28. Lev
Feliks and I follow Henry and Brooke into the little motel room and close the door behind us.
“What the hell is going on?” Henry demands.
“Henry, this is Lev,” Brooke explains, not meeting my eyes.
“And I’m Feliks,” Feliks jumps in, immediately shaking Henry’s hand.
Henry’s eyes light up. “Well, hello…”
Feliks gives him one of his flirtatious grins, and the two make eyes at each other like we’re all here on a fucking Tinder date.
I clear my throat.
Both men turn to look in my direction, and Feliks straightens like the soldier he’s supposed to be.
“How did you find me?” Brooke asks.
“You left in a refrigerated delivery truck. Common sense says you’d get off at the next stop. Not a very smart move hiding out in a motel across the road from where Joe’s next stop was.”
“Well, forgive me for being an amateur at running from the mafia.”
“Bratva,” I remind her.
She continues to shoot bullets at me from her eyes.
The motel room is a shithole.
This was better than being with me?
“You’re coming home with me,” I say, unable to control the edge in my tone.
“No, I’m not,” she bites back.
“And not if I can help it,” Henry says, taking a step forward.
I shift my gaze to him. He’s clearly intimidated, but I have a feeling he’d throw himself in front of Brooke to stop me from getting to her.
I like this guy.
He knows who we are, and he’s still got the balls to stand up to me. I admire his need to protect her. Even if it is futile. Because stopping me from taking Brooke home with me will be like trying to stop a volcanic eruption. Impossible. I have layers and layers of destruction boiling inside me, ready to blow, and the anger ready to detonate it. But I respect his willingness to try. He cares about her. Not because he wants to fuck her but because he genuinely loves her, and I appreciate that.
I give Feliks a knowing look, and he understands immediately. I want time alone with Brooke.
He turns to Henry. “Perhaps you and I should step outside and let these two talk.”
Henry shoots Brooke a look. What should I do here?
“That’s very good advice you should listen to,” I say to him.
Brooke nods, and Henry lets Feliks guide him toward the door.
“You smoke?” Feliks asks.
“Only after sex,” Henry replies absentmindedly as he watches Brooke and me with a concerned look on his face.
Feliks smirks and gives him a wink. “Let’s have a cigarette first and then see how we go, shall we?”
Once they’re gone and it’s just me and my little runaway, I gesture for her to sit.
Which she refuses, of course.
“I’m fine right here.”
I send her a warning look. “Sit down.”
She gives me a filthy look but sits on the edge of the bed anyway. “If it means we can get this over and done with quickly.”
“Oh, that’s not going to happen.”
I admit it’s hard to look at her because I’m barely containing the anger inside.
She fucking left me.
And since she scurried away like a frightened little mouse from me, I’ve had a million arguments with her in my head about it, and she hasn’t won a single one of them.
Now that I’m here looking at her for the first time since I found out she sold me out to the feds, I’m surprised by the pain twisting in my gut.
“You and I have a few things to discuss,” I say.
“Fine, but let’s get this over with. Say what you’re going to say.”
She looks tired, and the part of me that wants to look after her tells me I should go easy on her. Forget that she just ran without talking to me. Forget that she put not just herself in danger but our baby as well. Forget that I’m dying to take her in my arms and hold her because I’m fucking relieved we found her before any of my enemies did.
But the other part of me that felt the pain of her leaving me is bigger and angrier, and right now, he’s in control, and he’s determined to make sure she knows it.
“I know what you did,” I say.
Which puts her off guard because her brow pulls in with confusion. “Yeah, it’s kind of obvious that you know I ran away from you when you’re standing in front of me in my motel room.”
My little runaway has developed an attitude, and I don’t know what I want to do first. Punish her or kiss her.
“I’m talking about your breakfast date with Agent Michaels.”
Her back straightens, and I can see the surprise written all over her face.
“You know about that?”
“I know about every time you spoke with him.”
“Every time? What are you talking about?”
I bring up the images on my phone and hold it out so she can see the screen. “At the hospital.” I flick my finger across the screen to bring up the different photos, stopping at the one where he has his arm around her. Fuck, that one still fucking hurts to look at. “That’s my favorite. You two look quite cozy.”
She sits up straighter and hits me with big, beautiful, angry eyes. “What the hell are you suggesting?”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m just laying out the facts in front of you and asking you to explain them.” I stop on the next image of them at the diner yesterday. “Tell me, did you sell your soul to the FBI for the price of a cup of coffee?”
I see the moment when her anger turns from a slow burn into a simmering rage. Her nostrils flare, only slightly, but enough for me to know that I’ve hit some kind of button.
“You think I am involved with Agent Michaels somehow?”
“You can’t deny you look… chummy. Did he offer you protection? Did he tell you to sneak into the back of Joe’s truck so he could get you away from me?”
“No, I did that all on my own, and don’t you dare take any of this out on Joe. He had no idea I was in the back of his truck, and he had no cause to, so don’t you do anything to him.”
“Look at you, always quick to save everyone else around you. Everyone except me, of course.” I hate how my words come out with more emotion than I intended. I’m not used to dealing with this much emotion running through me, which is another reason to keep Brooke as far away from me as possible. My feelings for her made me weak, and they’re still making me weak if I can’t keep them out of my tone.
But I can’t stop. It’s like my mouth has a mind of its own.
“What’s the plan? Is he going to meet you back here and whisk you away to your new life? Is he going to step in and help you raise my baby?”
The idea of any other man being a father figure to my kid makes my body shake with unchecked rage.
Brooke’s eyes widen with shock, and I feel like I’ve hit the nail on the head, and my fists tighten to hard balls at my sides.
“I have nothing to do with him. I told him to leave me alone.” Her eyes narrow. “And I don’t need anyone to help me raise my baby, do you understand? I am capable of doing that on my own.”
“Well, that’s not your choice now, is it? That baby is going to have you and me to raise it. And no one, not even an ambitious pizda like Agent Michaels, is going to stop that from happening.”
She stands up. “I told you, I have nothing to do with him. I told him to leave me alone.”
I can’t help the scoff that erupts out of me. “You expect me to believe that?”
“If you don’t know me by now, and if my word means so little to you, then we have nothing left to talk about.”
I disagree. “We have a lot to talk about. And it’s not gonna happen in this shit hole of the motel. You and Henry are coming back with me.”
“Like hell we are.”
“You speak as if you have a choice. But let me be clear… you don’t.”
“What are you gonna do, kidnap me again?”
“Yes, Miss Masters, that is precisely what I am going to do.”