Chapter 10
10
C olm had that itch again.
He remembered Sofia telling him he should go to a pharmacy and get a cream for it.
But there was only one cure for this itch...
Seeing her.
Christ.
He closed his eyes for a moment. This was insane. She wasn’t his. She’d made it clear that she was with Oleg.
And he’d walked away.
He hadn’t been back to Solynshko since. Finn was currently watching Miller while he was at this meeting with Rogan.
Finally, the meeting ended, and he followed Rogan out to the car, where Cillian was waiting for them. They all got in before Colm drove them away.
Rogan was quiet, keeping his thoughts to himself as Colm thought of all the ways he could get rid of Oleg.
He could make it look like an accident.
If he got rid of the body, no one would ever find it.
But there was still the issue of who Sofia was. And who he wasn’t.
Would Aleksandr Anisimov let her date someone who wasn’t Russian?
Headlights shone brightly in the rear-view mirror, nearly blinding him.
What the hell?
“What the fuck is this asshole doing?” he muttered.
Smash!
Motherfucker had just purposefully rammed into them!
“Can you lose him?” Rogan asked tensely.
Colm swerved into one street, then quickly moved into another. What the fuck? Why wouldn’t this asshole get off his ass?
Who the hell was he?
“He’s still on me, Boss.”
Smash!
The car shook. Colm barely managed to keep it in control. He gritted his teeth together.
Fucking asshole was going to kill them.
And he’d never even gotten to kiss Sofia. Never gotten to hear what noises she made as she came.
Well, fuck that.
He was going to live. He hadn’t survived the things he had and gotten this far to give up now.
“Has this asshole got a death wish?” Colm turned down another street. “I’m headed out to the interstate. Hopefully, we’ll lose him.”
The car moved up beside him. Fuck, it was fast.
“Must have a hell of an engine in there,” Colm stated. “Brace yourself.” He slammed on the brakes and the other car shot past.
“Good work,” Rogan told him.
Shock filled him as he took in the sight in front of him.
What the hell?
“Fuck! It’s not over yet. Goddamn idiot!”
The car was reversing toward them. Colm shifted the car into gear, accelerating, passing the other vehicle as it backed up. But all too soon, it loomed behind them.
As it moved up beside them, the driver swerved in, hitting the side of their vehicle.
Once, twice.
This car could withstand a lot. But this wasn’t going to end well.
Colm could feel it.
“He’s gonna kill us all!” Colm yelled before he lost control of the car and swerved off the road, spinning violently and uncontrollably.
This was not how he’d expected things to end.
Sofia walked toward the kitchen. They were about to open for the dinner shift.
Honestly, all she wanted to do was go home.
She’d taken yesterday off, telling everyone that she wasn’t well. She’d intended to take today off, too, but she’d realized she had a meeting with a supplier.
Besides, she wasn’t really ill. She was just tired.
So tired that it felt like she had a dead weight around her shoulders.
Her lack of sleep was starting to make her feel ill. Her nights were plagued with bad dreams.
And during the day, she kept drawing that stupid image over and over again.
Detective Maran had tried to approach her a couple more times, but she kept running away from him.
Her back was really hurting again, to the point that Sacha had taken note and ordered her to take some time off.
Something she’d gratefully agreed to do.
However, that wasn’t her only reason for staying away from Solynshko. She was also avoiding being around Oleg. There was something manic about him lately. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what was going on, but he’d changed.
And she felt even more unsafe around him.
Perhaps it was time to tell Aleksandr. Let him help her shoulder this burden.
She paused at the doorway as she heard Oleg speak. Fuck. She didn’t want to deal with him. She took a step back.
“Let me the fuck go!”
Oh God! That was Miller! Did Oleg have Miller trapped back there? She had to help her. But where was her guard?
“Do you have a fucking death wish?” Finn yelled. “MacGuire is going to murder you for touching his missus.”
Shit. They had Finn too.
“I think he be more interested in how his girlfriend have secret meeting with his enemy,” Oleg replied.
What? What was he talking about? What secret meeting?
“You set that up, and when I tell Rogan, he’ll have Anisimov kick your ass out of here,” Miller replied.
“You think anyone believe you? Some piece of ass? They take my word over yours. But maybe we teach you both a lesson.”
No. Nope.
Not happening. There was no way she would allow Oleg to hurt Miller or Finn.
She stepped through the door, taking in everything. Oleg had Miller by the arm while Anton and Pavel held Finn back. They both worked here as kitchen hands, yet she trusted neither of them.
“Let them go, Oleg,” she said firmly, keeping any fear out of her voice.
She was going to pay for this later, but she didn’t care.
She was done.
“Sofia, go!” Oleg yelled. “This nothing do with you.”
“This is my restaurant,” Sofia told him. “She’s my employee. Let her go. Now.”
Oleg scowled at Sofia.
But she wasn’t going to break. “I’ll make sure they don’t talk. Let her go, or I’ll tell Sacha about this.”
Surprisingly, Oleg let Miller go. Then he nodded at his friends, who pushed Finn away.
Sofia moved through the kitchen toward the employee entrance. She didn’t know why this was working; all she knew was that she had to get Miller and Finn out of there.
Now.
Had Oleg lost his fucking mind? Rogan MacGuire was going to kill him for touching Miller.
“Go. Now. Before he changes his mind,” Sofia urged once they were outside.
“Come with us,” Miller replied. “Rogan will keep you safe.”
“I’m safe here. Sacha would never let anyone hurt me.”
“He seems to be doing a great job protecting you from that asshole,” Miller said.
Pain throbbed low in her back. Christ. This was the last thing she needed. The stress of everything, as well as the lack of sleep, was making her back pain worse.
It was a vicious circle.
“There are things going on you don’t understand. Please don’t tell Aleksandr.”
Miller peeked up at Finn, who gave Sofia a strange look. But he seemed to realize that Sofia wasn’t going to give in and go with them.
“We need to go, Miller.”
She nodded. “I know. Sofia, I have to tell Rogan about this. I can’t keep him from talking to your cousin.”
Sofia sent a panicked gaze over her shoulder. “Can’t you leave Oleg’s name out of it? Please, Miller.”
Miller bit her lip as Sofia gave her a pleading look. If Rogan said something to her cousin, especially before she could... let’s just say that things wouldn’t go well for anyone involved.
“Fine. I’ll keep quiet about Oleg’s part. Be safe, Sofia.”
Safe. Right.
God. She wished she could just walk out with Miller right now. Find somewhere safe to go.
But she couldn’t risk Oleg releasing that video or her secret. Not at the moment. This had to be played right.
So she turned away and headed back into the kitchen. Anton and Pavel weren’t there. They’d probably headed out for a cigarette. So there was no one there to witness as Oleg slammed her against a wall, his hand around her throat.
The pain in her back was so intense that she was close to vomiting or passing out.
“What the fuck you think you doing?” Oleg snarled in her face.
He really had to start using some mouthwash.
“What did you think you were doing? Rogan is going to kill you for touching Miller!”
To her surprise, rather than looking worried, he just grinned.
“Oh, you no idea what fuck going on here, Sofia. Stupid slut. But don’t worry, you soon find out.
“What does that mean?” she asked, trying to breathe slowly through the pain.
But Oleg didn’t answer her.
Then, to her shock, he stepped away as someone called out her name.
The rep she was supposed to be meeting with.
Whistling, Oleg walked away.
Sofia didn’t know what to think of that. And it made her more nervous than ever.
“Papa, can we go home?”
“Not yet, Solynshko,” her father told her. “I want you to lay down in the back seat and go to sleep for me, all right?”
She huffed out a sigh as he placed a blanket over her before he got in the car and started driving.
Sofia didn’t know what woke her. But when she sat up, it was dark and cold.
And she was alone.
“Papa? Papa, where are you?” She needed Papa. She was hungry and she required the toilet.
Pushing back the blanket, she climbed out of the car. “Papa?”
Where was she? She didn’t recognize this area. Fear filled her as she stumbled through the trees and bush around her.
She thought she heard voices in the distance.
But they sounded angry. Was it one of Papa’s meetings? He wouldn’t like her to interrupt him.
No, he got angry when she did that.
She moved closer, but she was quiet. Sneaky, like a mouse.
Things started to blur. She thought she saw Papa, but she wasn’t sure. She fell.
Smash!
Suddenly, she was an adult again. And she’d just slammed the bat down against Dima’s head right before he fell to the ground. But instead of standing over him, she was suddenly lying beside him. Staring into his dead brown eyes.
But wait . . . Dima had blue eyes.
This wasn’t Dima.
This was someone else. Then she saw it. The image. It was on the dead man’s arm.
Crack!
The noise sounded like a bullet being fired, not the smash of a bat against the head.
What was happening?
“Sofia!”
She’d killed Dima!
He was dead!
But who was who?
“Sofia!”
Something shook her and she opened her eyes with a gasp, sitting up.
“What? What is it?” She stared up in shock into Viktor’s face, which was tense. And was that, wait—was that blood on his shirt?
Oh. God.
“Sacha!” she cried.
Viktor nodded grimly. “He’s been shot. We had to take him to the hospital. They want you there as next of kin. Get dressed. We leave in five.”
Sofia stood, staring down at Aleksandr and willing him to wake up.
The doctor had been optimistic that he’d come through the surgery just fine. His vitals were good, and while the bullet had torn through a lot of muscle, it hadn’t hit anything major.
There had been a lot of blood loss, though.
She’d already donated some blood and was feeling kind of lightheaded. The woman who’d taken the blood had tried to get her to sit down and sip some juice. But she’d just wanted to get back here.
She had this weird feeling that if she left him, he’d die.
It was dumb, but she couldn’t stop herself from thinking that.
The door opened and she quickly glanced up, her body going into protective mode.
It was stupid since two of his men were outside the door and no one they hadn’t approved would get into the room. Plus, Viktor was around too. He’d just popped out to deal with a phone call.
Things had become very messy now that Aleksandr had been shot. Viktor had to hold everything altogether.
Someone else could try and finish him off...
Her breath came in short pants at the thought. She wouldn’t let that happen.
Rogan MacGuire walked in. He looked slightly pale, and she remembered that he’d recently been in a car accident along withColm.
She’d been so worried about Colm, but she hadn’t been able to work up the courage to text him.
Who strode in behind his boss, his face tense and cold.
Why had she pushed him away?
You could have told him everything . . .
And how would that have helped? What if he’d lost his temper and gone after Oleg?
Where the hell was Oleg? She hadn’t seen him in days, not since that episode in the kitchen with Miller. Everyone was searching for him. Rogan and his men. Sacha. But he, Pavel, and Anton had disappeared.
And it made her really nervous.
It felt like something was going to come and bite them all in the butt.
Viktor walked in as well.
She breathed out a small sigh of relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Rogan and Colm. It was more that she couldn’t bring herself to trust anyone, especially at the moment.
However, she knew how much trust Sacha put in Viktor. And she felt better knowing the guys at the door hadn’t let Rogan and Colm in here with just her to protect him.
“MacGuire, Finlayson,” Viktor said coolly, standing at the end of the bed.
Rogan nodded back. But Colm just kept staring at her. If she could feel much, she might have been concerned by that look.
It felt heavy and possessive.
“Sofia? Any news? How is he doing?” Rogan asked.
She glanced up, surprised to realize he was talking to her. It was hard to resist moving her gaze to Colm. Her feelings for him were so mixed up.
Even though she’d been the one to tell him no, to push him away, she still felt hurt that he hadn’t texted her or been into the restaurant to check in on her.
Ridiculous. Sofia knew she was being stupid.
But she couldn’t seem to stop feeling this way.
“He’s doing fine,” she said with as much confidence as she could muster. “The doctor is a hundred percent certain he’ll pull through without any complications.”
That was an exaggeration.
But she knew the drill. Never show weakness.
Never admit that anything was wrong.
Hide all pain.
“That’s good.” Rogan watched her closely, but she couldn’t tell whether he believed her.
When she turned her gaze to Colm, his eyes narrowed as he took her in.
It was as though he could see all of her.
She gripped hold of the side of the bed, feeling another wave of dizziness hit her. She really had to sit down. And that juice sounded good right about now.
“Has he woken up?” Rogan asked.
“Oh, yes. He just needs to rest and recuperate.” She snuck a look at Viktor, who gave her a slight nod.
Right.
She was doing the right thing, even though lying felt wrong.
God, she was so sick of the lies and secrets.
Colm’s face showed little emotion, but his eyes were burning into her. She swallowed heavily.
What did he see?
“Have you seen Oleg?” Rogan asked abruptly.
The change of subject startled her and she spun her head back to him, the world spinning for a moment.
Shit.
How long had she been staring at Colm for?
“Uh. No. I haven’t.” That was the truth. “Not for a couple of days.”
“We have been searching for him too,” Viktor said.
Rogan scowled. “If he contacts you or you see him, I want to be the first to know.”
She nearly nodded, but at the last moment, she shot a look at Viktor, who was staring at Rogan thoughtfully.
“You’ll be the second to know,” Viktor said.
Rogan didn’t look happy, but he turned and walked out. Colm stared at her for a beat or two longer before leaving as well.
“You need to sit down,” Viktor told her.
“I know,” she said faintly.
He quickly moved a chair behind her and she sat, placing her head between her legs. She took several deep breaths as she fought back the nausea and dizziness.
A heavy hand was placed on her back. “You did well, Sofia.”
Did she?
She didn’t know what she was doing anymore. Weeks of nightmares and poor sleep preceded by months of subterfuge, lies, and abuse.
She was cracking. She knew she was.
“I just need you to hold it together. We have to represent him now. So I need you to be strong so that everyone else knows he’s fine.”
“I know. I know the drill.”
“I know you do,” Viktor told her. “Just like I know you’re strong. That you’ll do what you need to do for the Pakhan.”
That was her. Always doing her duty by the Pakhan. No matter if he was her father or cousin.
The trouble was that it never left any room for Sofia to break down. To do what she wanted. Be who she needed to be.
Stop wallowing in self-pity.
Sacha needs you.
She straightened up and glanced at Viktor with a nod. “I just felt a bit dizzy from donating blood.”
“And the stress and not sleeping. I know this is hard.”
“It’s fine. It’s what I need to do,” she said woodenly. She tried to bring that feeling of being numb back. That barrier had started to crack when Colm had walked into the room.
“Is there something going on between you and Finlayson that I need to know about,” Viktor asked bluntly.
Fuck.
He was too observant for her own good.
But she knew that Sacha had noticed things too. She’d caught him watching her a couple of times when Colm was near. So he’d likely said something to Viktor.
“Nothing. I haven’t even seen him in a while.”
“I get the attraction of the forbidden, Sofia. But that isn’t something that could ever work.”
She eyed him coldly. “You’re not my brother, father, or cousin, so I don’t need a lecture.”
He raised his hands. “Fair enough. Just remember. Stay strong. Put on a good front. We have to protect Aleksandr now.”
She’d always protected him. Even when he didn’t know it.