Completely oblivious as to the nature of the meeting, Gabriel followed the guards to Dmitry’s office where it was virtually dark minutes the lamps in the corner.
Everyone was there waiting on him. Anatoly. Vasily. Nadei. Marat. The men of the Vory v Zakone and other council members.
“What’s this about?” Gabriel asked, looking around.
Dmitry sat on the edge of the desk in the middle of the gathered group.
“This is about finishing what was started,” Dmitry wave him in. “Come in and kneel.”
Gabriel frowned but did as his uncle asked. Going to stand before his uncle, he kneeled on his knees and looked up at him. Had he done something wrong, something to offend his uncle? “I beg for forgiveness if I have wronged you in some way uncle.”
Dmitry stood up and smiled. “You have not wrong me. You have made me very proud. And I know the only thing that you have wanted that you have been denied is the stars across your chest and your knees that are truly a symbol of who and what you are.” Motioning for the family’s official tattoo man, he looked down at Gabriel with pride. “Tonight, you receive your stars, my son.”
Gabriel let go of a trapped breath. Lowering his head, he looked down at his uncle’s feet. “You honor me,” he whispered.
“You honor us,” Dmitry said, walking behind Gabriel. Taking off his suit jacket, he helped him out of his shirt.
The men sat around and watched, talking and laughing while Gabriel was branded with the stars that his uncle and cousin bore, that his father had borne and felt finally that he was one of them. When the deed was done, he stood in his underwear before the men with the eight-point star on both knees to show that he would never kneel before the authorities again and the stars, one on either side of his chest, to show his high rank in their family and as a thief.
Passing Gabriel a bottle of vodka, Anatoly hit him on the back. “This is a good look for you, cousin. A long time coming, eh.”
“A very long time coming,” Gabriel said, still speechless. He scratched his brow and took a swig of the vodka. “But I’m confused uncle. What am I a thief of?”
Gabriel stopped talking to the men around him and walked up to his nephew. “You’re a thief of life,” he said, face tight. “Any life that threatens your position or your family.”
Taking the Glock from the top of his desk, he passed it to his nephew. “Are you ready, truly ready to take your place.”
“Yes,” Gabriel answered. He took the gun and looked at him. “I’m ready, uncle.”
Dmitry smiled. “Good.” Glancing over at Vasily, he motioned to him. “Bring me my little conspirator.”
Gabriel turned in confusion. Who was left that had conspired against them?
He heard Nadei, pulling away from the men as they grabbed him. Fighting, he was yanked to his knees before Gabriel and made to bow.
Dmitry rubbed his hands together. “Our wives and our women, no matter how evil they are, conniving they try to be, they are untouchable. I happen to know that this man has been given one chance and I promised him that there would not be another.”
Gabriel clenched the gun in his hand and stared down at his friend, now with tears running down his face.
“We are not an organization of second chances, eh?” Dmitry looked around the room. “We are not in the business of sharing our women.”
Gabriel was afraid. He looked up at his uncle with pleading eyes. “He told me. He came to me and told me.”
“I know,” Dmitry said, looking down at Nadei. “But he didn’t tell you when it first happened. He covered it up. Instead, once he saw that a child might be born and he might be the father, he finally confessed to Vasily. Vasily came to me today to tell me, but I already knew. I heard it with my own ears.” It wasn’t necessary to tell Gabriel that his room was bugged the night before when the confession took place, but it was necessary to deal with this.
“A traitor once, a traitor always,” Anatoly said behind Gabriel.
“There is nothing redeeming in what we do, Gabriel. We are not freedom fighters. We are not philanthropists. We are not a Catholic diocese where people go to confess and be forgiven for their sins. We are the men of the Medlov Crime Family.” Taking Gabriel’s face in his hands, he looked at him with a clenched jaw. His ice blue eyes glittered with daggers. “And there only one chance given in this family.”
Nadei didn’t beg. Instead, he stilled his beating heart, closed his eyes and waited obediently for the deed to be done. He knew that he deserved it. He knew that Dmitry was right. He knew that there were no second chances, but if he was going to die, then he would do so like a fucking man.
“Goodbye, Nadei,” Gabriel said, knowing what had to be done. Putting the gun to Nadei’s head, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.
The silence in the room was deafening. Trembling, Gabriel stood with the gun to Nadei’s head, shocked that there was no bullet in the chamber. He pulled the gun back and looked at it.
“Maybe one more chance for those who truly deserve it,” Dmitry said, cracking a smile with his arms crossed over his large chest.
Anatoly broke out laughing. “Look at their faces! Both of them are about to shit themselves.”
Gabriel’s breath was audible around the room. Looking back at his uncle with wild eyes, he finally blinked. “What the fuck was that?”
“You passed your final test,” Dmitry said, wiping a thumb over his mouth. “Loyalty without question.”
The rest of the men began to chuckle around him. Nadei sat down on his butt and put his hands over his face. Trembling, he wiped the steady flow of tears. “Shit, I thought I was dead.”
“So did I,” Gabriel said, looking down at him. He reached down and offered him a hand. Helping him up, he hit him on the shoulder.
The overhead lights came on and the men began to chatter. No one was privy to the empty gun except Dmitry and Anatoly, so the trick had been played on everyone. Still, the lesson was clear and the word would spread to everyone in the ranks. One chance was all you got with the Medlovs.
“You should thank him,” Dmitry said to Nadei. “In honor of his celebration of stars and family, your life was spared, but it will never be spared again.” He glared at Nadei with contempt and disappointment.
“Thank you, Boss,” Nadei said. “I will never forget it.”
“I doubt anyone will. Enough of the lesson,” Anatoly said, picking up his drink. “Let’s have a few drinks and celebrate. Raise your glasses.”
The men picked up their glasses and bottles and rallied around Gabriel.
“To a new life,” Dmitry said.
“To a new life,” the men said collectively.
Gabriel looked around at the men and felt complete as a human being. He was no longer the man that he had started out being – weak and unsure. Life was no longer leading him around blindly. He was in control. He made his choices, and he was ultimately responsible for them. It had been a long, hard battle, but this fight was over. He would never regret being who he was again. He would love hard, live hard and do so unapologetically. After all, there were very few men in this world who could call themselves a Medlov.
Epilogue
Prague, Czech Republic
Vrchlabi Hospital
Maternity Ward
After twelve hours of intense labor and a not-so-forgiving epidural, Briggy finally pushed out a healthy, bouncing eight pound, five-ounce baby girl. Sweating and exhausted, she rested back in the hospital bed as the nurse put the little angel in her arms. Crying, the child looked up with deep blue eyes at her mother as Briggy rocked her in her arms.
Tears rushed down her flushed red face as she cried. “She’s so beautiful.” Shaking her head, she marveled at the child and how absolutely perfect it was.
“Congratulations,” the nurse said, smiling at the pair. Curiously, she looked over at Nadei, who was watching from the corner of the room. “Is this the father?”
Briggy looked ove
r at Nadei and felt her heart flutter in fear. “Yes, he is.”
“Would you like to see the baby?” the nurse asked, smiling despite her reservations about the brooding muscle of a man in the corner, who seemed completely emotionless during the entire procedure.
Nadei couldn’t help himself. Walking up to the bed, he reached over as Briggy passed him the baby. Holding the child in his arms, he felt his heart warm. She had Briggy’s eyes, but his mother’s face. “She is very beautiful.”
“Have you thought of a name?” the nurse asked, standing guard over Briggy.
Nadei looked over at the woman and then Briggy, knowing something was suspicious. He rocked the baby in his iron embrace. “I don’t know, Briggy, have you thought of a name?”
Briggy laid back in the bed and held on to the side of the railing. “Adalie. It means, of noble blood.” Watching him with the child, she took a deep breath. “Okay, I’d like the baby back now.”
Nadei paused and then carefully gave Briggy the baby back. “Of course. I’m sure you want to spend as much time with her as you can.”
Briggy took the baby back and kissed her on her forehead. Eyeing Nadei, she snarled. “Go on…Tell him the baby is here, so he can do whatever he’s planning to do.”
Nodding, Nadei stepped out of the room and pulled out his cell phone. It was nearly 2 a.m. in Memphis, but Gabriel had insisted upon a call.
“Hello,” Gabriel said, wide awake.
“Sorry to bother you, Boss,” Nadei apologized. “But the baby has been born.”
Gabriel dug a scoop of ice cream out of the canister and put it in a large bowl for Valeriya. “I see.” Putting the scooper down on the counter, he ran a hand through his hair. “Do you know yet?” He couldn’t bring himself to ask what he wanted to know. Since the pregnancy with Valeriya, things had been so calm and normal, until the idea of introducing something so toxic into their marriage truly made him sick.
“The doctor has already taken the blood from the child. Test results will be back in the morning.” Nadei hated himself for the position that he had put his boss in and felt equal measure guilt and betrayal for the child’s birth. Still, he had seen her and held her and wanted more than anything to keep her safe.
“If the child is mine, first thing in the morning, let me know and I’ll be there to deal with it,” Gabriel said, picking the scooper back up. He knew that Valeriya was waiting on him to return to bed to watch their movie.
“It’s not yours.” Nadei asked.
“Then I’ll be there the first thing to kill her,” Gabriel bit out. He didn’t want to do it, not now. But his word was his bond.
“Let me do it,” Nadei asked. “It’s my problem. I should have to handle it, not you.”
“You must understand. She knows too much. I can’t have her running loose, possibly selling secrets, speaking with the government, putting my family in jeopardy. Briggy can’t live, if that child is not mine. Trust me, I’ve seen it.” He thought of Victoria. “What we must do is not an easy thing. Hell, it’s not even the right thing, but we have a family to protect and I will not put them at risk again.”
“I understand,” Nadei answered. “I’ll call you in the morning.”
“Don’t take your eye off of her. If she gets out, gets away, it’s on you and there are no more chances,” Gabriel warned.
“Yes, Boss. Trust me, please. I can handle this.”
Hanging up the phone, Gabriel cleared his mind and went back to feed his wife like the conversation had never taken place.
***
Later that night while the baby slept in the nursery, Nadei sat in the corner of Briggy’s room with a thin sheet thrown over him and his feet cocked up over the end of the sofa. Under low lids, he watched as Briggy pulled herself out of the bed and made her way over to the table where Nadei’s keys were.
Inching the keys off the table, she grabbed her robe and purse, slipped on her shoes and crept out of the room, seemingly undetected. When the door closed, Nadei gave her a minute to get a head of him, then stood up and walked out into the hallway. He saw the elevator close and the silhouette of a woman in a white robe inside.
Looking at his watch, he turned and walked toward the nursery to find his daughter sleeping carefree in her little bed. Through the pane glass window, he waved at the nurse as she brought the baby over a bottle, in hopes she might allow him to hold her. He could never get enough of it. Just one time was all it took to get him completely hooked.
Adeline. It was a beautiful name, and she was a beautiful girl, regardless of who her father was. But Nadei had a hunch, just like he had a hunch when he saw Briggy pregnant at the Medlov compound that there was no need for a DNA test. This gift from God was his. And if Briggy had not been so cruel, maybe none of this would have happened this way, but what was done was done.
No crying over spilled milk or spilled semen.
***
With the keys jingling in her pocket of her robe, Briggy walked out of the front doors of the hospital and headed straight for Nadei’s car. It wouldn’t be hard to find along the street. He drove a black Bentley Continental GT, hardly inconspicuous, and hardly parked inside of the garage, where it could possibly be hit.
Prick.
All of this could have been avoided if he had just kept his mouth shut. No one told him to say a word, no one told him to ruin all their lives just because of his stupid loyalty to that stupid family. But she would show them all that they had fucked with the wrong woman.
Looking back behind her to make sure she was not being followed, she popped out the keys, hit the unlock button and jumped inside.
She only had a little while to get out of the city. Throughout the last few weeks, she had quietly worked with Interpol to make a deal for her protection, but she knew that the only window of opportunity would be right after she had the baby.
Poor Adeline would have to be left behind.
It was the best move as far as Briggy was concerned. Nadei had been right about one thing and one thing only. The dates didn’t line up. There was no possible way that Gabriel was the father of her child, and there was no possible way that she was going to spend the rest of her life raising anything that belonged to Nadei. She had pocketed every single dollar that she got from Gabriel as a part of their agreement, sold everything she could manage of worth and ultimately, sold the family to the devil in exchange for a villa in Italy, money for the rest of her life and the best guards money could buy.
So the choice had been made clear.
She’d have to leave the baby behind and move on with her life - one that could still be lucrative if she played her cards right.
Pulling out her phone, she called the number she had marked SALON and waited for an answer. Within seconds a voice answered from the INTERPOL National Central Bureau.
“This is Chief Investigator Laurel,” the man answered.
“It’s me,” Briggy said, putting the car in reverse. “I’m coming to you now.”
“Should we send a car after you? Are you in any shape to drive?”
Briggy checked her mirrors. “I don’t have time to waste. I’m on the way from the hospital. I should be there in 30 minutes. Just have my arrangements made and I’ll give you that statement.”
Putting the car in drive, she put her foot on the accelerator and the phone went dead.
“Hello…Hello,” the investigator said, checking the line.
Everyone in the hospital jetted to the windows to see the ruckus. A huge explosion had erupted from outside, shaking the windows and sending debris in all directions. Sirens erupted and people went running to the source of the explosion only to find what remained of a Bentley car that had been wired with a bomb. Whoever was inside had not survived.
Holding the baby, Nadei looked out of the window of Briggy’s hospital room with a smile on his face as he watched the burning vehicle. Briggy had a choice. She could have stayed and faced the music. She could have tried to strike a deal with Gabriel,
but if she was going to run, then he had to stop her. Rigging his car with explosives was the only way.
“It’s alright my little princess. Daddy will take good, good care of you,” he said, kissing his daughter’s head. Like he told his boss before…he would take care of everything.
THE END
About the Author
Latrivia Welch (formerly Latrivia Nelson) is a USA TODAY, Amazon and National Bestselling Author of interracial romance and interracial romantic suspense novels. She divides her life into three professions: author, CEO of Welch Public Relations and CEO of RiverHouse Publishing, LLC. Based out of Memphis, TN, she is considered one of the founders of the bw/wm romantic suspense genre. Latrivia is married to the love of her life, Bruce Welch, and is the mother of 2.5 beautiful children. She has penned over 20 novels under the Latrivia Nelson brand. This is her second book under the brand Latrivia Welch.
Visit her website at www.latriviawelch.com to learn more.
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Gabriel's Regret: Book Two (The Medlov Men 3) Page 26
