Chapter 17
17
Adrian
I groaned at the sound of my phone ringing and slapped my hand around the nightstand until it landed on the offending device. Ivan grunted and tightened his arm around me, pressing his face between my shoulder blades.
“Shut it off,” he mumbled.
Ignoring him, I squinted at the screen, immediately coming awake at the sign of Emmaline’s name. She’d had my number for years , but she’d never used it.
Something was fucking wrong . I could feel it in my gut. A sense of foreboding slid through my veins as I quickly sat up, displacing Ivan. He huffed in annoyance and squinted at me as I swiped my thumb up my screen to answer her call and raised my phone to my ear.
“Emmaline?” I asked. I scrubbed at my eyes, trying to rub away the grittiness. My eyeballs felt swollen from crying so much. “What happened?”
Her breath hitched, and she sobbed. Propping my elbow on my raised knee, I dropped my forehead to rest on my forearm, trying to brace myself for the news she was about to break to me.
“James was shot,” she croaked. Fuck . “He—” She choked on her next breath. My chest tightened, and I sucked in a shuddering breath. “He’s in surgery, but they don’t—” Her next sob broke my already fracturing heart. “They don’t know if he’s going to make it, Adrian.”
“ Fuck ,” I snarled, flinging the blankets back. I hurried to the dresser, snatching out a pair of jeans. “I’m coming home, okay? Is Darren with you?”
“The whole family is here,” she said, her voice cracking. “I thought—” She had to pause to breathe. I had no idea how she was capable of it when my lungs didn’t feel like they were working properly. My brother , the one man who’d always had my back, was lying on his fucking death bed. “I thought I should be the one to call you as his w-wife.”
I pressed my phone between my ear and shoulder as I tugged my jeans up my legs with shaking hands. “He’s not dying, Emmaline, you hear me? That man will not fucking die if for no other reason that he’s too damn stubborn to leave you, okay? Be strong for him, and be strong for Carter,” I ordered, mentioning her son. “I’ll be home soon.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
I ended the call, then set my phone down long enough to snatch a t-shirt out of the drawer. I had just tugged it over my head when Ivan spun me around to face him. I stumbled, but his hands latched onto my upper arms, steadying me. He’d tugged on his slacks, but they were undone. In any other situation, I might have been tempted, but all I could focus on was getting home to protect my family.
“I need you to tell me what the fuck is going on, kotik ,” he calmly ordered, his green eyes running over my face.
“I need?—”
He yanked open my top dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of socks, handing them to me. “Tell me while you finish getting dressed,” he commanded.
I took a seat on the end of the bed and began tugging on my socks. He crossed his arms over his broad chest, arching a brow at me, waiting for me to begin. My chest was so fucking tight when I opened my mouth to speak that for a moment, I forgot how to breathe. Closing my eyes, I curled my hands into fists.
“James was shot,” I rasped, slowly opening my eyes again. His laser-sharp focus on me kept me grounded. “He’s in surgery. The doctors told Emmaline they don’t know if he’s going to make it.”
Ivan clenched his jaw, then pulled his phone from his pocket. “Meet me downstairs,” he ordered before he left my room, shutting the door behind him with a quiet shnick all while he lifted his phone to his ear. I focused on getting dressed, trusting Ivan to help me take care of this. And if he tried keeping me here while my family needed me…
I would do whatever the fuck it took to get home to them. He would not hold me here while my family suffered. I was the second-in-command. I was James’s fucking consigliere. I was supposed to take over the reins if something happened to him.
I didn’t even bother packing my things. I just shoved my shoes on and snatched my phone off my dresser, dialing Darren’s number as I left my room and headed for the stairs. He answered on the first ring. “Let me get somewhere quiet,” he told me, the sound of the hospital echoing in the background. “Jaxon, I’ll be back in a minute,” I heard him murmur. I jogged down the stairs and headed for the front door. “Alright, I’m here. Emmaline said you’re on your way home?”
“Yeah,” I grunted. “Waiting on Ivan now.” He wasn’t by the front door when I reached it, so I began pacing back and forth, unable to stand still. “Tell me what the fuck happened, Darren.”
Darren heaved a sigh. “Emmaline wasn’t feeling well, so James went downstairs to make her a cup of tea. When he didn’t come back after ten minutes, she went looking for him. Found him on the kitchen floor with two bullet holes in his chest. There was blood everywhere .” He drew in a deep breath, and even Darren, who I wasn’t ever sure was entirely human, sounded shaken. “ Fuck , Adrian, her screams are going to haunt me.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Cameras?” I demanded.
“Nothing,” Darren growled. “This is definitely an inside job. I want to get the women and kids to a safe house, but Emmaline…”
“Yeah.” I inhaled deeply, dragging a hand down my face. “She’s not leaving until James can.” I blew out a harsh breath. “ Fuck .”
“Jaxon and I aren’t allowing anyone around them,” he assured me. “We’ll wait for you to get home, and we’ll figure out a game plan from there. Just get here as soon as possible, Adrian.”
“I will,” I promised him. “Keep me updated.”
“Will do.”
I ended the call just as Ivan rounded the corner. He was dressed in a pair of black fitted slacks, a black button down, and his shiny Oxfords. He’d taken a few minutes to shower, and it agitated me. I opened my mouth to snap at him for wasting my time, but he held his hand up before I could. Obediently, I snapped my mouth shut, watching as he adjusted his sleeves then grabbed his coat from the coat hook by the door. He grabbed the other one hanging there and passed it to me. Without a word, I slid it on.
“I was making phone calls while I was showering,” he assured me. I relaxed at that. He hadn’t wasted precious time just so he could be clean. “We have a jet on standby. Mark and Igor will be meeting us at the airport. As of now, we trust no one else but immediate family. Got it?”
“Already ahead of you,” I said as we headed toward the garage. He pushed the door open, then stepped into the garage. Grabbing a set of keys off the wall, he pressed the unlock button. A shiny black Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut lit up. I whistled low, admittedly a bit impressed.
“This will get us to the airport faster than my other vehicles,” he said as he rounded the car to slide into the driver’s side. Once we were seated, he continued, “Igor is working on trying to track down who did this to James.”
“Cameras were wiped,” I ground out through clenched teeth.
Ivan nodded. “We know. But Igor is a fucking technology genius. If anyone can find the fucker who did this, it’s him. Trust me.” We hit the highway, and Ivan floored it. “Explain to me the plan Darren and Jaxon have.”
I sighed. “Until we get there, they’re sitting tight. No one is allowed near the wives or the kids except them. Darren would like to get them to a safe house, but the only way he’s getting Emmaline away is if she’s no longer breathing. She’s not going to leave James.”
Ivan nodded. “She’s a strong one.” He slowed down just enough to safely make a turn, then sped back up. “When we get on the plane, I need you to give me your safest safehouse location. As soon as James is stabilized, your family will need to be moved to a secure location.” He grabbed his phone and began dialing a number. A moment later, he cleared his throat, the phone held to his ear. “Dr. Lebedev, I need a favor, and I’ll compensate you well for it. I can’t give details over the phone, but I need you to meet me at the airport and prepare to fly to America with us.” He paused for a moment. “Thank you.”
He tossed his phone down. “Dr. Lebedev will be flying to America with us. Once James is stabilized, we’ll move him to a safehouse, and he’ll have his own personal doctor.”
“We have our own doctor,” I reminded him.
Ivan shrugged like he didn’t give two fucks, which he probably didn’t. “I trust mine more than I trust yours right now.” I didn’t say anything because to be real, I didn’t trust anyone apart from immediate family either. “James was shot in your home. He almost died in your home. Right now, no one that works for your family can be trusted. Someone has been bought out by Boris and Ninel, and until we find out who, we treat everyone as the fucking enemy.” He turned onto the road for the airport. “I will not play games with your safety, kotik .”
I scoffed. “I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.”
Ivan shrugged. “Fucking tough. You’re mine. And I take care of what is mine.”