25. Bianca
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
bianca
O h god. What did I do? Dante is probably over there fighting with Gio because I couldn’t just keep my thoughts to myself. I mean, I’m fairly certain I’m right about Gio, but I didn’t expect Dante to just run away from me. Do I go check on him or give him space? Why isn’t there some kind of “how to deal with your boyfriend’s non-brother, brother, being in love with him” manual?
I’m sorry. Are you okay? What can I do?
Dante? Please answer me?
If I don’t hear back in the next three hours I’m coming over there.
Everything’s fine. Gio and I are working through some stuff.
I’m just in a weird spot right now and I need some time.
You did nothing wrong, I just have to deal with this on my own. I love you, Bianca.
Okay, I get it.
I love you.
Well, that’s nothing if not ominous. I feel no better about this. I do know that the “I just need some time” thing never works out.
My own self-destructive pattern is rearing its ugly head. This is why I decided not to date. Every single time something feels good, I fuck it up somehow. Usually, it’s due to the job and the murder and whatnot. I’m toxic to everyone around me. That’s probably why Dmitri is such a fucking nightmare… because he’s shackled with me.
I walk to Dmitri’s room and crawl into bed. He wraps his arm around me, and I lie on his chest.
“Where’s your boyfriend ?” He says mockingly.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I mumble, closing my eyes.
He leans his head down against mine, and we lie silently for a while. I can feel the heat permeating from his inflamed face wounds.
I start to fall asleep, and I feel his phone vibrate in his pocket. I groan and roll off him so he can get to it. I prop up on a pillow and watch him get it out and read it.
“Oh shit.” He reacts to the message.
I sit up quickly. “ What is it?”
“There was an ambush last night… We… Oh my God…They’re all dead.” He stumbles out.
“They who?” I ask.
“Alexei, Igor, Boris, Yuri, Niko, and the rest of the freighter guys. O, bozhe. I was supposed to help with that drop… but Papa let me stay in because of this.” He gestures to his beaten face.
“What happened? Does it say?” I ask. I never gave a shit about the freighter guys. I had heard stories of them taking women on their trips and forcing them to do disgusting things. They weren’t good men, but they were our men, and this meant a war was starting.
“Do we know who it was?” I add to my question.
“Aye. They said it was… the Italians…” He says slowly, hesitating to deliver his response.
“Fuck.” I muster out, feeling a wave of dread wash over me. The moment it sinks in, my phone goes off.
Hello?
Yes. Understood. Send the coordinates. I’m going to need a few guys to…
Well, yes, sir. Yes, sir. No, I understand. Okay, 4 PM.
До свидания. Over and out.
“I have to sleep for a few hours. Can you stay with me? I have a job later and I just… fuck. Today just really sucks.” I huff, falling back on the bed and putting a pillow over my face.
Dmitri rubs my back until I finally start to doze off.
“Bianca! Bianca, get up!”
I wake up slowly, blinking hard and trying to figure out where I am. Dmitri is shaking me awake.
“What is it?” I sleepily respond.
“We have to go now!” He panics and continues shaking me.
I stand abruptly and rub my eyes. I throw my hair into a ponytail and sprint to my room. I grab my go-bag and follow Dmitri to the garage. We strap up the bikes, and I follow him out. I still have no clue where we are going, but I trust him.
He led me to the barracks we use for new hires. My father has a team of trainers that works with them to get them ready for whatever job they are being assigned to. I trained here for years with his highest guards.
We park and hop off, I follow Dmitri inside. I glance at my phone and see I have three missed calls from Evgeni, my fathers right had man. This isn’t good.
He greets us at the door and tells us we need to be prepared for what we are about to see.
I gulp and try to imagine the worst thing imaginable. I’ve seen some pretty horrible things, so I can’t even begin to think about what we are walking into.
I walk in and see my father lying on a medical table, tubes hooked to his face and an IV in his arm. Our doctor is standing over him with a clipboard and blank face.
“What the fuck happened?” I shout as I charge toward him. I grab my father’s hand and try to see where his injury is.
“Your father responded to the assault our team was in last night and was taken to the ground by those fuckers.” One of the guards answers.
“Doc, what’s wrong with him?” I ask directly.
“Your father has suffered a pretty significant internal injury, Bianca.” He responds quietly.
“Доченька.” A soft voice speaks.
“Father?” I lean in to hear his whispers. His voice is faint, but he speaks as much as he can.
He whispers a command in Russian. When his delicate words enter my ears, I know that my day is about to get even worse.
I sit back up, and he falls back out of consciousness.
“Is he going to survive?” I ask, trying to keep my composure.
“Bianca, I can’t say for sure wha…”
“Is he going to fucking survive?” I ask more aggressively.
“I don’t know.” The doctor answers, fear in his voice.
“It’s in your best fucking interest to keep him alive, do you understand me?” I threaten through my teeth.
He nods.
“Evgeni, stay here, and if they need anything, you make sure they get it, understood? Dmitri, you stay here too.” I demand them.
They both nod, and I head out. I saddle up the bike and strap my helmet on. “Fuck me.” I sigh and kick it started.
* knock knock knock *
“Dante, let me in! It is an emergency! Dammit Dante!” I yell, pounding on the front door.
I keep pounding until the door opens. It’s a shirtless Gio that answers. The smug little asshole is sucking down a grape popsicle while he smiles at me.
“Just can’t get enough of me, can you?” He taunts.
“Get the fuck out of my face. Dante!” I yell as I push past him and go inside.
“Bianca, what’s going on?” Dante turns the corner.
“You want to tell me what the fuck happened?” I demand, fury in my voice.
“What? How do you know something happened? I mean. I… Gio and I… I mean, we…” He stutters on his words, trying to hide something from me.
“Stop bullshitting me. I know you had a job last night. What was it? I need to know.” I demand again.
“Oh, last night, right. I thought, okay. Yes, we had a job, you know how it is.” He responds, his face easing like he was relieved that is what I meant. I don’t have time to analyze him right now, so I just pretend I don’t notice. I keep pressing him for answers.
My father was able to speak to me just long enough to demand I bring him the heads of the two brothers that led the assault last night… and one of them is the man I love. I need to know for sure it was them, and I pray to God for the first time that it wasn’t them.