Chapter 10 - Avgust
I should’ve kissed her longer. The thought hit me the second I shut the door of the art room behind me, making me feel annoyed with my own reaction to her. Her taste was still on my mouth as I remembered how sweet she had been, even if a little hesitant. Just a little shy.
But it was all a mistake.
Not because I didn’t want her. Hell, I wanted her more than anything I’d wanted in a long, long time.
But because she hadn’t kissed me out of want.
She had kissed me only because she wanted something from me, and she thought this was the only way she could get it.
It was nothing more than a trade for her. A bargaining chip.
She would have kissed any monster in that room if it meant getting word to her family.
I already knew that. I reminded myself of it again and again as I walked down the hallway, trying to get my pulse to settle and my brain to start working again.
I was halfway to my office when my phone buzzed in my pocket.
Another call from her brother, no doubt.
The man had been calling every few minutes persistently.
I could sense that he was getting more paranoid and frantic with every passing second, but I couldn’t care less.
Let him worry. I had sent the message she wanted, and that was enough.
Her family didn’t need to know where she was or who she was with, and they sure as hell weren’t going to find out.
I continued ignoring every call and vibration.
But when the phone buzzed again, sharp and urgent, I let out a low breath and pulled it out, preparing to hit decline without even looking at the screen. Except it wasn’t the same number.
“Timofey,” My younger brother’s picture popped up all over my screen.
My stomach tightened in an instant. Timofey wouldn’t call unless it was important.
I answered. “What’s wrong?”
His voice was rough, winded, and tight with pain.
“Avgust… I need you to come get me. Right now.”
My hand stilled.
“Where are you?”
“N-near your damn… safe house. Zhenya told me you were here.” He hissed, sharp and shaky. “Ran into some local idiots. Didn’t think they’d… fuck… get a knife in.”
A cold wave snapped through me.
“I will be right there,” I said, already beginning to move. “Who were they?”
“Dunno. Four of them. Didn’t get a good look. They were already running when I pulled my gun. Probably recognized me from somewhere. I’m hiding under the ridge, bleeding like shit. But they might come back.”
Rage moved through my veins in a clean, lethal line.
“I’m coming,” I said. “Try to stay awake.”
He let out a breath that sounded like a laugh choked in blood.
“I’m not dying, brother. Timofey Chernykh… won’t die that easily. Just hurry the hell up.”
The call ended, but I was already on my way. As soon as I stepped outside, the night air hit me like a blade, humid and heavy. My guards straightened the moment they saw me, but I didn’t slow down long enough for explanations. My brother needed me.
“Get the car out now.”
The SUV revved to life in seconds.
I climbed in, slammed the door, and we tore off down the private road, gravel crunching under the tires.
My jaw clenched with every passing second as I continued to think of Timofey bleeding somewhere near my house.
Someone had been stupid enough to attack one of my brothers, and that too around Chernykh territory.
I would find them. And I would make sure none of them ever walked again.
The grim edge of my fury sharpened as we cut through the curve in the road, headlights sweeping over the ridge where the forest thickened.
And then I saw him. Timofey was slumped against the base of a rock shelf, one hand pressed to his side, jacket torn, shirt soaked through with blood.
His gun hung loosely from his other hand.
He lifted his head when the lights hit him, squinting against the glare.
“About time, asshole,” he muttered, in classic Timofey fashion.
I was out of the SUV before it even fully stopped.
“Let me see.”
“Don’t baby me,” he grumbled, even as he let his hand drop.
The wound was bad, the cut going deep into his skin. A gash along the ribs, long and messy from being stabbed by someone who was either unskilled or panicked, or simply wanted to hurt without killing. My jaw locked. This would need tending to at once.
“You’ll live,” I said. “Unfortunately.”
“Touching,” he smirked weakly.
I grabbed his arm, slung it over my shoulder, and hauled him upright. He winced but stayed conscious. Situations like these were not foreign to us, and Timofey had been through his fair share of wounds up until now. There was nothing a Chernykh could not get out of.
“Who were they?” I asked, as the guards opened the back door so I could put Timofey inside the car.
“No idea,” Timofey said, “But they spoke Russian.”
I stilled.
Russian. They were clearly not American or local, which meant that they were not random men. They could be the same men who had kidnapped Ilana. My suspicion almost tightened into certainty.
“It’s either this group of kidnappers, who I believe are in the area these days, or the new Russian family is getting bold,” I muttered.
Timofey snorted. “Or bored.”
I didn’t smile.
I helped him inside the SUV, barked an order for one guard to scout the ridge while the rest stayed alert, then climbed in beside my brother.
As the car turned back towards the house, I glanced at my phone again, realizing there were a lot of missed calls from Ilana’s brother.
I deleted the number without a second thought.
She was safe with me and was under my protection. And it was going to stay that way.
No one else needed to know more than that.
Not even her family. If they couldn’t protect her before, I hardly doubted they could protect her now.
The night thickened around the SUV as we sped back, danger in the air, blood on my hands, and a storm building in my chest that had nothing to do with the men who had attacked Timofey.
And everything to do with the woman who was waiting at home.
After all, she was about to get her very first introduction as my wife.
We reached back the house within minutes, but getting Timofey inside was a controlled mess of blood, curses, and half-limping arrogance. Typical. He slung an arm over my shoulder as we crossed the threshold, muttering, “If you tell anyone I needed help, I will kill you.”
“You can barely stand right now,” I replied dryly. “And let’s not forget I am stronger than you and a better shot.”
“Yeah, but I will die trying.”
I snorted at his absurd remark and guided him into the living room. Dimitri and Abram, my guards, rushed towards us, but I waved them away until I needed one to grab me some gauze and alcohol.
“Get me the first aid box, gauze, alcohol, clean water, and towels.”
Timofey dropped onto the couch with a hiss, pressing a hand to his ribs. I had tended to enough wounds in my life, but it had not made it easier. Looking at blood gushing out of someone’s body always made me turn the other way.
“You sure they did not accidentally leave the knife in?” he asked.
“Obviously,” I said. “Otherwise, you would be screaming much louder right now.”
He grinned. “Maybe I like screaming.”
“Then scream when I pour this,” I muttered, uncapping the alcohol that Dimitri handed me. I took the first aid box from him as he went to fetch other things.
Timofey groaned dramatically. “You’re so heartless.”
Before I could respond, a soft voice drifted into the room, alerting all my senses at once.
She was here. I had never planned to hide her away or not let Timofey see her, but I had not expected her to come looking for me.
Especially at this hour, which she spent holed up in either her room or the library, simply reading.
“Avgust?”
I froze. So did Timofey. Having a woman in my safe house was a much bigger shock for him than for me.
Everyone knew of my reputation for not fucking around or spending time with women for no reason, especially my siblings.
I turned, and just as I had expected, Ilana stood in the doorway.
She was wearing one of the soft sweaters I bought her, hair tied loosely, paint still smudged faintly on her fingers from earlier.
She was clearly coming directly from her art room.
Her eyes widened at the sight of blood all over me.
“Oh my god, what happened to you?!”
Timofey’s gaze snapped to her like a magnet, and that familiar cocky smirk spread across his face at once. Wounded or not, nothing stopped his bullshit of always trying to be irresistible in front of women. His handsome looks only aided him, and his natural charm made things even easier.
“Well, hello,” he drawled. “Didn’t know my brother was hiding a pretty little thing out here at the safe house. No wonder he has been refusing to come home for the past few weeks. You his maid? Or—”
“Finish that sentence,” I warned, “and I will pour the alcohol directly into your throat.”
Timofey held up one hand defensively. “Avgust I am injured. Not blind. How do you expect to sit here and ignore a beautiful woman standing right in front of me?”
Ilana blinked at him, clearly unsure whether to step closer or run away. She hovered by the door, fingers twisting nervously.
“Is he… is he going to be okay?” she asked softly, ignoring everything Timofey had just said.
Timofey beamed. “I’ll feel much better if you come closer and perhaps sit beside—”
“Timofey,” I said his name like a warning, which was enough to make him stop and turn his attention towards me. I had never stopped Timofey from flirting with a girl in front of me or even cozying up to my dates. None of those women had mattered to me. But Ilana? Ilana was different.
“What?” Timofey asked, his eyes on me now, staring steadily.
“She is from the auction that took place a few weeks ago,” I said sharply.