22. Ben
22
BEN
W e all stood back as Sonya hugged Oleg. No one would dare to interrupt their reunion, one I doubted either thought they could have.
One second, he was unconscious, and now, he was awake, alert and speaking. The old man didn’t seem weak or worn down from being sedated and then slowly coming back to health after his heart attack.
After the team of doctors came into the room at Lev’s request, they confirmed the drugs that one nurse had been giving him were what held Oleg back from waking.
“I assure you, Mr. Kvashnin, that we will find that employee and hold her accountable,” the head doctor said.
No, you won’t.
I helped Rurik drag her dead body out so he could dispose of it. No one would find her, but I imagined this doctor was extra worried about having the Baranov family upset with him or the hospital. Having the Baranovs displeased with their service was a grave mistake they wanted to avoid.
After I left Sonya to be checked out in the maternity ward downstairs, I came back up here and told Lev what I’d found. I handed over the syringe the nurse had, too, and that was what the doctors were given with the expectation that they’d check over Oleg.
All the medical staff members promised that Oleg was stable and wouldn’t be permanently harmed by the sedatives that nurse had. If she had given him that dose, he might have died. They insisted that he’d wake up soon, and lo and behold, he did.
As soon as the doctors and technicians were dismissed, we gave Sonya and Oleg a chance to catch up. Eleven years was a long time to catch up for, though, and Sonya was prepared to take it one step at a time.
“Who?” Oleg demanded after they expressed the utter joy of seeing each other again. Oleg finally stopped telling her how he’d never given up, how he’d always prayed for this day. Now, he wanted to get down to business. “Who?” he ordered again, scowling.
“Easy, Boss,” Lev warned, holding his hand up. “No stress.”
Oleg didn’t spare him a glance, focused on Sonya. “Who took you?”
“Someone who will pay,” Sonya replied diplomatically and calmly.
“Of course, they’ll fucking pay. Whoever dared to take you will feel the wrath of the Baranov might and?—”
“ Easy ,” she scolded, firm but gentle. “I’ll have you know you were almost killed today—twice. Your heart is recovering. I may not know all the details about what’s been happening with your health yet, but I am confident you have to listen to the doctors, to Lev. To me. Take it easy, Uncle.” She leaned in to kiss his brow, holding his hand. “I am here. I am safe. And I’m never going anywhere again.” Smiling more, she placed her free hand on her stomach and glanced up at me. “I can trust that my baby’s father will see to it.”
Okay. So that cat is out of the bag.
“Baby?” Vik exclaimed.
“I told you,” Kelly insisted with a smile.
“Whose baby? From captivity?” Lev asked.
“You will have a child?” Oleg asked, wonder and joy in his eyes as he patted her hand that still held his.
“One thing at a time,” Irina joked lightly.
“Yes, I’m having a baby.” Sonya stood and came to lean against my side.
I wrapped my arm around her and hugged her close. “ We are having a baby.”
Lev’s jaw dropped. Vik’s did the same.
Oleg chuckled. “Now that’s something I thought I’d die before seeing.”
Lev scowled. “You’re not dying.”
“I’ve never seen you dumbfounded like that,” Oleg teased of Lev.
Already, Lev was returning his attention to me. “Warner, you’ve a lot of explaining to do.”
“And we will.” Sonya pressed her hand to my chest, and damn if that didn’t make me feel good. Every touch of her hands comforted me, grounding me with the fact that she would be mine. “We will both explain. There is so much to say and learn and catch up on. But I would rather do that at home. I want to see my sister.”
We all agreed this reunion would be better accomplished at home, with Eva, and we all prepared to see what we could do about getting Oleg discharged. Even though he’d just woken up, this was the Baranov family. They’d make it happen. They’d get whatever nurses and doctors they wanted for home visits.
It was clear that no one wanted to leave Oleg unattended here. Sonya didn’t. So it was with expedited arrangements that we worked on having Oleg discharged. While we waited, Sonya zeroed in on Irina, wanting to know how in the hell a Petrov princess could be within this circle of Baranovs.
I got the impression that Sonya wanted to share her story after she heard from everyone else. If she’d been deprived of information for so many years, I couldn’t fault her for being so hungry and eager to get answers from everyone else.
Nurses came and went from the room to prepare for Oleg’s departure. Doctors and techs did too. With team effort, many collaborated on getting Oleg ready to go home. The nurse who’d move into the mansion to oversee his recovery was critical in orchestrating it all. She couldn’t be cheap, but the Baranovs would spare no expense for their leader.
All the while, Irina and Vik explained how they’d gotten together. Vik told her how he’d gone to the college campus to pose as a professor to get more intel out of Irina, but they both fell in love. Irina wasn’t shy to admit how Igor Petrov had used her, expecting her to spy like a soldier. When Irina explained that Igor used her brother as leverage to ensure her compliance, Sonya seethed and wished the man dead.
“No one wants him dead more than me ,” Irina said hotly, crossing her arms.
“And me,” Vik added before kissing the top of her head. “And we will kill him.”
“If Boris hadn’t died and I didn’t have that heart attack,” Oleg said as he waited in a wheelchair to be wheeled out of the room, “we would’ve been focusing more on taking him out.”
“Now I understand why you would’ve worried at seeing me near Eva at that restaurant,” Irina told Sonya as we all walked out together. “You remembered I was a Petrov.”
Sonya nodded. “But no more.” She smiled at Irina and Vik. “I’m glad you found each other.”
“And I’m glad you helped Eva and Lev escape,” Oleg said as Lev wheeled him down the hallway.
“Wait. What?” Sonya volleyed her gaze among all of them.
In the car, Irina explained more—of how she’d helped Eva and Lev escape when the Petrov and Ilyin families worked together to kill Lev. Sonya and Irina sat in the back and Vik drove us home. As I listened in, I realized Sonya would need significant time to let this all settle in. This was a condensed rush of information to take in.
Before we were halfway to the Baranov mansion, though, Vik swerved sharply.
“Fuck. Hold on!”
Cars sped past us, zooming on both sides of the SUV we were in. Multiple cars drove alongside us, and all of them shot at us.
Hunching down, I got my gun out and ready, but I didn’t hesitate to glance back at Sonya.
She was alert, with a furrowed brow as she crouched over in the backseat. Both she and Irina hunkered down, trying to cover Oleg in the middle.
As Vik tried to stay on the road, speeding and swerving to avoid the other cars smacking into us, other Baranov cars fired back.
Ahead of us, Lev’s SUV braked hard. The second he stopped, both he and Rurik leaned out to fire nonstop at the black car that sideswiped us.
Tires squealed as Vik tried not to go off the road. He didn’t succeed. As the SUV tilted and spun, then canted to the side, we all held our breath and gripped the closest hand hold.
“Stay down,” Vik ordered.
“Which motherfuckers are trying to kill me now?” Oleg grumped. “I’m getting sick of this shit.” He remained lodged between Sonya and Irina as both women tried to cover him. In the backseat, they would be hard targets to hit.
The second the SUV slammed back down onto all four tires, Vik and I tried to force our doors open and shoot.
“Sonya!” I reached back, handing her a gun, just in case. Already, Petrovs were rushing at our SUV despite the barrage of gunfire from Lev and Rurik shooting at them from their stopped car.
She nodded, taking the gun and holding it up at the window, prepared in case anyone tried to open the door. No shots penetrated the bullet-proof SUV, but that didn’t mean the door couldn’t be forced open with the damage from its crash.
“This ends now,” Irina swore.
She shoved her door open, slamming it against the Petrov man trying to open it. Her action could’ve put Oleg at risk, but Sonya urged him to duck down further.
Irina exited the car shooting, her arms steady as she killed one man after the other. Vik managed to break his damaged door open too, and he joined her on the pavement, firing nonstop.
It was Igor’s doing, and I heard the moment Irina found him among the carnage.
“Die,” she screamed. “Die and know your death is at my hands”—shot—“that it is me killing you”—shot—“and that you will never control my life again”—shot—“that you will never make my brother suffer ever again!” A final shot accompanied the end of her tirade.
If I hadn’t witnessed it, I might not have believed it. But it was done, just like she’d vowed. Irina had killed Igor Petrov. The daughter of the rival family had found him hiding behind a car, letting his men do the dirty work for him. Shot by shot, all of them aimed at his chest and the last one at his head, she’d killed her father.
That was one enemy out of the way. One chore crossed off the list of ensuring Sonya would be safe.
As Irina dropped her arm, her shoulders sagged and she heaved out a deep exhale.
She’d killed him. At last, she’d made good on her promise to end him, and she’d done so in the name of protecting the Baranovs.
“Irina.” Vik approached her, letting the rest of the Baranov men stabilize the area and make sure no other Petrovs still lived from the shootout.
Vik continued toward his woman, and I stayed by the car. Checking on both Oleg and Sonya, I inventoried them carefully.
Blood marred Sonya’s brow. I immediately sought her eyes, worried, and Oleg was concerned as well. He looked stable, no worse for the wear.
“I just bumped my head,” Sonya said.
“Let’s go back,” I said. “Let’s make sure?—”
“Are you all right?” Oleg asked.
She shook her head at both of us. “It’s just from the impact of stopping. I put my arm up too.” She showed us. “Because I saw it coming. I put my arm up just in time, but the edge of the door frame still cut into my skin. I’m all right.”
“Are you sure?” I had to check. Nothing would stop me from keeping her safe and healthy.
“I am sure.” She nodded at me once, as if to further validate her words. “I just want to go home.”
We all turned to look outside, watching Vik hold Irina close. They hugged, no doubt shaken by the enormity of what had happened.
Igor had chased us in an attempt to kill Oleg. Or all of us. In the end, a Mafia family leader had been killed—him.
Igor Petrov was no longer a threat.
“Let’s go home,” Oleg said as the crowd of men dispersed outside the car.
“Yes.” Sonya sighed, and Irina and Vik made their way back to us. “I’ve waited eleven years to do just that.” Locking her vulnerable gaze on me, despite her family members surrounding us, she said, “Take me home, please.”
I tried my best not to get ahead of myself with the implication that she could see the Baranovs’ place as where I could belong too, at her side.