“Don’t fight,” he growls. “I will be ok.”
“Sorry to say but he won’t be.” Cillian laughs at his ‘joke.’ “Take him to the car.” His men drag Mikhail away.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask.
“Because I want him dead. He tried striking a deal with your uncle. I can’t have Mikhail gaining any allies. It would hurt me and Nico.”
“Is Nico behind this?”
Cillian stands up straighter, glaring down at me. “Nico is not my boss. I make my own decisions. And I’ve made the decision that everything will be better if Mikhail is dead.” He pats me on the cheek. “There, there. Be happy we’re letting you live.” He whistles to himself as he gets in his car and drives away, taking Mikhail with him.
I slump right to the ground. They kidnapped by husband. The man I was starting to fall in love with. If Mikhail dies then… then I have nothing. No way to save my sisters. No way to save my mom.
No way to even save myself.
I need help but I don’t have any allies myself.
The only choice I have is to go to Denis and beg him for his help. I’ll have to offer myself to him but maybe he’ll take it. Maybe, just maybe, I can save Mikhail.
Since I don’t have a car now, I have no choice but to walk as fast as I can from the theater. I find the nearest subway station and hurry to my family’s house. It takes me around thirty minutes to do so. Thirty minutes where Cillian could be torturing Mikhail. Where he could be killing Mikhail.
The sight of my family’s house fills me with dread, not hope like I would have thought it would. A guard stands out front. This isn’t the home I shared with my family. This is a prison now.
Slowly, I approach the guard.
“Hold it,” he says.
“I’m Natalya. I’m here to see my uncle. It’s urgent. Tell him I’m here.”
The guard pulls out a walkie-talkie and lets the other person on the end know I’m here. After a few seconds, he nods. “You can go inside.” He opens the door for me. How gentlemanly. I almost want to vomit.
Stepping inside my home is surreal. I haven’t been back here since I shot Denis in the shoulder. But this time, I don’t have any weapons with me. I didn’t have time to go home and grab any.
Denis meets me in the foyer. “Natalya. I trust you’re not going to shoot me this time.”
“I don’t have any weapons. You can check.”
The guard next to him steps forward and does a body sweep. His hands linger a little too long on my hips and near my breasts. “She’s all good.”
“Good.” Denis steps in front of the guard, smiling down at me. “To what do I owe the pleasure? I never thought I’d see you back here again. Not when your husband kept you from me.”
“That’s why I’m here. My husband is in danger.”
He snorts. “And I should care… because?”
“Cillian Kennedy took him. He’s going to kill him. Cillian and Nico Bernardi are working together. If they kill Mikhail, then what’s going to stop them from killing you? They’ll take you down next. You’re Bratva. You’re best bet is to work with Mikhail, gain strength that way.”
“But how can I work with him when… he’s not here? When he’s been taken, as you say?”
“You get him back. You forge an alliance with him. And you take down Cillian and Nico together.”
“Or… I offer my services to Cillian and Nico and join forces with them. With your husband out of the way, that’s one less person who can try to claim a piece of the pie.”
I stare at my uncle in shock. “You really hate me and my family this much? You won’t save my husband?”
“Need I remind you, Natalya, that you shot me?”
“Only because I was desperate. Because you were – are – keeping my family hostage. Why are you doing this? Why not let them go?”
