Nikolai doesn’t react to her saying everything I did, but I know he doesn’t believe her. Not yet. He presses the barrel of the gun against her forehead. Her body tenses, but she holds herself rigid, unyielding.
“You said more than just that. What else did you say?”
She throws up her hands and I want to shake my head at how reckless she’s being. She’s acting like she doesn’t have a care in the world, despite facing down a man who has no qualms about making her kids orphans. “He has a concussion. I asked him if he was nauseated or seeing double. He said no to both. Then I asked him a couple of questions like I’m trained to do. I cleaned up his face and explained the process. If you have a video, you have audio, so you should already know this.”
She’s calling his bluff because we both know that’s not what she said. Why is she risking her life for me?
Nikolai holds her stare, almost like he’s expecting her to break, and like the badass she is, she refuses to look away. Finally, he lowers the gun but doesn’t put it away. Instead, he orders, “Do what you need to do for him, and then you can go and take the brats to school. Anything out of line, and I’ll kill them first.” The door flies open to reveal two terrified teenagers standing there, gripping each other’s hands tightly, two men behind them, guns trained to the back of their heads.
Avery’s expression changes instantly. Fury to fear to determination. “Everything will be fine,” she promises them. Then she looks at Nikolai with a barely contained fury. “I need supplies. You didn’t exactly let me stop to get anything.”
“Go and get what she needs,” Nikolai orders one of the guards. The one behind the boy steps away, and I see the desperate look on the teenager’s face. He’s thinking of doing something stupid. I want to scream at him, but Nikolai’s already seen it. He grabs the boy by the arm and puts the gun to the center of his forehead. “You do whatever you’re thinking, and both your sisters will die, and I’ll make you watch. Then I’ll rip you apart, just like this fucker.” He nods his head back toward me.
Shit, they’re her siblings, not her kids. How the hell did they all get wrapped up in this mess?
The boy’s face goes ashen as he swallows hard. “Let him go!” Avery orders. “He’s not going to do something stupid, are you, Sawyer?”
“N-no,” he stammers out.
“He stays here until you do as ordered,” Nikolai tells her, refusing to relent.
The tension in the room is so thick that I can practically taste it. The girl looks like she’s on the verge of tears, but valiantly holds them back. The boy’s eyes move between both women, nervous.
Finally, the other guard comes back and tosses a bag full of items at Avery. “Grabbed everything,” he pants. “Fucking bitch has so much stuff.”
She simply grabs the bag, roots through it, and grabs what she needs. She doesn’t talk to me this time. She gives me another shot of antibiotics and morphine and changes out some bandages on my face and back. The back is the worst, making me curse, and a sweat breaks out over my body with the pain. Shechecks my eyes again, nods, and turns to toss the items back in the bag. “He’ll live another twenty-four hours.”
“He’d better, or you’ll be in his place, and you already know what will happen then,” Nikolai threatens so casually that at first, my fuzzy brain doesn’t compute it. Then, to drive the point home, he turns his head and nods toward the girl. “And then it will be your sister’s turn. We have plenty of our men that will love her.”
Avery’s face flushes furiously, but she hisses, “We’re leaving. They need to get to school. Now.”
Nikolai simply lowers his gun, shoves the boy back, and nods at them to be hauled out. The moment they’re gone, Nikolai turns to me, and says, “If you think that you’re going to get something out to your club through her, I’ll kill her.” It’s the only warning he gives before he slams his fist into the right side of my ribs, turns, and storms out.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
AVERY
I have no other choice.
This,this,was the last straw and I can’t allow this to happen again. I hold both Sawyer and Isla close as the guards drive us back toward home, our eyes covered so we can’t see anything. Isla is still shaking, but Sawyer is silent, which terrifies me. What is he thinking? What is he feeling? I want to ask him but hold it back and clutch them tighter.
It takes us far too long to get back, and I don’t even stop to let the kids figure out their surroundings. I drag them up into our apartment, slam the door shut, and then just wrap my arms tight around them while Isla starts to cry. Sawyer shudders, but he doesn’t say anything as he just hugs me and Isla back. I can feel the tension in his body as he tries to remain strong.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry.”
“I-it’s n-not y-your f-fault,” Isla stammers out between sobs. “T-t-they j-just s-scared m-me.”
“I know, I know,” I soothe, rocking them.
“What if they do it again?” Sawyer asks quietly, his tone void of any emotion. I pull back to look at him. He’s close to my six feet already, and our faces are close enough that I can see the color in his face hasn’t returned, and his eyes look haunted. He’s trying to hold himself together, but he’s pretty close to the edge. He’s still trembling, and his throat bobs with each swallow.
“I won’t let that happen,” I promise vehemently. “We’re going to figure this out.”
“What? We won’t be able to go to school or something now?” Sawyer asks, frowning slightly at that.
“I-I d-don’t want to s-s-spend all day at a hospital,” Isla stammers out, her sobs starting to quiet as she tries to get herself under control and pulls away from me. My heart breaks knowing how scared she is. She wraps her arms around herself, her eyes haunted, and her body also trembling.
“No, we’re not going to do any of that,” I tell them firmly. I pull out my phone. “The first thing we’re doing is call in to work and school and take the day. Then we’re going to change and figure out a plan.”
