Chapter 39
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
Lucy
Kirill was calling me. I silenced his call, so he sent me a message.
Kirill
Pick up the fucking phone, wife.
I’m very unhappy with you!
“Uh-oh, trouble in romance land?” Chloe was peeking over my shoulder.
I understood why Kirill was freaking out. Sato and the rest of the bratva soldiers were locked out of King Tower, where Theo had a helicopter waiting. He really didn’t want anyone dealing with his brother except himself.
I questioned why I had followed him blindly when I had never felt comfortable with Jeremiah.
But every second counted to get to Aralina.
She was still incommunicado, along with her bodyguards.
And the only chance we had to get to her quickly was Theo King.
And I was being tracked through my phone, so it wasn’t like Kirill didn’t know where I was.
I’d popped in a pain pill, and my headache subsided to a distant throb, but it didn’t alleviate the knotted anxiety in my stomach.
We had just landed on an airstrip in Montauk when the barrage of messages hit my phone. We were five minutes from the property.
Theo’s face had been grim this whole time, but a trace of a smile curved his mouth. “Didn’t your parents ever tell you not to get into a car with a stranger?”
“I got into a helicopter. I think that’s much worse.”
“I can’t decide if you’re gutsy or reckless.”
“Probably the latter,” I replied. “But my husband knew who he was marrying.”
“What does it say about me?” Chloe muttered.
Theo glanced in the rearview mirror. “I’m your half brother. I think I merit some trust.”
“Well, so is Jeremiah, but he’s a sociopath,” Chloe said. “How sure are we you’re not?”
Theo ignored the question and continued driving. It was a wintry day in Montauk. A desolate landscape of skeleton trees and melting snow.
“I guess that makes us idiots,” I muttered. “If you hadn’t gotten into the car, I probably would have thought better when Sato tried to stop me.”
Theo emitted a short laugh I didn’t think he was capable of.
“You’re blaming me now?” Chloe retorted. “So, brother dearest,” she addressed Theo. “Don’t tell me you never suspected Jeremiah of his activities.”
“He had violent tendencies, which were controlled by medication. Unfortunately, he’s also an expert in manipulation, and serial killers hide their activities from close family the best.”
“Or family refuses to see them as a monster and makes excuses for them,” I pointed out.
“I’m not making excuses,” Theo snapped. “In case it escaped your file on me, I run a multibillion-dollar corporation.”
“Empire, you can say it.”
All three of us lapsed into stewing silence, vexed at each other for different reasons. I checked my messages again.
Dom
Trevor got a lock on King’s property. We’re choppering in. Please don’t do anything stupid.
Trevor
Oh, you’re in so much trouble.
Shit.
Kirill
Flying to you now. Stay alive.
Who will complete the puzzle with me, Luchik?
He started calling me Luchik when he was feeling affectionate. I loved it because it was a cute play on my name and meant “ray of light” in Russian.
I’m so pissed at you right now, but I’m also out of my mind with worry, Lusenka.
Oh, Kirill. A tear dropped onto the phone screen.
And if it’s not too much bother, please rescue my sister.
Just…
Bubbles for a long time and then…
Come home.
I sniffed.
“Too late for regrets.” Theo broke into my roller-coaster thoughts of defying Kirill and wishing I hadn’t embarked on this harebrained idea. I could blame my brain injury.
Before I was released from the hospital, my therapist warned us that impulsiveness and erratic behavior were side effects. Kirill and I made a joke about it then, but I had a feeling my husband wished he had taken it more seriously.
“Oh my God, who is that on the roof?” Chloe exclaimed. “Is that Aralina?”
My gaze flew up, saw the imposing mansion with gothic Victorian architecture and my heart somersaulted painfully. Someone with blonde hair was on the ledge where the roof intersected with the attic.
“Aralina,” I whispered. Theo parked in front of the mansion and ran out.
“Stay here,” he ordered.
That was the worst thing someone could tell me when adrenaline was pumping in my veins, but I interlocked my fingers together to keep still. Theo sprinted up the steps and tried to open the door with his keys.
Then I worried about the guys choppering in. I had to warn them. I did a group chat with Dom, Trevor, Kirill, and Sato.
Me
Aralina is on the roof. Don’t get too near with the helicopter.
Dom
Fine time for you to be responding, sis
Kirill
Are you all right
Me
I’m fine.
Trevor
Finding an alternate landing site. We have some men en route, but I don’t think they’ll get there in time.
Kirill
I need a little more than I’m fine
Dom
@K.Zahkarov, your tone indicates you have much to learn when dealing with my sister.
Despite myself, I laughed.
“Fuck!” Theo growled and sprinted around the structure. He was having no luck getting in and gave up.
“I guess Jeremiah changed the locks—what are you doing?” Chloe exclaimed when I got out of the vehicle. “Theo said to stay here.”
“They would need more than a battering ram to get through those double doors, but I have to try.” Aralina was running out of time.
My breaking-and-entering degree from the school of necessity was about to come in handy again. I’d been arrested a few times.
Sigh. Those were the incidents Dom was referring to when he said I skated into shit and expected him to bail me out.
I knelt in front of the door and brought out my lockpicks.
Working while wearing a cast presented a problem.
This lock was more advanced than the one in the cabin, but after a few minutes, I felt the tumblers release.
I tested the knob, and it gave in easily.
I cracked the door. No alarm. I recalled Theo saying something about disabling the alerts and cameras.
Which reminded me—I silenced my phone. How many times in movies had someone texting or calling screwed up chances of survival?
I signaled for Chloe to get Theo, but I slowly made my way into the house and pulled my revolver.
I nearly retreated when I saw one of the bratva soldiers in the foyer with a pool of blood under him.
The stench of copper permeated the air. I forced my feet forward and approached the body.
Despite being a hundred percent sure no one would survive that much blood loss, I checked for a pulse. Nada.
Another was sprawled face-up on the stairs. His face was half gone. It looked like he had been shot repeatedly and in anger. These were signs of a madman at work. But was I going to let it stop me? I thought again of Aralina on the roof. I needed to buy her time.
I inhaled a couple of deep breaths, fighting back bile and nausea.
Where the hell were Theo and Chloe?
I made my way up the staircase. It was wide and curved and covered in carpet. The Kings were old money. This house reeked of their wealth. Paintings, gilded ceilings. Venetian plaster. Marble.
They were an example of filthy rich but poor in everything else. Ghosts of parties reverberated in the halls. Had there ever been happiness in this house?
Before sickness consumed their minds?
At the top of the stairs, I paused to decide which way to go.
Where the hell was Theo?
It would be easier to navigate this mansion with him leading the way.
Then I heard an angry shout.
I hurried to the right side of the structure.
This house reminded me of Zio Luca’s mansion where the servants’ staircase was on the right side of the building and led to the attic.
The voice grew louder as I finally came upon a spiral staircase.
Shit, okay. I glanced anxiously down the hallway, hoping Theo would appear, but it remained eerily quiet.
I kicked off my shoes and lowered my purse.
Making sure to remain unencumbered with anything else, I snuck up the stairs, gun in hand.
If Aralina was on the roof and Jeremiah was still shouting at her, then he was occupied.
He must have seen us arrive. But the changed locks must have added to his complacency that we couldn’t interfere.
“This is childish! You’re going to fall!”
The attic door was open. I spied an overturned chair and ropes. Oh my God. The bastard!
“We need to leave, baby. Come away with me.” A frustrated growl. “Don’t sign because I don’t understand you! You’re going to fucking fall!”
I tiptoed across the room, gun pointed and level on Jeremiah’s lower back. He was leaning out the window.
And then the proverbial blasted floorboard creaked so loudly, it was like a gunshot ricocheting in the attic.
I froze and prayed he didn’t hear me.
But Jeremiah slowly straightened before cocking his head to the right and turning around.
He eyed the gun in my hand, his eyes crinkled with amusement. “Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Always sticking your nose in everyone’s business.”
“Aralina is my business. And from what I’m gathering, you also killed Anya.”
His eyes flashed. “The only way you’d know that is if you’re in cahoots with the people who hacked my company.”
Is that an admission of guilt?
I should just shoot him, but I hoped Theo would hurry so I could check on Aralina.
He stepped closer.
“Don’t move!”
“How did you get in here?”
“What, because you changed the locks?” I spoke with bravado. Either the pain meds were giving me courage, or I could still attribute it to my impaired judgment. “I have skills.”
“You’re trouble, aren’t you?”
“Stay back!”
But he launched himself across the room. We fell on the floor, and I lost the gun. My sprained knees screamed at me. He straddled me, pinning my legs down, and I braced for his fist, but a dark shape tackled him off me.
Chloe was hauling me up, but my mind went to Aralina.
I grabbed my gun and handed it to Chloe. “Don’t hesitate to shoot Jeremiah. That was my mistake.”
Theo and his brother grappled for control.