Chapter 49
49
Leon
W e’re on Rusalka , powering back to the dock as fast as possible, the women and children safely below decks.
We have a well-protected safehouse where they can stay tonight; tomorrow, we’ll work on a long-term solution.
I’m not worried about Emery—I doubt even Dante is stupid enough to hang around my apartment, and Felix can handle it—but after all the ugliness I’ve witnessed, her sweet voice will be a welcome respite.
I frown at my cell phone. Still no goddamn signal.
Dante getting away has pissed me the fuck off. I doubt we will hear from the idiot again, but that’s cold comfort.
His life may be worth nothing, but I still wanted to be the one to end it.
I have my life ahead of me. Emery is mad at me, but it won’t last, and I’ll do better. I’m sure I can learn to be less controlling; it comes from the part of me that still hasn’t forgiven myself for letting my parents die.
In time, I’ll let it go and heal—if my wife will help me.
And she will; I know it. Emery has more empathy than anyone I’ve ever known, and she believes in me. If that sweet, strong woman can love an asshole like me, maybe there’s hope for me yet.
“You’re lost in thought, which must be a genuine risk, given how much space there is in your thick head,” Roman says, handing me a cup of coffee.
I take the drink gratefully, the cup warm in my hands. “Yeah, yeah. Let me ask you something. How do you not hate yourself? You know, for the things you’ve done?”
“All these years and you never asked me that before.” Roman sips his coffee, staring at the dark water as it rushes past. “It’s kinda simple; Quinn loves me, and I do my best to earn it. She made me think differently about myself and my life.”
“Which is why you stepped down from the bratva leadership?”
He nods. “You’re not like me, though. I can’t imagine you changing for a woman like I did—not even Emery. I don’t doubt you love her, but you won’t let that destroy you.”
I’m about to retort when my phone begins to buzz, messages arriving thick and fast as my cell finally finds the satellite.
There’s an emergency at work. Call off Felix.
Tell Felix to let me leave. He won’t listen to me.
I know you’re busy, but I need you to answer me.
?
????
Then, worst of all—nothing.
I call Emery immediately, cutting her off as soon as she answers.
“Hi, Emery here?—”
“ Val’kiriya , I’m sorry, I?—”
“You have reached my voicemail,” the recorded message continues. “I’m probably at work, on my way there, on my way back, or asleep.”
The little trill of laughter I love so much sounds tinny and strange through the speaker. “So leave me a message, and if I get a minute, I’ll get back to you.”
“Dante’s still alive,” I say into the phone. “Stay put, and I’ll come and take you to the hospital myself.”
I hang up and redial.
“Felix?” The boat engine quietens as we slowly approach the harbor, and I realize I’m talking too loudly. “Status report.”
“Nothing to see,” he says. “Emery ordered food, but that was it. She’s inside, and I’m sitting in the corridor outside, just like she asked me to.”
“Good.”
The reassurance isn’t hitting right for some reason. It lands like a pebble in a well—too small to reach the bottom.
I don’t believe my wife, a brilliant and dedicated doctor, would give up so easily.
“What about the emergency at the hospital?” I ask. “Did she say what it was?”
“She never mentioned an emergency,” Felix replies, sounding baffled. “Just said she was getting a shower. I collected her food from the front door and left it inside your apartment, but I haven’t seen her since, so I guess she went to bed.”
Viktor is steering expertly, gliding the boat to a smooth stop. The crew tie her off and begin unloading the passengers into a truck.
We arranged for our vehicles to be here, and my sedan is waiting for me, alongside Roman’s and Viktor’s cars.
I could go home to Emery and let her goodness scrub away the evil that sticks to me like a crude oil slick. Instead, I freeze, phone to my ear, seized by a rising panic.
“Boss?” Felix says for the tenth time. “Are you there?”
Roman and Viktor disembark, but I don’t move.
“Felix. Go inside and check on my wife. Please.”
“Jeez, Leon. She won’t be happy if I?—”
“Do it!” I yell. Roman and Viktor wheel around to stare at me, but I don’t care. “I want to hear you say she’s safe at home.”
Muffled sounds of Felix opening the door. A pause. The kind of silence that feels too thick, too deliberate.
Seconds add up: ten, twenty, thirty. Then I hear his voice, but he’s not speaking to me.
“Mrs. Vasilieva!” he shouts. “Emery!” He’s back in my ear, breathing heavily. “She’s gone. I don’t know how , but she’s not here.”
I hang up and run down the ramp, hurling myself into my car. I try again to reach the phone tracking app, and this time, it finally connects, but it takes far too long to show me that Emery is indeed at the hospital.
I hate myself for hoping the emergency call-in was genuine, but somehow, I doubt it.
Maybe I’m as paranoid as Dante. Is this what love is doing to me? Making me crazy, threats looming like mirages in every corner of my imagination?
I tried to cage Emery, and I went too far.
She just started to stand up for herself, and I encouraged her to do it. I can hardly be surprised when she turns that newfound skill on me.
If I find her safe and pissed off, I’ll welcome her ire like absolution.
But if my wife is in danger, I’ll never forgive myself.