48. Mikhail
Chapter forty-eight
Mikhail
Panic gripped my chest watching Tatiana be led out by an agent. Rage followed closely behind as he put her in the back of a van, still handcuffed. I was stepping forward to rip the man’s head off when he came back out of the van and approached us with a cautious smile.
He held up both hands placatingly. I’m sure he saw three men ready to go to war for their woman.
“She’s just being detained temporarily. She’ll be okay. We have units on the way to the Chernov place. After they’ve been taken down, she’ll be free to go. We’ll want to bring her in for questioning later, but she’s been through enough today.”
Ice slices through my veins. What does he mean? They’re taking down the Chernovs, too? What does he mean she’s been through enough? What must she have gone through during the FBI’s raid of the mansion? My stomach churns.
What is happening?
“You didn’t know,” the agent says.
I look at Lev and Ro, but they both look just as confused.
“The Vitales were trafficking women and children using the Chernov’s ports and warehouses. We have to assume they were working together.”
I might throw up.
Roman doubles over as if he’s been physically hit in the stomach.
Lev just shakes his head. “No... no. There’s no way...” but he voices trails off as his confidence fades.
Lev and Ro share a look. A sickening realization that while they were guarding Tati, they were being excluded from a line of the Chernov business.
Only questions remain. Who knew? How much were they implicated in what was going on?
Were they active in trafficking people or just complacent and allowing the Vitales? Who the hell do they actually work for?
A silent conversation passes between the two men, and maybe it’s the years of being in each other's orbits, but I think I know what they’re saying.
They’re saying they want to see it themselves.
They want to look Dmitri and Nikolai in the face when they’re arrested.
They want to see for themselves how monstrous they truly are.
I straddle my bike as Lev straddles his, kicking the stands and turning over the engines. Roman’s in the black SUV and takes off before Lev and I can maneuver our bikes to take off back toward the Chenov compound.
Lev takes off, speeding through parked cars and traffic, splitting lanes recklessly, and I send up a curse and a prayer that he stays safe. Tatiana’s seconds from being fully free. If he gets hurt now, she’ll be pissed at him.
I twist the throttle, but follow the speed limit and traffic safety rules. Traffic parts for the FBI convoy ahead of us, and I trail behind them, Roman on my tail. Lights flash red and blue through the city as they speed toward the Chernov estate.
The place I called home for so many years.
It felt safe. But when I think back to our shared bedroom, and the dining room, and the entertainment rooms, it wasn’t the walls or floors that felt safe; it was always her.
Where will she go if ‘home’ is no longer safe?
Back to school? Chernov and Vitale soldiers will survive this.
Three blocks back, the FBI presence faded, each vehicle turning down different streets and killing their lights and sirens.
I pull off my helmet and run my hand through my messy hair. The white van that has Tatiana in it pulls up beside us.
Johnson opens the back, and I rush to kick my kickstand down, kill the engine, and hurry to my woman. Tatiana looks pale, but more muscular than before. I’m there in an instant, holding her hand and helping her out of the van. Fuck if that Johnson guy is going to be the one to touch her.
But instead of stepping out, she launches herself into my arms, wrapping tightly around me and shaking. I bury my head in the crook of her neck and breathe her in. She doesn’t smell like she normally does, but fuck it, I don’t care. She’s here, finally, back in my arms where she belongs.
She’s whispering into my neck, holding me so tight it’s bruising. But I don’t care. I’ll wear her bruises proudly. I’ll tattoo them onto my shoulders.
I run my hand up and down her back, soothingly, and let my own walls crumble. The ones I had carefully built in case we couldn’t be together again. The ones that knew she may have been taken from us for good. She was here. And I was never letting her out of my sight again.
Suddenly, Lev is at our side. Tatiana lifts her face, and the utter devastation I see there cleaves my heart in two.
He shares her look of devastation. Of two people very much in love with each other and coming to terms with the fact that they almost lost each other.
Lev’s one eye still sports the faint yellow marks of a black eye.
Tatiana pulls away, and I let her down. She steps up to Lev, toe to toe, and slaps him across the face before burying her face in his chest and sobbing.
A lopsided grin tugs at his lips as he holds her to him tightly.
He presses his face into her hair and seems simply content to hold her until the day they both die.
Roman slides out of his SUV and approaches cautiously, happy to wait a dozen feet away and give them their moment.
My head snaps up when a commotion near the estate’s front doors pulls my attention.
Men shout, bullets fly, federal agents in black tactical gear and rifles, some holding onto barking dogs, flood onto the estate.
Every exit is blocked. Men are shouting in English, some in Russian, and a small explosion blows the front door of the estate off of its hinges.
Finally, Dmitri Chernov appears, his voice carrying before we see his body. “My attorney will have every badge in the fucking yard by morning!” he shouts, being dragged out, hands cuffed behind his body, by two agents.
Nikolai is next, but he’s silent - his face red, a vein pulsing out of his neck.
I check in with Tati to see her arms wrapped around Lev’s waist; her leaning her weight on him, but both of them watching the scene unfold before them silently.
I dig deep, trying to find an ounce of empathy for them, but I come up empty.
Nikolai’s blatant disregard for his sister...
Dmitri’s eagerness to sell his only daughter like a pawn.
Whatever happened with Irena. Knowingly trafficking women and children.
What kind of monster can be a father and not see how wrong it all is?
What kind of psychopath sells off his daughter to a known enemy?
What kind of soulless asshole sells his only daughter’s heart horse?
No. They’re getting exactly what they deserve. Not an ounce of me feels sorry for them. I just hope Tati’s feeling the same.
But when I look back, I can see Nikolai staring us down. He’s angry, but there’s a sliver of confusion. Like he doesn’t know why we’re there.
Tatiana’s on the move before any of us can react.
Roman’s the fastest. He’s stepping in front of her before Lev or I have realized what’s happening. Ro lays a hand on her hip and levels her with a look that doesn’t need interpretation. Don’t go there.
Tatiana squares her shoulders at him and raises an eyebrow. Enough of a challenge that Ro steps aside. That’s how far gone we are for this woman. A silent demand is answered immediately without protest.
Ro, however, does remove his firearm and keep it against his leg for her protection.
Tatiana stands a few dozen feet away from her brother - still silent. While Dmitri hasn’t stopped cussing in two languages.
Agents shuffle back and forth between the vans and the house, carrying boxes of paperwork and computer equipment.
Tears stream down Tati’s face, but there’s a strength, a resolve that I’ve never seen in her before.
“I want you to look me in the eye and know it was me.”
Nikolai’s face turns purple with rage.
Dmitri’s the stupider of the two, though, because he swings his face, eyes narrowing on his daughter.
“What the fuck do you mean it was you?! You silly, stupid little girl. You think you could take us down?”
Her reply is instant; her voice unwavering.
“I don’t think. I know. I hacked Vitale’s network and led the FBI straight to you.
I want you to think of me as you spend the rest of your life rotting in jail.
I want you to know that it was this silly, stupid little girl you always underestimated that took you down.
I was able to destroy in a few weeks what you’ve spent your entire lives building. ”
Roman reaches a hand out and wraps it around Tati’s, showing his silent support.
Dmitri’s rant turns unintelligible - the ramblings of a madman - fueled by rage and panic.
Tatiana turns to leave, but doubles back as she thinks better of it. “Oh, and I’m in love with Mikhail, Lev, and Roman. So suck it,” she says, flipping them both of her middle fingers before turning and walking toward Ro’s SUV.
A surprised chuckle escapes the three of us, but we don’t give Nikolai or Dmitri another glance as we follow our woman to the car.