Chapter 32
NIKOLAI
What the hell just happened?
My throat is raw, but I’m not sure if it’s just because she punched me there, or from the knot of pain that’s lodged in it.
I can’t believe she played me so well.
The feelings she had seemed so real.
Mine are.
“Niki, they took our ride, man.” Alexei holsters his gun and extends his hand down to me.
“Yeah. And the fucking diamonds.” And my heart.
Jax lets out a low whistle. “Shit.”
“Wait, the real ones?” Alexei kicks at the flat tires of the van. “Mikhail’s gonna be pissed on.”
“Off.” Jax rolls his eyes.
“What?” Alexei crinkles his forehead.
“It’s ‘pissed off’, not ‘on’.” Jax shakes his dark locks and walks toward the downed motorcycles that Melissa and Tyler rode in on.
Who is he? Are they together? Has she been acting that well that she’s had another man this entire time?
Rage clenches my fists and runs through me like electricity.
Finding the flat side of the truck, I hit it over and over until the side dents and my knuckles are bleeding.
Betrayal is a rotten pill.
And this is the reminder I needed never to unlock my heart again.
“Nikolai! We have a breather!” Alexei calls from in front of the disabled vehicle.
Jax comes back from the bikes with a packet in his hand and walks over with me to Alexei.
“Well, look who it is. Papa Knox, all messed up.” Jax tosses me the package before leaning over the unconscious man. “Let me kill him.” His voice has dropped as his fists form.
“Not yet, but soon.” I need to keep him alive long enough to find out how he and his men found out about the diamonds.
Although, I have a suspicious feeling that I’ve been fucking the mole.
I expected him to be more angry.
“It isn’t worth it. Too many have died, but now we have Knox tied up downstairs. It’s a win, Niki. Take it.” Mikhail raises the lip of his balaclava to take a shot of bourbon. “Another?” He gestures with his empty glass toward mine.
A few more drinks and, I might not feel the aching in my side where the fresh stitches tug, but it will take bottles to get rid of the pain I feel in my chest at Melissa’s betrayal.
I nod and push the tumbler closer.
“I’ll get them back, Mikhail. We need to find out who she’s working for. It can’t be our father, or she’d be with Knox’s gang.” That sits me back in my chair.
She was with their group when I found her.
Fuck.
“Maybe it is him.” My hand wipes across my face.
I’m an idiot. Duped by the man I’ve despised my entire life.
He keeps finding new ways to ruin me.
This makes three times that monster has shattered my heart.
My mother. My wife. And now, Melissa.
I wonder if that’s even her name?
Mikhail’s chair creaks as he leans back. “Do you really think you can find her if she’s gone to him?”
“I still have some contacts. Enzo has reach there, too.”
He shakes his head and scratches his face through his mask with a distant look in his eyes. “It isn’t worth it. He’s already taken too much, and we’ve had to sacrifice even more to get away.”
Damn.
I know he’s right. Elena needs me. I’m just glad she’s safe with Lara.
Would Melissa have hurt her?
This rage is eating me from the inside out.
All these questions. And he wants me to just walk away from finding the answers?
Fine.
“If you go, you’ll be starting a whole new level of war with him. We may not survive another.” His bottle clinks against the glasses as he pours another round. “But, here’s to living this long.” Raising his drink, he pauses, then sets it back on the smooth surface of his desk.
“Talk to Enzo. See if you can dig anything up on her. He might find another way to get to her. The diamonds may be gone, but he might give you some of the answers you’re looking for.”
He has a way of looking at things that has kept us alive through the years.
“You’re right. Ivan may get the gems, but I might be able to get the girl.”
The real question is, what the hell am I going to do to her when I find her?