“I couldn’t care less about your territory, Viktor.” I felt my muscles tense when he just grinned. He thought he had the upper hand in this meeting, but that would soon change. I was going to enjoy every second of what was about to come crashing down on this sonofabitch.
“Let’s not be enemies, young wolf. In fact, let me give you a token of my great…esteem.” Lifting a hand, he signaled one of his men, who lifted his phone to his ear and spoke in Russian to bring in the package.
Every muscle in my body tensed as I heard the door open and then slam closed. Slowly, I turned my head.
Only for the entire world to suddenly feel like it was off its axis.
Yerik, one of my mom’s own personal security detail, was walking toward us. He had someone tossed over his massive shoulder. I couldn’t tell who it was since there was a hood over their head, but I did know it was female from the shape of her hips and the way she was squirming to get away from him.
Yerik stopped ten feet from me and placed the woman on her knees in front of him. When he pulled the hood off her head, burning rage like I’d never felt before in my life filled my blood.
Tavia.
Her clothes were disheveled, her top torn down the middle, showing everyone the pale-pink bra she was wearing. There was a bruise already forming along her jaw, her plump bottom lip cut and trembling. Yerik, or someone else, had touched her.
With violence.
And I was going to kill that motherfucker.
Her darker-than-espresso eyes darted around quickly, the fear in their depths making my stomach bottom out. I clenched my hands at my sides to keep from reaching for her. If I moved to shield her, Petrov would take that as a sign of weakness. He would know he’d won, and that would only put my Tavia in even more danger.
When her gaze landed on me, a flash of relief filled her eyes until she noticed I wasn’t moving to save her.
I wanted to grab her, hide her away from the evil that pulsed in the world.
From the evil that lived inside me.
“Th-Theo,” she pleaded in a shaky voice, tears blinding her. “Help me.”
“What the fuck is this?” I demanded of Petrov, turning my gaze back to him. With Herculean effort, I blocked out Tavia’s whimper of distress when Yerik grabbed her hair, yanking her back toward him.
From the moment he touched her, he was a dead man. He just didn’t know it yet.
“Tavia is my present for you, young wolf,” Petrov informed me with a wicked grin. “My token of peace.”
“She isn’t yours to give,” I growled.
She was mine. As she always had been. From the first moment I set eyes on her. That long, thick hair damp from the rain as she sat at the large table in the library of my adoptive parents’ house with my sister, teaching her the components of some chemistry compound. I knew the instant I saw her that she was mine.
But she was too young.
I knew I would have to wait. Had known, for her own sake, it would be better if I left her alone completely.
But I was a weak man where Tavia was concerned. I couldn’t not make her mine. Only, once I had, things had started blowing up with Petrov, and I didn’t want her in the cross hairs if things began to get bloody. So, I’d backed off, promising myself I would make it all up to her once my enemy was no longer a danger to her.
Petrov shouldn’t even have known she existed. I’d been careful. Kept my distance. Not let anyone, with the exception of my best friend, Lexa, know what this girl meant to me. Not even Ivan and Yury.
“Oh, but she is,” Petrov said in a calm voice as he looked over at Tavia possessively. “As her father, I have every right to give her to anyone I want.”
Chapter 3
Tavia
I was in a nightmare. There was no other way to describe what had happened from the moment I realized Yerik wasn’t taking me where I was supposed to go.
Once he’d stopped in the desolate parking lot of some abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city, he’d gotten out and come to the back door where I was sitting. Desperately, I’d tried to get out before he could reach me, but the child safety locks were engaged. When the door opened and he came in after me, I’d fought him tooth and nail, trying to get free, but he was stronger. My shirt was no barrier for him, and his laugh still echoed in my ears from when he’d ripped it in half, exposing my bra.
His rough hands had touched my breasts, and I’d lost it, clawing at him. It only earned me a backhand to the face, making my jaw ache from the blow. My pain seemed to turn him on more, and he kissed me. My mouth still throbbed from how forceful he was, and I could taste blood beading where his teeth had cut me.
His phone going off was what saved me. Then he’d tied my hands and put a hood over my head before tossing me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. When he put me on my knees in front of a group of men, I thought for sure I was about to be gang-raped. Until I saw Theo.
I nearly sobbed with relief, seeing him standing there. The one person in the world I wanted to save me was right in front of me. His shoulders were tense, the expensive suit he wore molded to his perfect body.
But his eyes were blank, not giving away a single flash of emotion in their dark depths.
This man may look like Theo Volkov, but he wasn’t my Theo. The guy I’d given every part of my heart to, willingly handed over my virginity and every other first a girl had to give away to, the one I thought I would love forever… That Theo wasn’t standing before me.
This Theo stood there with an aura of danger shrouding him. Everything about him screamed “Don’t fuck with me.” There was no softness. No love. No empathy. He was ruthless and frightening. It was as if the man I knew didn’t even exist, and for some reason, that scared me more than the other man standing only a few feet away.
Then the other guy said something that had my head snapping back.
“As her father, I have every right to give her to anyone I want.”
“Father?” I choked on the word, turning my full attention on the man.
I’d never seen this man before in my life. He was leanly built, verging on overly skinny, with a face that reminded me of a wraith. His suit appeared to be just as expensive as Theo’s, yet it looked like it hung off him. For a moment, I wondered if he’d lost weight or if the suit wasn’t his to begin with. Then I quickly decided I didn’t care because this creep just said he was giving me to Theo.
On top of that, he was claiming to be my father.
“I don’t have a father,” I told him, lifting my chin to glare at him. “I don’t have any parents. I’m an orphan.”
He looked down at me dispassionately. “I am your father. I have the DNA tests to prove it from when your whore mother showed up at my door, claiming I’d impregnated her. I paid her off and sent her on her way. She died two weeks later, trying to score some blow. I had no use for a little brat, so you were given to the state.”
My head suddenly felt as if it was going to explode with all the new information I was getting about myself. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it, and right then, I really didn’t want to. “DNA or not, you have no right to give me to anyone. I’m a person, not a piece of furniture you can offer as… What did you call it? A ‘token of peace’? Yeah, fuck you.”
“Tavia,” Theo snapped, pulling my focus to him. “Keep your mouth shut.”
I shot him a glare but, for some reason, shut my mouth.
“If the wolf doesn’t want her, I’ll take her, boss,” Yerik said, trailing his fingers down my neck until he was cupping my left breast.
I struggled against his touch, shuddering in revulsion when he pinched my nipple through the thin lace of my bra.
A rage-filled bellow echoed off the walls and broken windows of the warehouse. Before I could identify that the feral sound had come from Theo, a shot deafened me and something hot sprayed across my face, neck, and chest.
Yerik’s eyes lost focus, and I had only just grasped the fact that he’d been sho
t in the head when he fell to his knees and then on his face at my feet. I stared, mouth agape in horror, too shocked to even scream as blood pooled around him and quickly soaked into my jeans.
Terrified, I looked straight at Theo, ready to barter anything if he would just get me the hell out of there. He stood, his gun still lifted, and I realized he was the one who’d killed Yerik. There was something lethal in his gaze, savage, and I shivered in fear of him.
It all happened in less than a handful of seconds, and then Theo was turning his gun on the man who claimed to be my father.
“Don’t hate me, Tavia,” he commanded and pulled the trigger.
Three shots. Three holes in the man I’d only just found out was my family. Blood sprayed across the dirty floor barely inches from me as someone else started shooting. I felt a sharp sting to my side and cried out in agony.
I’d never felt pain so intense in my life as that bullet slicing through me. It knocked the breath out of me, and I saw stars for a few seconds as I had to fight not to pass out.
Theo growled something I couldn’t understand as he lifted me into his arms and took off running. I was too lost in the suffering to think about where we were going or who was shooting at us. Theo barked something in Russian that I couldn’t keep up with. I wasn’t fluent in it like I was in French and Spanish, but he and Sofia had taught me enough that I could follow conversations if I needed to.
I didn’t realize we were outside until a raindrop fell on my chest, mixing with Yerik’s blood. I looked up at the night sky. The weather had changed rapidly, and now the moon was hardly showing as rain clouds moved in around it, giving the night an eerie glow.
More gunfire echoed behind us, and I yelped in fright when a bullet whizzed by my ear. Theo cursed and shoved me into the back of a car, quickly following me in. Two men were already in the front seat, and one of them hit the gas, causing gravel to spin up as he quickly made our getaway.
The overhead light was turned on, and Theo pulled off his jacket, then his dress shirt. He pressed the expensive material to my side, where blood was gushing like a faucet. “Don’t close your eyes,” he demanded. “Talk to me.”
“What the actual fuck was that?” I yelled at him, then groaned when he put more pressure on the wound. Sweet Jesus, that fucking hurt. “This is a dream, right? I mean, sure, it’s a nightmare, but whatever. What is going on, Theo?”
“I’ll tell you later. For now, focus on not passing out on me, okay, krasotka?” He lifted the shirt then quickly replaced it. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Drive faster, Yury,” he barked.
I felt the car accelerate even more. I wasn’t sure if it was from shock or blood loss, but I began to shiver, and I was starting to feel sick and light-headed. “I didn’t think being shot would hurt this much,” I muttered. A tear fell down my cheek, but I wasn’t sure why I was crying.
Because I’d been shot?
Because I’d just seen two men killed right in front of me?
Because I’d just found out I had a father, but he’d turned out to be some monster?
Because the man I loved, whom I hadn’t seen in weeks, had just turned my entire existence inside out?
I didn’t know, and the world was starting to go dark around the edges, so I really couldn’t analyze it much.
“Tavia.” Theo’s voice held so much authority, and it commanded I look at him.
I blinked my eyes, trying to focus on his perfect, masculine face I’d always been fascinated with. Those deep-set eyes, that perfect Cupid’s bow mouth. High cheekbones. Square jaw. The weeks’ worth of beard growth was new, but I liked it a lot on him. It made him look older than twenty-one.
“Don’t die on me, krasotka. Do you hear me? Don’t fucking die.” His fingers trembled as he cupped the side of my face with his free hand.
“I’m s-s-s-o c-c-cold, Theo,” I told him, fighting the tiredness that was suddenly pressing down on me, praying I didn’t vomit from the pain.
“I know, krasotka. I know. I’ll get you warm as soon as I can, baby. Just don’t leave me.”
A sad laugh escaped me as more tears fell. “But you want me to leave you,” I mused aloud, and he flinched. “You don’t want me.”
“Don’t say shit you know nothing about, Tavia,” he snapped, but his touch was so gentle when he wiped away my tears that more fell. “Just a little longer. We’re almost there.”
“I really thought you loved me,” I whispered as my lashes began to close.
“Tavia!” He shouted my name, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t open my eyes for him.
Chapter 4
Theo
I ran into the ER with Tavia unconscious in my arms, and the medical staff worked quickly. One second, she was right there in front of me, only inches away. The next, they were wheeling her into a trauma bay and I was being told to stay back so they could treat her.
Five minutes later, she was being transported up to surgery. The bullet was still in her gut, but who knew what kind of damage it had done in there.
A nurse escorted me to the OR waiting room, Yury and Ivan following behind, always watching my back. I should have been making phone calls already. To my Pops and uncles. To my connection with the cops. There were at least ten people I needed to speak to, and quickly, but I couldn’t concentrate on that. Not when my Tavia was fighting for her life.
Petrov’s people were going to be after me now. I’d known that risk when I’d put all this shit in motion. Knew that I would be on some extremely ruthless people’s lists for a little while until I took charge of Petrov’s assets. He had a brother who would want to step in, who would be after my head.
I knew the kind of vengeance the man would want. It was what I had been seeking when I went after Viktor, so I would be disappointed if his brother didn’t want the same thing.
But things were different now. For one, Tavia had been dragged into the middle of this war, and I still couldn’t completely comprehend that twist of fate.
My sweet, beautiful, good-down-to-her-soul Tavia was the daughter of one of the vilest monsters ever to walk the earth. It didn’t seem possible that the two of them shared DNA. I wanted to deny it, but the look on Viktor’s face told me he wasn’t playing.
And the motherfucker just stood there while someone touched his daughter.
I tried to keep my cool when Yerik put his hands on Tavia. I tried so fucking hard. But then he’d pinched her nipple, and the memory of how ripe that nipple had tasted in my mouth only weeks before had flooded back, and I’d lost it.
I shot the bastard without thinking, and then I’d done what I’d gone there to do in the first place.
Killed Viktor.
It wasn’t the up close and personal death I wanted for him, but there was no way I was going to leave there without taking him out.
His men started shooting as soon as I put the first bullet in him, but it wasn’t me they were aiming at. It was Tavia. As I turned to get her, I watched as a bullet pierced her abdomen and the blood began to seep from her, soaking through her shirt.
“Cops are here, boss,” Ivan muttered.
I stopped pacing, unsure how long I’d been doing just that or how much time had passed since the nurse had brought us to the waiting room. This late in the evening, only emergency surgeries were taking place, and Tavia’s was the only one currently in progress since the OR waiting room was empty. But even if it hadn’t been, I would have had Yury and Ivan clear out the place so I didn’t have to deal with strangers on top of worrying about the woman I loved. Turning, I looked at the two men in police uniforms as they stood in the doorway.
They were both about the same height, the blond one maybe an inch shorter than his darker-haired partner, but on the heavier side. His thick waistline made the bulletproof vest he wore under his shirt stand out more. The other guy was probably ten years younger, but he carried himself with more confidence than the blond officer.
“Sir, we’re going to need a statement from you,” the dark-
haired officer said as he stepped forward. “The ER doctor called us, saying he had a woman brought in with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and her hands were tied together.”
Fuck, I’d forgotten about her hands in the rush to get her to the hospital. Just thinking of how helpless she’d looked on her knees in front of Yerik made me want to bring him back so I could shoot him in the head all over again.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I made one of the calls I already should have taken care of. If I had, then these two idiots wouldn’t even have shown up. After hearing the voice on the other end of the line, I spoke my name and then handed the phone to the older officer, whose name tag told me he outranked the other guy.
“Sir,” the blond officer said, standing up a little straighter when he heard the police commissioner’s voice. “Yes, sir. Of course. We will take care of it, sir.”
Moments later, he returned my phone to me, apologized for the inconvenience, and assured me I could come down to the station and make a statement when I had time. With a grim nod, I watched them leave.
Once the door shut behind them, I dialed the first person I should have called as soon as I’d handed Tavia over to the doctors downstairs.
“Theo?” Pops said, sounding half asleep.
“I killed Yerik tonight,” I told him point-blank. “He was working for Viktor Petrov.”
I could practically hear the tension freezing his muscles and jolting him completely awake. Yerik was part of my mom’s personal security detail, and there was nothing Pops took more seriously than her and Sofia’s safety. Only his best and most trusted men were assigned to the two of them. Finding out one of those men wasn’t so trustworthy after all would put him on high alert.
“Where are you?” he demanded, and I heard him moving around. I told him the name of the hospital, and he cursed. “Are you hurt?”
“Not me, Pops. Tavia.” My throat clogged with emotion, but I quickly cleared it.
Sweet Agony (Angels Halo MC Next Gen Book 2) Page 2