. For that, I wouldn’t kill him. My mother, on the other hand…
“You hear that?” Leaning over, I nodded at Preston, who’d been watching from out in the hall. “Our mother knows where she is.”
Preston cocked his brow back at me. “You know she won’t survive it, right?”
“I don’t care.”
That was all the answer my brother needed. He pushed off the wall and marched out the door, heading off to finally live out his matricide fantasy. Ten seconds, later Lou and Derek came into the room and slapped cuffs on Luke. My guess was that Preston let them know what was going on.
Luke gave me one last look, apologizing the only way he could, before Derek hauled him away. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Sebastian and Sandra Creswell.”
Micha was less than impressed. “What the fuck!” he growled at his father.
“I’m sorry, son, but it’s the only way I can protect you both.”
“Protect us both!?” Micha roared in response. “He gave Junior and Finn to that sick fuck! He deserves to be punished.”
“And he will be,” Lou straightened out his suit jacket, “But not by your hand.”
That was a load of crap. Lou wasn’t doing this to save his illegitimate son’s life. Or out of some sense of fatherly responsibility. He was doing it for one reason. Cheyenne Grace. Luke’s mother. Like the rest of us, Lou would do anything for the woman he loved.
“You can’t…”
“It’s done, son,” Lou said, cutting Micha off, after which he leaned over and rolled his dark eyes over the rest of us. “You boys will let me deal with this, understand. The mafia isn’t something to be toyed with. If you go in there half cocked, you’re not coming back.”
If he thought I was going to sit back and do nothing, then Lou didn’t know me at all.
“I mean it, Parker.”
I pursed my lips and nodded. “I got it.”
Go fuck yourself, Lou.
He eyed me for another second, before turning and walking away. Micha, who was pissed as fuck, followed, ranting his objections behind him.
Mason crossed his arms and shifted his gaze to Silas. “Why do I get the feeling that he’s about to do something stupid. Like go pay some Russian asshole a visit?”
“Because he’s got the same look you did before you hit on Ava.”
As Lou said, the mafia wasn’t something to be toyed with, but Lana was their princess, and my guess was that Nikolai would want to protect his heir. Miami wasn’t that far. Without a word, I spun around, slipped out the patio door, and snuck around the side of the house to my SUV. I barely got the door closed when the passenger side opened and Mase plopped down in the seat beside me.
“Oh man, there’s nothing like rolling up to Nikolai Ivanov’s house in the mommy wagon.”
“What are you doing?”
The back door opened and Silas climbed in. “We’re going with you.”
“Why?” My lip curled in confusion.
“Well this one’s just a moron,” Silas nodded at Mase, “But Lana helped my cousin, so I kind of owe her.”
“I thought you said this was stupid?”
“Oh, this is definitely stupid. Way beyond grabbing your sister’s ass, but,” Mase shrugged, “I just got out of rehab. Stupid’s my middle name.”
It took Mase two weeks to heal from that shit. There’d be no healing from what we were about to do. One of two things happened when you drove up to a mafia bosses house. You got turned away. Or you got shot.
“Last chance,” I said, starting the engine.
They both said nothing. Just clicked their seatbelts on and sat back.
“Alright.” I stepped on the gas and steered the SUV down the driveway.
It was time to meet my father in-law.
Chapter 30
Parker
I leaned forward and scanned the large brick manor through the windshield. More specifically, the four armed guards by the gate. If people said we had money, then Nikolai owned the whole damn bank. This place put Oakleigh Manor to shame, and that was only from what I could see over the wall surrounding the property.
“Are we just going to sit here like a couple of creeps, or are we going to go over there?” Mase lifted his chin at the estate across the street, “And talk to the man?”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
Nikolai wasn’t just some guy walking down the street that we were trying to sell Girl Scout cookies to. He was the damn Russian bratva boss. Don’t get me wrong, the Order had power, but mafia trumped secret society. These were the guys that rained blood on the streets because they had a disagreement over territory. They didn’t just take out a traitor, they took out his family, friends, and anyone that looked at the fucker for too long. They didn’t fuck around with secrets in the dark, and they sure as fuck wouldn’t have a problem shooting the messenger. I wouldn’t be much help to my angel if I was dead.
Silas leaned forward, propping his arms up on the back of mine and Mase’s seats, and blew out a breath. “We could call him?”
“Oh sure, genius, just let me pull out my mafia phone book and look up his name.” Silas and I both rolled our eyes when Mase pulled out his phone and started scrolling through contacts, muttering, “Nikolai… Nikolai… Nikolai… nope, no Nikolai. You know why? Because it’s fucking mafia, dumbass.” His eyes rolled back to a rather unimpressed Silas. “Get away from me with that shit.”
“Well, I don’t hear you coming up with any genius plans,” Silas grumbled back.
Mase crossed his arms and insisted, “I’m working on it.”
“Don’t hurt yourself.”
“Shut up, Tinkerbell. I’m trying to think.”
That made me snicker a bit. Fucking Mase redoing Silas’s room in princess theme. That was almost as good as the barber shop quartet that followed him around school. Back to Nikolai…
“Okay, we should…”
Shit, what should we do?
Whatever it was, we better do it quick, before the assholes with the AK’s noticed us sitting across the street.
“Alright,” Mase declared, “I got it.”
Silas’s scowl deepened. “He doesn’t have shit.”
“You underestimate me, my friend. I know exactly what to do.”
I eyed the confident look on Mason’s face. “And what’s that?”
“Drive up there,” he waved his hand at Nikolai’s house, “I got the rest.”
“Uh huh?” Silas hummed and sat back. “Don’t listen to this fool.”
I looked at Mase, and then back to Silas. Did I really want to listen to the guy that was talking to a stuffed dog yesterday? Sighing, I stared at the house. What choice did I have? I started the engine and rolled down the street.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Mase nodded, “Of course I know what I’m doing.”
Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?
“He has no idea what he’s doing,” Silas muttered from the back.
Mase lifted his arm and waved his hand over his shoulder. “Pipe down, princess, the adults are talking.”
I could feel Silas glaring at him. “I hope they fucking shoot you.”
“Let’s hope they don’t shoot anyone,” I muttered, while steering the SUV up the windy path to Nikolai’s gates.
The only time I’d seen men jump to action this fast was when Ryker took Riley and Mase. Chase and his boys were on that shit. A lot like the armed men I could see behind the gate, moving into ready positions. All it took to get everyone going was one guy on this side, blowing a whistle. The Lost Boys MC was just as organized, and Chase had been away from the club for years. Said a lot about the criminal enterprise.
The second we pulled up to the iron bar gate, a tap, tap, tap came on my window. I stared at the barrel of a 9mm knoc
king on the glass and up to the man in a suit peeking in at me. It wasn’t just him. There was another man on the passenger side, glaring at Mase, and one in front of the SUV watching us all. And that wasn’t counting however many were on the other side of that wall. Exhaling a deep breath, I silently prayed Mase knew what he was doing, and rolled down the window.
Here lies Parker Whitley…
“I think you’re lost, mal’chik,” the man on my side said with a thick Russian accent. “You should turn ‘round and go back to where you came from.”
“Hey man,” Mase called out, while ducking down a bit to look the Russian in the eyes, “We need to talk to the boss man.”
“What do you know of boss?”
A smirk spread across Mason’s face, “I know what happened to his missing shipment.”
He listened to Mason Kessler.
“Ah fuck,” I growled, and spit out a mouthful of blood. I’d been hit so many times that the coppery taste was lodged in my throat. “I thought you said you knew what you were doing?”
A fist cracked off Mason’s jaw, jarring his chair and causing it to screech against the floor.
“We’re in, aren’t we?” he said through a groan.
We were in, alright. Tied to fucking chairs while four Russian pricks beat on us, demanding information. Not really the nonchalant conversation I had in mind. And we still had yet to see Nikolai.
“I told you not to listen to him.”
I turned my head Silas’s way and stretched my sore jaw. A trickle of blood ran down his chin from the split in his lip. We were all fucked up. My ears were ringing from being hit in the head, Silas’s left eye was swollen shut, and Mase… He looked ready to kill a motherfucker. Green eyes blazing with rage while his forearms flexed, trying to break the bonds binding them behind the chair. The only thing I could hope at this point was that he didn’t break free. Then we’d all be dead, because Mase couldn’t control his temper.
“You talk too much,” one of the Russians stated in a flat tone. This one I figured was the one in charge down here, since he was the only one speaking. “But you tell us nothing. I think, you have nothing to tell.”
“Hey Ivan!” Mason yelled, which earned him another punch. This time in the gut. Mase hunched over as best he could and coughed out, “Get your boss down here and let’s see who has something to tell.”
The leader kept his icy eyes on me and tipped his head at Mase. “This one is mouthy. Perhaps I cut out his tongue?”
“You could,” I growled, meeting his glare, “But what if we really do have information for your boss?”
He stared at me.
I stared at him.
Asshole Number One, who was pounding on Silas, spouted something in Russian to the leader, who barked something back. Judging by the tone in Asshole Number One’s voice, and the look on his face, he wasn’t too keen on the risk of pissing off Nikolai.
“You want to see boss, alright.” The leader’s lips twisted in a devious smirk, “I hope you have coffins picked out.”
With that, he nodded at the other men and they all walked out, leaving us alone in the dank cell like room. Their absence gave me a minute to evaluate my injuries. My jaw hurt like a motherfucker, an ache was crawling up my shoulder blades, and I was pretty sure one of my ribs was broken. Not too bad, considering. Silas wasn’t too bad either. It was Mase that was fucked up. Blood poured from his nose, and I saw him spit out a tooth. Fucker couldn’t keep his mouth shut, though I suppose he could take a beat down better than the rest of us. I couldn’t remember a time when Mase didn’t use his fists to solve an argument.
“A missing shipment?!” Silas growled loudly, “Really?”
“What? It’s the mob,” Mase shrugged, “There’s always a missing shipment.”
If I wasn’t tied to the chair, I’d have kicked his ass myself.
My mouth opened, prepared to rip Mason a new one, but my words got stuck in my throat when the door opened. Assholes One, Two and Three walked in with the leader, followed by someone else. This man had an aura of power that even I could feel. The other’s dropped their eyes when he sauntered past, avoiding eye contact. His strides were long and confident as he walked into the room and stopped to stare at me.
Instead of speaking to me, he said something in Russian, which the leader answered.
My gaze wandered over the black suit jacket covering his broad shoulders, and up to the icy blue eyes with a tint of green. The slight crinkle under his eyes told me he was the right age to be Nikolai, but he was too… pretty.
“My men said you wished to speak to me?”
Well shit, guess he was Nikolai. He must’ve been in this country for awhile, because his English was almost perfect. I could hear the faint Russian accent behind some of his words though.
I sat up and puffed my chest out. “I have some information you might be interested in.”
“I highly doubt that,” Nikolai responded.
“You know,” Mason piped in, making me shake my head. The asshole was going to get us killed. “You Russian’s are seriously lacking in the hospitality department.”
One tip of Nikolai’s head, and Mase was slapped across the face. Not once did he break eye contact with me. “I’m a busy man.”
Apparently patience wasn’t one of his traits. “I’m here about your daughter.”
“You must have mistaken me for someone else.” He cocked a brow, “I can’t have children.”
Mase got another smack when he muttered, “Explain that to his girl.”
Shut the fuck up, Mase.
“I have a paternity test that says otherwise,” I said, before Asshole Number Three could clock Mase again.
Nikolai’s brows knit together as he searched my face for signs of deception. Maybe this shit would work out after all, and he might actually listen to me. Until he opened his mouth.
“Kill them.”
Immediately after, arms lifted, raising guns and my life flashed before my eyes. The first time I saw my angel in her red shoes. The way her face lit up when she smiled, and the pride that filled me knowing she was mine.
I’m sorry, baby.
Before bullets could riddle my body, my phone went off, and Nikolai held up his hand, stopping his men from pulling the trigger.
“Stap, “ he ordered, and plucked my phone off the table where all of our stuff was laying. “Perhaps whoever is calling will have some answers for me.” His eyes locked on mine, “Or perhaps I’ll kill them too.” Nikolai sauntered over to me and clicked my phone on speaker. “I’m sorry, your friend can’t come to the phone right now. He’s tied up at the moment.”
“Nikolai?” Preston’s voice rang out, “Why the fuck do you have my brother’s phone.”
How the hell did Preston know the Russian mob boss?
Every single man in the room dropped their armed hands, as their face’s visibly paled. Someone whispered, “d’yavol smerti,” and Nikolai pushed down a loud swallow.
“I asked you a fucking question!” Preston barked out.
And just like that, Nikolai’s whole demeanor changed. He took a few steps back and stared anxiously down at my phone. Mase, Silas and I shared a ‘what the fuck’ look. Seconds ago, we were looking at our own graves, and now the Russians in the room looked like the boogeyman himself was coming after them.
“I’m sorry,” Nikolai stammered, “I didn’t know he was your brother.”
A shrill agonizing scream pierced the air, ringing out from the other end of my phone.
“You hear that Nikolai?” Preston said, making the mob boss nod, “That’s my mother.”
I should’ve felt something. A sense of loss, or sympathy for the woman that gave birth to me. But I felt nothing. My angel was god knows where because of her. The only thing I felt was satisfaction knowing that my brother wouldn’t make things easy for her.
“You let my brother go, and whatever idiot friends went looking for suicide with him, or it’ll be your house I visit tonight
.”
“Hey!” Mase called out, insulted, as Preston hung up.
Two seconds later, we were cut free from our binds and were being led through the house. I don’t know what the fuck my brother had to do with him, but Nikolai was much more accommodating now. He listened to everything I said, looked at all the information, and jumped into action, sending his people off to find information on his missing daughter. Prick even had a doctor come tend to our wounds.
“You must understand,” he said while staring at a picture of Lana, “Someone like me can never be too careful.”
“I get it.”
The Order had enemies, sure, but nothing like Nikolai. His life was probably threatened on a daily basis. Someone like that had to be cold and callus.
He sighed and ran his fingers over Lana’s smiling face. “If I’d have known about her…”
All I could think about were my wife and children. Were they hurt? Were they dead? I felt completely and utterly lost, and I couldn’t imagine what Nikolai was thinking in that moment. Learning you had a child that everyone hid from you had to hurt. Not to mention the guilt I saw etched all over his face.
“What are you going to do with your wife?”
She knew he had a child out there and said nothing.
“She’s already dead,” he responded as if it was a passing thought, and looked up at me. “You say she’s pregnant? Are you married?”
I nodded.
“Good. I’d hate to have to kill you now.”
Guess he wasn’t as afraid of my brother as I thought.
The door opened and the leader, who I’d learned was called Dimitri, came in. “Luca and his men have a meet at the docks in two hours.”
“Do you have a location?”
Dimitri tipped his head in affirmation.
“Get the men ready,” Nikolai said, “We leave in five.”
I stood up, ready to follow the Russian out the door, but stopped when I noticed Mase and Silas standing behind me. “You guys don’t have to come.”
This wasn’t like taking on Ryker’s lackeys. I was about to march into a full out mafia fight. There was a good chance I wouldn’t come back.