Half Empty

by Catherine Bybee

  Ruslan spat blood to the floor and charged.

  Sasha fell back, the table breaking their fall. And Ruslan started punching.

  The pain of his meaty fists fueled her anger. She bucked with her hips and rolled to the side. Her knee met his groin again.

  “You’re a filthy whore, just like your mother.”

  He sent a fist to her stomach.

  “You take a punch better than your mother. Weak woman didn’t even put up a fight when her neck snapped.” He threw her off and scrambled to his feet.

  Sasha rolled onto the balls of her feet and sent a fist to his face.

  He moved out of reach. “Your brother shared your loyalty to the pizdas who bore you.” Ruslan held up his arm, showing a scar that spread from his wrist to midforearm. “No one cuts me and lives.”

  Sasha managed a fist to his face and went in for more.

  He ducked and came up fast with both hands to her neck.

  Air immediately stopped entering her lungs.

  She twisted, attempted to make space.

  He held on tighter.

  Don’t panic.

  Her legs were in motion, her blows reaching him, but he didn’t let go.

  The room started to dim.

  “My only regret is not taking Alice out when I had the chance.”

  Her struggles started to fade . . . a little more pressure and her windpipe would shatter.

  This wasn’t going to happen. All this work, and she was going out because of his hold on her neck.

  Her lungs burned and her body lost its fight.

  The room exploded in sound and her frame fell to the floor.

  Sasha gasped in several pained breaths as her eyes fell on the man who shared her DNA. He was lying against the wall, his shirt quickly soaking in his blood.

  A uniformed security guard stood over her.

  She met Ruslan’s eyes as he took his last breath.

  Sasha hung her head between her stretched-out arms and attempted to stand.

  Reed swept in behind her and helped her up.

  “Took you long enough,” she choked out.

  He looked at her neck, and her face. “We need a medic!”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Trina stood on the tarmac as the private jet rolled to a stop and the small gangway lowered.

  The Texas sun blazed down as the wind whipped her hair around her face. Dark sunglasses covered her tired eyes, hiding the circles that makeup couldn’t manage.

  The media was out of reach, but that didn’t mean their lenses wouldn’t capture this moment.

  Jeb walked down the stairs first and stood at the bottom as Wade filled the doorway.

  Trina held her breath and waited for him to see her. When he did, he skipped a step and opened his arms.

  She ran into them.

  Her lips found his, his hat fell off.

  He was alive, and whole . . .

  She pulled away. “I thought I was going to lose you.”

  “Shh, not done kissing you yet.”

  Okay, she could work with that.

  When she squeezed his waist, he winced. “Easy, darlin’.”

  Her hands rubbed over his rib cage, felt a bandage in place. She started to pull at his clothing. “They said you were fine.”

  Wade brushed her hands away. “Couple tiny fractures.”

  “You’re broken?” No one told her that.

  “Just a rib or two. Simmer down. I’m fine.”

  “Wade Michael Thomas, you told me you were fine.”

  He chuckled as he reached down to slowly pick up his hat. “Oh, the middle name. I find that strangely sexy, coming from you.”

  “Let’s get you home.”

  “Are we bomb free?” he asked as she limped him to the waiting car.

  “Yes, they found one at my gate and one in your garage.”

  “I heard.” Wade climbed in first and Trina followed.

  The car drove them from the small airport directly to Wade’s ranch, where Trina planned on staying until he kicked her out.

  “How is your mom?”

  “She’s a pretty strong woman.”

  “If it wasn’t for me—”

  “Don’t.” Wade placed a finger over her lips. “My mother had no business in Vegas. If it wasn’t her, Ruslan would have taken someone else. Jordyn, one of the guys in the band. The end result would have been the same.”

  “But your mom. She’s never going to accept me now.”

  “She isn’t going to be given a choice.”

  Trina squeezed in close, felt the weight of Wade’s arm over her shoulders.

  “How is Sasha?”

  Wade rested his head against the back of the seat. “Couldn’t really tell ya. According to Reed, who technically didn’t show up until the police were standing over Ruslan’s body, Sasha answered the questions the police asked, and then AWOLed from the ER before her X-rays were read.”

  “That’s crazy, he almost killed her.”

  “She had every reason to kill him.” Wade had heard the entire conversation, right up until the gunshot that ended everything. The microphone Ruslan had used was left on and forgotten, which gave the police everything they needed to pin murder, kidnapping, and blackmail charges on a dead man.

  “I wonder if I’ll ever see her again. I have so many questions of my own.”

  “Something tells me you will.”

  “Is this all really over?”

  Wade ran a hand over her hair as she rested it on his shoulder. “Baby, I hope so. I can’t keep up with your level of partying,” he teased.

  In the front seat, Jeb laughed once. “Amen to that.”

  Trina leaned forward and placed a hand on Jeb’s shoulder. “I didn’t even ask how you were doing.”

  “I’m fine. Just fine. In need of a job, if you have any openings. Seems my boss fired me a couple of days ago.”

  “What?”

  “He’s lookin’ for sympathy. If he wasn’t employed, he’d be gone.”

  Jeb twisted in his seat, the smile from his face gone. “Take that back, Cowboy, or I’ll break your other ribs.”

  Trina actually thought Jeb was serious.

  Wade hesitated.

  The car was silent for several seconds before Wade cracked a slight smile and nodded once. “All right, then.”

  The man code of unspoken agreements had unfolded right in front of her. It was handshakes and I got your back all wrapped up in a single look.

  “But since you want to rehire me, I think I’ll be asking for a raise. Hazard pay.”

  Wade laughed, held his side. “Stop. It hurts.”

  They pulled up to Wade’s ranch to the fanfare of a homecoming. Trina didn’t recognize all the faces, but she did single Vicki out of the mix before the car was put in park.

  Her eyes skimmed over Trina before falling on her son.

  Wade pushed through the crowd and hugged his mother. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’ve been thrown from horses. I’m fine.”

  Wade kissed her forehead and stood back.

  “I’m so sorry,” Trina told her.

  Vicki blinked, looked at her son. “So am I.”

  “I know what you’re thinking, Ms. Thomas.” Trina used her last name to create distance. “If Wade hadn’t met me, none of this would have ever happened. And you’d be right about that. If something had happened to you or him, I would have never forgiven myself. But apparently someone, somewhere, has other plans for us. I’m sorry you don’t like me, I truly am. But I’m not going anywhere. Not unless Wade wants me gone. If men with guns and big fists can’t drive us apart, I don’t think you’re going to manage. So I suggest we find some common ground, like the fact that we both love your son, and figure out a way to get along.”

  Vicki looked around at the faces that were trying not to listen.

  Wade shuffled his feet. “Trina just tossed you an olive branch, Mama. I really think you should pick it up.”

  Vicki�
��s eyes lost their hard edge and started to mist. “He’s my only son. He’s all I got.”

  “He’s a pretty tough guy. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

  “He is standing right here, and wouldn’t mind a cold beer and a couch.”

  His words snapped Vicki out of her I’m going to put my energy into hating Trina trance.

  They bumped around each other in an effort to help Wade get comfortable.

  Vicki brought him a beer and held up her bandaged hand. “You’re going to have to wait on that pie until this hand is better.”

  “I think I’ll be waiting longer than that.”

  Vicki smiled.

  “I can bake a pie,” Trina offered.

  Vicki and Wade both turned to stare.

  “What? I can cook. I just don’t do it very often.”

  Vicki shook her head. “It’s all over now.”

  Wade chuckled as his mother left the room.

  Trina helped him remove his boots.

  He slapped her ass when she straddled his leg to find the leverage she needed to wiggle a boot free.

  “Hey!” She tossed one boot aside and moved to work on the other.

  “I do like this view.”

  She left his other boot on the floor, and then turned to straddle his hips.

  He pushed her hair over her shoulders before resting his hands on her waist.

  “God, you’re beautiful.”

  She blushed. “Wade.”

  “You’re a flower unfolding in spring, the last rays of a sunset before the light is gone, stars in a clear Texas sky, you’re breathtaking.”

  Trina looked up and tilted her head. “Go on . . .”

  Wade chuckled. “I heard what you said back there.”

  “When I said what?”

  He squeezed her hips. “That you loved me.”

  “Oh, that . . . well . . .”

  “There are a lot of women that tell me they love me.”

  Trina pushed her thoughts about all those women aside and looked Wade in the eye. “But I’m the one that means it.”

  He ran his hands up her sides and pulled her down to his lips. He was slow and easy, and he filled every ounce of her.

  “I’m a traditional man,” he whispered between his kisses. “I wanted that fancy dinner and walk in the moonlight when I told you I loved you.”

  She smiled and looked him in the eye. “You don’t always get what you want. Besides, I don’t need fancy anything. I just need you. I was a walking shell when we met, half empty in every way. Now I’m so full I’m spilling over.”

  “Oh, darlin’, you sure you’ve never written a sweet song before?”

  She giggled. “If you think my words are sweet . . .” She wiggled her hips over his lap, and the edge of his jeans tightened. “Just wait until those ribs of yours are well enough for me to show you how full I am.”

  He cupped her butt and crushed her closer. “Honey, the doctor said my ribs were broken, the rest of me is workin’ just fine.”

  Her eyes widened.

  They both looked toward the stairs that led to the bedrooms.

  Trina hopped off his lap and reached out her hand.

  “Show me.”

  The letters arrived a week later, certified, with no return address.

  Half the letters were opened.

  Wade sat beside Trina as she read each one.

  Dearest Trina,

  By now you and my son have undoubtedly searched for any possible reason for my changes in my will. But they are painfully simple. Leaving my estate to you will keep my son, and possibly even my sisters, alive. If left to Fedor, Ruslan will undoubtedly have him killed. I cannot bear the thought of my impending death risking his life. Ruslan has killed, and will do so again. Enclosed evidence, twenty-six years old, of the murder of his mistress.

  The guilt I have harbored all these years is only abated by the fact that Natasha’s death would never put Ruslan in prison for his entire life. The evidence I obtained was from an investigator I hired to track Ruslan at the time of our marriage. My thoughts were to find proof of his crimes and use the evidence to escape my tortured marriage. I never thought I’d be witness to a murder of an innocent woman.

  I’m sorry, Fedor. I’m sorry to burden you with any of this after my death. But I didn’t see another way. I know about you and your wife. I also see how you look at her. I hope that you will both use the year I’ve given to adjust to this change and find a way to stay together. But even if you don’t, the money has to stay with Katrina. Or he will kill you to get to it.

  Hold on to the evidence and wait until he makes a mistake.

  He will.

  I just pray it isn’t lethal for any of you.

  Alice

  The second letter proved even more enlightening.

  Dearest Fedor,

  These letters are coming to you from your half sister. I have no doubt she is reading these before they come to you. I have absolute faith that she has investigated Natasha’s death and has learned who her father is.

  I could not prevent her mother’s death any more than I could stop cancer from killing me. I have done everything I could to give Sasha a life and the skills she would need to survive if the day ever came that Ruslan learned she was alive. I used charities to disguise the path of money given for her education and home during her young years, and then hired her to watch over you and Trina from the moment you married.

  I hope my deception is met with understanding. Your father’s reach is so vast that had he known she was alive, or worse, that I was her secret benefactor, he would have had her killed.

  Now she has the skills to learn of her heritage and stay alive. I pray, out of some loyalty to me, that she honors my wishes and delivers these letters to you.

  Family is all you have when you leave this world.

  I hope you all find it in your hearts to accept each other.

  While your bond is through a monster, that doesn’t make either one of you evil.

  I love you, Fedor. And I have grown to love your sister as if she were my own.

  My last letter will come after the anniversary of my passing.

  The delay is my way of giving your father time to make some kind of mistake that Sasha can use against him. I have left your sister a tidy sum to help in her efforts, and hope that if she needs more you and Trina will provide it for her.

  But I doubt that will be needed.

  It seems Trina has a very powerful group of friends that, once they learn of these letters, will see to it she is safe.

  Be kind to one another.

  With all my love,

  Mama

  The last two letters weren’t opened. They came directly from the law offices of Dwight Crockett.

  Dearest Katrina,

  I know you care for my son. Although I had hoped it would be deeper than what I know to be true. I can’t, and won’t, ask you to return the estate to him. To do so while Ruslan is still alive simply puts a target on his back. Ruslan can’t get to you. I’ve seen to it with my choices.

  I have seen your heart and know you will do the right thing if the day ever came. I have been honored to call you my daughter-in-law, if only for a short time. I’m humbled that my son loved me so much he would take such extreme measures to see me smile in my last days.

  Be kind to each other.

  All my heart,

  Alice

  My loving son,

  It pains me to say goodbye but know I am no longer suffering, and I am watching over you. If there is a way to reach out and prove I’m there, rest assured I will.

  Your aunts will always see to your needs, you know that. Money has never ruled your life, and I’m certain you won’t let it now.

  I love you.

  Mama

  Trina finished reading the letters and waited for Wade to catch up.

  It took well over an hour before they could talk about them. Even then, it wasn’t to go over any single piece of information, bu
t to discuss the collective whole.

  “So what now?”

  Trina sat up on Wade’s balcony, overlooking the vast span of his property. The world worked below while she stretched out on a lounge chair, contemplating life.

  “I’ve already tried to give back everything to Diane and Andrea. They refused. Said they wanted family more than the money. They thought, with everything that had happened, I’d find plenty of ways to spend my share of the company that would prove worthwhile. They said if it wasn’t for me, Ruslan would have never come to justice and would always be a threat for them and their own families.”

  “How do you feel about that?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “You have a whole lifetime to figure it out.”

  “First thing I need to do is sell a few houses.”

  “New York?”

  “That’s the first to go. Avery wants to fly back next month and continue where she stopped.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  Trina didn’t like the feeling in her gut about the whole situation. “She’s battling some personal demons. I’m going to go with her.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “It doesn’t have the hold on me that it once did. But if you wanted to come along . . .”

  “Is there a question?”

  “Of course there’s a question. I’m not assuming anything. Well, other than spending all my time here at your place. Stella and the Folsoms think I’ve abandoned my place.”

  “You should sell.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “I’m not selling.”

  “Fine, keep it. But we won’t be there very often.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Yeah, if we have a fight, I’ll sleep on the couch like any normal man, not let you leave to your own house three hours away.”

  “You and I don’t fight.”

  “I’m sure we will. Every couple argues.”

  “We’re not like every other couple.”

  He leaned back, tilted his hat until it shaded his eyes. “Are we going to fight over not arguing?”

  “That’s an oxymoron.”

  “You can disagree with yourself. I’m thinkin’ of takin’ a nap. You’re wearing me out all night long with your overactive sex drive,” he said as he smiled under the brim of his hat.

  “I’m wearing you out?” She kicked his boots off the railing, and he jumped up and pulled her out of her chair.