43. Soren
MA
You can’t avoid him forever, Sory.
SOREN
I’m not avoiding him. I’ve just been busy.
MA
Don’t bullshit me, Synok, when I’m the one who taught you to lie.
SOREN
?? I have to go back to work, Ma. I’ll call you tomorrow. Okay?
MA
Sure, sure. I’ll be here, NOT avoiding your father’s calls…
SOREN
You can’t manipulate me
MA
Sure I can’t…
SOREN
Goodbye.
MA
Talk to you soon. Love you
SOREN
I love you too, drama queen
P utting my phone away, I try to push my mother’s attempts at guilting me into talking to my father out of my head. The thing is, I know she’s right, but in the two weeks since the charity ball, I’ve done everything in my power to not talk to my father.
I already know what he’s going to say…or not say. More accurately, he’s going to let his fists do the talking. A fact my mother is very aware of, yet she still will only let me avoid the issue for so long before stepping in further.
It’s not that she wants him to put his hands on me, but rather, she knows the sooner we have our… discussion , the sooner we can either move on or cut each other from our lives.
My father is every bit the Russian mobster, but for as much as his temper and bigotry rules him, he also lets things go once he has his pound of flesh. My childhood may be rife with unnecessary ‘discipline’, but I was never ‘unnecessarily’ beaten or abused. Once he punished me, he let it go, and he never really started hitting me until I was eighteen and could “take it like a man”, as he always said.
Maybe it’s fucked up to look at it that way, but we all handle our trauma differently, and that’s how I’ve always been able to move on from mine.
So, yes, I’ve been avoiding my father because I know how our discussion will end. It’ll be snapping the last thread in our turbulent relationship. And while my uncle and cousin support me, I also know the ties of loyalty go deeper than blood. As Cristian pointed out at the charity event, I belong to the Amatos now, and that changes everything.
We’re working at the clinic today, which may be harder than assisting in emergency surgery, as at least the person on the table doesn’t flinch when you come at them with a needle. Who would have thought that bodyguards could be such wimps when it comes to getting vaccines.
“Have you eaten yet?” I ask Doc when I enter his office after my latest appointment.
“He has not,” James says from his place on the two-seater sofa in the corner of the room.
“Tattletale,” Doc bitches.
Raising an eyebrow, I stare at Doc until he sighs, long and loud. Taking a seat across from him at his desk, I say, “I know you’ve been busy, so have I, but I managed to eat the wonderful, healthy lunch James packed for me, in between sticking people with needles. I just passed the break room and saw Rose eating her lunch, and she’s been working with you all day. If she has time for food, so do you.”
James laughs. “I love you.”
I grin at the bodyguard as Doc grumbles to himself, but he gets up and grabs his lunch bag from the small fridge anyway.
“Too bad you were only fifteen when we first started working together,” James muses. “I could have used you a long time ago.”
I chuckle and Doc shoots us both a dark look, which we ignore. Before I can respond, my phone rings, long and shrill. My stomach drops because there are only a handful of contacts set to override my Do Not Disturb, and two of them are sitting in the room with me.
Pulling the phone out, I curse when I see my cousin’s name on the screen.
“Davidik? What’s wrong?”
David lets out a long exhale, and speaks in a shaky voice. “It’s Dominic… I… It’s… His father… It’s bad. He needs you, Sory.”
I jump up, heart thumping hard in my chest. “I’m on my way. Where are you?”
“Your place.”
“Be there soon.” I hung up and shove my phone in my pocket.
Doc and James both stare at me. “I need to go. My…” I swallow around the sudden lump in my throat. “Something happened to my best friend. David didn’t explain what, exactly, but he wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t necessary.”
“Go,” Doc urges. “He needs you. Do you want me to come?”
I shake my head. “You still have appointments. I can handle this.”
“Take James, at least,” he insists.
I open my mouth to argue, but James cuts in. “You’re shaking, Soren. You shouldn’t be driving.”
“What about Doc?” I shoot back.
“I’ll call my brother and he'll send someone to watch him.”
Doc rounds his desk and takes my face in his hands. “I’ll be fine. Go, let me know if you need me.”
I nod, raise onto my toes, and press a hard kiss to his mouth. “Thank you.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for, Daddy.”
Taking a step back from him, I try to steady my breathing and racing heart. James follows me out of the clinic, and when we get into the car, I have to close my eyes and force myself to chill out so I can put the seatbelt on without shaking.
James gets us on the road, and I don’t question if he needs the address to my condo. After all, when I took the job, Cristian made sure I got a place in an Amato run building.
He makes a call to Joel, who picks up on the first ring. As he explains the situation, and the need for someone else to come guard Doc, I pull out my phone and check my texts. Nothing new from David, but I send one to my group chat with the trips anyway.
SOREN
What’s going on?
VONNY
Easier to explain in person.
DIMA
I’m going to commit patricide
VONNY
He is not. How far away are you?
SOREN
Just left the clinic. Be there as soon as possible
VONNY
Good. It’s bad, Sory…
SOREN
Does he need a dr?
VONNY
Not that type of bad…
SOREN
Fuck!
DIMA
You can say that again. Just get here
I put my phone away because there’s nothing else to say. The implications of what both David and the trips are saying is our worst nightmare coming to life. Guilt begins to bubble up in me, making my stomach twist.
I should have tried harder to get them to come to the Amatos. We’ve been discussing it more and more after Cristian made his offer, but they haven’t said yes yet. I shouldn’t have given them a choice…
But I didn’t want to be like our parents. I wanted them to do what was best for them, and now we’re all facing the consequences…
“My brother is sending a guard to Doc,” James says, cutting through my self-deprecating thoughts. “I would prefer it be him, but he’s busy with Tennant today. Do I need to call for backup for us?”
I shake my head. “No, it’ll be fine. My building is secure, and Dmitri is a bodyguard in training. Plus, if David’s still there, so is his guard.”
“Okay. I told Joel to be on standby anyway, so we can get help if we need it.”
“Thank you, James.”
“You’re one of us now, Soren. No thanks needed.”
It’s hard to swallow past the lump in my throat, my emotions all over the place. Gratitude for the amazing people I’ve met over the last few months, fear for my closest friends…it’s all tumbling inside and making me queasy.
James barely gets the car parked before I’m throwing open the door and rushing out. I can hear him curse behind me, but don’t pay him any mind. I want to sprint up to the apartment, but force myself to speed walk instead. The last thing I need is for someone to try to stop me because I ran in there like a crazy person.
James catches up to me at the elevator. I can feel his disapproving stare, but I don’t bother explaining myself or even looking at him. The wait for the elevator is long and my entire body vibrates, but I don’t think the stairs would be any better, especially when I can’t afford to hurt myself by running up them.
By the time we get up to my apartment, I’ve finally gotten my breathing under control, even though my hands are still shaking due to the adrenaline rushing through me.
One of David’s guards is standing watch outside my condo, and he doesn’t hesitate to open the door when he sees me. Giving him a nod, I leave James to introduce himself to the guard and enter the apartment I haven’t been back to in weeks.
The only person in the living room is David’s other guard, so I make my way to the bedroom. The sight of Dominic beat to shit on my bed, supported by pillows and David, makes my heart skip a few beats.
Vonny and Dima are sitting on either side of Nico, and the sight of the three of them makes my heart ache, especially since they’re touching one another in some way, as if they can’t stand to not be connected.
Dominic…looks like shit, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. His face is already black and blue, with a little bit of red from the blood running down his split lip and cut cheek. He’s shirtless, so I can see how red his torso is. Even that is already turning ugly shades of purple.
“What happened?” I ask in a rough voice.
All sets of eyes turn to me, and Nico tries to smile, though it only causes his lip to split more.
“Had a nice little… conversation with my papa today,” he says. “Apparently, he found out about my history with David and didn’t approve.”
David looks stricken. He hides his face in Nico’s neck for a moment, making the other man wince as he reaches up and gently runs his fingers through David’s hair.
“I’m sorry,” my cousin says.
“No, it’s okay, baby,” Nico says. “It’s not your fault. We knew the risks.”
I look between them. “Are you back together and I missed it? Or…”
“Or,” Dima answers for his brother. “They’re not together per se, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been hooking up. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is I’m going to fucking kill our father.”
“No,” four voices ring out.
“No,” I repeat. “I know you’re angry; we all are. But no one is going to do anything that will get us into trouble. I want to know how he found out Nico is gay, because I know you’ve been careful, but that’s not important right now.” Approaching the bed, I turn to Vonny. “Have you looked him over?”
Donovan nods. “I didn’t feel anything broken, but I’m sure we’d all feel better if you examined him as well.”
“Of course.”
“And,” Dmitri looks between his brothers and me. “We’d like to discuss making an appointment with Cristian Amato.”
David makes a noise of distress, but nods and says, “Getting out will be best for all of you. I’ll be speaking with my father about what happened to you, but…” he trails off, and we all know the words he wants to say but can’t.
Uncle Ivan won’t be happy to lose the trips, and he’ll talk to Mak Novikov about the way he treated his son, but there’s only so much he can do. Much like the abuse I suffered at my father’s hands growing up, the trips had a similar upbringing, though I know theirs came with more physical punishments than mine did.
Not only that, there’s a reason that even David, the future Pakhan, can’t come out; the Bratva is still too stagnant and built on ideals of the past.
“We’ll figure it out,” I say. “ After I check you over.”
Nico groans, but he allows David to help him sit further up so I can check over his ribs.
“Thank you, Soren,” he says as I gently palpate him.
“No thanks necessary. We’re family.”
“Yeah.” He gives me a broken smile. “We are.”
“The three of you aren’t allowed to leave my sight,” I say casually. “But we’ll get through this.”
Some of the tension in the room eases under the weight of my words, and the anxiety that’s been running through me since David’s call slowly begins to dissipate.
This isn’t at all how I wanted the trips to join me in my new life, but it’s a step in the right direction to hopefully get a better life for the three of them.