Nikolai (Dangerous Love Series Book 1)

by Kristin Alexander

  He put his phone back into his pocket and placed his hands on my shoulders. “Things have been a little crazy, so I haven’t really had time to get your number. That’s why I’m here now, because I wanted to talk to you.”

  I frowned. Something was going on. “So, you left me last night, went home, broke your phone, went to bed, got up this morning, and instead of coming to school, getting my number or trying to communicate with me in any way, you spent the whole day buying your flip phone?” I asked incredulously.

  Nikolai let out an irritated breath. “Not exactly. There-”

  “And while we’re on the topic of your itinerary, were you at a strip club last night?”

  Nikolai’s expression went from irritated to ferocious. “Where the fuck did you hear that?”

  That wasn’t exactly a denial. “Who cares where I heard it, is it true?” I almost didn’t want to know. His reaction wasn’t giving me a lot of optimism, and the longer he didn’t deny it, the more my heart felt like it was crumbling in my chest cavity.

  Nikola let out a sigh that nearly blew me over. “Technically, it’s true.”

  Now it felt like a nuclear bomb had been dropped in my chest, as tears instantly sprang to my eyes. I pushed him out of the way and opened the door to Ava’s car. Nikolai recovered quickly and shut it again.

  “No, Hannah, you need to listen.” Nikolai spoke it as a command.

  “No, I don’t. I can’t believe you! You fucking promised not to pull this shit again!” I tried to push him out of the way again, but this time he knew what I was going to do, so he didn’t budge.

  “Hannah, I’m sorry. There is a mountain of shit going on right now, but please believe me when I say only a situation as dire as this could have kept me from you today,” Nikolai explained, his thumbs rubbing at my wet cheeks. “As for the strip club, I was there meeting someone from my father’s organization, I didn’t even go inside. There are some things happening with my father right now, deadly things. I can’t really get into all of it, but I need you to listen to me.” Nikolai was still wiping tears from my face. He looked so sincere. I really wanted to believe him. “Hannah, you have to trust me.”

  I nodded my head. “Okay, what’s going on?” I whispered.

  Nikolai sighed in relief. “Okay, first of all, you need to come with me.” He grabbed my wrist as he pulled me toward his car. He pulled his passenger door open, pulled the seatbelt across my chest and fastened it. He quickly ran to the driver’s side and hopped in next to me, neglecting to fasten his own seatbelt. He started the car and sat for a moment, looking thoughtful. Turning to me, he reached over and ran his thumb across my mouth, then leaned in and kissed me.

  ““I’m sorry, Hannah. Seriously.” Reaching his hand around to the back of my neck, he kissed me again, harder. With a self-deprecating smile he said, “I’m so fucking relieved you trusted me because I was about to drag you kicking and screaming out of this parking lot and probably would have ended up getting fucking arrested.”

  I laughed a little. He stopped and stared at me for a moment, then pulled me into another tight hug, softly apologizing again.

  “Okay, Hannah, we have to get out of here and I’ll explain everything to you on the way.”

  I waved goodbye to a dumbfounded looking Ava as Nikolai drove me out of the parking lot.

  Chapter 40

  Nikolai

  As Hannah sat quietly beside me, I felt another twinge of guilt. Yes, I had spent the last ten hours trying to make sure my father didn’t have her kidnapped and shipped to some Asian whorehouse, but all she knew was I had sex with her last night and never spoke to her again. After we drove out of the parking lot, I started explaining the situation.

  “Okay, Hannah, when I said things are fucked up right now, I’m not sure you have a complete understanding of the level of fucked up I’m talking about. My father made some threats about you.” I shot her a glance, noting her shocked expression. Understandable. “And your sister,” I added.

  Hannah gasped. “My sister? How does he know my sister? Why would he bother making threats against either of us?” Hannah asked, her expression vacillating between bewildered and panicked by turns.

  “He did it to control me. He must have noticed how I acted around you when you were at my house. He did a background check on you, which is how he knows you have a sister. He’s using threats against both of you to get me to do what he wants.”

  Hannah swung her head to me, frowning. “What did he threaten to do?”

  I took a deep breath. I wasn’t sure sharing this with her was a good idea. “It was bad enough that I agreed.” I just left it at that, and even though Hannah was vibrating with curiosity, she could read my expression well enough to know that she might be better off now knowing.

  I continued. “We’re picking up your sister and I’m taking both of you to Katya’s. You’ll be guarded there until this whole thing is over. Just to be safe I checked your mom’s schedule, she works a double shift today, so she should be okay. You’re going to call her and tell her where you and your sister are, and when her shift is over, one of the guys will pick her up and bring her to Katya’s. That is, if this whole isn’t done by then.”

  Hannah looked at me in dumbfounded shock, slowly absorbing the situation.

  “Is your sister at home now?” I asked, trying to pull Hannah out of her stupor.

  She looked at me and nodded slowly. “She should be. I’ll call her and make sure.”

  As Hannah pulled out her cell, mine rang. Drago.

  “What’s up? Do you have him?” I asked impatiently.

  “No,” Drago bit out. “That woman we were using for information double crossed us. Told him we were coming, so he got away, but we got Sergei.” Katya’s father. He’ll definitely know where my father is going.

  “He’s loyal, but he’s weak. Lean on him and he’ll tell what my dad is doing.” I knew Drago would have no problem roughing up Sergei to get information. Drago has always hated my father’s right-hand man. I didn’t blame him; Sergei was a sadistic toady.

  “Oh, I know that. He’s already giving us information and we haven’t laid a finger on him. Perhaps he was concerned by how enthusiastic I acted at the idea of interrogating him,” Drogo quipped sardonically.

  “Good. I’ve got Hannah, and we’re picking up her sister and going to Katya’s place. I assume there will be trusted men there to watch them.” I knew Drago would not trust just anyone to watch the girls, but I still hated having Hannah out of my sight while all this was going down.

  “Of course, Nikolai. My most trusted,” Drago responded seriously. “Ivan.”

  “Ivan? Ivan who?” He could not be talking about who I thought he was.

  “Ivan Petrov.”

  I was stunned into silence. “I thought he was dead,” I whispered in shock.

  “No, but it was important that your father and his father think he was.” Ivan Petrov was Katya’s older brother. He joined the organization right after high school and was quickly moving up. I had always looked up to him, wanted to follow in his footsteps. We used to enforce together every once in a while, but about a year and half ago, he disappeared and was presumed dead. Katya was devastated, and so was I. Nothing about his death had made any sense. He hadn’t been doing a job when he disappeared, and we never found a body. Either he was dead, or he was disloyal, which was the same thing.

  I wanted to ask what happened, but I knew this wasn’t the time to get into it. “I’ll hear more about that later, yeah?”

  “Yeah,” Drago responded wearily. “Get the girls and get to Katya’s.”

  Chapter 41

  Hannah

  I was still digesting this whole situation as I listened to Emmy’s cell phone ring until her voice mail picked up.

  “Emmy, where the hell are you? I need you to call me back immediately. There is a lot of craziness going on and I have to pick you up. Are you still at school?” I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. It wasn’
t normal Emmy to be unreachable. The only time you couldn’t get her by phone was if she was playing the harp. I suppose there was an off chance that she was at school practicing, but with everything going on I felt nothing but paranoia and panic.

  “Wait, go to Briar Ridge instead. Emmy’s not answering her phone. The only reason she does that is if she’s practicing her harp and the only harp she has is at school.”

  Nikolai shot me a hard look and I swallowed. I knew what he was thinking. He was thinking what I was thinking.

  Something had happened to Emmy.

  Nikolai stepped on the gas as he turned the car around and headed for her school. We got there in half the time it normally takes and, at one point, I was certain that we would die in this car before Nikolai’s father even got to us. We screeched to a halt in front of the well-landscaped walkway that led to the tall wooden doors that marked the entrance to Briar Ridge.

  I scrambled out of the car, ran to the door and threw it open. I hadn’t been to the school often, but I knew where the music room was.

  I barreled into the music room and found a small assortment of students with varying instruments either practicing together or performing maintenance, such as fixing bow strings, changing reeds or oiling valves. I looked frantically across the group of students, barely registering the looks of irritation and bafflement I was receiving. I saw a girl with short blonde hair assembling a flute who looked vaguely familiar.

  “Hey…?” I questioned, prompting her for her name.

  The blond looked up and frowned and looked back to her flute. “Sarah.”

  “Hi, Sarah, do you know Emmy Prescott?” I asked, practically panting in anxiety.

  She looked up briefly. “Yeah.”

  I sighed in exasperation. “Do you know where she is?” I said with forced patience.

  Her blond brow crinkled in irritation. “Yeah, I saw her earlier, but she was leaving with some guy.”

  I gasped. “What guy?” I barked at her.

  Sarah jumped slightly and frowned again, clearly not thrilled with my tone. “I don’t know, some old guy. The only reason I noticed is because we are working on a duet, and she agreed to practice today, but when I yelled her name, she just looked…. I don’t know. Upset? Worried? I figured that guy was her dad and she as in trouble or something.”

  I felt my breathing seize and lump form in my throat. Her dad? No, no, no. There was no way my dad came here for her. No way she would even consider going with him.

  “Um, this guy, what did he look like?” I asked, my voice scratchy with fear and dread.

  “I don’t know, old. Kind of fat, with gray hair. He had her by the arm, so that’s why I figured he was her dad,” Sarah responded casually.

  “How long ago was this?” I demanded.

  “Jesus, what are you? A cop?”

  “Her sister. That man may have abducted her,” I said in a frantic tone.

  Sarah looked shocked, then regretful. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. It was about fifteen minutes ago.”

  “Thanks,” I yelled over my shoulder as I ran back to the car where Nikolai was waiting. His jaw clenched when he saw that I was alone.

  I sat in the seat for a minute, unable to comprehend what was happening. I felt Nikolai’s hand on the right side of my cheek, gently turning my head to face him.

  “What happened, Hannah? Where is Emmy?” Nikolai asked, his arctic eyes filled with concern.

  I felt tears well in my eyes as I tried to answer, but it felt like there ball of fire stuck in my throat. “He took her, Nikolai,” I croaked. “We have to get her back. Where would he take her?” I whispered.

  Nikolai’s head jerked back. “My father?”

  I nodded and relayed to him what Sarah had told me.

  Nikolai turned and punched the steering wheel. “Fuck!”

  He grabbed his cell phone and started talking almost immediately. “We have a problem. He took Hannah’s sister. Please tell me you have eyes on him, you know where the fuck he is,” Nikolai demanded.

  His frowned ferociously, not liking the response.

  “How soon?” Nikolai asked as he put the car in gear and started driving just as fast toward our next destination as he had getting here. “I’m dropping her off right now, then I’ll be there. We have to fucking end this now.”

  Nikolai threw his phone down and continued his aggressive driving all the way to what I assumed was Katya’s house, just as big and elegant as Nikolai’s. It was a large, stone faced mansion on a secluded lot with long sloping roofs that made it look like a ski chalet. Nikolai screeched to such an abrupt stop that I would have gone through the windshield if I hadn’t been wearing a seat belt.

  Nikolai sat for a minute and stared out in front of him, then tipped his head back and took a deep breath. He turned to me, his icy eyes boring into mine. “Hannah, I can’t tell you how sorry I am I got you and your sister involved in this mess. This is another reason why I don’t fucking date,” he looked away for a minute, his jaw clenching. His eyes swung back to mine. “I will get her back, Hannah, I promise. My dad doesn’t have that many places to go, and even fewer men left to help him. Drago has some ideas where she is. I’m meeting up with him now, and then we end this.”

  Nikolai’s expression was absolutely wintry as he said this. I’d never seen someone look actually murderous, but this was how I imagined it would look. I hated how tormented he was over his father’s actions when they weren’t his fault.

  “Nikolai,” I reached my hand to touch his thigh. “This isn’t your fault. It’s your father’s.”

  Nikolai snorted and looked back out of the windshield. “No, Hannah, you’re in this mess because of me. And I’m going to get you out. Now, go ahead in with Katya.” He cut me a quick look as he nodded towards Katya’s front door where Drago’s men were waiting for me.

  I had another sick feeling in my stomach now, completely unrelated to Emmy. When Nikolai said he was ending it, I think he was referring to more than just his father’s life.

  Chapter 42

  Nikolai

  I was so fucking pissed at my father I wanted to tear him apart. I should have killed that motherfucker yesterday. I knew I shouldn’t be so casual about patricide, but that bastard deserved it. I couldn’t believe he took Hannah’s sister. Even though he’d only had her less than an hour, I cringed at the things he could be doing to her. Fuck.

  I met up with Drago at the warehouse. I saw the usual bunch of guys and realized that my dad lost the loyalty of nearly all his men. That must have driven him crazy.

  “Okay, what is the plan? Where is he? Does he have anyone helping him?” I demanded, anxiety mounting by the minute thinking of Hannah’s young sister with my fucked-up pervert of a father.

  Drago was smoking a cigarette and the speed in which he was sucking smoke into his lungs revealed his level of stress. “He’s only got Piter with him, now that we have Sergei.” Piter was my father’s driver and lackey. He had always been hard to read, but if he was with my father now, I guess I knew where his loyalties lied.

  “Where the fuck is he?” I asked again in aggravation.

  “I was able to access a hacker friend of mine. He hacked into your father’s phone and was able to activate his GPS. We’re tracking him now, but we have to think of a way to get to him without the girl getting hurt,” Drago shot me a pointed look. I knew he was only pulling his punches because of Emmy. Otherwise, they would have blown the fucking car up and been done with it.

  “Drago, something’s happening,” Alexei, another man in the organization, sitting behind a laptop called over to Drago. We both ran over to where he was pointing at the computer screen. “There, look where he’s going.”

  I took a close look at the streets he was on and felt my heart stop. “Fuck. What the fuck is he doing there?” I asked, looking at Drago. His features were pinched, and a ferocious frown tightened his brow.

  “Why the fuck is he at Katya’s? You have Sergei, right, Drago?”

/>   “Yes,” Drago hissed, staring at the moving dot on the screen. “We have to go, Nikolai, now.”

  Chapter 43

  Hannah

  I ran into Katya’s house, not sure if I should be crying over Emmy or over Nikolai. I decided I just didn’t have the capacity to worry about Nikolai in light of Emmy’s kidnapping. And if he decided to break up with me in the middle of my sister’s kidnapping, fuck him.

  I walked into Katya’s foyer and went into the large room on the left. It was a big, comfortably furnished living room with large, soft looking couches and a big, stone fireplace. I saw Katya lounging on one of the couches, playing with her phone. She looked up at me, lines of stress showing on her face.

  “Oh, Hannah, I just heard about your sister. I’m so, so sorry!” Katya wailed, popping up from the couch to give me a hug.

  “It’s not your fault, Katya. I know they will get her back,” I said with confidence I wasn’t really feeling. I sat down on the couch next to Katya, not sure what to do with myself in my captivity. I was pulling out my phone out of habit, when another man walked into the room. He had mahogany-colored hair that was nearly shaved on the side, but longer on top and pinned me with gold-green eyes. He was probably only about six feet, but he moved with the wiry grace of a panther. He had a lean body, but I could see the muscles of his biceps flexing under his t-shirt. Honestly, he could have been a model; he had that broody hotness that looks good in magazines. However, when I took a closer look at his face, I realized his expression surpassed broody, and fell more in the range of frightfully intense.

  Katya’s head turned as she followed my gaze and her expression brightened considerably. “Ivan, please come here and meet Hannah. Hannah is a new friend of mine I met through Nikolai.” She shot me a teasing look and said, “She’s his girlfriend.”