Chapter 31
Connor
Once past the gates, I floor it up the private drive. The AMG's engine screams, gravel spitting from the tires. Half a mile of winding road to the main house. I know every curve, every inch of this fucking place.
And every blind spot.
Which is how I got two of my best friends onto the property. My parents may know I’m on the way, but they won’t be expecting I have backup.
“In position, east perimeter.” Alexei's voice fills the AMG through the speakers, his accent thicker than usual. “Viktor, you set?”
“Oh, I'm peachy. But we have a problem. Cameras on the property are already down, and these morons are stumbling around like they got their training from YouTube.” Viktor whistles. “Since when does Daddy Walsh need a private army?”
Fuck if I know.
My whole life we never had security at the house. My parents were never there. It was just me and the staff. And my mother couldn't be bothered to give a shit about me anyway, much less my safety.
Unlike my friends.
The second I got to my car at Citi Field, I texted the group chat that my father had kidnapped Ryan. Viktor and Alexei called within seconds. I told them everything I know.
Viktor went straight to the house to see what he could find while Alexei and I hauled ass to Crestwood. He sent pictures thirty minutes later. There was security at the house, though not many. But that fuck Blake was one of them.
Then my father’s Bentley pulled up. That’s when I knew for sure where Ryan was.
Zach and Jackson wanted to come, but Alexei shut it down fast. This isn’t a hockey fight, not with the armed guards. Fuck, I’m not even prepared for this, especially going in unarmed.
But my husband is in that house, which means I'm walking through that fucking door even if I don't walk back out.
“Just had a peek at the neighbor’s smart doorbell. It’s down too.” Viktor goes quiet for a second. “Actually, the whole street's been wiped. Someone's being deliciously thorough.”
Not surprised.
But it also makes it easier for my friends to get into the house. “Alexei, the window to my room is your best way in. I disabled the alarm over the summer. Doubt my parents have noticed.”
“Already climbing up the trellis. Stop worrying about us and focus on your part.”
Yeah, these two are a bit too excited about this. Then again, it’s what their families do. Found out after Viktor got drunk one day. He told us how his mother used to be an assassin and how she had been his father’s target before they fell in love.
I hang up and pull into the circular driveway, tires crunching on the gravel. The AMG's engine ticks as I kill the ignition. The front door swings open before I can reach the handle and Donovan Blake steps into view.
Time to end this shit.
I step out of the car and slam the door closed.
“Mr. Walsh. Your parents are waiting in your father's office.” He moves to block my path as I walk toward him. “Need to search you first.”
“Touch me and I'll break your wrist.” I shoulder past him and enter the house.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, but I don’t pull it out. Last thing I need is for Blake, or my parents, to figure out I’m playing my own game.
When I get to my father’s office, I don't knock, just push the door open with so much force it bounces off the wall. “Where's my husband?”
My father leans back in his chair behind his massive mahogany desk. “Alive. For now.”
Blood pounds in my ears. But I keep my breathing even and step farther into the room, hands loose at my sides, even though every muscle wants to curl into a fist. “Name your price.”
My mother laughs, cold and sharp, from her perch in the leather wingback by the window. “Still thinking you have leverage? How quaint. We're simply tying up loose ends at this point.”
The guard beside her moves closer. Another hovers near the bookshelf to my right. Donovan Blake steps around me and moves to my father’s side while a third guard positions himself across the room.
I step toward the mahogany desk. “Give. Me. My. Husband.”
My mother takes another delicate sip of brandy. “So dramatic. It's embarrassing. You always were my greatest disappointment.”
“And you’re a fucking cunt.”
A short bark of laughter escapes my father. “There it is. The Walsh temper. Too bad you didn't inherit the intelligence to go with it.”
I slam my palms down onto his desk and lean in, staring him down. “When this is over, I'm burning this whole fucking house down.”
“Empty threats from an empty boy.” She examines her manicure. “Your husband was begging, you know. Not for his life but for yours. Like a beaten puppy still loyal to its master.”
I cross the room, ready to wrap my hands around her throat. But a guard steps between us, barrel aimed at my chest, his finger on the trigger. I freeze mid-step, swallowing past the growing lump in my throat.
One twitch and Ryan dies alone.
A sharp, hissing snap cuts through the room.
The guard's head jerks back as blood sprays across my mother's seafoam green suit. He drops, gun clattering across the hardwood, a dark hole in his forehead.
I don't move. Don't breathe. Just watch the pool of dark red spreading beneath him.
The second guard near the bookshelf draws his weapon. Another hissing snap. He drops too.
Alexei steps into the doorway, gun trained on Donovan Blake's head. And Blake already has his weapon aimed at Alexei. The remaining guard across the room keeps his barrel pointed at me.
Fuck.
Blake's finger moves to the trigger. “Drop it.”
“Nyet. You first. Or we both die.” Alexei takes another step into the room, barrel steady. “Your choice.”
My father clasps his hands on the desk like we're in a board meeting. “Seems we have a stalemate.”
I turn and glare at him. “Call it whatever you want. I came here to end you. And I won’t leave until that’s done.”
“I should have smothered you in your crib!” My mother launches out of her chair and hurls her brandy at me. The heavy crystal tumbler hits my shoulder, then the ground before shattering. “Donovan, kill them! Now!”
Blake juts his chin at the remaining guard, who then shifts his weapon from me to Alexei. “Time’s up.”
One corner of Alexei’s mouth curls up. “Koshmar!”
He drops and rolls as yet another hissing snap sounds. The third guard crumbles. Alexei gets to his feet, gun retrained on Blake.
Viktor walks into the room, gun also pointed at that head of security fuck. “Well, this is disappointing. I was promised a challenge. These guards folded faster than Connor's will around Henneman’s ass.”
“Where's—”
Ryan bursts into the room, chest heaving.
My heart trips over itself when our eyes meet, the next beat landing hard in my chest.
He’s alive. Whole. Except for his bloodied wrists.
My upper lip curls into a sneer. They made my husband bleed.
In four strides he's beside me, pressing his forehead to mine. “You okay?”
I huff a laugh. “Are you?”
He looks past me to my mother, a low growl rumbling from deep in his chest. “Don’t care to be drugged again for the rest of my life.”
“Next time you lose your husband, maybe put a tracker on him? Like a sexy pet collar? Took me thirty minutes to find him while you were here having family therapy.” Viktor grins and winks at my father.
“Thanks for the party favors. All five of them. Oh, and that utterly pedestrian fucker in the corner. Such a boring kill. The others, pure artistry.”
Ryan shudders.
Hope Viktor made those fuckers suffer.
My mother huffs, walking to the side bar cart. “Please. These amateur theatrics are giving me a headache.”
“I told you not to touch what was mine.” The words come out guttural, feral, barely human.
She rolls her eyes and reaches for the crystal decanter. But her hand slides to the back of the cart instead. She looks at me, eyes narrowed, then brandishes a small silver pistol. Without hesitating, she aims it at Viktor.
“No!”
The window beside her cracks, glass spitting into the room. Her head snaps sideways, then she drops onto the bar cart. Bottles crash to the ground, followed by her body. Blood spreads fast across the hardwood.
“Cordelia!” My father jumps out of his chair, but Blake yanks him down.
“Sir, stay down.” He points his gun toward the broken window.
Alexei and Viktor retrain their weapons as well. It’s not one of us. Unless Viktor told his parents what was going on, but he didn’t mention that they’d be helping.
“Connor?”
I look at Ryan. He’s pale, eyes wide. This is too much for him.
And we’re exposed.
I grab his bicep and steer him closer to the wall. “Stay down.”
No one's outside. The property slopes directly to the water, with not a single tree blocking the view. Besides a few boats out on the Sound, it’s all clear.
“We’re too exposed. Finish your business with your father,” Alexei says.
Blake swings his barrel back to my friend, finger hovering over the trigger. He steps sideways, no longer behind the desk. “You move, you die.”
“And you’re already dead.” I move toward Blake, smirking as he shifts to point his gun at me. “Kill him.”
“Finally. Try to bleed prettily, would you?” Viktor pulls the trigger before Blake can pull his.
“Connor!”
I turn just as Ryan throws himself across me. A sharp bang splits the air, followed by three more. We hit the ground hard, Ryan's full weight driving air from my lungs.
Fuck.
I try to push him off. I need him to be okay.
He doesn't budge, just wraps his arms tighter around me. “Not letting him take you from me.”
“Your father is dead. Is finished,” Alexei says.
What?
Ryan shifts to the side, taking Alexei’s hand, then stands.
“Sorry we stole your patricide moment, Baby Cheeks.” Viktor's voice comes from somewhere to the left. “But your father pulled the trigger first. We couldn't let him get a second shot off.”
Alexei growls, glaring at his cousin. “Durak.”
I sit up and take a deep, shaky breath.
It’s over? It’s finally fucking over?
Alexei grabs Ryan's arm. “You're hit.”
There’s a dark stain spreading across the Joan Jett shirt over his right shoulder.
Bile claws up my throat as I shoot to my feet. “How bad is it?”
Alexei grunts, looking over his arm. “No exit wound. Bullet’s still inside.”
Fuck.
Viktor places a hand on my shoulder. “Get him to the hospital. I’ll have my mother call over, keep things under wraps. We’ll take care of this mess.”
I straighten to my full height. “Burn it down. All of it.”
My unhinged friend beams. “The party favors just keep on coming. Be careful, or I might fall in love with you.”
“Back off.” Ryan steps closer to me. “Or this time when you get kicked in the mouth, you’re gonna lose teeth.”
Fuck, I love when my husband goes all grizzly mode.
Alexei grunts, nodding his head toward the door. “Go. We still don’t know who killed your mother, so be careful.”
I nod.
Viktor takes Ryan's left hand and then presses it firmly against his shoulder. “Put pressure on it and don't let up.”
Ryan's jaw tightens, blood seeping between his fingers, but he does what Viktor told him to.
“Let’s go.” We head for the door, but I stop halfway and look over my shoulder. “Thanks. For all this. For helping.”
“You’re family. We protect each other.” Alexei’s eyes narrow. “But you put my Solnyshko in danger again and I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
I huff a laugh before stepping into the hallway with Ryan. “Larry's going to kill me.”
“Probably.” He groans, leaning against me.
I slide my arm around his waist. “I’ve got you.”
And I do. No one's taking him from me. Ever.