Chapter 46
NIKOLAI
Song- Follow You, Bring Me The Horizon
“Good news, Nikolai,” Enzo says.
Finally. “What did you find?”
“I was able to use the tracing app she installed on your phone to reverse the signal.” He sounds proud of himself.
“What does that mean?” I’m not a tech person. I’m a bash-them-in-the-head guy.
He sighs. I must have missed some epic feat.
“I know her location. Follow the dot on the map.” He hangs up with a click.
It must irritate him being the smartest man in the room sometimes.
“I know that place,” Alexei says, staring at the navigation screen. “I had a dealer that would meet me there when I was a kid.”
That makes me look sideways. “What are you talking about? You didn’t do drugs.”
He shakes his head with a serious look on his face. “No, much more important. He had these American candies. Jawbreakers. They last for days.” He rubs his cheek with a distant stare.
“You’re fucking with me. You and your sugar addiction are going to get you in trouble.”
He shrugs. “Maybe. Maybe not.” He points at the small red dot on the map. “This is going to get you killed.”
He’s right.
I should leave.
But, I can’t. I don’t want to leave her forever. She may not have been honest, but she’s still given me new hope for a happy life.
Elena loves her.
Fuck. I do, too. I just hate what she’s done.
Couldn’t she have just told me from the start?
Thinking back, I know better.
It’s taken her weeks to work under my thick skin and burrow her way into my heart. I wouldn’t have given her the chance when I first met her.
“I have to do this. I know the truth now.” Will I ever be able to trust her again? “Go. There’s no way of knowing what she’s up to, or who she’s with. With my father involved, no one is safe.”
Alexei’s left eye twitches as he watches me pull out the bag of diamonds.
“You’re sure about this?” he asks when I put them in my pocket.
I give him a quick nod.
“I’ll find a way back. Keep Lara and Elena safe for me until I do.” Mila should be there, too.
My three most important girls.
I’d give my life for them.
He purses his lips and his brow lowers. “It’s my job.”
After clapping him on the shoulder, I climb out of the car, but turn back. “Make sure you listen to Mikhail. No crazy shit, okay?”
Alexei slides across the seat to sit behind the wheel. “I never do.” As he slams the door shut, a wild grin spreads across his face, showing his silver tooth through the dirty glass.
The tires kick up gravel before he shoots off down the road.
Wild ass.
My breath shows in the cool air while I make my way the back way through a grove of heavy trees.
I’m close. Watching ahead of me, the red dot is telling me I’m almost there.
Drawing my gun, I can see her. Is Mila alone?
No. That other man sits across the clearing from her.
And he looks pissed.
Shit. When I step on a twig, her head snaps up and her eyes widen. “What are you doing here?”
Two steps are all it takes to wrap my hand behind her neck and pull her lips to mine.
Breathlessly, she pulls away. “Niki?”
“I can’t let you go, vedmochka.”
She rests her forehead against my chin.
“Don’t fucking hide from me, not now.” I grab her jaw in my hand, forcing her to look into my eyes to see how serious I am.
“You need to leave. Think about Elena. Let. Me. Go.”
I wince at the truth in her words, shooting a pain in my chest.
“No. Not happening.”
She pushes against me and I hold both of her wrists. I’m not backing down.
“You are my future, Elena’s too. You don’t make choices for me, baby,” I whisper, gripping her chin as she tries to look away.
“You want that too, don’t you? Once you’ve gone after my father? Correct?”
She nods.
“He has someone important to you, doesn’t he?”
She swallows and her eyes brim with tears.
“If it was Elena in there, with that monster—” I nod to the building. “—would you stand by my side and fight with me to get her back?”
I know her answer in my gut.
“Yes. I’d do anything to protect her, Niki. You have to believe me. I’d never, ever hurt that little girl. It killed me, even betraying you.”
“I know, baby, I know.” I rest my forehead against hers, my hand gently wrapped around her throat.
I pull the velvet bag from my coat. “I brought you the diamonds. I know you’ll need them to get to Ivan.”
Her eyes widen. “Nikolai, I can’t take them.”
“Then we go in together.” I shove them back into the pocket of my jacket. “Everyone comes into your life to teach you a lesson. You broke into my mine to tear my heart from its cage and claim it as your own. You taught me how to love, Mila. And I don’t want to stop.”
She sniffles. It’s the first real vulnerability I’ve seen from her.
But she keeps her strength etched on her face as her dark eyes bore into mine.
I lean into the soft touch of her hand on my cheek.
“The last thing I wanted to do was destroy you. You deserve better, more than I ever could be. That doesn’t mean I’ll stop loving you. I don’t think I could. Not unless you cut my heart out. Even then, it would still be yours. My soul is and always will be in your hands, Niki.”
I can’t resist leaning in and stealing a kiss.
Tightening my grip on her neck, she pulls me in closer by the hair, letting my tongue explore her mouth.
“What’s the plan?”
She blinks at me a few times, looking over to where her friend was positioned as I arrived. She frowns and I follow her line of sight.
He isn’t there.
“We’re on our own…” she trails off. A smile twitches on my lips.
“So we are,” I reply, guiding a palm down her stomach.
“This is dangerous, no one is coming to help me, Nik. You know as well as I do, we could be walking into our deaths.”
My fingers dip under her pants and I cup her pussy, tugging her closer to me. My forehead rests against hers.
“If this really is the end then kiss my damn forehead and tell me it’s all going to be okay. That’s all I ask of you.”
Fuck. She really does believe she isn’t walking out of here alive. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure we both do.
So I press a soft kiss to her forehead and she lets out a content sigh.
“We fall, we rise, and then we unleash hell on all of them… together.”
Her eyes light up at my words and she inches open her legs to give me better access.
But it’s not enough.
“I’m about to start a war for this sweet cunt. Open up and remind me it’s worth it.”
I drop to my knees, peeling down her pants, the goosebumps from the icy air appearing on her skin as I do.
Her cool fingers on my shoulders tighten as she pulls her foot out, spreading her knees wide enough that I can reach her pussy with my mouth.
Tossing my coat to the side, I pull her closer so I can taste her. This time, not in hatred, but with the gentle touch of love.
A crunch behind me makes us both freeze.
Instinctively, I wrap my arms around her body to cover her.
She’s mine to see, no one else’s.
“Tyler? What are you doing?” Mila asks over my head.
“Making sure I live through this,” he replies gruffly as he grabs my coat off the ground and begins to sprint with his helmet on.
“Fuck.” I don’t know if I should get up or stay to keep her covered.
“Go,” Mila says as she scrambles to grab at the hem of her leggings.
Clamoring to my feet, my leg rebels in pain from where she stabbed me yesterday. I stumble before getting upright, but by then, I can hear the sound of his motorcycle kicking off.
“I can’t believe he did that.” She hops as she pulls her shoe back on.
“Who is that guy?” I growl. “I’m gonna kill him.”
“That’s my cousin, Tyler. He’s a chicken shit, not a bad one at heart. But, I won’t argue if you want to kick his ass.” She runs past me. “Come on, I got my bike parked just ahead.”
We cut around the corner of the church, and nearly crash into a group of armed men.