Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~SHANE~
“ W hat do you think you’re doing?” I demand when I get Ivie back inside. She’s quivering with anger, and frankly, I’m just as pissed.
“I’m going to Dallas. To kill my father.”
I blink at her and then shake my head. “Like hell, you are.”
“Like hell, I’m not. ” She narrows those spectacular eyes on me. “You’ve been training me for weeks. Do you think I’m not capable of this?”
“I think you’re perfectly capable, Ivie. What I won’t allow is having you sneak out of here to go there alone .”
“Oh, you won’t allow me?” She drops her bag to the floor and crosses her arms over her chest. “Because I’m what, your child ?”
“Now you’re just pissing me off for the sake of pissing me off.”
“No, I’m being an adult woman who doesn’t need your permission for anything, Shane. You’re not my father or my husband.”
We’ll be rectifying that little detail as soon as possible. But now isn’t the time or place to propose.
She’d tell me to shove the ring up my ass.
“Now, excuse me. I need to go call a cab.”
“No, damn it.” I take her arm but quickly let go when she swings around and punches me in the jaw, just the way we taught her. “Hell.”
“I’m not playing around, Shane.”
“Obviously. Fine, but you’re not going alone.”
She starts to argue, but I’ve had about enough of this bullshit.
“Stop talking for two fucking minutes.” I pace in a circle, frustration pulsing through me. “We’ll go to Dallas, but you won’t go by yourself. If you think I’d be okay with that, in any universe, you don’t know me at all.”
“You’re right. I thought I knew you, but all you do is fucking lie to me. ”
“Stop it. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know if it was fucking true. You wondered, as well when we saw his name tied to those phone records. I wasn’t going to tell you something that would change your entire world off hearsay, Ivie. We needed eyes on him. Confirmation. And then I was going to tell you. Today. I needed the intel from Rocco.”
“I should have been in on the information from the get-go. And then, if it wasn’t true, I should have known that, too. I’m not some damsel in distress here, Shane. Now, get me to Dallas, or I’ll go myself.”
I want to shake her. I want her to just listen and try to see this from my perspective, but she’s too angry.
It’ll have to wait.
“We’ll leave in an hour.”
She turns on her heel and walks away, and I return to the kitchen, where everyone is still waiting.
“Looks like we’re headed to Dallas,” is all I say.
“I really like her, son,” Pop says with a grin. “Keep that one.”
Ninety minutes later, we’re all on the jet, headed for Dallas. Even Pop and Igor decided to join.
They don’t usually go into the field anymore—haven’t for many years—but they wanted to come along. They’ll visit a friend in Dallas while we find Pavlov.
“Do you realize what you’re about to do?” I ask Ivie, who’s sitting across from me. Her gaze flies to mine and holds steady.
Good girl.
“Yes.”
“He isn’t a stranger,” I remind her, aware that all eyes are on us. Nadia watches with concern and reaches out to pat Ivie on the shoulder.
“No, he’s a monster,” Ivie says in a firm voice. “And he killed my mother. I’ve seen the photos of what he did to her. To save his own ass. And I remember, in vivid detail, the things he made me do on his behalf. He doesn’t deserve to live.”
I sigh and realize that I won’t be able to talk her out of this. But she won’t go alone.
“Blood isn’t always family,” Igor says, looking intently at Ivie. “Sometimes, what’s born into a family is not the same. Does not belong.”
I glance at Nadia, knowing full well that Igor is speaking of his son.
“And there are other times when family has no blood tie at all, and that’s what we have with you, Ivie. You are one of us, and we will do everything in our power, which is considerable, to keep you safe and make sure you have your revenge.”
Ivie blinks quickly, soaking in his words.
“Now, you said earlier that you thought you could trust these men, and I’m here to assure you that you can. But you already know that. Your anger is warranted, but make sure you focus it on the appropriate target. Shane was doing what he thought was right. Because he cares for you and doesn’t want you hurt.”
“I know,” she whispers and blows out a breath then looks up at me. Everything we’ve been through together flows between us. We’re going to be okay. “I know that.”
“Good.”
“One more thing,” Nadia adds. “Don’t hesitate. If you do, you won’t go through with it, and you could be hurt. If your intention is to kill, don’t pause. He may be an old man, but he could be dangerous. Keep your mind clear. Don’t let him surprise you. I made that mistake, and it almost cost Carmine and me our lives.”
Ivie nods in agreement.
We spend the rest of the flight in relative quiet. We check weapons for the fifth time, just in case. With a face made of stone, Ivie tucks her sidearm into the holster at the small of her back after checking the magazine.
She’s not shaky. She’s not upset.
She’s on a mission.
I glance at Curt and see him nod. He’s thinking the same thing I am. She needs this. No matter how much I want to protect her from it, to shelter her, she needs it.
And we’ll be here for her through it.
Shortly after landing in Dallas, we climb into a large, black SUV, and Rocco drives us to a suburb, while a guard drives my father and Igor to another location.
They didn’t tell us where they were going, just that they had someone to pay a visit to.
I hope they’re not going to see the Dallas syndicate without us. I know that our fathers are powerful men, but they shouldn’t go in alone. This isn’t the time.
But I’m not the boss. They are. And what they say goes. I have to block that out, secure in the knowledge that they’re not currently in danger, and focus entirely on Ivie and the mission ahead.
“That’s his,” Rocco says, pointing to a small house as we drive past. The curtains are drawn in the front, but not the sides. The blue paint is peeling as if the person living there hasn’t had the money or inclination to keep it painted.
“Bastard is living better than he ever did when I was a kid,” Ivie mutters. “Why aren’t you stopping?”
“Because we need to make sure nothing is going on,” I reply and take her hand in mine. To my relief, she doesn’t pull away. “Rocco will circle the block, just to be sure that everything is calm, and then we’ll park a few houses down so we don’t draw attention.”
“Right.” She blows out a breath. “Sorry, I’m impatient. And I’m so damn mad. ”
“Impatience will get you killed,” Curt says from behind her. “Slow your body down, Ivie. Take a deep breath, then another. Calm your mind. If you rush, if you let your anger lead, you’ll fail.”
“I won’t fail,” she vows softly and follows Curt’s orders by taking a deep breath.
When we’ve parked several houses down from Pavlov, I reach for the door handle, but Ivie stops me.
“I’m going in alone.”
“Ivie—”
“I know you want to protect me.” She takes my hand and gazes up at me with those intense blue eyes. “I know that. It’s who you are, Shane, and I appreciate you so much. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. But like I said earlier, I’m no damsel in distress here. You made sure of that. I’ve been training for this for weeks, and I didn’t even realize it. I need time with him. I have things to say.”
“You have fifteen minutes,” I reply reluctantly. “And then we’re coming in. This isn’t up for negotiation.”
“I’d take that offer,” Carmine says. “It’s the best you’ll get from us.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon.” She nods once and then, without hesitation, steps from the vehicle, looks both ways, and crosses the street. She walks up the sidewalk and then up the steps to the front porch.
She doesn’t bother knocking, just walks right inside. My gut twists.
“Jesus.” I pull my hand down my face in frustration. “I never would have thought I’d let her do this.”
“She needs it,” Curt says. “And I know how she feels.”
After everything Curt’s been through, he would understand perfectly.
“Yeah, well, she’s not a trained operative.”
“But she’s trained with her weapon and hand-to-hand. Her father is an old man now. She can protect herself.”
“It’s different when it’s blood,” Nadia says, her voice hollow as she stares at the door Ivie just walked through.
Nadia killed her brother earlier this year after discovering he was behind a plot to double-cross his family.
I can’t imagine the bad moments she’s had since then, even knowing that what she did was the right thing.
Carmine wraps his arm around her shoulders and whispers something in her ear.
We’re quiet for a long moment, and then Rocco says quietly, “Is the hair standing up on anyone else’s neck?”
“Something isn’t right,” Carmine agrees.
The air is too still.
It’s too quiet.
“Let’s go.” I pull my weapon from its holster. “Nadia and Carmine, take the right side of the house. Curt and I will take the left. Rocco?—”
“I’m going up ,” my brother says with a hard voice.
We can’t see the roof of the house from here. I don’t know how Rocco intends to do what he has planned, but he’s more than capable.
With weapons drawn, we move silently across the street to the house. My heart is pounding harder than it ever has on any other mission. I’m usually like stone, perfectly calm. But I’ve never faced the possibility of losing someone I love on a mission before. This is new territory.
I don’t plan to ever repeat it.
I just keep silently berating myself for letting her go in alone. I should be in there with her. I should be by her side.
But then Curt’s words come into my head. If I let the frustration, the fear , take over, I’ll lose. I have to remain focused and steady. For her sake and that of everyone here.
We’re a team, and we have a fucking job to do.
As soon as Curt and I walk around the house’s left corner, we come face-to-face with two armed men dressed in black.
We silently neutralize them and keep walking, leaving the bodies where they fell.
How did we not see them from the front? Were they hiding?
What the hell is happening here?
We slip around the corner to the back yard in time to see Carmine and Nadia kill two men. Curt and I take care of two more headed their way.
“Six?” I ask.
“Eight,” Carmine replies.
“Twelve,” Rocco says as he jumps down from above.
“Jesus,” I whisper and immediately move to the back door.
“There are men inside,” Carmine says grimly. “I counted two in the kitchen. I saw three people in the living room, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more.”
“There’s no one upstairs,” Rocco adds. “It’s clear.”
We kill two more in the kitchen.
Fourteen men.
I motion for the others to stop and be silent, and I quickly look around the corner where I hear a man speaking rapidly in a foreign language.
There is no one else in the house that I can see. Just Ivie, her father, and the other man yelling at them.
“Bulgarian,” Nadia whispers in my ear.
I turn to look at the others and point to myself.
I go in first.
They nod once.
But when I turn back around, all hell has already broken loose.