Her Silver Fox Mountain Men (Lucky Lady Reverse Harems)

Chapter 30

30

Elise

I find Kara in the same coffee shop I spotted her outside of talking on the phone. It’s pretty crowded but that’s a good thing. The more people around, the easier it is for me to blend in and not draw attention.

“Kara,” I say as I reach her table.

She looks up from her phone and damn near jumps out of her seat. “Elise!”

“I need to know what you’re doing here. Did Igor send you?” My voice trembles with emotions I’ve kept bottled up for far too long.

“Not here, Elise,” she says, frowning as she cautiously looks around. “We don’t know who’s watching.”

I ignore her, pushing for answers. “Why’d you drop your security detail after Candy’s? What the hell is going on? I am really confused.”

“So am I, believe it or not.” She takes my wrist. “Come on, let’s go someplace more private.”

“No,” I resist, anger coursing red-hot through my veins. “Not until you look me in the eyes and tell me you had nothing to do with my parents’ death.”

She stills, her eyes wide with shock and grief as she looks at me. “So that’s what this is all about?” Kara whispers. “Igor? You think—”

“I don’t think. I know he was involved. I’ve got proof. That’s why he’s after me.”

Kara scoffs, shaking her head slowly. “No, Elise, I didn’t know. I was much too young to register our family’s business movements at the time anyway.”

“What are you doing here, then?”

“Looking for you, obviously. I tracked Igor into town, I figured he was up to something. I also found it suspicious that he wasn’t sharing any of his intel with the rest of the family. He knew how worried we all were about you.” She pauses and looks around the café again. “Seriously, we need to go…”

“Igor’s men are busy tailing a decoy,” I reply.

She raises an eyebrow at me. It’s the signature Kara look that says I’m not even in the ballpark with my assessment. “Honey, Igor has an entire fleet of men stationed in Rustic. Only a handful of them were loyal enough to our father to let me in on their movements. He’s paying them all out of pocket to keep his entire operation a secret from us,” Kara tells me.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that Igor may be a cold-blooded bastard, but he’s still our father’s son. He plans ten moves ahead. Always.”

That’s enough to get my heart rate spiking in the blink of an eye. I let Kara take me out of the café. We rush down the street, mingling with the passersby and constantly looking over our shoulders until we turn a corner into an alley. It’s dark and damp, the November drizzle running down the brick walls.

“Where are we going?” I ask her.

“I managed to get a couple of my most trustworthy guards into Rustic last night. We were supposed to meet right here,” she mutters as we stop in front of a large metal door. “This is the back entrance to Maury’s hardware store. Picked it off a satellite view on Google.”

“Well, where are they?”

She checks her phone again, concern etching across her features. “They should be here already.”

“Kara, why’d you come here? You said you were looking for me, but I don’t understand—”

“You don’t understand what exactly?” she shakes her head. “You’re family, Elise. We came up together. We ate at the same table. How could you possibly think that I would knowingly let Igor, or anybody else for that matter, hurt you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything at this point.” I shudder, blinking back tears. “I tried to go to the cops about him. I tried to bring it up with you, too. I just didn’t know how. He’s your brother, Kara. He’s going to inherit the entire Bratva. Who would believe me? And even if I showed you all the evidence I have, what good would it do?”

“It doesn’t make him immune to being indicted.”

That gives me pause and I need a moment to process what she just said.

“Wait, what?”

“If there’s one thing I remember from when your parents were still alive, it’s that my father was really close to yours. They were best friends, not just partners within the Bratva. It tore Papa apart when your dad was killed. He turned the whole of Chicago inside out to try and find the bastards who did it.”

“I thought he took Michael and me in out of guilt.”

“No, Elise. I promise you. I swear we had no idea about Igor’s involvement. And it bothered me that my brother insisted on coming after you alone, without any of us present or aware of his movements. I found it suspicious. And then I went over past conversations that we’d had, and things started to click. I can vividly recall the moments when you tried to tell me about Igor.”

The sound of footsteps approaching causes us to turn to see who’s headed toward us. I expect to see Kara relieved at the sight of the two men coming into the alley, but the look on her face tells me they’re not who she was hoping for.

“Kara?” My voice is barely above a whisper.

“I need you to run,” she says. “Now. As fast as you can all the way to the back.”

“What?”

“They’re Igor’s men. They must’ve followed us from the café. They probably had eyes on me. That stealthy motherfucker.” She’s already moving backward, her eyes never leaving the two men who keep getting closer.

“Igor knew you were in town.”

The men take out their guns. I notice the silencers and the deadly looks in their eyes before Kara pushes me. I whip around and start running like there’s no tomorrow. She’s right by my side, our boots splashing across the puddles as the men fire their weapons.

FLIT. FLIT. FLIT.

The silencers are effective in muffling the sound of gunfire. All I can hear are bullets bouncing off the brick walls, missing us by mere inches.

We reach the end of the alley, another street opening up ahead. A bullet darts past my head, taking a chunk off the corner of the building. The bricks explode and fragments fly. I raise a hand to shield my face from the incoming debris.

Two men wait for us at the end of the alley.

“Thank fuck!” Kara shouts. “Dmitri, Piotr, what the hell?”

We turn the corner and move away from the alley, our hearts stuck in our throats. Dmitri and Piotr whip out their guns and fire back. They don’t have silencers, though, the popping sounds startle everyone around. Bystanders scream and scatter.

Dmitri and Piotr aren’t bothered by any of it. They’re too busy shooting at our assailants. I can’t see them from where we’re standing, but as Kara’s men put their weapons away and rush to assist us, I have to assume they managed to push Igor’s goons back a safe distance. For now.

“Dmitri, what happened?” Kara asks the blonde-haired giant.

“No time, let’s go,” he replies in a heavy Russian accent.

“Go where?”

“Safe place. Get in that car,” he points to a blue Buick.

Their thick accents would be rather comical were it not for the dire circumstances. Without hesitation and desperate to get as far away from Igor’s people as possible, I follow Kara into the backseat of the Buick, while Dmitri takes the wheel and Piotr slides into the passenger seat.

I can already see the red and blue lights of cop cars flashing down the street, their sirens wailing.

“The sheriff’s deputies are going to be here in a minute, tops,” I mumble, scanning the entire block on both sides. Some people huddle beneath outdoor coffee shop tables and displays while others flee for their lives, understandably scared.

It pains me to see how much trouble my presence has brought to this place. Rustic used to be quaint and quiet. Now, it has gunfire from the Russian mob and former Army Rangers bringing in a whole crew of private security mercenaries to keep me and the twins safe. The ache I feel in my heart is almost too much.

“Elise, it’s going to be okay,” Kara tells me as Dmitri kicks the car into gear. We speed off with a shrill screech of tires just as the deputy’s car approaches from the other end of the street.

“We’re not going to be okay until I get the evidence I have on Igor,” I say to Kara. “We need to stop by the bank, and we need to have a talk with your dad.”

“Where are we going exactly?” Dmitri asks.

He takes a tight left turn to get us back onto the Rustic belt road, content that we left the chaos behind. Piotr keeps looking behind us and in the side view mirror, always watching, making sure we weren’t followed.

I’m doing the same thing, constantly looking over my shoulder from the backseat. “Rustic Union Bank,” I say. “But nobody can see us go in. Something tells me that Igor’s got eyes everywhere in this town now.”

“I swear, Elise, had I known for a fact that he’d be looking to kill you, I would’ve brought the issue up with Papa a hell of a lot sooner.”

“Listen, I get it. Family is family,” I mutter.

“You’re family, too,” she insists. “And if what you’re telling me about Igor is true, if he had your parents killed, Elise, then the Konstantinovs owe you a lifetime’s worth of apologies and so much more.”

I shake my head slowly, trying to wrap my head around everything. “None of you were willing to see him for who he truly is. To be honest, neither was I until I looked through my dad’s accounting ledger. He made notes of specific suspicious transactions. He had receipts and account summaries printed and clipped to every flagged page.”

“A forensic accountant could easily confirm all of this if we tell him where to look,” Kara replies.

“Not without the ledger. I’m pretty sure Igor took precautions after my parents were killed. It’s why I took the ledger and a few other documents from his safe.”

“I didn’t know about the safe either,” she says and sighs deeply. “I assumed he had one. We all do. But I had no idea what he kept in it. I figured it was just runaway cash and whatever dirt he had on some of the family’s associates. Igor liked to keep certain people loyal through blackmail. Papa wasn’t too fond of it, though.”

“Igor can’t kill me until he gets his hands on that ledger,” I tell her.

Piotr looks back at us. “Is that where you’re keeping it? At the bank?”

“Yeah. I moved it from one branch to another every couple of months or so. I took every precaution I could to make sure it would stay out of his reach. For a while, I really thought I was safe.”

“He has been working hard to terrorize you,” Kara scoffs, visibly disgusted. “I realized that when I learned that he knew where you were. He’d known for months yet he didn’t tell us anything. That’s when I decided to come here and see what was going on for myself.”

I give her a curious look. “Is that why you hired James’s private security detail?”

“Yeah, I wanted to figure out who they are, what they do, and why Igor was being so patient, calculated, and secretive about it. Obviously, the minute they told me that they’re former Army Rangers, it made sense. Igor may be cold-blooded and ruthless, but he’s not dumb. He had to work his way around James, Oliver, and Roman before he could get to you.”

“He showed up at our doorstep.”

“I heard. He’s desperate. By then, he knew I was in town as well. Someone in the family must’ve let slip that Papa and Andrei were on their way, too,” Kara says. “The noose is tightening, and time is running out. For all his planning, Igor is now forced to take drastic measures. As terrible as it may sound, it’s actually a good thing.”

“How so?”

Piotr chuckles. “He’s going to make mistakes.”

The town of Rustic rises ahead with its quaint facades and narrow streets, French-style windows and neatly decorated storefronts. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and as the last of the fall leaves carpet the sidewalks in deep shades of brown and red, I feel as though it’s the end of an era in more ways than one.

My stomach is the size of a pea as I look around. Simple town folk walking up and down the road looking innocent enough yet some of them could be Igor’s eyes. Watching. Waiting for me to emerge.

“The bank is just up ahead. A couple of more blocks,” I tell Dmitri.

“I will slow down and look for a side street for us to park,” he says.

“After the flower shop. You’ll see it on the left,” I reply then look at Kara. “I wasn’t sure how much you all knew about Igor’s involvement in my parents’ death. For a long time, I thought you were all in on it.”

“Listen, leave that in the past,” Kara says. “What matters now is that you know we had no idea. I promise you; Papa would’ve never let that stand. Igor would’ve paid dearly.”

“How? Konstantinovs don’t kill Konstantinovs.”

“Death isn’t always the worst punishment,” she reminds me. “And Igor needs to pay. Not only for what he did to your parents, but for what he did to you, too. The minute you left, Igor became unhinged. I should’ve realized it then…”

“Unhinged?”

“Nervous. Secretive. Fidgety. And absolutely desperate to find you before anybody else,” she says. “We offered to help. Papa, in particular. But Igor kept saying that you’re his wife, his responsibility and no one else’s. He suggested that you might’ve stolen some cash and jewels from him, but he couldn’t back that claim up with any evidence.”

I curse under my breath. “The bastard. All I took were my own jewels. Gifts from you, Andrei, and Lev. My wedding earrings and a couple of necklaces, the engagement ring and the wedding band. I sold some of it to afford food and essentials, then pawned the rest to put down a security deposit on that mangy cabin. It wasn’t cheap to get myself so far away from him.”

“I’m just sorry we didn’t pay closer attention.”

“It’s okay, Kara. You said it yourself, what matters is that you’re here to help now.”

Dmitri takes a left turn after Shauna’s flower shop.

“You’re right about being careful how we go into that bank,” Kara says. “Igor has already proven he’s got a greater reach in this town than what we originally suspected. The problem is I can’t tell which of his men are loyal to him and which are loyal to the family. I’ve already made the wrong bets on a few of them since I joined this messy party.”

“Your father will need hard, indisputable evidence,” Piotr politely chimes in. “Igor is the firstborn, Kara. You know what that means.”

“Yeah, I do know what that means. I also know that Igor has no clue what honor is. Honor is everything in the Bratva.”

“And here I thought it was all about the power,” I mutter.

Kara gives me a dry smirk. “Of course, it’s about the power. But power is nothing without honor. They go hand in hand. A man’s word is his bond, and when a man steals from his own father, then kills innocent people to cover up the crime, honor dies in each of those decisions, decisions that Igor has made leading up to this point.”

I’ve got the earpiece turned off in my jacket pocket. I know it has a GPS tracker, and I don’t want James and the guys to catch up with us before I get the evidence out of the safety deposit box.

I keep thinking about them, knowing how worried they must be that I bolted the way I did. But I swear I will make it up to them.

Perhaps Igor rotting in a jail cell will be enough.