“Oh, no, little girl, there is no time for long-winded goodbyes,” Yuri responded indulgently, as if she were a child asking for a piece of candy. It was unsettling. “You must come now. We are about to start our time together. I have waited a very long time to have you, and I am not interested in waiting any longer.” The steel in his voice was clear. Katya needed to walk out to him now, or Emmy was dead.
Tears started to fall from Katya’s eyes in earnest now, clearly conflicted. If she ran back into the house, he would shoot Emmy. If she walked out to him, he would have her and do who knew what to her.
Katya took a slow, shaky step toward Yuri, whose expression lit up with delight and satisfaction. He was so focused on Katya’s tentative steps in his direction that he failed to notice the car coming up the driveway until it was screeching to a stop.
Yuri turned to look at the newly arrived car with infuriated shock, turning and pointing his gun at the new threat.
Seeing an opportunity, Ivan bolted through the door. “Emmy! Run towards us!” Ivan shouted, pulling Katya back and shoving her roughly back into the house and pulling his gun and training it on Yuri, clearly afraid to shoot for fear of hitting Emmy as she bolted toward him. Emmy broke away from Yuri’s distracted grasp and ran to Ivan jumping into his arms, holding him tightly in relief and residual terror. Ivan looked over to where Nikolai and Drago were carefully exiting the car and carried Emmy’s shaking form into the house.
I was torn in that moment. I wanted to see what happened between Nikolai and his father, but simultaneously wanted to make sure Emmy was okay. I ran over to her, but she was clinging to Ivan like a vine, burying her head in his neck as he tucked his gun in the back of his pants. He shot me a helpless look but wrapped his arms more tightly around her. I pulled Katya to me in a side hug and watched Ivan try to deal with Emmy as he walked over to the couch with her still in his arms. He bent over to deposit her on it, but she simply clung all the harder to him Short of using his strength to disengage her grip, he couldn’t get her to let go.
Ivan gave me and Katya a look of that could only be described as comic levels of uncertainty and discomfort, if the circumstances were different. He sighed and sat down, pulling a shaking and still terrified Emmy onto his lap. Katya and I exchanged looks of total astonishment at Ivan’s unexpected display of sensitivity.
Then we all jumped at the sound of gunfire.
Chapter 46
Nikolai
Fear sat in my gut like a cannonball, and I felt angry enough to unload an entire armory’s worth of bullets into my father’s psychotic fucking face, light him on fire then piss on his ashes.
As we got closer to Katya’s house, it became very apparent that Drago’s interest in Katya went far beyond the label of concerned bystander. He was gripping the steering wheel with such force I was surprised it was still attached to the steering column. His ferocious frown was only periodically broken up by what looked like grimace of pain.
“What’s with you and Katya?” I asked casually.
Drago’s head jerked in my direction and he pinned me with cold gray eyes. “Nothing. I’d protected her while on the job, so I am worried about her.”
I arched my brow at him. “You’re hardly acting like just a bodyguard, Drago.”
“Drop it, Nikolai,” Drago growled, either unwilling or incapable of discussing his feelings for Katya. I couldn’t say I didn’t understand. All women do is fuck up your emotions. It was nice to distract myself with Drago for a few seconds, so I could briefly disengage from the anxiety and fury gnawing away at my insides when I thought of Hannah, or her sister, in the hands of my deranged and conscienceless father.
We rode in tense silence, only breathing when Katya’s house came into sight. What we saw as we barreled up the driveway was hardly cause for relaxation.
My father as holding Emmy with his arm around her throat and a gun pressed against her temple. In the middle of the walkway stood Katya, frozen with either fear or worry that Yuri would pull the trigger on Emmy. Or both. I was relieved to see Hannah nowhere in sight, so I could only assume she was still inside the house.
When we screeched to a halt behind my father’s car, we saw Piter’s dead body on the ground, but I wasn’t sure who shot him. Knowing Drago’s car was bullet-proof, we carefully got out of the car, reaching for our guns and using the doors as shields.
Our presence derailed my father’s attention long enough for Emmy to pull away from him as Ivan, from some unseen location, hollered at her to run. Yuri raised his gun to her, but Ivan, Drago and I pulled our guns, stopping him in his tracks. Ivan got the girls in the house, so it was just Drago, my father and me.
“Put the gun down, dad,” I hollered mockingly. Drago was still standing in the driver’s side door aiming over the roof of the car at my father, while I stood in the open passenger doorway doing the same thing. My father stood next to the open back door, chuckling softly.
“What’s so fucking funny, Pakhan?” Drago asked mockingly. “As I see it not only are you going to die, you’re going to die with no dignity. Trying to steal a couple of school girls? Pathetic.” Drago spit out.
“You fools!” Yuri raged. “You think you can get rid of me? Replace me? Keep me from my property? I’m sure Sergei told you that Katerina belongs to me,” he asserted manically. “This organization will only be run by one person, me. You are both sickening traitors and will be dealt with accordingly. I will contact Mikhail in Moscow. He will send me new men, and you will all die in the manner of all traitors and rats. Painfully,” Yuri hissed.
Drago shook his head and laughed. “You think Mikhail doesn’t know what I am doing? You think he is okay with how you are running the operation? You are sorely mistaken, Yuri. You’re a fuck-up, a drug addict and, apparently, a pedophile, and you’re running the operation into the ground. To be honest, I don’t think Mikhail even cares about most of your flaws except the one about being a fuck-up. He isn’t going to tolerate you wiping out our whole organization due to your whims and your ego. You’re out, Yuri. The only reason I haven’t pumped you full of bullets yet is because Mikhail wants to debrief you himself. And you know how Mikhail gets information,” Drago finished ominously.
“You lie!” Yuri screamed at Drago. “I am in charge. I will always be in charge!”
Yuri raised his gun started shooting wildly at me and Drago. We quickly ducked into the car for protection, but I heard Drago’s gasp of pain. He grabbed his left arm and grimaced. “I can’t believe he got that lucky shot.”
Before either of us could get out of the car, Yuri jumped in the backseat of the car.
The vehicle in front of us suddenly darted forward, squealing down the driveway and careening into the street. Drago and I looked at each other in shock, not realizing there was another man with my father.
“What the fuck,” shouted Drago. “Was there another motherfucker in there? Did you get a look at him, Nik?” Drago gritted out.
“Fuck no. Fuck! I can’t believe that asshole got away.” I punched the dashboard in frustration.
Drago was shaking his head in angry disbelief. “Don’t worry, Nikolai, he has one man and no more lives left. He won’t last long, especially with Mikhail after him, too.”
“Yeah, I guess.” I agreed half-heartedly. I was exhausted and frustrated beyond belief that he had slipped through our fingers.
Katya’s front door was thrown open and Hannah ran out and jumped into my arms. I felt my whole body relax the minute I breathed in her scent and felt her soft body against mine. Immediately, the frustration of my father getting away and the aggravation of having to search for him again floated away, and there was just the two of us.
Chapter 47
Hannah
“Are you alright?” I murmured, imagining how angry and frustrated Nikolai must be. I couldn’t believe Yuri had managed to escape.
Nikolai’s pale blue eyes caught mine. “Yeah,” his expression a mixture of aggravation and disbelief.
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br /> “I’m so sorry, Nikolai, seriously,” I said earnestly. I couldn’t imagine going through everything Nikolai had then watching Yuri just get away. “Who was driving the car?” I asked, still reeling from the shock of events that had happened today.
Nikolai blew out an irritated breath. “I don’t know. We were told he only had Piter,” Nikolai nodded his head in the direction of where Piter’s dead body had been. Ivan must have had him removed right after my father got away.
As I was doing my best to ignore the dead body that had lain on the ground only moments before, I merely nodded my head in understanding. Waves of anger and frustration were starting to emanate from Nikolai as he looked over to where his father’s car had been parked. His brows were pinched, and his fists were starting to clench. I knew he was going to want to channel it somewhere.
“Nikolai…”
“How’s Emmy?” he asked abruptly.
I grimaced. “Okay, I suppose. She hasn’t spoken a word or left Ivan’s side since she ran away from your dad. I don’t know what happened in that car, but Yuri was pretty fixated with Katya. I can only hope that kept less of his attention on her.”
Nikolai nodded, appearing a bit calmer and pulled me into a tight hug. His touch grounding me after what felt like endless hours of tension and hysteria. He pulled back and put both hands on my face, rubbing his thumb against my lower lip. “I was really fucking worried about you, Hannah. I’m sorry I got you, and your sister, into this fucked up shit.”
“I already told you, it’s not your fault,” I whispered, kissing his thumb. In an attempt to distract him, my tongue reached and lightly tasted the salty skin of his thumb. Fire leapt into his eyes at the contact.
“You better watch yourself, Hannah,” Nikolai warned, giving a quick glance to the front of the house. “I’m certain we have an audience right now, but if you keep doing that, I’m likely to not give a shit and throw you on the ground right here.”
“Hmm, I’m tempted to let you,” I responded flirtatiously, if mendaciously. I would never let him do that.
Nikolai smiled at my obvious lie, grabbed my face and pulled me in for a deep kiss. He pulled back, smiled at me again, pulled me tightly to his side and steered me towards the house.
As we walked in, we saw an array of what must have been Yuri’s former men who were now loyal to Drago, who stood snapping out orders and smoking like a chimney. I took a moment to look him over. Even with lines of tension bracketing his eyes, he couldn’t have been older than thirty. It was fascinating that someone so young could instill such respect and loyalty, even from men older than him, but I could understand it. Drago’s commanding presence dominated the space around him, and his sharp gray eyes seemed to miss nothing.
The men were talking to Ivan and Drago about what had happened. Katya stood beside Drago pressing a cloth against his bleeding bicep and giving him what sounded like a constant barrage of scolding for not taking care of his wound right away.
I glanced around looking for Emmy and found her sitting on the couch. What I found incredible was Ivan sitting on the arm of the couch with his back to Emmy, but his left hand was slightly behind him, allowing her to hold it. She was also leaning her head against his lower back. What the hell was going on? I needed to talk to her.
I turned to Nikolai. “I need to talk to Emmy, see if she’s alright. She wasn’t up for talking earlier, but now she looks like she’s calmed down.”
“That’s fine, I need to talk to Drago anyway.” With that he gave me a hard kiss on the mouth and walked over to where Drago and four other men were speaking rapid Russian.
I sat down next to Emmy who was leaning against Ivan with her eyes closed. Putting my hand on her leg, I murmured, “Emmy?”
Emmy’s head popped up and she turned to me. “Hannah,” she whispered, wrapping one arm around my shoulders to pull me into a tight hug. Her other hand appeared permanently attached to Ivan’s.
“I’m so sorry, Emmy. Sorry you got mixed up in all of this,” I whispered back as I hugged her tighter.
Emmy pulled back. “It’s not your fault, Hannah,” she responded, reassuringly patting my arm, which made me feel worse. She was attempting to comfort me when she was the one who had been kidnapped.
I stared at her, marveling at her strength. “I’m still sorry. Do you want to talk about what happened?” I asked lightly, in case the experience was too painful for her to go into.
Emmy sighed and tipped her head back against the couch. “He came and got me at school. He told me he had you in the car and I needed to leave with him or else you’d die. I didn’t even think to question him, I just went. Like an idiot,” she added self-deprecatingly.
“God, Emmy, don’t beat yourself up! You were dealing with the boss of the Russian mob! That’s hardly your wheelhouse, or anyone’s for that matter. I would have done the same thing in your place.”
Emmy gave me a sad smile, and tilted her head to the right, so it rested once again against Ivan’s lower back. I saw his hand almost imperceptibly tighten around hers. “I know, it’s just hard not to feel stupid in retrospect.”
“Did…did anything happen? In the car?” I felt terrible asking, but I needed to know in case Emmy needed more help than I could give her. Not that getting kidnapped wasn’t grounds for mental health intervention. It absolutely was.
Emmy’s hand tightened on Ivan’s and I saw him give a quick, frowning glance back at us, as if trying to assess the cause of Emmy’s distress. I gave him a reassuring look, which was weird because I was her sister and he was a Russian mobster she’d just met, but whatever. Nothing about this situation was normal.
Emmy leaned her head back against the couch again. “He... At first all he wanted to do was talk about Katya. How she belonged to him, he paid for her, he waited for. I was fine with his ranting because it kept his focus off of me. Then he stopped talking for a minute and simply stared at me, as if finally noticing I was there.” Emmy stopped and looked at me, grimacing with remembered horror. “Hannah, the look on his face. I’ll never forget it. He smiled, and it was…twisted and horrifying. I was so grateful for that guy Peter because at least he was there. I mean, he definitely wasn’t going to help me, but I think him being there saved me from something far worse.” I felt a pang thinking of Piter’s dead body. I mean, he hadn’t been a good guy, but he had helped Emmy, even if it was probably inadvertent.
“Did he try anything?” So far, neither of us had referred to Yuri by name. It was almost as if saying his name had the power to conjure him, like the devil. Knowing he was still out there somewhere did little to lessen my paranoia.
“Not - not really,” she replied shakily. “He would stroke my legs, squeeze my knee. At one point he put his fingers in my hair and stroked the side of my face. That was the worst moment because I thought he was going to kiss me or something, but we pulled up to the house, so he stopped.”
Thank god for that.
I shot a quick glance at Nikolai and noted he did not look happy with any of the information he was getting from Drago and his men. In fact, the wrathful vibes I had caught when we were outside were back with a vengeance. His jaw looked like a piece of granite and his fists were white with tension. In fairness, all the men had variations of this expression. I felt helpless watching him deal with this anger, knowing it might end in violence and bloodshed.
I turned my attention back to Emmy. “Do you want to go lie down upstairs? I can call mom and tell her we’re staying with Katya for the night.”
Emmy’s eyebrows jumped in surprise. “On a school night?”
An unexpected laugh burst out of my mouth. “Seriously?” Emmy quickly seeing the ridiculousness of her response started laughing, too. Soon, we were falling against each other giggling hysterically. We looked around and noted every person in the room was now staring at us like we were crazy, but that only made us laugh harder.
Even though what Emmy had said wasn’t really that funny, we had a lot of pent-up anxiety
that needed to be released. Our chuckles petered out and we sat there for a moment, catching our breath.
I shot a look at Nikolai to see his reaction to our fit. I would have expected him to be frowning at us, like everyone else, but he wasn’t. He was simply staring at me, his head cocked slightly to the side as though I was a complex puzzle to be solved. I wasn’t sure how to interpret his stare, but at least he didn’t look so pissed anymore.
“Oh my god,” Emmy gasped, wiping tears from her eyes. “What is wrong with us?” she asked, only half kidding.
“Nothing,” I replied reassuringly, rubbing her arm again. “We had a rough day. We deserved a laugh.” I couldn’t help but note that even amidst our laughing fit, she still held hands with Ivan.
Jesus, how did I navigate that?
“So, do you want to lie down upstairs Emmy?” I asked again.
Emmy shot a slightly panicked look at Ivan’s back and clutched his hand tighter. “I’m find here, Hannah,” she responded quickly. I could see where this was going, but I had no idea how to deal with it. Contact with Ivan was obviously keeping Emmy calm; however, I don’t know how he’d feel about being attached at the hand to my sister for the rest of her life.
“Okay, okay” I patted her leg gently, not wanting to push her.
Katya walked up to me and I realized I hadn’t spoken to her since she walked out of the door with Piter. I hopped up and gave her a tight hug.
“How are you doing, Katya?” I asked after pulling back and looking her in the eye.
Katya gave a short laugh. “I don’t even know how to answer that.”
I gave a small chuckle, but then looked at her seriously. “Katya, I don’t know how I can ever repay you for putting yourself in jeopardy for Emmy.”
Katya gave me a sad smile. “Hannah, I wished I could say that’s the first time I’ve had to deal with that kind of danger, but I can’t.” She shrugged. “I’m glad I was able to help you and your sister. At least it meant something to be put in danger this time. Usually, danger in my life is due to some mob-related pissing contest.”
Nikolai (Dangerous Love Series Book 1) Page 24
