Chapter 15 – Egor
“Guess what?”
I massaged the bridge of my nose, shoved my hands into my pockets, and gazed out the window at the setting sun and lively streets below.
“No.”
“Come on, just—”
“No. Nikolai, I don’t have time for your gimmicks. If it’s important, you’ll tell me and not make me guess shit.”
There was a static cackle from the other end, and, in the background, I heard the sweet purr of an engine before the sound of a door closing.
“Going out?”
“Something like that. It’s more like going in. Heard rumors about some gang in the city trying to stir up trouble for us, but that’s not your problem. They’re pests, and I’m going to handle them. Back to the reason I called now. If you think it’s not important, don’t guess.”
I blew out a breath. Knowing Niko, there was a higher chance this information was about a woman than it having any relation to business. I would give it my best shot to get him off my phone.
I turned away from the glass when the orange skies turned purple.
“Fine. You finally got to fuck blonde Tracie from the club.”
He was quiet before he said, “I did that yesterday, and for the record, she’s a terrible fuck. Clingy and too noisy. Try again.”
“Oh, my fucking—”
“If you think it’s not important, don’t guess.”
“Grandpa’s proposing the idea of marriage to you now?”
He laughed, and I imagined the wind blowing through his hair in a classic style as he sped down the road. We’d joked about it when we were younger, about how he was born for speed a nd women. He’d always preferred driving with his car roofs down. Said it afforded the ladies a better view.
“No, Korol . That marriage chain was made specially for you. I’m just going to save you the pain and get straight to it. How are things in LA?”
That was supposed to be my question to him because he was overseeing the happenings there while I was hidden away in our hometown.
It made no sense that he would ask me that, and I was about to respond when it suddenly clicked.
All humor faded, and I marched to the desk with clenched teeth. “What the fuck happened?”
“Maybe it’s not important after all, but your pretty prisoner phoned a colleague at the narcotics department—a cry for help, that sort of thing. Turns out, he’s also known as Officer John Candler, and he readied himself for the rescue mission. You know, Superman? But he wasn’t fast enough. On my orders, he was intercepted. You’re welcome.”
“And you’re sure of this how?”
“I have a mole.”
“And now, let me guess, your mole is female?”
“Fucked her once and left her forever grateful. Said it was the best experience of her life, and since then, she’s given me details of every fucking thing that happens there. Her name’s Mila. You can look her up. Doesn’t look like it, but she’s got moves better than blonde Tracie.”
“Hm.”
Feisty Freya. Audacious Freya. Never listened to warnings. She’d managed to fool me, alright. Just when I thought threatening her family was enough to shake her up, she’d been pretending to submit and just had to go ahead and do the one thing I told her not to, like a sly vixen.
Her courage left me feeling both amused and irritated.
After a moment of processing, I chuckled, and even Niko heard the darkness in it.
“Shit. You’re going to kill her, aren’t you?”
I ignored his question and snatched the car keys and my gun from the desk, marching to my car. “Do you have any idea how she got that phone?”
“Yeah. I got my mole to trace the call. Proved difficult but was finally able to break through. Stolen from one Martha Quinlan.”
I thought hard; there was only one way that could have happened: the fundraiser.
“And the rescue leader, John?”
“Oh, him. I called in reinforcements to deliver a welcome package. I’ll send you pictures soon. I think he received it quite well.”
“Good job, Niko.”
The call disconnected, and, like my brother, I floored the gas like a maniac, launching the pins over the speed limit.
When I got home, she was seated in the living room, her face contorted in worry, her elbows on her knees, and her fingers interlocked underneath her chin. She looked like someone who was really waiting for help.
Our eyes met, and she sprung on her feet, professionally sliding into her role of a good girl. In my hand, my phone screen lit up—messages from my brother.
Tucking her long hair behind her ears, she rubbed her palms on her shorts and greeted breathlessly with a half-worn smile, “Hey.”
I caught her gaze fleet over my shoulders, probably still in high hopes of the cavalry bursting in.
I looked around. “Where is Anatoly?”
Freya bounced on her feet and came up to me, looking even prettier up close.
“Out.” She shrugged. “The last time I checked, he was my babysitter, not the other way around.”
I was quiet, and she sobered up to appear less like the villain and more like the victim.
She slanted a tempted look at my lips and dragged it back up to my face. “You’ve been away.”
“On business within the country. Don’t worry; I know there are bad people after me who desire nothing more than to see me serving time behind bars. I’ve been careful.” I mirrored her smile. “Did you miss me?”
“Maybe?”
She truly deserved an Oscar for her acting skills. If Niko hadn’t revealed her plans, I would not have suspected a thing.
“I doubt it.” I stepped up even closer, enough to pick up her scent and see the creases lining her forehead. “Does the name Mila ring a bell?”
Freya’s smile faltered. She cleared her throat, and her brows made the slightest twitch. “Um, yeah? She was my colleague back in the department. Why?”
“Hm. Interesting.” I lifted my phone, clicked on Niko’s messages, and flipped the screen to her face. “How about John?”
“You bastard!”
Her smile was gone now, and unshed tears filled her eyes. It was like watching a broken faucet burst and spray water everywhere. She was shaking with quivering lips, both in anger and pure, unveiled fear. For the first time, I felt nothing watching her.
A cold, dark fury coursed through my very being, and seething resentment settled in the place that had once held an attraction for her.
“You...you bastard! How could you?”
“Me?” A throaty chuckle rumbled at the back of my throat. “I had no hand in this. This is all on you, Freya Fox. You’re the reason your sweet rescue officer is unconscious and hanging upside down from the ceiling with knife cuts on his body and a bruised face. I told you, didn’t I? I told you what I would do to you if you betrayed me. Yet you fucking did it anyway.”
He’d received the package quite well, alright, and Nikolai did a fantastic job delivering it. Maybe better than I would have.
I pulled out my gun from between my belt, behind my back, and stuck the muzzle under her chin to bring her eyes to mine. She froze, terrified, inhaling shaky breaths. With the hatred burning in my eyes, she already knew her sentence.
“Please, no....” Her voice broke. “Please, I’m begging you, don’t kill me.”
I pressed the cold steel deeper into her skin. “I warned you.”
“And I’m sorry...” she choked out, her words ending in a sob. “I swear, I’m sorry. I don’t want to die.”
“You should have thought of that before making that call.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she closed her eyes, waiting for the bullet. Still, she couldn’t hide the trembling of her shoulders and the wobbling of her lip.
From the corner, Anna chose that moment to run in, with ashen cheeks, looking more petrified than the woman with the gun pressed to her chin.
“Boss, wait...!”
“Get the fuck away from here, Anna.”
“ Korol, she is pregnant!”
Startled, I took a step back, my brows dipping. I burrowed the gun deeper into her neck, and she cried harder. “This is another one of your tricks, isn’t it? You got Anna in on it, too? To stop me from killing you?”
“No...no, I swear.”
“She does not lie, Korol. I witness. Several tests she did. I help her. I take tubes...tiny test sticks to her, and she pee many times. Result the same. Positive. She carries your child.”
My chest heaved as I dropped the gun. I glanced from Freya to the housekeeper. Anna wouldn’t lie to me; she had no valid reason to. Which meant she was telling the truth; Freya was pregnant with my child. And it made me more furious to think that she knew all this time and made an escape plan regardless.
I gritted my teeth. “Were you planning to flee with my child?”
“No!” She shook her head frantically. “I swear, I took the tests after the call.”
“Doesn’t matter. I don’t believe any word from that fucking mouth of yours.”
I walked away from her, ignoring her sobs as she fell to the ground. I’d had plans for her: to lock her up, starve her, and make her beg for her life before I decided whether or not to end it. But plans had changed.
I was about to become a father, and I’d be dead before I ever harmed my unborn child.