Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
NIKOLAI
M axim and I walk right into Dimitri’s club.
We don’t draw our guns. We don’t raise our voices. We just go over to the bar and order a drink.
“Is he going to fall for this?” Maxim asks.
“Dimitri’s pride won’t allow him to have us in his club right now.” I only sniff my whiskey and don’t take a sip. I need a clear head for this. “He’ll show. He’ll demand we leave, and I’ll demand he gets back in line.”
“How are you going to do that? By offering to be partners again?”
“If that’s what it takes.” I hate the idea of working with people who piss me off, especially ones I can’t trust. But I can’t stop thinking of Ava and her innocent eyes. She has hope I can be a better man. She has hope I can trust again.
I have to do this for her.
A flash of guilt enters me. I’m still lying to her about her mother. Camille is alive, and Ava deserves to know. I just can’t seem to get the words out. I know the moment I tell her that she’ll want to return to her mother and never see me again.
And I’m not ready to face that yet. It’s selfish, but that’s who I am.
Right on cue, Dimitri comes strolling over with two women on each arm. I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Nik. Maxim. What do I owe the pleasure?”
“This is a warning, Dimitri,” I say over the loud music. “No more fights. No more trying to kill each other.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound fun.” He looks at the two women, giving them his charming smile. They flutter their eyes and practically melt into his arms. “What do you say girls? Should I be a good boy?”
“Not at all,” one of them says, running her hand up and down his arm. “We like you bad.”
Dimitri flashes me his signature grin. “See? They like me bad. So, sorry. No can do. You made a fool of me in my own club. I can’t stand for that. So, I’ll attack again when you least expect it, and that’s that.”
I open my jacket to reveal my gun. “Or could I just shoot you right in the head right now.”
The two women tense and exchanged worried glances.
Dimitri just laughs. “Too many witnesses. Even you wouldn’t be able to survive that, Nik. No. If you’re going to kill me, you’ll have to do somewhere else.”
Maxim stands up straighter, clearing his throat. “Dimitri, I won’t stand for war. I’m siding with Nikolai. Stand down, and there doesn’t need to be any more bloodshed.”
“Well, isn’t this a surprise. You two joining forces. I wouldn’t believe it, but it’s staring at me in my own face. I know you boys think I should feel threatened, but I’m not. I’m just getting started.” He whistles as he walks away with the two women.
Maxim raises an eyebrow. “So?”
“So, we drag Dimitri out back and beat the shit out of him until he complies. And if he doesn’t, we kill him.”
Maxim grabs my shoulder, stopping me from leaving. “No more bloodshed, Nikolai.”
“How else will Dimitri learn?”
“This is a stupid idea,” he mutters, letting me go.
I walk right over to Dimitri, who’s dancing on the main floor with the women, and grab his arm, throwing him around so I can punch him square in the fucking face.
His guards are on me immediately, but I grab my gun and raise it. People scream and run for the door.
“Everybody out!” I shout, firing off two bullets into the ceiling. That causes the music to turn off and everyone to run for the emergency exits. Dimitri stares back at me, a savage grin on his face.
Maxim remains at my side. His wariness is palpable.
The only other people who remain are Dimitri’s guards. Three of them surround their boss. They’ll be easy to kill.
“What are you doing, Nik?” Dimitri asks.
“Teaching you a lesson. You fucked up when you put my wife in a dangerous position. Did you ever find out who drugged her?”
Dimitri shrugs. “It’s a club. I can’t control what people do here.”
“You fucking bastard,” Maxim breathes out. “People could get hurt, and you don’t care.”
“I seem to recall you torturing Nik, or am I mistaken.”
Maxim’s lips turn to a thin line. “That was different, and you know it.”
“Get in line, Dimitri,” I growl. “Now.”
“Or you’ll kill me?”
“I will.”
“Not if I kill you first.” He whips out his own weapon and fires. It all happens so fast that I don’t have time to react. The bullet lands in my arm, sending me staggering back.
Maxim draws his gun and shoots at Dimitri, but his three guards have moved to stand in front of them. He lands a hit to one of the guard’s legs, sending the man to the ground, groaning in pain, but the other two just move into formation. They point their guns at us.
I hold my bleeding arm. It hurts like a son of a bitch. Another scar will be added to the collection.
“You can’t win,” Dimitri taunts. “You’re outnumbered.”
I could shoot, but then I’d get shot again, and I’m not sure I’d survive it. The two remaining guards look terrified. They didn’t sign up for this.
“We should leave,” Maxim says. “You’re hurt. I don’t want to lose my life here.”
I grit my teeth. Dimitri doesn’t deserve to get away with his immature actions, but I know Maxim is right. I, too, don’t want to die in a dance club that stinks of sweaty bodies and alcohol and cigarette smoke.
“This was a warning,” I tell Dimitri. “Next time, I won’t miss.”
“Counting on it, Nik.”
“It’s Nikolai.”
“You know I don’t care.”
Maxim grabs my arm. “Come on.”
Slowly, the two of us back out of the club.
“Next time, I’ll bring more men, and we’ll rain blood on Dimitri.”
Maxim sighs, running a hand down his face. “Nikolai, I don’t want bloodshed. I came here in a support of strength, but Dimitri is a fucking lunatic. Handle him yourself.”
“We’re in this together. For peace. You can’t quit now.”
“I’ll help you make amends with him, but I will not help you kill him.” He gets on his bike and drives away.
“Fuck!” I shout into the night air. Why do I feel like I’m losing everything?
AVA
Nikolai comes back home, covered in blood. It’s starting to become a normal thing, yet it still scares me every time I see it. I care for him, and it’s pointless to pretend I don’t.
He’s grumbling to himself as he heads into the bathroom on the second floor. I follow him into it.
“What happened?”
“Dimitri happened. He shot me.” Nikolai rips off his shirt, exposing his bloody arm. “I tried to end it, but he wasn’t having it.”
“How did you try to end it? By talking to him or …”
He levels a look at me. “By trying to blow his fucking brains out.”
“Nik …”
“Don’t say it, Ava. I don’t need to hear it from you, too.”
“But I thought you were trying to make peace. That’s why you went to Maxim.”
“I did try!” he shouts, making me flinch and step away from him. “You don’t know Bratva men, Ava. They’re not easy men to make peace with.”
“I think I know Bratva men very well.”
He goes still then slumps against the counter. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. I’m sorry.”
“You’re hurt and disappointed your plan didn’t go how you wanted it to go. Just don’t yell at me again.”
He nods but doesn’t look at me as I take out the first-aid kit and start cleaning his wound. “The bullet is still inside.” He grabs pliers out of another drawer. “Here.”
“I … I’ve never done that. I wouldn’t even know how.”
“I’ll walk you through it. Fortunately, the bullet is in my upper arm, so it should be easy to get out.”
With shaky hands, I push the pliers into his wound. Nik grabs the counter, wincing. I stop. “Are you?—”
“Keep going,” he grits out.
“Ok.” I push the pliers back in, watching his reaction—which is surprisingly calm for everything that has happened—and dig around. I feel the bullet against the pliers and pull it out. “There.”
“See? You did good. You didn’t even need me to talk you through it.”
“What do I do with this?” I hold the bullet up.
He nods at the sink. “In there.” The bullet clatters against the porcelain once I let it go. “I’ll need you to bandage my arm again.”
“You’re really going to need to see a doctor for this, you know. Especially if you keep hurting your arm.”
“I’ll be fine,” he says. “Damn it. I tried, Ava. I really did. But Dimitri’s not going to go down without a fight. I’ll have to kill him.”
“That’s the only option?” I ask, feeling my stomach drop to my toes. Nothing about this feels right. I want the bloodshed to end. I want to live in a world I don’t have to fear any longer.
“Why do you care if I kill Dimitri or not? You don’t like him.”
“I know. But it’s not for Dimitri I worry. It’s for you, Nik.”
He sucks in a sharp breath. “You worry for me?”
“I do,” I admit, keeping my eyes glued to his arm as I slide the bandage over his wound. “I probably shouldn’t, but I do.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
I drop my hands by my sides and look him in the eye. “Then tell me. Tell me one thing about you that you feel like I should know.”
He opens his mouth then closes it and drops his head. He remains bent over the counter for a long time. I don’t push him. He’ll give me an answer. I deserve that much. “If I let myself, I could love you.”
My body goes still. I wasn’t sure what I expected, it but it wasn’t that. “Then why don’t you let yourself?”
“I’m afraid you’ll leave me. That’s the honest truth, Ava. I’m afraid you’ll never love me and you’ll leave me and I’ll remain in this entire fucking house all alone.”
“Edmund and Mrs. Brown and?—”
“They’re just the staff.” He looks me right in the eye. “They’re not you, and they’ll never be you.”
“Why are you afraid?” I whisper.
“Because the more you see of me, the more you’ll hate. It happens to everyone who gets close to me. The only reason Edmund and the others stay is because I pay them. But you have no obligation to stay. You could leave and never come back. And I don’t want that. Not one fucking bit.”
Tears hit my eyes for a reason I don’t even understand. “Why do you care for me? I need to know.”
“You’re kind and smart and just plain good . You make me want to be a better man. No one has ever made me feel that way before.”
His honesty sends chills down my body. This is what I’ve been waiting for with him. For Nikolai to open up and allow me in.
“I’ll be here, Nik. I’m not going anywhere.” And I mean it with every fiber of my being.
He lets out a loud breath. “I want to believe you.”
“Then believe me.”
He grabs my face and kisses me deeply. It lingers. There’s a strange amount of pain in it that makes my tears come.
“I’ve never made a woman cry from a kiss before,” he says as he pulls back.
“I just want to make this work.”
“So do I.”
My school day passes the same. Same teachers, same classes, similar lectures, I love it. The routine, it calms me.
So, when I see my father sitting on a bench outside one of my lecture buildings, I know my day will not remain the same.
I know my day will turn to ruin again.
“What do you want?” I snap.
“I want to talk. There’s something I need to tell you.”
“You don’t have anything I would want to hear. We’re done.” I start to walk past him, but then he says something that stops me dead in my tracks.
“Your mother is alive.”
For just a moment, I let myself believe him. I let the weight of his words soak into me as I remember my mom’s face. I remember the safety she made me feel. I remember it all.
But it’s only for a moment.
I turn back to him. “She’s dead. I saw her die. Someone did something to her body.”
“No, Ava.” He whips his head back and forth. “She’s alive.”
“How? How could she be alive?”
“I’m not sure. But she is. I can take you to her.”
I don’t believe him. I can’t. Because the alternative is too painful.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Please, Ava. I know how much you want to see her again. I can take you to her.”
“If she were really alive, she would have found me herself. She wouldn’t send you to come and get me.”
“You’re right. She didn’t send me. But she’s alive, and I can take you to her. My guess is she doesn’t know about you and Nikolai Petrov. She probably doesn’t even know where to start looking for you. But I know where she is. I can take you to her. Please.” He holds his hand out to me.
“Why should I believe you? You’ve deceived and betrayed me too many times.”
He drops his head, pretending to look contrite. “I know. But let me do something right by you. Please.”
“I can just tell Nikolai what you’ve said, and he’ll look into it himself. If my mom really is alive, he can take me to her.”
My father’s lips turn into an ugly sneer. “You think he doesn’t know? Your husband knows everything. He knows she’s alive.”
“Stop,” I snarl. It makes a few other students walking by glance at me with concern. “Stop getting into my head. I’m leaving.”
“Let me prove myself to you, Ava. Let me be the one to take you to her. Let me start to regain your trust.”
“Why do you even want it?” I know I should just walk away, but my dad has too hard of a hold on me. He always has, and he always will.
“Because I’m your father. And I have regrets for how I’ve treated you. Let this be the start. Please.”
I know I should leave right this instant. But my legs don’t move, giving my father room to approach me.
“Let me take you to her.”
“She’s really alive?” I whisper.
“She is.” And that’s when I see the gun in the waistband of his pants. He sees me seeing it and pulls it out, pressing it right against my body so no one else can see. “If you scream, I’ll shoot.”
I gasp. “You bastard. You lied to me. She’s not alive. You just wanted to kidnap me again.”
“Truthfully, yes. I need the money, Ava. Now, come with me.” He pushes me forward, keeping the gun glued to my back. He walks me all the way to his car and forces me to get inside. We’ve done this song and dance before, and it’s just as terrible as last time.
“You’re evil,” I whisper as he drives us out of New Haven. “Pure evil.”
“I don’t really care. I need the money more than I need your approval.”
I don’t say another word to him the entire drive back to New York.
“The truth is, someone approached me,” he says. “They want you, and they’re willing to pay me a lot of money for you. So, that’s why we’re here.”
“Who wants me?” He doesn’t answer, but I get it when we pull up to Dimitri’s club. “Dimitri? Why does he want me?”
“I don’t ask questions. I just want to get paid.”
It dawns on me—Dimitri must want to use me against Nikolai. It’s sick. It’s honestly a smart idea. And I hate Dimitri for it.
My father forces me out of the car and into the club. It’s empty tonight. No clubgoers. No dancers. No drunk people. No loud music.
Just Dimitri standing in the middle of the dance floor, two guards flanking him. “You brought her. Good.”
The eager expression on my father is disgusting. “My money?”
“Right.” Dimitri snaps his fingers and one of the guards brings over a briefcase. My father is practically salivating as he opens it and sees the money before him. “That will be all.”
The guard who handed over the briefcase pulls out a gun and shoots my father in the head.
I scream as his body flops to the ground. The money spills out of the briefcase and onto the floor, getting drenched in his blood.
“He was annoying,” Dimitri says. “And I figured you didn’t care for him. I mean, he tried to sell you… how many times now?”
I stare at my dead father on the ground. He lied to me, he betrayed me, he hated me. I don’t feel sad. I’m just surprised that he’s finally gone.
Dimitri claps his hands together. “So, shall we bring Nikolai here so he can come to collect you?”
“What’s your plan?” I ask slowly, turning away from my father’s body. It reminds me too much of my mother’s body, and I can’t handle that.
“My plan?” He rolls his neck around like he’s stretching and not like he just had my father killed. “My plan is to humiliate Nikolai like he humiliated me. Taking his wife will do that to him. So, I’m going to give him a call, and we’ll wait for him to show.” He dials Nikolai’s number and puts it on speaker.
“Dimitri,” my husband’s voice rings out.
“Listen, I’m gonna keep this short. I have your wife. Come to my club. See you when you get here.” He hangs up before Nikolai gets a chance to say anything else. “See? Simple.”
“You’re deranged,” I say.
He points at me. “You might not want to say that to a man who just had your father shot in the head. Don’t insult me, Ava.”
“I don’t have to play by your rules. By anyone’s rules. You and Nikolai and the rest of the Bratva think you own everything. But you don’t.”
He whistles as he walks over to me. Not once does he touch me, though. “Your first lesson: We do own this city. We run it. We’re gods, your husband and me. And gods don’t take too kindly to being made a fool.” He backs away, and I can breathe again.
Dimitri motions at my father’s body. “Take him away. I’m getting tired of looking at him. He’ll soon start to stink up the place.”
The two guards scoop my father up; one places his hands under my father’s arms and the other one under his feet. I watch them take him out of the club. Who knows what’s going to happen to him? Honestly, I don’t really care. He can rot in a gutter for what he did to my mom and me.
“No love lost for daddy?”
I only glare at Dimitri.
“Touchy,” he mutters.
Nikolai bursts into the club, his gun raised. Dimitri grabs me, placing me between him and my husband.
“Coward,” I hiss.
“Just trying to survive the night.”
Nik hesitates when he sees me and lowers his gun. “Let her go, Dimitri.”
“Oh, I will. I have no intention of hurting her.”
“Then why did you kidnap her?”
“That’s rich since you forced her to marry you.”
“Dimitri,” Nik growls.
“Fine, fine. I’ll let her go just as soon as you get on your knees and beg for your life.”
“I will not.”
Dimitri shrugs, holding me closer to his body. It’s not sexual. It’s purely strategy. “Fine. Then you’ll never get your wife back.”
That changes something inside Nikolai. He looks at me, and for once, his eyes are open and afraid. I’ve never seen my husband look so afraid before. He is only human after all.
“Ava,” he says.
I can’t tell him what to do. Sure, I could beg him to do what Dimitri wants, but I can’t make Nikolai do anything he doesn’t want to do. He has to make the decision to be a better man of his own accord.
“What will it be, Nik?” Dimitri asks.
Nikolai doesn’t take his eyes off me. Not even as he drops his gun to the ground. Not even as he kneels before us and surrenders.
“Beg,” Dimitri snarls.
“I will not,” Nik repeats. “But I will let you kill me. If it means you’ll let Ava go, you can kill me, Dimitri. You can end this right here.”
“No,” I whisper hotly. I never thought I’d see Nikolai surrender himself for … me. He’s willing to die so that I’m all right.
I know at this very moment I’m falling in love with him.
“This is a surprise,” Dimitri says. “Or maybe it isn’t. I knew you were crazy about Ava, but this …” He whistles. “This takes the cake.” He shoves me to the side and kneels beside Nik. “You see, I just wanted you to know what it feels like. I wanted you to know the humiliation I felt when you said our partnership was over. Now, we’re even.”
Nikolai stares at Dimitri for a long moment. “You … we’re even?”
“Yes.”
“You’re a crazy bastard. Using my wife just to prove a point to me.”
“But it worked, didn’t it? And now, I know what lengths you’ll go to to keep her alive. You asked for peace before. I’m willing to give it. Seeing you on your knees in surrender is more than enough to fulfill me for a lifetime.”
“I should kill you,” Nikolai hisses.
“Don’t,” I say, drawing both men’s attention to me. “Take the win, Nik. Let’s just go home.”
Nikolai doesn’t say a word as he glares at Dimitri for a long time.
Eventually, he nods before standing and coming over to me. “Are you all right?”
“I wasn’t hurt.”
“See you later, happy couple,” Dimitri says. “I look forward to working with you again, Nik.”
I can tell that’s the last thing Nikolai wants, but he doesn’t start a fight. He just takes my hand, and together, we walk out of the club.
The moment it’s just the two of us, Nikolai throws his arms around me. Instantly, I feel safe. “I was so worried.”
“I’m fine, Nik. I’m fine.” The way he’s so worried about me warms my heart.
He pulls back and cups my face. “Let’s get you home.”
“Wait. I need to tell you. Dimitri killed my father tonight.”
Nikolai scoffs. “Good riddance, if you ask me.”
“Yeah. I won’t miss him. But you know the worst thing? He tried to trick me into leaving Yale with him by telling me my mom was still alive. How sick is that?”
There it is. It’s just a flash of something on Nikolai’s face, but it tells me everything I need to know.
He’s not telling me something.
“Nik?”
“Ava, let’s just go home. I can tell you there.”
“Tell me what?”
“Let’s just go home.”
I pull away from him. Every part of my body says something isn’t right. “What, Nik? Is this about what my father said? Is this about … about my mom?”
He drops his head and sighs, then finally nods. “Yes.”
“What about my mom? Nik, was my father telling me the truth? Is my mom alive?”