31. Viktor
31
VIKTOR
A s shocked as we were at Boris’s admission of being Maxim’s father, I had to act now. Even if Oleg hadn’t ordered me to retrieve Maxim immediately, I would’ve wanted to do so for Irina. Oleg wouldn’t have turned the teen away. He wasn’t going to cast Irina out as an enemy anymore, either. I saw how he nodded at her with respect, appreciating her act of goodwill to help Eva and Lev like she had.
“Irina, stay with Eva while I help them.”
She nodded, still looking so shell shocked that I wondered if she ever realized what she was agreeing to. Eva wasn’t any better. She seemed mad, and shocked, too.
“Let’s just…” Eva didn’t finish speaking, gesturing for Irina to walk with her. “We can, um…”
“Show her the guest suite,” I suggested as I headed toward the door. “Prepare a room for us. And one for Max.”
The women stuck together, walking away, but Irina cast one more glance over her shoulder at me.
“I will find him,” I promised. “And we will bring him home.”
I ran out to my car, already calling Lev.
“Hey, we’ve got a good location for him, and?—”
“Do not let anything happen to him,” I ordered.
“I know, but?—”
“You don’t understand. Maxim is the bastard son of Boris and Anna Petrov.”
I rendered him silent for a full moment as I sped down the drive.
“Boris… Baranov?” he asked, doubtful and so confused.
“Yes!” I held on for a sharp turn past the gates. “Give me the location. We need to bring him home. Safe. Now . Oleg ordered it.”
“Holy shit.” Lev didn’t waste any more time on his shock. He sent me the coordinates of where Maxim was held by Ilyin forces, and I didn’t waste any time getting there.
Lev hung back, but he ran up to meet me on the street.
“What the fuck is this?” I asked, gesturing at a whorehouse. It wasn’t one of ours, but competition.
Lev shrugged. “It seems like they’re trying to hide him there. Or hold him there until they can move him again.”
“How the hell did the Ilyins even know about him?”
Rurik ran up from another car, joining us. “They followed Irina’s guards. One of them must have switched over to cover for the one posted with Maxim, and they figured he had to be someone of importance.”
“So they don’t know exactly who Maxim is?” I asked.
Rurik shrugged. “What difference does it make if they do?”
I nodded once. “It doesn’t.” Because I was getting him out of here and to safety now.
“Who’s going with me?” I asked, checking my gun.
Rurik volunteered, and together, we headed to the front door.
“Full fucking circle,” I muttered under my breath, unamused that I was at a goddamn brothel after I thought that part of my life was done.
At the door, a woman who used to work at one of the places I supervised grinned widely. “Vik? That you?” She cackled with glee and hurried to hug me. “I ain’t allowed to let no Baranovs in here, but for you, mister?” She pinched my cheek as she gave me a side hug. “Go on. Go on.”
Rurik grunted a laugh as we stepped inside. “And we didn’t even have to pay the cover.”
I smirked at him. Finding another whore who liked to move from one place to another, including a couple of Baranov establishments, I asked where the Ilyins were. Rurik slipped several bills in her bra to sweeten the deal.
She winked, leading us to a room in the back.
I opened the door, and before Rurik and I could step inside fully, two Ilyin men stood and fired at us. We were prepared, shooting faster. In the middle of the room, huddled on the floor, was Maxim. He looked like Irina, the same sharp eyes, yet he resembled Eva a bit too. The family resemblance was uncanny.
“Maxim.” I spoke looking right at him, so he could read my lips. “Your sister sent me to get you.”
He nodded, shakily, and lifted his hand to show that he was handcuffed to the bed.
A whore scowled at us from the side of the room. She wore a bra but nothing else, looking from one dead man to the other. “You’re paying for that.”
Rurik stepped forward to compensate her while I headed to Maxim. “Got keys?” I asked the whore.
She tossed them over to me, not even taking a break from counting the bills Rurik had given her.
“Let’s go,” I told Maxim as I helped him to stand.
“Is Irina safe?” he asked. I didn’t know sign language, but I understood his speech.
I nodded, making sure to face him so he could read my lips. “Safe and excited to see you.”
Slowly, he smiled and exhaled a long breath. Then he reached up to hug me, wrapping his thin arms around me and holding tight.
Rurik stayed back to manage the cleanup of the two dead men. But Lev and I drove Maxim to the house, answering all the questions he asked on the way. Mostly, he wanted to know who we were and if Irina was really safe. I was already fond of him, clearly worried about his sister and overprotective in his own way.
Seconds after I parked, the front doors opened. Lev had texted them that we had Maxim and were on our way home.
Eva stepped out, holding her coat close. Then came Irina. She ran down the steps, crying out with joy at the sight of Maxim getting out of the car.
Eva went to Lev, and he held her at his side. Next to them, I leaned back against the car and shoved my hands into my pockets, smiling at the brother and sister reuniting.
“You’re so going to get some tonight,” Lev joked.
I chuckled. I wasn’t in any rush. Irina would be mine. I fought to keep her, and now, we would have the rest of our lives to share with each other.
“I’m going to get married,” I corrected.
As soon as I could, Irina would officially be a Baranov. As my wife.
“Oh, going to steal our thunder now?” Eva teased. “We got engaged first.”
“I haven’t proposed yet. And you guys make it sound like it’ll be a long engagement between you two.”
Eva shrugged, still watching Irina and Maxim sign and talk to each other excitedly. “I want to wait until Kelly talks to me. I want her to be a bridesmaid, and she’s so distant now.”
I’m sure Rurik can get a message to her.
Lev chuckled. “It’s as good as done, now. You and Irena.”
Yes, it is. Thankfully.
“How’s it feel to have a brother?” I asked her.
Lev huffed. “Talk about a twist.”
“You can say that again. I’m not sure it’s fully sunken in yet.”
But it would. We all had to adjust to another Baranov in the house. Maxim would receive the full benefits and privileges of our protection—forever.
“Igor is going to be furious when he finds out,” Lev said.
“I wonder if he let the Ilyins capture Maxim, knowing he’s a Baranov,” I said.
“To set a war between our family and the Ilyins?” Eva asked.
“Again?” Lev quipped. He’d instigated plenty of drama by killing one of the Ilyin leaders, one that Igor had framed.
“We’ll figure it all out,” I said. My heart couldn’t feel any fuller seeing Irina so happy with Maxim.
We would. Irina would share all that she could with us. She would tell us what Igor had her spying on and why. Whatever trouble Igor was trying to start at the college and around it, we would remain one step ahead.
Deep down, she probably wouldn’t feel happy and complete until she killed her father. But maybe I could convince her to wait, to let us bring him down officially now. She and Maxim were safe, and with Igor trying to take a Baranov child and hide him, he’d earned the wrath of the entire family now.
Hugging Maxim again, Irina smiled so brightly, she blinded me. She held on to her brother, hugging him tightly as they took a break from signing and talking, overjoyed to be together again.
As she looked over Maxim’s shoulder, she caught my eye and mouthed something I would never tire of knowing.
I love you.
I looked forward to telling her that for the rest of our lives.
“Oh, dammit. I hate this cold!” Eva shivered, ushering us all to go inside. “Why are we standing around in this snow?”
We all hurried inside, and as I approached Irina, she reached out for my hand. She held Maxim’s in her other hand, and with a reach up to kiss me, she sighed happily and joined us in the house.
Before she could get too busy catching up with her brother, I leaned toward her ear and whispered, “I love you so much, sweetheart.”
She blushed a bit, squeezing my hand.
“Maxim,” Eva said, signing to him, “would you like to see your room?”
Maxim gaped at her and signed back, “You know ASL?”
“I’m still learning,” she replied.
The teen turned to Irina. “Are we staying here?” His brows shot up high in question.
She looked at me, deferring to me for a moment. “Well, I’m not sure where we’ll end up, but we—you—will always have a home with the Baranovs.”
His jaw dropped again. “What about Father?”
I shook my head.
“You don’t have to worry about him ever again,” Irina said. She kissed his brow. “I will have some meetings to get through. I’ll be busy with these people, but we will be safe here.”
Maxim looked at me, then at the fact that I still held his sister’s hand. “Because of him?”
She nodded. “Because of Viktor,” she agreed.
The teen smiled and rushed up to hug me. “Thank you, Viktor. Thank you.”