Chapter 14 #2
“No, it wasn’t.” His jaw hardened. “The deal was that you could be in the courthouse. Not the courtroom.” She opened her mouth to object—strenuously—when he held up his hand.
“Before you ream me a new one, I’ve arranged for a TV monitor in the holding room.
You can watch the trial from there. There will be Bratva everywhere.
It’s too dangerous for you to risk being seen in the courtroom.
And let me remind you of the other part of our deal you agreed to.
If I tell you to do something, you do it. ”
She let out an audible breath, sitting back and crossing her arms. He was right. Those were his exact words, and she’d played right into it. “I want to be there for her if she needs me.” Despite the potential danger to herself, she would not abandon her client.
“You will be. I see the changes in her since she started talking with you. You’re good at what you do.”
“Thank you.” Over the dashboard light, he briefly met her gaze. In his eyes was…respect, something she needed in her life more than she realized. Coming from him, it meant so much more.
He spoke into the microphone. “We’re here.”
The SUV pulled to a stop in front of a small ranch style brick house in a residential neighborhood. Wanting to be the first person Aly saw when she came out, Victoria opened the door.
“Wait!” Kyle reached for her, but she ignored him.
The other SUV with Kyle’s brother had already parked behind them.
A curtain inside the safehouse moved aside, then fell back into place.
Her stomach clenched as she watched the door open and two men come outside.
The house was an eerie reminder of another safehouse, one she’d hidden in for weeks after being released from the hospital.
“That’s not doing what I told you to,” Kyle’s harsh voice came from behind her.
She spun to face him. “You didn’t tell me not to get out until I was already out.”
The street was dark but so quiet she could hear his incensed exhale.
“Everything okay here?” another voice asked.
Deke Gates had come up behind them. He was about the same height as Kyle but with longer, sandy-blond hair.
“Fine,” Kyle bit out, looking both ways down the street.
Victoria spotted Aly behind two men, U.S. Marshals, she assumed. Enough light spilled from the house’s doorway to illuminate the tension on her client’s face, along with the bulky protective vest strapped over her torso.
“May I have your permission to go hold my client’s hand?
” She parked her fists on her hips, not sure when their business relationship had turned so antagonistic.
Maybe it was because she’d become accustomed to making her own decisions in life and wasn’t about to revert back to the subservient woman she’d once been.
Kyle shook his head and snorted.
Alyona Kolbayev was about Victoria’s age, with brown hair that hung just below her shoulders, and large brown, soulful, fear-filled eyes.
She reminded Victoria of a lost puppy that needed comforting.
Without waiting for Kyle to answer her question, she hastened to Aly’s side, placing her arm around the woman’s frail shoulders.
Aly’s body practically sagged with relief. “Thank God you’re here.”
“Of course, I’m here.” She clasped Aly’s cold, clammy hand. “I’ll help you through this. I promise.” It was a promise she meant to keep.
“We need to go,” Kyle said, joining them. “I don’t want you standing out in the open.”
Kyle and the marshals hustled them to the curb. Victoria was about to slide onto the backseat next to Aly, when Kyle stopped her. “Wait. Put this on.”
The sound of Velcro straps being separated came to her ears, and he draped a vest over her shoulders.
“I don’t need to wear this.” She swatted his hands away as he began fitting the straps at her waist. “This is ridiculous.”
“It’s not.” He ignored her and tightened the straps. “Remember our deal.”
She’d been half a second from stripping off the vest when heat from his big, warm hands at her waist obliterated any rational thing she might have said next.
“Please. Wear this.” He’d softened his voice, his strikingly beautiful eyes searing her as much as his hands.
“Okay,” she heard herself whisper.
Seconds later, they were speeding down the street.
One of the marshals had gotten into the front passenger seat; the other had hopped into Deke’s SUV. It didn’t take long before they were back on the Turnpike heading north toward the Holland Tunnel.
Aly squeezed Victoria’s hand and sniffled. A single tear trickled from her eye. She’d been holding up relatively well, but now that the day to testify against her husband had arrived, emotions had clearly built to the breaking point.
“You’re going to be fine.” She gave her client’s hand a reassuring squeeze back. “You’re a strong woman, and this is an opportunity for you to start a new life somewhere. These men will protect you, and by this afternoon, it will all be over.”
Aly was indeed a strong woman. Deep down, stronger than herself. If she’d been faced with testifying against Yuri, she wasn’t sure she’d have the same inner strength.
“I know.” Aly nodded vigorously. “Thank you for being here with me.”
The SUV swerved abruptly and picked up speed.
“Deke, you see him?” Kyle said into the microphone.
“Yeah, two cars back.”
Kyle began serpentining through building traffic, picking up more speed. “Everyone got their seatbelts on?”
“Yes, why?” Victoria twisted her neck to peer out through the rear window. “What’s happening?”
He gunned the SUV. “We’re being followed.”