by Zoey Parker
Chapter 26 Andrei
Life was looking up. Everything was falling into place. My plan for Mikhail Vasilev was slowly coming together, and Kelly was pregnant. I didn’t need anything else. Revenge and a new start, together.
I was even whistling as I sped along. Happy. Imagine that. Happiness wasn’t a feeling I enjoyed too often, honestly, but that was exactly how I could describe my current mood. Too bad happiness only lasted for a few short minutes.
My phone vibrating from what had to be several calls had me pulling over to the side of the road. I removed my phone from my pocket. Lucas. A bad feeling formed a rock in my stomach and another in my throat.
“What is it?” I asked, not bothering with niceties. If he were calling, he wouldn’t have good news to share. Had something happened to Kelly? Had something happened to the baby? Maybe I should’ve called the doctor as soon as I woke up this morning.
All kinds of scenarios, each one worse than the previous one, ran through my mind as I waited with baited breath for Lucas to answer.
“It’s Kelly,” Lucas said. He sounded nervous. It took a lot to make Lucas nervous. He was generally unflappable, which was why I assigned him to Kelly in the first place.
“What about her?” I growled.
“She ran off.”
I closed my eyes. Out of all the things that could’ve happened, I couldn’t believe it. How dare she run off! My free hand curled into a tight fist. Anger rolled through me. What had she been thinking? Obviously, she hadn’t been. I couldn’t believe she would be so stupid as to endanger herself and our child just because of a spat. Yes, I should’ve known better than to tell her I had killed a man, but I had been pissed that she hadn’t immediately told me when she discovered she was pregnant. She had been playing games with me, so I decided to play back. I wasn’t the kind of guy to take betrayal well.
I hadn’t even given it enough thought as to why she had kept her pregnancy a secret from me in the first place. Why had she kept it a secret? Was she thinking about backing out? About ditching the contract and ignoring our deal? Was she trying to keep the baby from me? The baby I had paid for? The baby I wanted more than anything?
I hadn’t bothered to explain to her why I had killed the man. Maybe I should have, but I had my reasons. One, I would’ve had to tell her everything about Vasilev and my revenge, and, two, my goal had always been to keep her separate from my work life. I wanted to keep her away from that part of me. I cared for her more than I should. It’s not fair for me to want her as much as I do. She could never be safe while with me; that much was clear. The two aspects of my life couldn’t remain separated. If she was going to be the one to give me my child, she would need to understand what exactly she was getting into, and, yes, I had probably done her a great injustice by not being upfront from the start, but how could I be certain she, or any other woman, would stick around to give me an heir if they knew the truth? That not only was I a mob boss but my biggest enemy was on the loose. That I had plans for revenge. That I would kill and kill again. That I had more enemies than just Vasilev. That my life had plenty of danger to it. That my life might soon be ended if I weren’t careful.
And what killed me was that Kelly actually knew or at least suspected how dangerous my world could be. She had been accosted and instructed to give me a threat from one of Vasilev’s goons already. I had no issue with her seeing her mother, but that she had once again left without a bodyguard suggested something much worse. Lucas would know if she had been taken, so if she had left, it was of her own free will.
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. I needed a level head. “When did she leave?” I asked.
“I…I’m not sure. There hasn’t been any activity to suggest foul play.”
I doubted very much that Vasilev or his men would’ve made a move against my house. Not when I wasn’t there. Maybe it was innocent, and I was jumping to an erroneous conclusion. “Do you think she went to see her mother?”
“The last few times she’s visited, she brought me along with her,” Lucas stated. There was a hint of worry in his voice. There was something else to the story.
“What did she take with her?” I asked, dreading the answer. A migraine was beginning to pound.
“Some clothes. Her purse. Her phone and her phone charger.”
Did she plan on returning? I doubted it, and yet I hoped my doubts were unfounded. Kelly was smart. She would come to realize that staying with me was her only option. If I weren’t mistaken, I was starting to believe I meant as much to Kelly as she was beginning to mean to me. I never talked to another woman like I did with her. I never shared so much of my future hopes and dreams with another woman. The others had solely been about the sex, and while that had been the very reason why Kelly and I got together, it had changed and morphed and became so much more.
Not just for me…right?
“When did you first realize she was gone?” I growled out, putting the call on speaker so I could continue driving and floor it back to my house. I could have some of the men searching for Kelly while a few could start to set in motion a trap for Vasilev. Maybe we could set up a fake meeting between him and pose as Sanchez Trucking. But I couldn’t concentrate on my revenge. Not with Kelly gone. “How long ago?”
“About an hour ago. I tried looking for her everywhere—”
“Why didn’t you call me immediately?” I barked.
Where would she go?
Change of plans.
“Call me if she returns home,” I instructed.
“Are you sure? I can go and—”
“You lost her,” I snapped. “I’ll go find her.” I ended the call and dialed the hospital her mother frequented. A few lies and I was able to learn Kelly’s mother wasn’t there as a patient or for receiving treatment. Which had me making an illegal U-turn and racing along to Kelly’s house.
Let her be there. Let her be safe. Let her not be in trouble.
I had felt on top of the world when I left Sanchez Trucking, but now, my carefully made plans were falling apart at the seams. I had been so busy digging around for intel about Vasilev that I had been blinded to Kelly and her needs. I had thought our having sex was the first step to overcoming out disagreement, but I had been wrong. Now she had run off.
What if she hadn’t run off? Yes, her packing things meant she intended to, but what if while I had been making moves on Vasilev, Vasilev had been closing in on his own plans against me?
A sudden premonition that his men had captured her while I had been out gathering info made me break out in a cold sweat.
But this wouldn’t be on her. This was all on me. On my life. On my job. On my quest for revenge. On my desire to make Mikhail Vasilev pay for taking my family away from me. If I hadn’t played games, if I had just launched an all-out attack on him as soon as I learned he was back in town, none of this would’ve happened. I had been selfish by wanting revenge and by wanting to have an heir. I had endangered Kelly and our unborn child.
Driving like a mad man, I blazed past red lights and ignored honking cars, shouts of profanity, and raised middle fingers. What little luck I had enabled there to be no cop cars in the vicinity, and I pulled up to Kelly’s place in no time at all.
I didn’t even bother to turn off the car. I just threw open the door and jumped out. Without stopping to catch my breath, I raced to the door and pounded my fist onto it.
A woman who looked very much like Kelly if she were sickly opened the door. Her gaze settled on my face, and her lips pursed, her red-rimmed eyes filling with rage. “You…you’re that guy who paid my daughter to bear his heir, aren’t you?” she demanded.
I wasn’t used to being talked to in such a tone, but I let it pass. “Yes. Kelly. Where is she?”
Kelly’s mother glowered at me. She crossed her arms. Her leaning against the doorjamb didn’t impede her tough woman stance. She obviously needed it for support, but she was definitely a fighter. Too bad her body was warring with her. “Kelly went ou
tside,” her mother finally said, heaving a sigh. “She told me all about you and…she went out and was taken. I was just about to call the police—”
“Don’t!” I shouted.
She took a step back, wide-eyed. “Why shouldn’t I?” she demanded.
“Just trust me. You don’t want the police involved.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You know who took her. She’s in danger because of you!”
I winced. “I’ll get her back. Don’t worry.”
“Of course I’m going to worry!”
“You should try to calm down,” a voice called from inside.
“Calm down,” Kelly’s mother scoffed. “Like I can, Claire!”
Claire came into view. “I know it’s not easy, but you can’t go out and find Kelly yourself. You have no idea where she is or—”
“The police—”
“Involving them might make things worse for Kelly. They also don’t know where she is.” Claire nodded toward me. “He knows. If he promises to get her back, he will.”
“What good are his promises?” Kelly’s mother grumbled.
“I understand why you’re upset,” I said as smoothly as I could — which honestly wasn’t that smoothly at all. I was ready to fall apart. “I will not rest until she is safe. I promise you.”
“And what good is your word? I don’t know you. Kelly doesn’t know you, does she?” She was back to crossing her arms, stern-faced.
“She knows enough,” I said.
“That’s why she wanted to leave you.” She lifted her nose into the air.
I winced again. “I don’t…” I took a deep breath. Fighting with her wouldn’t help either of us. “I have a vested interest in getting—”
“The baby. Or Kelly. Who are you going to save?”
“Both.” The answer came quickly and without thinking. And it was the truth.
Kelly’s mother stared at me long and hard. “Fine. You have one day. If you don’t make any progress on finding her, I’ll call the police then.”
“Don’t,” I warned her, almost begging.
“They headed north. Left maybe five minutes ago.”
I hadn’t seen a car peeling out of the lot when I arrived. I must’ve just missed them. I whirled around and marched away, fury building within me. I would burn Vasilev’s world to the ground to get Kelly back.
Chapter 27 Kelly
After I told my mom I would stay, I couldn’t stay there, sitting there, talking to her. I felt like she was judging me, even if she wasn’t, and if she started to cry again, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from crying, too. Right now, I didn’t need that. I needed to be strong. I needed to keep it together. No matter what, I couldn’t give in to fear.
So I went into my bedroom. Just seeing my bed and bureau and my clothes made me feel like I was a failure. Here I was, without a job, taking money from a mob boss who had impregnated me, living back at home. Yes, I could help take care of my mom again, but really what did I have to show for my life? I was knocked up, and while I did want the baby, I was hardly role model material for him or her.
My lungs ached, and I couldn’t catch my breath. I rushed through the house to the front door.
“Where are you going?” my mom asked. She had returned to her book, but I didn’t think she was really reading it, more holding it up to cover that she was still processing the bombshell I had dropped on her.
“Out,” I said, my hand on the doorknob.
“Out where?”
“I’m just gonna…” Where could I go? I thought frantically. I needed to get away from stress, which meant getting away from people who knew. “Stacy. I’m gonna go see her. I’ll be back in time to make dinner.”
“Claire has been—”
“Tonight, she can have the night off.” I tried to smile but couldn’t. Before my mom could try to convince me to stay, I left, practically running to my car. I felt too confined in the house, like I was a prisoner. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. All I could feel had been the walls closing in on me.
But out here, outside, I didn’t feel any better. I didn’t know if I thought the sun might help any, but it wasn’t. I just had to get away. See Stacy. Try to forget what had happened the past few days. Try to just be me for once instead of the whore Andrei was boning to get pregnant, instead of the fool who thought he might be a decent man, instead of the failure of a daughter who couldn’t even keep her sick mother happy, instead of the woman who couldn’t even keep a job.
Before I could even get my keys out of my purse, though, I heard the rumbling of a car grinding to a halt. My fingers were just curling around the keys when my arms were grabbed from behind. A hand clamped over my mouth before I could even scream. I tried to bite him, to get enough room to scream even if just for a little bit, but I was thrown into a car, tires peeling before I could finally let out that scream.
One of the guys, a big brute of a guy, backhanded me. I flew onto the lap of the guy sitting next to the window. He laughed and righted me, rubbing up and down my arm. I tried to squirm out of reach, but I didn’t want to sit closer to the brute, not that there was a lot of room in the backseat for the three of us as it was. Another guy was driving, a little too fast and reckless for my liking, especially considering my condition.
Somehow, I still had my keys in my hands even though my purse was on the floor of the car, the contents spilling out more and more with each sharp corner we took. I tried to jab the guy who was overly touchy feely in his neck, but he easily overpowered me and took them from me.
“Now, now,” he said with a leering grin, “if you want to play, we can play.”
From the glint in his eyes and his gruff laugh, I knew I didn’t want to play any kind of games with him. Who were these men? It made the most sense for them to be in cahoots with the guy who accosted me at the hospital, the one who thought Andrei and I were dating. If these guys were truly after Andrei, then they wanted him dead.
Which might mean that they would be willing to use me as bait to get to Andrei. Or that they might want to send Andrei a stronger message, and this time with a dead body. My dead body.
I swallowed hard. I couldn’t get a good look at the driver, but neither of the men I was sandwiched between were the same guy from the hospital. Still, I knew in my bones they were all connected.
“Please,” I said, my voice cracking on the word. I cleared my throat. “Please. Let me go. I haven’t done—”
“Doesn’t matter what you have or haven’t done.” Handsy rubbed my thigh.
I tried to shove him away, but the other guy gripped my chin and turned me to face him. “Beg all you like.” His grin was menacing. “Maybe we’ll listen.”
He was lying. Maybe it wasn’t smart — scratch that, it definitely wasn’t smart — but I spat in his face.
Calmly, he wiped the spit with his huge hand and then wiped it down the front of my shirt. “Don’t do that again,” Brute warned, his voice low and whiny. “We haven’t decided yet if we’re gonna keep you alive or not, so you might want to be a good little girl and take what you can get.”
“Wouldn’t you like a real man?” Handsy asked. His hand moved toward the inside of my thighs.
I shifted slightly, gluing my legs together.
He laughed. “I could show you a few things, teach you new tricks.”
“I’m not a dog,” I muttered.
He roared with more laughter. “I like her spirit.”
“I want to crush her spirit,” Brute countered.
The two argued, and I tried not to listen to what they were saying. The driver snapped at them to shut up, but neither paid him any attention.
Trying not to give into panic, I watched the streets, trying to figure out where we were and where we were going. So many twists and turns, though, that I soon started to wonder if the driver was deliberately taking a roundabout way to our destination. Was that for my benefit so I couldn’t follow? Or were they being overly cautious about being ta
iled?
Wait a second! Andrei had sent my mom a bodyguard! Maybe he had seen the kidnapping. Maybe we really were being tailed! Trying to be discrete, I glanced behind us a few times, but there wasn’t anyone there. As far as I could tell, we weren’t being followed.
My hope didn’t completely die, though. Andrei knew what he was doing. His men would know what they were doing, too. Maybe his bodyguards were that good at tailing that they weren’t obvious about it. God willing, he’d pull up alongside of us as soon as we parked, he’ll get me away from them, and then we could hightail it home.
Yeah, that was definitely too much of a fairytale ending. Wasn’t going to happen. I was all alone with three very big, very bad guys.
We bypassed shops and restaurants and houses until we reached the outskirts of town. No other cars were around, and the houses looked poor and rundown, abandoned even.
