Ties That Bind Us

by Nicole Knight

  “Stay the fuck out of this.”

  “It may not seem like it, but I care about Ava, Nick, and what happened with Alessandro . . . it wasn’t right,” Jimmy continued. Fuck, this kid just didn’t know when to shut up.

  “You care about her?” I shot him a wicked smile. At this point we had the attention of everyone in the bar. Before I knew what was happening, my hands were at his throat, slamming him into the bar. “I’m sure you do care about her. Did she come running to you tonight when she left me? Is that what this fake apology is all about? You finally got your way, and Ava is at home waiting for you while you’re here rubbing it in my face?”

  “Nick, get a grip, man.” Leo pulled me off of Jimmy, who got up quickly and straightened his jacket.

  “I’m sorry for whatever shit you two are going through right now, but I swear to God I haven’t even spoken to Ava in weeks. She made her choice.” His face fell. “I’ll leave you guys alone now.”

  Jimmy walked away with his head down, and ducked into the booth once again.

  “You need to go home,” Leo growled. “You are losing your shit and you’re going to do something you regret.”

  “Funny, I don’t regret one second of what just happened.” I smirked, throwing my drink back.

  “I thought I might find you guys here.” My father stood in front of me, judging my current state fervently.

  “Oh, of course you called Dad.” I rolled my eyes at Leo. “This is perfect, the gang is all here.”

  My dad’s glare was icy and shut me up quickly. Even drunk, I knew how to take a hint. “Are you done? Because if you’re through acting like a spoiled teenager, I have some news you might like to hear.”

  “I’m all ears.” I smirked, mocking him and sitting up as straight and still as I possibly could. I didn’t have to answer to him. I had had a hellacious week, and I had every fucking right to get piss-ass drunk in a bar if that’s what I wanted.

  “This is pathetic, Nick,” my dad scoffed. “I thought you cared more about Ava than this.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s the one who left me,” I spat. How dare he come in here and doubt my love for that woman?

  His eyes burned into me. “If you’re willing to give up on her this easily, then you didn’t deserve her in the first place. And you certainly don’t deserve to lead this family.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Are you going to sit here and act like a child all night or do you want to know who was responsible for the accident?” He crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance.

  “You know who it was and you haven’t told me?” I was livid.

  “I came here to tell you, but from the second I walked in, you haven’t exactly been cooperative.”

  “Who is it?” I ignored his taunting. I needed something to focus my anger on, and if I knew who had hit us, I could take it out on them.

  “The car that hit you belongs to Jeffrey Pratt, he’s an associate of Alessandro’s. Alessandro ordered the hit, thinking Leo was in the car.”

  My blood ran cold. Alessandro? Alessandro had done this? I had been wasting all this time thinking it was Asnikov and it was my own fucking father-in-law?

  Ava wasn’t even supposed to be in that damn car.

  What Alessandro did, it wasn’t right.

  Alessandro’s own words and the words of Jimmy rang clear in my head. It was all starting to make sense. It was Alessandro’s fault, and this time he had gone too far.

  “I want him dead,” I growled, so low I wasn’t sure anyone could hear me.

  “You do what you have to do,” my dad said stoically, giving me the green light. Thank God, he understood the gravity of this.

  I may not be able to win Ava back, but I could make sure Alessandro paid with his last breath.

  Ava

  “Ava,” Vince said flatly as he opened the door. “I wasn’t expecting you to come by. Come inside, it’s freezing out there,” he said, ushering me in. He shut the door tightly behind us.

  “Is everything okay? It’s ten o’clock.” His face filled with concern.

  “I—I didn’t know where else to go,” I said quietly. I was nervous being in his house, almost like an outsider.

  “Are you feeling okay? I thought you’d be at home resting. Did you walk here?” Vince was baffled, trying to piece my late-night visit together.

  “Nick and I had a fight.” I sat down on the couch and Vince came to sit next to me.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked again.

  I shook my head. “Not really. I said some pretty awful things.”

  “Ava, I’m sure Nick doesn’t blame you. You guys have been through a lot the last few days.” Vince tried to reason with me.

  I bit my lip, not sure if I should tell Vince the entirety of it. I came here because I needed his help, though, and he couldn’t help me if he didn’t know what was really going on.

  “I feel like I resent him for the accident. He swore he’d protect us and then he let . . .”

  “Ava, I’m going to stop you right there. Looking at things like that isn’t going to do anybody any good. Nick didn’t let anything happen. If it was meant to happen, it would’ve happened either way. Nick isn’t any more responsible for what happened than you are.”

  I swallowed the growing lump in my throat. “I blame myself too.”

  “How do you figure that?” he asked. “You didn’t cause the accident.”

  “It’s not just the accident, though.”

  “I’m not following you, Ava. What do you mean?”

  I sucked in a sharp breath, readying myself to tell him the truth. “I was pregnant. We lost the baby in the accident.”

  Vince’s face turned white. “Ava . . . I’m so sorry.” He put his arm around me and pulled me into his shoulder. “I can’t imagine how much you’re hurting, but you can’t blame yourself for that. I know Nick, he won’t either.”

  “He should. It almost makes me angrier that he doesn’t. When I first found out, I wasn’t happy about it. I think this is my punishment for feeling that way.”

  “It doesn’t work that way, Avs.” He gave me a soft smile. “Did I ever tell you that before Sophia and I had Gigi we had a miscarriage?”

  I shook my head. I’d had no idea.

  “It happened so early that most people didn’t even know she was pregnant. It happened a long time ago, and I’m only telling you now because I want you to know that I know what you’re feeling. I know what Nick’s feeling. You’re hurt and you’re blaming yourselves and each other because you’re grasping for some kind of explanation.”

  My tears were flowing freely now, and I couldn’t stop them.

  “It almost killed Sophia and me. We almost got divorced because of it. She was shutting me out, and I wanted to be strong for her, and neither one of us realized how much we could really help each other. You are never going to get an explanation for this, Ava. Sometimes bad things happen for no reason at all.”

  “What if this is some kind of sign that Nick and I aren’t supposed to be together?”

  “Ava.” Vince smirked. “You and Nick are made for each other, and trust me, I was the last person who wanted to admit that. He loves you more than anything, think about what he has already done for you. After Andrew died, you became a completely different person and he brought you back. You’re incredibly lucky to have found each other, but that doesn’t mean it’s always going to be easy. Things like this, things that hurt you and rock you to your core, are going to happen. But that’s when you should be leaning on each other and not pulling apart.”

  Hearing Vince talk like this had me convinced that something had possessed my brother. He had never been emotional like this, but I had never needed it more than I did in this moment.

  “You’re right.” I nodded. “I should go talk to him.”

  “You should.” Vince smiled. “You know I love having you here, but you ne
ed to go fix things with your husband.”

  “Thank you. You have no idea how much I needed to hear that.” I wiped my tears, ready to go back and face Nick.

  “That’s what I’m here for.” He smiled. “Why don’t you let me give you a ride? You’re not exactly dressed for the weather.”

  “I left in a hurry,” I said sheepishly.

  Vince put his arm around me. “Let’s get you home.”

  Vince dropped me off in the front of our apartment building. I waved good-bye, thanking him again for the talk, and went inside. There was a crowd of people waiting to take the elevator and I didn’t feel like seeing any of our neighbors with my blotchy and tear-stained face.

  I ducked into the stairwell, deciding I could use the exercise anyway. At about the fifth floor, I started to slow down a little bit. I heard the sound of a door open and someone stepped into the stairwell. Seconds later I was slammed against the hard concrete wall. One arm was pressed against the back of my neck so I couldn’t move while another held the cool tip of a knife to my neck.

  “If you scream, I’ll slit your throat,” a gritty, male voice whispered in my ear. “Nod if you understand.”

  I nodded, frozen with fear.

  “Good girl. Now, we are going to walk back downstairs and to my car. If you do anything to tip anyone off, I’ll kill you, and then I’ll go upstairs and kill Nick. Nod if you understand.”

  I nodded again and the man pulled me back from the wall and twisted my arm behind my back so I couldn’t move away from him. The knife was still pressed firmly against my neck.

  “Walk.”

  Chapter 40

  Ava

  When I woke up next, I was lying on a paper-thin mattress in a dark room, completely disoriented. The last thing I remembered was the face of Alek Asnikov as he shoved me into the trunk of a car, and the sharp stab of a needle and burning sensation in my arm. He must have drugged me so I wouldn’t know where he’d taken me. All I knew about Asnikov was that his organization was at odds with both Nick and my father. And somehow, that had landed me right in the middle.

  I wasn’t tied up, but there was still no way for me to get out of this room. The door didn’t even have a handle on the inside. The walls were cement and crumbly, and the only light came from a dim bulb in the corner. It was musty and the air felt heavy in my lungs. For a second, I considered breaking the lightbulb and using a shard of glass to defend myself, but my plan was interrupted by a jingling of keys in the door and I scrambled back against the wall.

  Alek jerked the door open, and his face twisted into an evil grin when he saw me cowering. “Oh good, you’re awake. I was worried I had given you too much. You’ll have to forgive me, I don’t normally handle the dirty work.”

  Words were lost on my lips as Alek chatted away as if this was completely normal. He reached for my hand but I pulled it away, trying to crawl farther away from him. It was no use, I had backed myself into a corner.

  Alek gave me a condescending smile. “Aw, don’t be like that, Ava. You and I are friends, and I’d hate to have to tie my friend up.”

  He kept his eyes locked on mine as he reached for my hand again. This time I froze, letting him grab it. “That’s a good girl.”

  He turned my arm over, inspecting it closely. There was a needle mark on the inside of my elbow that I assumed was from when he had drugged me. It was tender and bruised, and as he inspected it, Alek noticed too.

  “I’ll get some cream for that.” He stood up again.

  “Why are you doing this?” I whispered, confused by his kindness. I had never been kidnapped before, but I had seen enough crime shows to know this wasn’t generally how it went.

  “Your father and I had a deal. He didn’t follow through, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.”

  “Nick isn’t going to let you get away with this. He’s probably looking for me right now.” I held back my tears as best I could, not wanting to let him get to me.

  “Now, you and I both know that’s not true, Ava. He thinks you left him, remember?” Alek chuckled. “He’s drowning his sorrows in a bar and whining about it right now. By the time he even realizes you’re gone, you’ll be dead. I promise I’ll make it quick, though—I’m not into the torturing innocent people thing. Get some rest, you’ll need it later.”

  He knocked once on the door and then disappeared out of it. Once he was gone, tears streamed down my face. He was right. Nick thought I hated him; he thought I’d left. And with the way I had treated him, I wasn’t even sure he would come if he knew.

  Nick

  My fist collided with Alessandro’s face again and a fountain of red blood splattered in all directions. I had hit him so many times that I’d lost track, and he wasn’t even reacting anymore. I had thought this would make me feel better, but the more I hit him, the more angry I became. I had waited months for this moment, and now that it was here, it was much less gratifying than I’d anticipated.

  He was completely broken, disheveled, and looked like he hadn’t slept in days. It was the first time I had ever seen him show any semblance of emotion. It served the bastard right. I hoped this was eating him alive and keeping him up at night, like it was me and like it was Ava. If it wasn’t, I was going to make him hurt all the same.

  “I’m not the enemy here, Nick,” Alessandro finally said, hardly audible.

  I scoffed, landing my fist on his jaw. His head snapped back and then fell forward; he was motionless, but still conscious. “Shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear your excuses for one more second. I know everything, Alessandro. I know you only wanted me to marry Ava so you could weasel your way into our organization. I know you tried to use her to control everything and feed information to the Russians, and sold yourself out to them when you couldn’t. I know you caused the accident.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out then.” He gave me a smug smirk, mustering all the strength he could. “What do you need me for? I know you’re going to kill me, why don’t you do it already?”

  “I want to know why,” I hissed. “I want to hear it straight out of your fucking mouth—why my wife is gone and my child is dead.”

  Alessandro chuckled and shook his head. This guy really had a death wish. “Contrary to what you think of me, Nick, I never meant to hurt my daughter. I set out with the best of intentions. I wanted her with you because I knew you would protect her and give her what she needed. God knows I never could.”

  I fought the urge to roll my eyes. He really had this caring father act down to a science. If I didn’t know him better, I might fall for it.

  “Ava has always been strong willed, I should have known from the start she would never agree with my plan. Like you know, I overpromised the Russians. They were breathing down my neck trying to get answers that I didn’t have, and the entire time this was going on, Ava was falling more and more in love with you. When I found out you were married, I knew I needed another plan. I knew if anything happened to you and Leo, Ava would assume responsibility since she’s your wife.”

  “That’s what the accident was about,” I said flatly.

  Alessandro nodded. “You have to understand Nick, I never expected her to be in the car and I certainly never expected that she was . . .”

  Pregnant. He couldn’t even say the fucking word.

  Alessandro paused, chewing on the inside of his cheek, overcome with emotion. I wasn’t buying it. He had no idea what he had done. Ava was gone, our baby was gone, there was nothing else I cared about. I could do this all day. I knew Alessandro wasn’t walking out of here alive and I wanted to be sure I got every last answer out of him that I wanted.

  “I screwed up, Nick. I admit that. I hurt Ava in more ways than I would ever like to admit, but you have to believe me—I never meant for any of this to happen. Not the accident, not the baby, certainly not being kidnapped.”

  It took me a minute to process his words. Did he just say . . .
<
br />   “Kidnapped?” It was like a stab to my heart saying that out loud. Someone had taken her?

  Alessandro sighed, slightly confused. “I got a call just before you came this morning. Alek picked her up last night. He sent me a picture, you can check my phone. I thought that was why you had taken me, because Alek is going to kill Ava. You didn’t know?” Confusion blanketed his face.

  “Where the fuck is your phone?” I hissed, throwing him out of the chair. I didn’t want to believe it; I had to see it for myself.

  “My back pocket.” Alessandro groaned in pain.

  I ripped the phone out of his pocket and searched desperately. Just as he said, there was a picture of Ava from an unknown number. She was passed out on the floor of some cell, motionless and unconscious. She was bruised and bloody, and had fresh drag marks all over her legs. Consider us even. That was all the text said.

  All the air was sucked out of my lungs. Alek had taken her last night; he must have gotten to her when she left. I had wasted all this time on this prick while Ava was in the hands of one of the most ruthless men in the world, who had a vendetta against both me and her father.

  I dropped Alessandro’s phone and whipped the gun off of my hip. “You son of a bitch.’

  “Tell her I’m sorry, Nick. Go find her and tell her I’m sorry. And that I love her.” His voice was shallow and it seemed like a struggle for him to get the words out. Before I could even pull the trigger, Alessandro slumped over, life completely drained out of him.

  I was shocked that it had happened so suddenly, that he was gone. Dead from his injuries and blood loss. I should sort this out, but the only thing on my mind was getting to Ava. I had to find her, and on the way there, I had to pray to God I wasn’t too late.

  Chapter 41

  Nick

  Within minutes of leaving Alessandro I was sitting in front of an abandoned warehouse in the Meatpacking District. Leo had traced it to Asnikov, and considering the only other property he owned was his house, I assumed this was where he had Ava. It made sense. It was decrepit and far away from any buildings that had actually businesses in them. He could work out of here without fear of being bothered or seen by someone. There weren’t many exits. I knew that because I had been sitting here pouring over the blueprints Zane had sent me, planning my ambush.