Chapter 27
MATVEI
The first thing I see when Evgeny and I pull up is Kelly, waiting in front of the police precinct's doors.
She has her arms wrapped around herself, her breath coming out as white clouds in the dark, cold night.
As we get closer, I notice her hair is disheveled and there are dark circles under her red-rimmed eyes.
“What happened?” I ask, feeling a flash of anger when I see her state.
“What happened was my sister was helping a client whose father was poisoned in front of her,” she says.
“Poisoned?” Evgeny and I ask in unison.
“I thought Rodolfo had a heart attack,” Evgeny adds.
“We weren’t sure at first, but it's official from the ME. He was definitely poisoned.”
My heart, already pounding with anger, speeds up with a flash of adrenaline. “Did Sonya—”
“No.” Kelly shakes her head. “It wasn't in any of the other cups. Just Rodolfo’s. And if you tell anyone I told you that, I will throw your ass in jail so fast you won't know what hit you.”
For some reason, her defiance throws gasoline on the fire of my anger, and I take a step toward her. “Instead of threatening me, I would suggest telling me where the fuck Sonya is right now.”
Kelly's eyes widen, but she holds her position, her eyes narrowing.
“You want to ask me that again in a kinder tone?” Her hands clench into fists at her sides, and she glares up at me.
“I've had a shit-tastic night. I've been on since eight a.m., and I'm been doing my best to make sure my sister doesn't end up in jail tonight.”
The girl has balls, I'll give her that, but I'm not in the mood. To say I'm angry would be a gross understatement. I'm furious, seeing red, and ready to kill the next person who gets in my way. Right now, that just happens to be Kelly.
Evgeny steps in front of her, his enormous frame blocking my view. “Enough,” he says. “Kelly is helping us, Matvei. Don't shoot the messenger.” There’s an edge of warning in his voice not for the police officer but for me. “Just go get Sonya. I'll deal with the release details.”
A volcano is brewing in the middle of my chest, and I'm about to blow up on both of them. Evgeny knows it and plays his trump card. “It's not good for Sonya or the twins for her to be stressed and in a police precinct. Take her home, Matvei.”
“Don't fucking manage me,” I snap, then sweep past them both.
The officer at the front desk can't take me to see Sonya fast enough. He also can't get out of my presence fast enough. He points to the room where she waits then very nearly runs the opposite way.
I stare at the doorknob, my anger threatening to boil over and erupt.
My brain refuses to acknowledge that Sonya has been helping the Mancinis without my knowledge.
My fists clench when I think of her getting up this morning and telling me she had a client, kissing me goodbye, then going to Rudolpho Mancini's home. She outsmarted me and Evgeny.
I was already seeing red, but now my vision tunnels as I grasp the knob and push the door open so hard the shades on the small inset window shake.
Sonya looks up from where she's sitting, sensing the coming storm. She looks small and shaken. Her hair is no longer in a ponytail and looks messy, like she's been running her hands through it. The overhead yellow light makes her look washed out.
“Matvei,” she says, relief in her voice. She reaches out to me as though I'm the knight on the white horse she has been waiting for. She drops her arms when I stop halfway across the small room, letting the silence tick until I can all but see it physically straining to explode.
“When were you going to tell me?” I ask.
Sonya's eyes widen at my tone, and she lowers her head. “I couldn’t tell you.”
“Couldn't or wouldn't?”
Sonya's eyes narrow, and she glares at me before she speaks again. “Are you asking me if I'm somehow colluding with the Mancinis?”
My silence says enough, and a flush blossoms on her cheeks. “Are you fucking serious, Matvei? I didn't tell you because it's covered by client-attorney privilege. I can't discuss clients with anyone.”
“You were helping the Mancini family!” I practically spit, my voice low and dangerous. “You knew it was wrong! You had Evgeny drop you off around the corner at a café. Now look at the mess you're in.”
Sonya gets to her feet to stare me down, though it's difficult since I'm so much taller.
“You think I got myself into this mess?” She stops herself abruptly and pulls her shoulders back, her eyes never leaving mine.
She's thinking like the lawyer she is. “You know what?
I'm done talking to them, and I'm done talking to you. Get me out of here. I just want to go home.”
“Maybe I should just leave you here.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, and though I know I've said the wrong thing, I don't let her see it.
“I'm not one of your lackeys cooling my heels in a jail cell, Matvei,” she hisses. “Can I remind you that I don't need you to take me home? I'm perfectly capable of getting myself out of here. Either you can do it, or I’ll wait for Kelly. Maybe I'll just call a cab.”
It's a dare, and we both know it. She's daring me to let her out of my sight, to go against what she knows I feel deep down, what I’ve promised her over and over again.
“Fine.” I let the word escape because if I don't, I'll unleash the torrent waiting its turn.
I turn on my heel, leaving her to hurry after me. It should be satisfying, but instead, I just feel cruel, especially since Sonya's pregnant. After only a few strides, I slow down.
Evgeny and Kelly are waiting for us in the bullpen.
Kelly says something to Sonya about how she has to stick around town, but I can barely hear because of the blood pulsing and rushing angrily through my ears.
I watch, waiting for the official okay to take her home.
When it comes, I leave Evgeny with Kelly to finish the paperwork.
I march Sonya out to the parking lot in total silence, the frost between us matching the frozen, icy ground. Sonya finally speaks once we’re driving away.
“Maybe it's time you apologize.” Every word is tinged with anger and hurt.
“Apologize?” I bark a scornful laugh. “Apologize for expecting you not to lie about working with the Mancini crime family?”
“Client-attorney privilege still matters, even when the great, mighty Matvei Volkov is involved. That's how it works.”
“You shouldn’t be working with one of my enemies, Sonya. That's the problem and you know it.” The words are a raw confession.
Sonya is quiet, both of us seething as we pass through the dark, quiet streets, downtown Chicago rising tall on either side to block out all but a strip of late evening sky.
After several minutes of silence, Sonya finally speaks. “You need to accept that I am who I am, too. I'm not going to stop being a lawyer just because we're together. And by the way, the first thing you should have done when you got there was ask me if I was okay. You couldn't even do that.”
It's all I can do not to shout at her that she's not grasping the point of my anger. I am trying to change. I'm trying to learn to be the man Sonya and my twins need me to be, the man I need to be for the success of our future.
“Are you alright?” I grind out from between clenched teeth, the leather creaking as my hands tighten around the steering wheel.
“That sounds genuine,” Sonya huffs.
“I'm trying, Sonya. What the fuck do you want? I'm trying, damn it!” I pound the steering wheel with my fist, bringing the car to a jolting stop at a red light. I whip toward her, and she presses herself back against the window, her tight-lipped expression dropping from her face immediately.
“What you don't seem to understand is that you knowingly went to my enemy's home, by yourself, without anyone aware of where you were. You put yourself in an incredible amount of danger. Genevieve Mancini can have any lawyer she wants, lawyers who would bury Samson so far underground he would never recover. She has the money and the resources, and so did Rodolfo. You don’t think it’s odd she hired you? The closest person to me besides Evgeny? And now you’re being looked at for murder! ”
She doesn’t answer me, just opens and closes her mouth like a fish out of water. For some reason, that pisses me off more than if she’d screamed at me.
We can't get home fast enough. I need a gym session to work out this anger. I gun the engine when the light turns green, my fury following the odometer numbers as they rapidly go higher and higher.
“I told you to keep your head down. I told you to stay under the radar so we could keep you and your pregnancy a secret for as long as possible. Now everyone will know, and they're all going to be coming for us. And if you think the police won’t come hard at you just because Kelly is on your side, you are wrong.”
The sound of squealing brakes is the only thing I hear before metal crashing into metal jolts me.
Glass shatters and rakes across my skin as a sharp metallic scent fills my nose.
I'm jerked one way, then another, and the world spins.
Sonya is screaming. I reach for her, but my brain can't even comprehend where she is.
I'm jerked to the side again, then forward. My head hits the steering wheel, and then there is nothing.