Chapter 37 – Luka
T hwack. Thwack.
Two minutes remained on the timer. My legs screamed, one of the best feelings. I kept jumping, making tight, precise movements. The rope made full circles around my body, pausing only to smack into the mat. Around the gym, our soldiers worked out. Each member of the bratva was allowed to use the facility to work out, and we were toying with the idea of making mandatory workout requirements for the men to keep them in shape.
The thud of free weights chinking on the floor had me shooting a look to Dimitri. We’d dropped the girls off at the office, although why they’d been up so early, it was hard to say.
Our girls. Dimitri and I married, with wives who were already close friends. It was incredible, now that I stopped to think about it. And then there was Kazimir, his bride who was treated as a beloved sister by our girls, and the family that she joined to ours. Incredible—just incredible.
Speaking of that cousin, he pushed through the door mouth open in a huge yawn. Kazimir’s second and best friend was close on his heels. They rarely went anywhere without the other. For the longest time, I wondered if there wasn’t a secret between them. But that idle gossip never panned out.
Dimitri had his friend Ilya, Kazimir had his Pavel, and me? I had a ghost of a brother. First, Kolya ran off to the military—which almost earned him an assassination from our Uncle Matvei. And when he came back, he was even more quiet and closed off than ever.
Oh, brother, what will it take to bring your lost soul back to your body?
The timer on my phone blared, and I gathered the jump rope in my hand. Tomorrow, my legs would be Jell-O from today’s brutal workout. I grinned.
“What’s got you smiling?” Kazimir stepped onto the mat, beginning careful stretches. His damaged leg and ass cheek were improved, but only because he’d become strict about stretching, yoga, and other, lower impact workouts.
It worked—a fact I was very glad of.
“Just thinking it’s been a while since I faced you in the ring.” I stretched my quads.
Kazimir shook his head. “Not today, cuz. I’ve got to get to the office and meet with the new CEO.”
“Yeah, probably for the best, wouldn’t want to mark up your pretty face and give Benjamin a heart attack,” I laughed. Kazimir didn’t take the bait.
When his technology company started making serious money, Kazimir thought about starting a second company that we could use to funnel our dirty cash. But then Laurel came into our lives and started a dozen ventures that on paper weren’t connected. There hadn’t been a need for a second technology company to funnel our illicit gains through. So Kazimir promoted his secretary to the CEO position, and Benjamin ran Neb. Tech. with little interference from Kaz. Daniella, however, insisted on going into the office two half days a week. She was determined that motherhood wouldn’t crush the career she’d worked hard for. And since she had her grandma to help with Zoey and the future nugget of joy, it worked for her.
“You going to face off against me in the ring today, Lebedev?” I called out.
Pavel gave me a long look. It reminded me of how a dog looked at a yapping pup that wasn’t worth his time. If there’d been fur on the back of my neck, it would have bristled at the older dog. I might be younger, but this pup had teeth. I hadn’t had the distinct pleasure of mopping the floor with Pavel in some time. He was an ex-con, so he made an excellent opponent. When he wanted, he fought as dirty as I did.
“Not today, but soon.” Pavel began walking toward the machines.
“Chicken,” I scoffed.
Pavel swept a hand over his shoulder length hair. “Watch it.”
“I need a challenge,” I protested.
“Oh, because an alligator wasn’t enough?” Pavel drawled, voice thick with skepticism.
“It wasn’t.”
“You didn’t fight an alligator,” Kazimir sneered.
“Mmhmm,” I grinned. Triumph glowed from the inside out. “I have the tooth on a string with my stuff.”
“Nice story,” Kazimir quipped. “Can’t believe you fooled the pakhan.”
“I fought it!” I shouted, suddenly pissed. My body stilled. I let them see the challenge in my eyes. “What? So Ilya can fight a bear with nothing but a knife. Kazimir can defeat a handful of men with nothing but an icicle, but I can’t kill a gator in the swamp?”
My brothers-in-arms shifted.
Throwing my head back, I let out a strangled groan. “Fine!”
I ripped my joggers down and twisted them so my cousin and Pavel could see. They barked in protest, but my boxer briefs stayed up. Unrolling the ACE bandage, I ripped the gauze and medical tape away. The damn adhesive pulled the leg hair, and that hurt worse than the original cuts.
Dimitri came over from the free weights, head cocked to the side as he took in my injury. A few other soldiers joined him. Horror mixed with admiration and astonishment murmured through the room.
“Yeah, take a good look, gents,” I scoffed. “This is what a pissed off gator does to you.”
“Pull your fucking pants up right now, Luka Vlasov,” the pakhan snarled.
Smirking at Dimitri, I obeyed. About to challenge Lebedev again, an alarm went off on my phone. The noise was echoed on Dimitri’s and Kazimir’s phones.
I flicked the device open and saw it was a forced entry…at Club M?.
My heart stopped beating.
An emotion that had the power to end me flooded every fiber of my being. Fear—suffocating, unquenchable fear. Feet frozen on the ground, images of the past flashed through my mind. The call for backup. The rush to the streets. The fallen bodies and shouting enemy.
Blood. So much blood. It leaked from the heart that was twin to my own, until that organ quit beating forever.
Dimitri shouted at the phone pressed to his ear. “Come on, Laurel, pick up.”
“Move, Cool Hand! She needs you!” The sweet voice roared in the back of my mind.
That spectral presence didn’t need to yell again. Keys in hand, I ran. For the first time in years, a real prayer left my lips to heaven. The plea that I wasn’t too late was of little comfort. Not if history repeated itself.
I couldn’t lose Vivian. Losing Sasha nearly killed me, but only because I hounded death relentlessly for years. But this time, I knew I wouldn’t survive if my tethering hook to life was cut.