“We got here just in time,” Dmitri said, holding me close and watching the men rush in. “Good thing Igor noticed you leaving when he did.” He arched a brow at me.
“Didn’t you see my note?” I asked. “I didn’t want to bother you at your meeting when you shot me that look of annoyance.” I swatted his chest gently. “But I should have anyway.”
“Yes, you should have,” he scolded. “Igor followed you and called for reinforcements.”
I sighed, relieved. “So that’s why I felt that sixth sense of being watched on the way here.”
“Get used to it,” Alek advised wryly. “You never leave without security.”
“But what…” I rubbed my brow. “What just happened? I think Melissa set me up to come here, but…” I paused, watching with them as the tall man was dragged out.
“That’s Erik Avilov.” Dmitri pointed at him, glaring with lethal ferocity.
And you’re not rushing after him to kill him.He’d made such a big deal about getting revenge, for paying back that asshole for all the torture he’d inflicted on him.
Yet, he stood here, with me, rubbing my arms as he held me close, comforting me. He leaned back against the hallway wall, likely to stay out of the way of the men coming in and out of the apartment. I bet he was slanting like that for support too. He’d overexerted himself coming to pull me to safety.
It hit me.
He hadn’t gone after his nemesis, his target. He’d come to get me.
He choseme, not his revenge.
I closed the distance between us and hugged him tight.
I did matter. And he was proving it whole-heartedly with his actions.
“It also helped that Agent Freeman was already nearby,” Alek added. “He’s been after Avilov longer than we have.”
“FBI and CIA,” Dmitri clarified for me with a note of annoyance in his tone.
“He’s arrested, then?” I was amazed that Dmitri could give him up like that. He was a ruthless killer and a hard man, but it seemed that he’d changed his mind about going for his target.
“Yes. The Feds can have him,” he said, staring at me.
“They have more to deal with than getting one man killed,” Alek added. “Avilov and his associates will be in prison for a very long time.”
“What about…” I swallowed, glancing between the brothers. Dmitri hugged me closer. “What about the man you…” I winced at Alek.
“Sergei Kastava.” He tipped his chin up higher. “My father-in-law will never threaten my wife again.”
I blinked, stunned at how their violence just played out like this. Like this sort of stuff happened every day and life would just go on around it all.
“And no one is…” I looked around. “No one’s going to arrest you for murder?” I whispered it. All these cops and agents standing around. They witnessed him shoot that older man.
Alek winked. “Let’s say that Agent Freeman and I worked out a deal. He wanted to bring down Avilov, and I was invested in stopping my father-in-law from ever being a threat to my family again.”
“Wow.” I blinked, stunned and still reeling from the roller coaster of action. From nervousness to fear. Then relief to confusion. Maybe it was because I had a ways to go in adapting from a “normal” and civilian life to this world of crime.
“Let’s go,” Dmitri said as Melissa was brought out of the apartment. She walked on her own two feet, fighting and resisting the cops who tried to cuff her and lead her away. “I’ve never done any drugs in my life,” she protested. “Never!” Flinging her head from side to side, she sought me out. “Hannah! Help! They planted drugs in there and are trying to—Stop. You can’t arrest me!”
“Yeah, let’s go,” I said as I walked with Dmitri, helping him move while putting his weight on me.
“I’m going to stick around and supervise,” Alek said. Three Valkov guards remained with him, and I knew that if his brother were alone, Dmitri wouldn’t have been in such a rush to go.
“Are you wounded? Did you overdo it coming here?” I asked.
“You are in a world of trouble,” he growled. “Leaving without security like that?”
