57. Arsen
57
ARSEN
My hands are almost black in the dim light, like I dipped them in tar.
It’s been half an hour since the medical team wheeled Dominik away for emergency surgery, and I haven’t bothered walking the ten steps to the sink. I haven’t moved an inch, actually.
A shadow falls over me. I don’t bother looking up; I know it’s Gedeon. He keeps coming back to check on me, but I’m not the one with a hole in my chest.
That’s Dominik.
Because of me.
Gedeon stands there, waiting for me to acknowledge him, but there’s nothing to acknowledge. I said I wouldn’t leave until I heard news about Dominik. And I still haven’t heard anything.
He sighs and drops down next to me, his knees bent like mine. He clasps his clean hands together as if he’s praying.
It hasn’t even occurred to me to pray. I tried once when Mom was really sick, but it didn’t make a bit of difference. Even if there is such a thing as a higher power, He isn’t about to waste his miracles on the likes of me.
“He’s going to be okay, Arsen.” There’s a hard edge in Gedeon’s voice that I recognize as the same desperation I feel. He unclasps his hands long enough to squeeze my shoulder once. “We need to inform Kira, though.”
“We don’t know anything yet. There’s nothing to tell her.” I don’t even recognize my voice.
“She’s his wife. She deserves to know.”
I shake my head, too exhausted for more of an argument. Kira can’t hear this right now. I can’t tell her.
“This makes twice now.”
Gedeon turns to me. “What?”
“Dominik has landed in the hospital twice because of Jasper.” A bitter laugh sputters out of me. “No, that’s not the truth. I can’t even blame Jasper for this. Dominik has been in the hospital twice because of me .”
“This isn’t your fault.”
“I keep giving Jasper second chances.”
Dominik knew from the start that Jasper was trouble, but I wouldn’t see it. I refused to see it. I stuck my head in the sand out of blind, dumb “loyalty” rather than listen to my best friend.
“Your mercy is something Dom and I would both appreciate if we were ever on the other side of it.”
“And you never have been, because the two of you are loyal, dependable.” I clench my teeth so hard it feels like they might shatter. “Dominik has always been loyal.”
And what did it get him?
I should have listened to him.
“Arsen, this wasn’t even about Jasper. This is about the bounty.” He runs a hand over his neck. “I looked into it, and it’s legit. There’s ten million dollars hanging over Laila’s head—dead or alive.”
Those last three words feel like an ice bath. “Who did this?”
Gedeon’s jaw tightens. “The Italians made the call.”
“That can’t be right. Even Alessandro Calcagno isn’t that stupid. Enzo definitely isn’t.”
“Apparently, they are. I have damn good sources, and they’re all saying the same thing.”
Someone put a bounty on my wife’s head, and I had no idea. The same way I didn’t know I walked myself and Dom into a trap until Dom was bleeding on the floor.
My phone feels like a brick in my pocket. It was vibrating earlier—again and again and again —but it’s gone quiet now.
“Ten million fucking dollars,” I whisper in disbelief.
“The Skulldraggers were just trying to cash in, idiots that they are. And they were stupid enough or desperate enough— probably both—to think they could swap your head for Laila’s. The moment you told them who you were, they were ready to try it. Other people will be coming after her now.”
“No one is coming near my wife. Or my daughter.”
“No, we won’t let that happen,” Gedeon agrees. “We just have to be careful from now on.”
“Extra careful…” I murmur.
More careful than I was with Dom.
I should’ve been watching the door with him, one hand on my gun. We should’ve scouted the bar out and looked into the moronic motorcycle club. If I hadn’t been so eager to pay off Jasper’s debts, we might have found out about the bounty before I walked my best friend to his execution. If I’d ignored my phone the way I was trained to during a job, maybe Dom wouldn’t be in surgery right now.
I hear Alessandro’s voice in the back of my mind. That girl is going to get you killed.
Not me—not this time, at least—but the same can’t be said for Dom.
Alessandro thinks Laila is the problem, but I’m at the helm—of the Bratva, of my marriage, all of it. I can’t keep my men safe, and Laila’s connection to me alone is enough to have people on the hunt for her.
They all deserve better.
I shove to my feet, ignoring the pins and needles in my legs. “Call Valentin and Matvey. Have them bring Kira here. You’re right: she should be with Dominik.”
Gedeon scrambles up after me. “Okay, but?—”
“And make sure the two of them stay with Kira. I don’t want any more bloodshed on my watch. Protect her.”
“Of course,” he agrees. “But where are you going? You said you’d stay until?—”
“It’s out of our hands now.” I swallow as I make my way to the sink, finally rinsing the dark, dried blood from my skin. “Leaving now won’t change the outcome. But we can still make a difference elsewhere.”
“What’s the plan?”
Five minutes ago, I didn’t have one. But a plan is forming in my mind, solidifying as Dominik’s blood swirls down the drain.
“I have something important to do. And you’re coming with me.”