by Evie Monroe
Maybe I should’ve been cringing at that, but I didn’t. It was true. Sure, I’d only loved one other man before him and look how that had turned out. But all I needed to do was look at Zain and I knew things would be different.
He was different.
Okay, it was probably too early to be professing my love for him. After all, I’d just met him. But I’d been raised to believe that love was something precious and hard to find, and when it was found, it shouldn’t be treated as an afterthought.
And I had it right, this time. I just knew it.
The only thing was, I wasn’t really sure he was the type who’d settle down. There was not a single thing about Zain that said to me he wanted the kids and the white picket fence. And yes, he’d told me he’d take care of me. But maybe he meant for now not forever.
I needed a forever. Stability. I’d rather have to do it alone than have men coming in and out of Alena’s life.
I went to the kitchen and got myself a bottle of water, deciding that the next time I talked to Zain, damn his sexiness . . . I’d be firm. I wouldn’t crumple into his arms and beg him to fuck me. Next time, I’d tell him that if he didn’t want this—us—for keeps, I wasn’t interested.
As I was sucking down a gulp of water, I heard a crashing sound coming from down the hallway.
I dropped the water on the counter and ran for it, peering in my room. At first I thought the wind had managed to knock something off my nightstand.
But there was nothing on the ground, and the curtains in my window weren’t blowing at all.
That was odd.
My blood started to pound inside my ears as it hit me. Alena.
Backing out of my room, I raced down the hall and burst into Alena’s room.
The first thing my eyes fell upon was her princess lamp, the base shattered, on the ground. Then, the wide-open window.
And then, the empty bed, with the covers pulled back.
I raced for the window and peered out past the shredded screen. But I saw nothing but darkness and heard nothing but the whistling of the wind and the sound of my own heart, slamming against my chest.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Zain
When I cruised down the pier and pulled up at the clubhouse, Cullen was sitting on an old picnic table right outside the front door. He was smoking a cigarette, which wasn’t like him. We all knew he’d been trying to quit, because of his little daughter, Ella. Until now, I’d thought he had succeeded.
He breathed out a long cloud of smoke as I approached him. “So . . . this girl of yours.”
“Sasha,” I mumbled.
“Yeah. Her. You get with her out of spite for Viktor? Is that what it is?”
“Hell, no. I met her before I met Viktor,” I said, leaning against the picnic table and taking the cigarette and lighter he offered me.
I sucked in the raw taste of the tobacco, trying to get it to calm me.
“And she means something to you?”
I let out a low chuckle. He had to ask, after I nearly gave up the Cobras on her account. “What the fuck do you think?”
He scratched the side of his face and looked out over the black line of ocean in the darkness. “I think it’s a big problem.” He took another drag. “And I also know you go through women like nobody’s business.”
“And you didn’t, before Grace?” I snapped back, getting annoyed. “Did you call me here to fuck with me, or are we going to figure this out, man?”
He hitched a shoulder. “I just want you to know that whatever we come up with here, it ain’t gonna be easy from here on out. So you need to make sure she’s worth it.”
“Jesus, Cullen. If I was willing to walk out on the club, that should show you. I’m not fucking around,” I muttered.
“Yeah, about that—”
Here it comes, I thought. Where walking out on the Fury meant certain death, walking out on the Cobras simply wasn’t done. I think when I said that to Cullen, his mind probably exploded.
“Look,” I said, stopping him in his tracks. “I know you and my brothers. I know you guys have always stood up for what is right. Which is what attracted me to you in the first place. But you turning a blind eye to an asshole who abused his wife? That ain’t like us. And working with him? That doesn’t sit well with me. Forget about how I feel about Sasha. The Cobras should not be in bed with an asshole like that, and you know it.”
He thought about that for a minute, then flicked the butt of his cigarette onto the pavement. “Yeah. Probably not. Only problem is, and I hate to even say it, but I don’t know what else to do. The Hell’s Fury is breathing down our neck, and I want to get rid of them once and for all. We can with Viktor’s help. Then we go back to normal working with Moscow. If not, we’re toast.”
Right. I knew. We lose our client, we don’t operate anymore, and the Fury spreads all over Aveline Bay, then the whole West Coast.
“I get it. But I’d rather fucking die fighting the Fury than hop into bed with that fucker,” I said flatly.
“You might be okay with that. But I’m not willing to lose a bunch of Cobra lives. That’ll be on my conscience.” He pushed off the picnic bench and said, “So how can I change your mind?”
I nearly laughed out loud. He was serious? “You didn’t get it from what I just said? You can’t. I’m not fucking working with that guy.”
“I get what you’re saying. You think he’s an asshole. You don’t want to be on his side. But what if we’re not on his side?”
I squinted at him. “I don’t follow.”
“Look. You don’t have to like the kind of toilet paper that’s on the roll. You just use it, because it gets the job done. So we use Viktor the same way? Don’t agree with him, fine. Think he’s an asshole, great. But let’s use him to get the job done, and then we can wipe our hands of him forever. You understand?”
I shook my head.
“Look man. I never said that our relationship with Viktor is forever. Once this is over, he can crawl back into the shithole he came from, and I won’t care. But what I do care about is my brothers. We are forever. You get that? And he may be an asshole, but I’m happy to use him to make sure that none of my brothers, the people I really care about, get killed.”
I laced my hands in front of me and stared down at the rotting wood plank between my feet. It was dark, but in the moonlight, the little flecks of glass in the asphalt glistened.
“All right. Fine. But what difference does it make? Even if I did agree to this, Viktor’s gone. He’d probably already told—”
“He’s inside,” he said, motioning to the door.
I looked around. Sure enough, I spotted the nondescript black sedan he drove, parked in the row, among the other cars. I let out a sour laugh. “And I suppose you want me to talk to him and make nice.”
He shrugged. “You don’t got to make nice. You just got to not want to kill each other. Think you can do that?”
“Well—”
“So that means not fucking telling him about how good a fuck his ex-wife is. Understand?”
I supposed. Although, a little sadistic part of me wanted to do that. I knew Cullen was right, though. I didn’t have to like him, but he was a solution. For now. And Sasha was right, also. Asshole that he was, he was still Alena’s dad.
I gritted my teeth and pushed up off the picnic bench, the splinters catching in the seat of my jeans. “Fine. Lead the way.”
We walked inside, me bringing up the rear. The second we got inside and the door slammed behind me, Viktor flew off his chair and charged me, screaming a bunch of shit in Russian.
I crossed my arms, not wanting to get into it, since I’d promised Cullen, but prepared to stand my ground and protect myself if I had to. The whole, I fucked your wife taunt was pretty heavy in my head right then as he shouted in my face, spittle flying. Instead, I just smirked at him.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Cullen said, stepping between us. “We’re here to just talk.”
; “You didn’t tell me he’d be back. I thought you got rid of him,” Viktor grumbled, giving Cullen a sidelong glance. “I came back against my better judgment. I should call the men in Moscow and tell them the deal is off.”
“Look. First thing. We don’t have to like each other,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “But it’s in all our best interest to take the Fury out. You know that. We need them gone so we can continue to conduct our business in peace. And I know your contacts are paying you handsomely to do that. So let’s just get it done. Deal?”
I reached my hand out to shake his.
He stared at it for a while, like it was crawling with ants. Then, reluctantly, he shook it.
As he did, I grabbed his thick, sweaty hand, yanking it back and wrenching it behind his back. He let out a growl as I pushed him face first up against the wall. He and Cullen let out a “What the fuck—” at the same time, but I ignored it.
“Second thing,” I growled into his ear. “Sasha is not your property, comrade. She’s not yours anymore, so don’t fuck with her. She’s allowed to see who she wants. You get it?”
His face turned red, and the vein on his head bulged purple as his cheek pressed up against the cold cement wall. “You fucking—”
I wrenched his arm back harder, so something popped. He let out a growl.
“What did you say?”
“Fine. I don’t control Sasha.”
Slowly, I let him go, and backed away to see Cullen, staring at me with a look that said, you fucking asshole. Couldn’t help yourself, could you?
I smiled at him. “Good. Don’t forget it.”
Viktor peeled himself away from the wall, turned, and adjusted his blazer over his boxy form. His face was losing the red color, but it was still pink. His eyes were hard on me. “You asshole,” he said, lunging for me again.
I tightened my hands into fists, ready to answer.
I didn’t get a chance to. The second he got within striking distance, the door swung open and a face, as white as the moon, appeared in the door.
All eyes in the place swung toward it.
It was Sasha, shaking like crazy, her eyes wide with worry. I didn’t have time to ask how she’d found us, because it was obvious something was wrong.
“What is it?” Viktor and I both said at once.
“Alena,” she whispered, breathless. “She’s gone. Someone came in her window and took her from her bed.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sasha
I wasn’t thinking clearly on the ride to the clubhouse.
I was thinking of Alena. She’d only ever been with either me or Viktor. She had to have been frightened out of her mind, wherever she was. She was only four. My mind kept flipping through hundreds of awful scenarios as I sped through the streets on the way to the pier.
All I knew was that was where I’d seen Viktor and Zain, all those weeks ago, and something told me that that was where at least one of them would be.
I didn’t expect to find them both. Predictably, they were both frowning, shaking, on the verge of killing each other.
But they stopped when I came in. Breathless, shaking, I told them that Alena was missing, and suddenly, the tension in the place shifted.
Zain’s face darkened as he turned to the other man standing next to him. “Fury,” he murmured.
Viktor punched the air with a fist. “Fuck!”
My breath hitched. “What? What does this mean? Do you mean that the other club has her?”
Zain shook his head and gritted his teeth before his said, “Fuck! I was afraid this would happen.”
I shouted at him “You were? Then why didn’t you tell me?” I ran to punch him, hit him, but he took my wrists and pulled me to him. Instead of hitting him, I wound up sobbing into his t-shirt. He wrapped his arms around me and smoothed my hair as I cried.
“Fuck the element of surprise. They must know about Viktor,” the other man said.
Zain shook his head. “No. They just know I was with Sasha. They’re trying to get even with me.”
When I managed to open my eyes, I saw Viktor, staring at me with his top lip raised in a snarl. “Sasha!” he barked.
I slipped away from Zain’s body and wiped at my eyes. I wanted to say something calming to my ex-husband, but from the look on his face, I knew that was impossible. He was so angry. I reached for him, but before I could say a word, he wheeled on Zain.
“This is all your fault, mudak,” he growled out, coming between Zain and me. “You think playing around with my wife wouldn’t end up hurting anyone? Now my daughter is in the hands of those bastards and it’s because of you putting your dick where it didn’t belong. After I kill these motherfuckers, you’re next. I’ll have your head on a platter!”
I was used to being quiet and falling in line with Viktor. But for the first time, something inside me overflowed, and I threw myself in front of him, shoving him hard.
“No!” I shouted, finding my voice, tears spilling from my eyes as I pushed Viktor away. “You will not! Don’t you see? You’re just as dangerous. A killer? For all these years, you put Alena in as much danger as he did!”
He stared at me in silent shock.
I swiped the back of my hand across my face, wiping away the tears. “Besides, this time, it’s my fault, Viktor. I did this because I took my eyes off her. But it doesn’t matter. What matters is that Alena’s gone, and we need to get her back. Please. Let’s just focus on getting her back.”
Viktor’s cold eyes fell on me, and for a moment I thought he might pull out a gun and finish Zain right there. Funny, when I first met Viktor, I didn’t see him as a killer, but now, looking at him, his face contorted in rage, I couldn’t see him as anything else.
Then he said, “Yes. We must get her back at all costs.”
“And the only way to do that is if we work together,” I told him. “You need to work with Zain. Stop fighting him and put aside your differences, for just this once.”
Viktor’s face contorted in a snarl. Then he gave Zain an almost imperceptible nod. “All right.”
Zain accepted his word and spoke to the other man. “Cullen, we need to get all the men here. Now. We get Alena back tonight, and we put an end to the Fury for good. Tonight.”
“Yeah,” the man called Cullen said, fishing his phone out of the pocket of his jeans. From the way they were all looking at him, I could tell he must be an important man in the group. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Zain
Sasha was a hot mess. I couldn’t blame her. But I knew what the Fury was capable of. She had no idea. If she knew, she’d probably have been a hell of a lot worse. So I tried to keep her occupied while we waited for the rest of the guys. We talked low about inconsequential things. She asked me how I got each of my tattoos, so I told her.
“This one, I got before I became a Cobra,” I said, pointing to the tattoo on my left bicep. I dipped down my t-shirt and pointed to the one on my right shoulder. “This was the first one I got, when I was eighteen. I was a stupid shit and thought skulls were cool and made me look tough.”
She tilted her head. “You look tough.”
“Not then. I was about a hundred pounds, soaking wet. But I thought I was pretty cool. No one could tell me shit.”
She nodded. “I was the same way when I was eighteen. Isn’t everyone?”
“Yeah, but I was the worst at it.” I pointed at my neck. “I got this one a few years ago.”
“It looks like a snake, too,” she said, tracing her finger over it. “A snake eating itself.”
I nodded. “It’s a Greek Ouroboros. A serpent eating its own end is a symbol for rebirth, remaking ourselves. When my parents died, I decided who I wanted to be. I decided I had the power to change myself and make myself who I wanted.”
She smiled, stroking it, as I looked over at Viktor. He had his upper lip curled in a snarl, watching his ex-wife touch me.
Maybe I shouldn’t have taunted him th
at way. But while he was focused on that, I was focused on taking care of Sasha. Fuck him for not being secure enough in his manhood to let her do what she wanted. That was his problem, and he was paying for it now. Right now, I needed to calm Sasha down. If I had to put my tongue down her throat in front of him to do it, I’d do it.
The rest of the men arrived quickly. When we all were assembled around the table, I introduced Sasha to my brothers and said, “The Fury have her daughter. Viktor’s daughter. Her name’s Alena.”
She lifted her phone and showed them all a picture of the little girl, hair in pigtails, looking just about as heartbreakingly cute as a kid could be. “She’s only four.”
Around the table, frowns deepened. Nix shot his hands in the air and cursed. “So we’re doing this? Now?”
Cullen nodded. “Yeah. Get into the back and load up some arms. We’re going to hit them hard. No mercy this time.”
Viktor added, “Waste no time. We’ve got to get to them.”
“But we have to make sure Alena is safe, first,” Sasha put in, standing up. “Please.”
I jumped up and wrapped an arm around her. “That’s right. The girl’s safety is our top priority. Whatever we have to do to get her back, we do.”
Cullen clapped his hands together and pointed to the door. “All right. Viktor’s intel says they’re at their clubhouse near Sunset. Let’s meet at the Circle K there. We’ll head in together. Got it?”
Everyone started to head out. Sasha hugged herself, looking up at me. Viktor should’ve been at the head of the charge, but instead, he hung back, watching her.
“Sasha,” he called to her.
She looked at him. “Get our daughter back, Viktor.”
He nodded, gave me eye-daggers, and headed out the door. She shook her head and sighed. “Please don’t let whatever differences you have get in the way of saving Alena. Promise me that.”
I pulled her to me and touched her cheek gently. “I promise. You stay here. Try not to worry. I’ll make sure she’s safe. I’ll text you as soon as I have her.”
Tears flooded her eyes. “Thank you.”
