Chapter 24 - Avgust
We moved before the city had time to breathe.
That was the only way to take something like this down.
We needed to be quiet, fast, and brutal enough so no one left standing would even know what hit them.
The warehouse sat at the edge of the docks, a concrete carcass pretending to be abandoned.
There were no lights outside and no guards in plain sight.
It was too clean. Too silent. Exactly the kind of place that screamed money and arrogance.
The auctioneers were smart enough to change the auction location each time, but I was smarter.
I had always known people. People who would tell me anything for the right price or the right threat.
And then we had Ilana’s location from the hidden phone she was carrying.
I crouched behind a stack of rusted containers, Lukyan to my left, Timofey to my right. Fyodor stood a few meters behind us, speaking into a burner phone in clipped, efficient Russian. He possessed Romanov efficiency and confidence, which was exactly what I had seen in Ilana as well.
“You sure this is it?” Timofey asked.
Fyodor ended the call and slid the phone into his pocket. “Auction starts in twenty minutes. The buyers are already inside.”
My jaw tightened. It was twenty minutes too late. I knew Ilana would be in there, or somewhere beneath it. She could be drugged or unconscious for all I knew. Or—
I cut the thought off before it could finish. She would be alright. She had to be.
I would not be late this time.
“We will go now,” I said.
Fyodor arched a brow. “If we enter before all the players have arrived, we will lose leverage.”
“Our motto isn’t the big fish. We are here to get the auctioneers, the kidnappers, and the girls. And getting to them right now is our safest bet,” Lukyan said flatly.
Fyodor studied him, then me, as if he were calculating whether he should accept this idea. Finally, he nodded once.
“Fine.”
“The entry will be quiet. No explosions. Remember, we are here to surprise them and get to what we need, not cause a war. If we had to fight a battle, we would have brought our armies. But it is just us four against quite a lot of people, so we will need to be strategic,” I reiterated, still wondering if this plan was going to work.
It had to. Failure was not an option.
Timofey smirked. “You’re no fun, brother.”
I rolled my eyes and motioned at them to take positions.
We split into pairs. Lukyan and Timofey circled east, taking the security room while Fyodor and I moved towards the loading bay, with our weapons low and footsteps soundless.
To our surprise, we found the door unlocked.
That was mistake number one made out of pure arrogance.
These men thought no one could come after them. Now they would know.
We quietly stepped inside, the air smelling like old, cold metal and unmistakable fear.
It hit me immediately, thick enough to taste.
Rows of temporary holding cages lined the far wall, shadows shifting inside them.
I knew exactly what I was going to find here.
Fyodor looked at me, and we walked further, our eyes falling on the rows of temporary holding cages that lined the far wall, shadows shifting inside them.
Women. Girls. Someone crying quietly. Some stared straight ahead like their souls had already left their bodies.
Rage curled in my chest, hot and familiar.
That was when I saw her.
Ilana wasn’t in a cage. She was standing.
Blood streaked down her temple, drying in her hair, her hands bound loosely in front of her. She was speaking, calmly and deliberately, to two armed men near a table stacked with files and tablets. Her posture was wrong for a captive. Too steady. Too alert.
She met my eyes from across the room.
There wasn’t any fear or surprise in them. Just quiet resolve.
She dipped her chin once.
Go.
I didn’t hesitate.
The door to the left opened, and a flurry of men entered the room, their eyes finding us in the dark. The two men turned around as well, shock registering on their faces.
“What the fuck?” one of the men cursed. Fyodor moved left while I moved right.
The first man dropped before he could turn, my knife sinking into the soft place beneath his jaw.
The second reached for his gun, and Ilana moved, fast and vicious, driving her shoulder into his chest and sending him sprawling.
Fyodor fired twice, clean and precise, sending two men to the floor at once.
I had expected the girls to scream, but it felt as if Ilana had already briefed them.
No one uttered a single word. No one moved.
Silence followed after that.
Ilana exhaled shakily, then laughed under her breath. “You are late. The auction will start any minute.”
I crossed the room in three strides and caught her face in my hands before I could stop myself. “Are you hurt?”
“Not badly,” she said.
We turned as gunfire erupted from the east wing, signaling that Lukyan and Timofey had entered the premises. The shots were controlled. The two of them were a power duo together and could handle anything. I had faith in them.
“Start unlocking the cages,” I told Ilana. “Can you walk?”
She nodded. “I have been pretending to be weaker than I actually am.”
Of course, she had. My smart ass wife. She moved with purpose, fingers flying over keypads, whispering to the girls as doors began to slide open.
Everything was automatically locked through the tablets.
I had no idea how Ilana had found the codes to access them all, but I could see she knew exactly what to do.
It only meant she had been keeping track.
Fyodor and I covered her back, scanning corners, every nerve alive.
One of the girls clung to Ilana’s arm, sobbing.
I watched as Ilana held the girl as if they had been best friends forever.
In a little over twenty-four hours, Ilana had managed to win their trust. All of them were silent, but were easily following Ilana’s instructions, their eyes trained on her and her alone.
She was their ray of light in the darkness that surrounded us. I had never been prouder of her.
“That is the exit,” Ilana said, motioning towards the open gate. “Move outside, but don’t scatter or run. Stay together.”
The girls nodded and did exactly as Ilana instructed.
More guards poured in from the north entrance.
I took them down methodically, bullets precise, anger steadying my hands instead of shaking them.
To my left, Fyodor did the same. He was clearly a skilled fighter, every movement precise despite his still recovering bullet wound.
Ilana grabbed a fallen gun and handed it to one of the older girls.
“Keep this. But only use it if you have to.”
She met my gaze again, and I could see she was proud and unbroken. The doors opened once again, and Timofey and Lukyan entered, motioning with their eyes.
“The auctioneers know something is happening. All the guards have been taken down, but the people are panicking,” Timofey informed.
“We need to get going,” Lukyan said.
“I will stay here with the girls,” Ilana added.
“My security detail is right outside. You have your phone, go ahead and call them, and they will take the girls to safety. As soon as I am done inside, I will come find you,” I told her and ran inside with Timofey, Lukyan, and Fyodor.
Going directly inside the venue was not the best idea, but all the auctioneers were gathered there.
Timofey, being the most impulsive amongst us, fired at the makeshift tent, and a group of people ran outside.
I recognized them immediately. What followed afterward was nothing but a blur of movement.
Everyone had guns, and they easily outnumbered us, but no one was as skilled.
Between the four of us, we tackled most men to the ground, except the ones who were already running away.
The guests who had gathered also began to exit through the other entrance, while I made my way back to Ilana.
The tent was already empty, and I ran back to the loading bay, realizing that most of the girls were already inside the vans I had brought alongside my security team.
I nodded at them, and they moved away, my gaze falling on Ilana.
Timofey, Lukyan, and Fyodor returned as well.
“Everyone is either dead or gone.” Lukyan clarified.
“Perfect.”
We were almost done. Nothing was left to do anymore except for getting out of here.
That was when Fyodor turned around, his gun pointed directly at me now.
He fired once, the click being quiet and final at the same time.
What saved me was pure instinct. I twisted, firing at the same time.
Our shots went wide, both of us too good to miss unless we meant to.
“When the hell are you doing?” Lukyan shouted as he ran in, blood on his sleeve.
Fyodor smiled thinly. “I am taking what’s mine.”
Ilana stepped between us without hesitation. “You guys need to stop.”
Fyodor’s gaze flicked to Ilana as something unreadable crossed his face. “You are coming with me, Ilana.”
“No, she is not,” I said, my jaw hardening.
“Yes,” Fyodor replied calmly. “This was the deal from the very beginning.”
“There was no deal,” I snapped.
“Have you lost your mind, Fyodor? I am not going anywhere with you. I already told you that at the very beginning. And if you think you can point your gun at me and take me with you, you’re mistaken,” Ilana replied.
“She is not a bargaining chip,” I growled.
Fyodor leaned in closer. “She is a Romanov, and she belongs beside her brothers.”
“She is a Chernykh now,” Timofey chimed in. “She is a part of our family, and you have no right to force her to do anything.”
Before I could move, he seized her wrist and dragged her back, gun trained on my ribs. Lukyan raised his gun at Fyodor, and Timofey cursed loudly. I could sense they were as angry as I was.