Chapter 49
Scarlett
Iexpected I’d be nervous to be all alone with a Bratva underboss and her enforcer.
A powerful woman who can order the end of a life, and the man hired to follow her orders.
As dark as it is, it’s exciting to be on this trip with Ana, but it’s also sparking some heavy questions for me as a physician.
It’s a tough needle to thread. Can I stand by and watch a man die, even someone who’s evil?
This part of medicine is ugly. Deciding who lives and dies when it can’t be both. Or when someone is unredeemable.
Pierce? He is unredeemable in his selfish, godly conceit. But making him pay is not worth it if it comes back to hurt Cormac. I’m certain that whatever punishment Ana will inflict on Pierce, it will hurt him plenty.
Ana sits in one of the captain’s chairs behind the driver in a charcoal pantsuit, legs crossed, chin lifted, and eerily calm. I sit in the seat next to her, and Sergei sits in a rear-facing, fold-down seat behind the front passenger.
I consider my ex’s anal-retentive schedule. Like clockwork on Sundays, he has brunch with Barron and their friends from college. Some are doctors, one is a lawyer, and the other is a CEO.
“There.” I point to the private club with an ornate oak door and black hammered fixtures.
We park at the curb and wait less than ten minutes, when the door opens, and Pierce’s brother Barron emerges.
I tap Ana’s hand. “That’s his brother. Pierce will be outside any second.”
“Go,” Ana gives her one-word command.
Sergei is out of the SUV in a blur, his massive body shooting forward like a stealth missile. The opening and shutting of other car doors sound out behind me. I look out the back window. Tall, scary men in sharp suits position themselves in front of the matching black SUVs lined up behind us.
What a show of force.
Ana turns to me. “When he gets in this car, don’t show any fear,” she says. “He only wins if you fear him.”
I swallow. “I’m not afraid.”
She studies me. “Good.”
The rear door flings open, and Sergei throws Pierce into the fold-down seat. He keeps my ex there with a thick forearm pressed against Pierce’s neck.
He sputters, fighting off Sergie’s hold to breathe. “Are you insane? Do you know who my father—?”
Sergei grips a fistful of Langston’s perfect cashmere car coat, and a blade appears at my ex’s throat.
Two other men make sure Pierce’s entourage doesn’t hang around. Even Barron, who maybe knows his brother is banging his wife, leaves Pierce to the wolves.
Mafia 1. Medicine Royalty 0.
Pierce’s gaze shifts and lands on me. “Scarlett,” he chokes out.
I meet his eyes. My voice is steady. “I thought you should meet the woman you humiliated last night.”
Pierce’s eyes and brain catch up as his gaze flicks over Ana. That moment he recognizes the broken woman he used for his shame game last night is priceless. From his vantage point, he also sees the SUVs lined up behind us and the army of men surrounding our car.
“You,” he chokes out to Ana.
“That is Boss,” Sergei says in his accent. “You understand?”
Pierce’s bravado evaporates.
I watch as the enforcer’s knife kisses Pierce’s carotid artery and a little gush of blood beads over the blade.
“That man can end your life in two seconds,” Ana says smoothly. “But you should be more afraid of me.”
Something wild flashes behind Pierce’s expression as he turns to me. “You weren’t supposed to leave me.”
“If that’s your excuse for all the terrible things you’ve done, then you’re even more of a selfish prick than I thought.” I fold my arms.
“More blood?” Sergei mutters, pressing the blade deeper.
Pierce winces, a thin line of red trickling down onto the collar of his pristine starched white dress shirt.
Ana’s head tilts a fraction. Danger signal. A sign that I need to stop talking.
“Pierce,” she says, her tone dripping with cold Russian steel. “Pay attention.”
Pierce licks his lips. “What do you want?”
Ana pulls out a knife of her own and presses it into his nuts. “How dare you use my image in your sick game. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
Pierce’s eyes travel around the car and outside. I think he gets it.
“I said, what do you want?”
Ana’s eyes narrow at his tone, but she remains coolly in control. “Here’s what’s going to happen. If you do not publicly admit that you lied about Dr. Cormac O’Rourke and that you manufactured all those images—”
“And why would I do that?” Pierce tries on the old charm like a broken mask.
“If you don’t, I will destroy you,” Ana deadpans.
Pierce’s eyes go wide. “Wait, it was just…”
She leans forward slightly, just enough that the air turns frosty.
“Oh, I won’t kill you. That’s too easy. Too quick.
Dr. O’Rourke, who is my brother-in-law, comes from a family of tough men.
Within that family is a world-class hacker, Dr. Langston.
He will erase your credentials from every system on the planet.
One keystroke, and you are no longer a man in a lab coat. You are a bum with no job.”
Ana gestures lazily to Sergei. “And if that’s not enough? If you think you can outdo my power, my enforcer here will unburden you of one of your hands.”
“Starting with fingers,” Sergei adds.
“You may find a way to keep your license, but I don’t see how you can be a doctor without fingers. Definitely not without hands.” She sits back. “What do you think, Dr. Langston? Admit you told a little white lie because you were jealous of this gorgeous creature.” Ana pets me.
I smile because… Heck, I like it.
“Or lose everything?” Ana’s voice goes deep.
Pierce pales to ghost white. “W…wait.” He swallows as a dark smile splits Sergie’s lips.
I sit frozen as the enforcer draws the blade upward, slow and threatening, until it rests beneath Pierce’s jaw. Another bead of blood appears. Sergei curls his fingers into my ex’s hair and wrenches his head back. The knife slices a deeper line of red. Pierce screams, and I cover my mouth.
Ana doesn’t flinch.
“Stop!” Pierce’s voice jumps up an octave. “Okay, okay, fine, Jesus, I’ll make a formal statement.”
Ana pockets her knife and sits back, composed. “Good boy. You may be scum, but you’re not a fool.”
Sergei withdraws the blade and smacks Pierce in the head. “I’m missing football game for this.”
I hide a spit of laughter, all while my pulse is hammering. I could have easily sat here and witnessed not a murder, but a dismemberment.
But God, this was exhilarating. Justice. Power.
Pierce’s glare darts to me again. “So…this is your thing now? Mafia intimidation?”
I lean forward, elbows on my knees. “You chose to fuck with the mafia.”
“He chose to fuck with the Bratva, sister,” Ana corrects me with a tap on my knee.
“Bratva…” Pierce mutters. “Fuck.”
“You have twenty-four hours to make your public apology. Clear Dr. O’Rourke’s name.
Praise his notable and outstanding achievements as you should have done last night and beg for his forgiveness.
” Ana’s voice only gets quieter and more terrifying.
“If you fail, you’ll never practice medicine again, one way or another. ”
Sergei wiggles his fingers, making the threat abundantly clear.
“Fine. Yes. Whatever.” Pierce nods frantically. “Let me the fuck out of this car.”
Ana nods once to Sergei. The enforcer shoves my ex sideways out the still-open door.
Pierce falls out and hits the sidewalk hard, scrambling away on hands and knees while Sergei looms above him, fists curled. My ex gets to his feet, and he’s on the phone in seconds. We don’t wait to see who he thinks will show up and rescue him.
Sergei returns to the fold-down seat, slamming the door on a man he no longer cares about.
Ana straightens her already smooth pants, perfectly calm. “You handled your first shakedown admirably.”
My heart spikes with pride and adrenalin. “Thank you.”
She taps the roof of the car. “Home.”
The SUV peels away from the curb, and this is already forgotten.
I joined a family. Two, really.
An Irish Mob and Bratva empire.
And God help anyone who tries to take me away from it now.