Chapter 36
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Maksim
We're napping on the private jet to Chicago when the pilot announces we'll be landing any minute. I barely have time to think about getting our bags loaded into the cars before one of my alerts goes off, shrill and insistent.
Roman has no idea I’ve got people watching both him and the Irish. You’d think after all these years in this world, they’d be more careful about who’s listening in, but the fact that none of them have caught on to our surveillance is a win for us.
Back in Moscow, I found out it was Aleksandr who wired the money to the Irish to take Roman and Damien, the head of the Polish mafia, out of the picture.
Now, the problem with this latest notification? It tells me that Devin and his Irish mafia are less than three hundred yards from my brother, who’s holed up in a house rigged with explosives.
Julia sees the same alert I do. Two minutes later, she’s showing me a video of Luna slipping into an abandoned house, backpack slung over her shoulder.
I can feel the important details slipping through my fingers, but one thing is clear: Roman is there for her, and he’s about to get blown sky-high. I don’t even remember grabbing my phone, but suddenly I’m dialing his number.
“Get the hell out of that house! Devin and his men have it rigged with C-4. You're about to blow up at any moment!”
“How do you know that? And how the hell do you know where I am?”
Of course, his first concern is how I know any of this. But now’s not the time to admit I have a team tracking him.
“There isn't time to explain right now, but I have my methods and I can tell you for certain the whole location is riddled with C-4,” I say, my voice vibrating with anger.
Phone pressed to my ear, I jump into the first car I see and signal to Julia that we’ll meet at home. The last thing I need is for her to be there-though her machine gun might come in handy, but no.
“Do you know its location?” Roman asks.
“From what I caught in their conversation, it's set in the attic,”
“The bastard wants to bury us in this house,” someone mutters in the background—probably the Polish mob boss.
“We'll go to the basement; they won't expect us to be there. A few soldiers will run out toward the backyard. When they see them, they'll detonate the explosives. Damien picks three men, I pick three, and we'll send them running. They'll have time to get away before they notice and blow up this house,” my twin says as if he hasn’t just volunteered to be blown to pieces. There’s no way he’ll make it out in time if he does that.
“Are you insane? You’ll be buried alive!
” I know I’m yelling, probably blowing out his eardrum, but he doesn’t seem to realize just how bad this plan is.
My brain is scrambling for alternatives, and I remember the military drones that can fire rounds.
They’ve never been tested, but I could have them in the air in ten seconds.
“Easy, brother. Someone hearing you might think you care about me,” he jokes.
I don’t know why I care so much about someone I’ve spent most of the time arguing with, but just knowing he’s in danger makes my stomach twist.
Voices blur in the background, but I tune them out.
I need to get those drones airborne. As soon as my server pings back with a stable connection, I say, “Wait.
I can create a diversion for you all to get out, but Roman, Devin has an army of men a few houses away.
They'll attack right after the house blows.”
“How do you plan to get their attention?”
I don’t recognize the voice, but I answer anyway. “In sixty-five seconds, a drone will start shooting at one of the houses where the Irish are.”
A few seconds of silence hang in the air. I’m bracing for Roman to curse me out when, suddenly, his voice cuts through the phone.
“You heard the order. Out through the back door.”
I punch in the coordinates for the drones and set the reload timer. My twin’s voice snaps me back to the phone pressed between my ear and shoulder.
“Maksim.” There’s a strain in his voice I rarely hear.
I know what he’s about to ask, and I know how much it would cost him to say it, so I cut him off before he can finish.
“I have eyes on the house where Luna is.”
For someone like him, always in control, I’m sure the fact that he’s not the one watching over her is eating him alive.
I watch the console as the code compiles. The server gives me the green light.
“NOW!” I shout, and gunfire crackles in the background as the drone unleashes everything it’s got on that house.
I’m already rushing toward them, pushing way past the speed limit. Because for some strange reason, I feel like he needs me there. I don’t owe him anything, but there’s this stupid bond that keeps pushing me forward.
On the drone feed, Irish soldiers pour into the house in pursuit of Roman and Damien. I hope they can hold their own. I could send the drone in, but programming it to target only specific people would take more time than we have.
Time blurs. Suddenly, someone bursts out, carrying Luna, while another Irish soldier drags a woman by the hand.
What the hell is happening?
I watch as Luna is forced into a car, my fingers already flying over the app to lock onto the license plate and track it through traffic.
On the drone feed, I spot Roman sprinting toward a parked BMW so I dial his number, and he answers mid-breath, not wasting a second before barking, “Track that car!!”
“I'm watching it. I'll let you know when it stops.”
I know exactly how he feels. If Julia were in that car, I’d have the whole army on their tail.
“Maksim, I need reinforcements. I don't know what I'm walking into, so call Niko.” His nerves are right there in his voice.
“I'll be there personally.” I don’t know if he wants me there, but I’ve got two hands and a backpack full of grenades.
“Weren’t you supposed to be in Russia?”
There’s something in his voice that makes me swallow hard—vulnerability. He doesn’t get why I’m doing this for them. Honestly, neither do I. But I know I’d never forgive myself if something happened to Luna or Roman and I wasn’t there.
“I landed twenty minutes ago. I'm here now.”
A heavy silence settles between us. We’re not the kind of brothers who hug it out, but I know, down to my bones, we’d take a bullet for each other, and that scares me.
This kind of bond doesn’t need words or time.
I could have gone my whole life without ever meeting them face-to-face, but I know I still would’ve watched over them from the shadows, just to make sure no one hurt them.
And that’s a hell of a feeling for someone who’s had to embrace loneliness for as long as he can remember.
After I give him the final directions to where the car stopped, I check my GPS.
“Roman, I’ll be there in three minutes.”
I make a quick call to our younger brother, and together we try to figure out a plan.
A full-on assault could get Luna killed, but if we wait any longer, we’ll lose their trail.
If anyone knows what it’s like to lose someone, it’s me.
So many kids, gone without a trace, like the earth swallowed them up.
When I spot Roman outside the factory, he looks like he’s about to lose it.
“Finally,” he says, but I know he’s just anxious to get Luna back.
Damien gets out of the car, jeans soaked with blood, limping, and it’s obvious some of that red is definitely his.
“Niko will be here in twelve minutes with reinforcements,” I tell them, but I can see on their faces they’re not waiting.
Damien catches my eye. I raise an eyebrow. A strange grin spreads across his face, and he laughs.
“Hell yeah, I like you!” Damien grins at me. “You’re like Ro but without the stick in the ass. And you bring explosives. One day, I’ve got to show you my knife collection.” He heads toward the gate, as casual as if we’re about to feed ducks in the park, not take on a bunch of Irish mobsters.
Roman just shakes his head, as if this is typical Damien. If I hadn’t been walking right behind him, I might have missed the muttered, “He’s gonna get me killed one of these days.”
But even I can hear the pride and respect in his voice. You don’t have to spend much time around these guys to realize they’re a team. And for a second, I find myself wanting to be part of it, too.
Come on, Maksim. Save the sentimentality for later.
An Irish soldier stiffens, sensing Damien’s approach, but before he can react, the Polish mob boss steps up behind him, raises his pistol, and puts a bullet right through the back of his head.
It’s not the violence that makes me wonder what asylum Roman found this guy in. It’s the way Damien crouches by the corpse, pulls out a blade, and turns the man’s head as he whispers, “You would’ve made a fine specimen for skinning, but I’m saving myself for your boss.”
Roman signals that three more soldiers incoming. Damien’s gunfire probably tipped them off. My hands go straight for my backpack.
“Step back,” I warn, then toss a handful of grenades into the factory yard.
The next moments are pure chaos, with smoke, dust, and screams all around. The three of us spot the entrance; the door’s blown off its hinges. Maybe I didn’t need to throw all six grenades, but I wanted to make sure nothing was left standing.
Roman bolts inside and I’m right behind him. Luna’s there, gun trained on the guy who’d been carrying her. Behind her, another soldier looks ready to pounce, but Roman lifts his pistol and drops him with a shot to the forehead.
Her friend’s got blood at the corner of her mouth, and when I glance at Devin, the Irish boss, I notice his groin’s a mess. I can’t help but grin. Hell, this woman would scare even my guys, and they’ve seen combat and loss.
?
Once the factory’s cleared and Niko arrives with backup, Luna asks me to take Roxy home.
She sits with her eyes closed, slumped in the passenger seat, and I can’t help but wonder about her story. What she did back there isn’t something just anyone could do. It takes a special kind of madness, born from some real messed up experiences.
“I can feel you staring,” she murmurs.
“What you did back there…that was impressive,” I admit, feeling my cheeks flush. I’m not easily intimidated, but small talk isn’t my strong suit.
For a second, I think she’s fallen asleep, but then she opens her eyes and stares straight ahead.
“I just did what anyone would do in my place.”
It bothers me that she thinks she’s so ordinary, that she doesn’t realize how much guts it took to bite off the Irish boss’s dick with his men all around. From what Luna told me, she was drugged the whole time she was trapped with her ex.
“You’re smarter than that, Roxy. Don’t sell yourself short. Most people would have frozen or just accepted their fate. Sometimes the hardest thing is to dive headfirst into the chaos and fight even when the easy way out is staring you in the face.”
She swallows and fidgets with her dress, silent for the rest of the drive.
When we get to her apartment, I walk her up and wait as she unlocks the door. She gives me one last look and says, “Thank you, Maksim.”
It doesn’t sound like she’s just thanking me for the ride, but before I can reply, she closes the door.
I realize I need a break after the last hour’s adrenaline rush, so I head home where I know Julia’s waiting, dying to hear what the hell just happened.
At the airport, I motioned for her to take the other car home. As much as her machine gun always comes in handy, I’m not about to gamble with her life, not for Luna, not for Roman, not even if the fate of the world depended on it.
The ground is damp beneath my boots, and the air is thick with the scent of pine and fir. That’s part of why I picked this place. The house is wrapped in a forest of evergreens, and after a rain, the whole world smells like freedom and comfort.
“I’m out of nails to bite, Maksim! How can you ask me to stay behind when I know you’re about to go up against the Irish mob?” Julia’s voice cuts through the quiet.
I knew she’d be upset. Still, I can’t help but smile; she’s adorable when she’s like this. Her eyes darken, turning the color of melted caramel, and her cheeks flush even redder than usual, making her freckles stand out.
“Luna’s safe. Roman’s safe. I’m fine.” I close the distance and kiss her.
There’s still a flicker of worry in her eyes, and I wish I could just pull it away with my hands, but that’s Julia, always carrying everyone else’s burdens.
“Any word on Aleksandr?” Her voice trembles just a bit, like she’s waiting for a bomb to drop.
“We’ve got eyes everywhere. The second he pokes his head out of whatever hole he’s hiding in, we’ll know.”
I bury my nose in the curve of her neck and breathe in the scent of honey and something sweeter, right here in the middle of the woods outside Chicago.
Yeah, I feel it too, there’s still work to do. But after a day like this, all I want is to lose myself in her and forget, just for a moment, that there are still snakes lurking out there.