Chapter 11 Sergei
SERGEI
The small girl clung to Natalie as she backed up in the lobby. She was so little, just a slight, barely-there child.
But the fact that she was there at all stunned me.
“Mommy?” she asked in that tiny, trembling voice full of fear as she shyly turned her head to peek at me instead of smashing her face into Natalie’s chest. “Is that a good guy?”
I wasn’t. No one would ever confuse me with a “good guy.” I was one of the deadliest killers in the Orlov organization. As Mikhail Orlov’s enforcer, I was the opposite of good.
But labels didn’t count right now. That young girl no doubt saw me as her hero, preventing her from being kidnapped off the streets. I had stopped those men from taking her. I’d blocked her with my body to spare her being hit.
Natalie probably wanted to tell her that I was a good guy because I’d saved them.
But I was not good. I was a villain, unflinchingly willing to kill anyone who crossed me.
“Yes, Maisie,” Natalie told her in a hushed voice.
“This man is a good guy.” As she held Maisie close and stroked her hair, she stared at me with so much fear and relief that the combination shouldn’t have been possible.
The incredulity in her expression spoke volumes, like she had no idea what to think.
“He’s a good man for getting us home, inside. We can be safe at home now,” she told her.
Her use of we struck me. This wasn’t just any child.
This scared little girl was hers. Natalie’s daughter.
The idea that she could be a mother hadn’t crossed my mind.
As shy and timid as Natalie was, as young as she was, I figured she might be a virgin.
But she had a child. She belonged with her.
I hadn’t wanted to consider that she could belong to anyone because I wanted her to be mine.
But I had the indisputable proof right here.
Natalie held the child close as we caught each other’s gazes once more.
This was no farce. She wasn’t making it up that this girl was her daughter like the time she’d blurted out that I was her fake boyfriend.
The determination to protect and comfort her daughter burned in her eyes, blazing with the swirl of terror that remained in the green depths.
“We’ll be safe here,” she murmured to the girl who trembled.
Safe?
I didn’t question that she was the only one to keep this child safe. No man was in her life. They couldn’t be if she kissed me back like she was yearning for affection.
No one else was here to protect them.
Only me.
If I hadn’t shown up, they would’ve been taken. Dead.
Anger filled me again at the idea of anyone harming this sweet woman.
Those Popov fuckers on the street weren’t wrong.
Natalie wasn’t mine. Yet. I’d been warring with how to fit her into my life, bringing her out of society to belong in my world with me.
Taking my time and letting her acclimate to me seemed smart.
Now, there was no chance of letting her go.
No chance of backing up and letting her live her life as if we’d never met on that random night at the Diamond Mirage.
The danger outside the lobby mandated it.
She could call me a good guy for getting them inside and off the sidewalk.
But I wasn’t leaving her here where she could be in danger again, where that flimsy door could easily be broken in.
I had a hunch that she’d simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time with those Popovs seeing her out and about. It didn’t matter.
I wasn’t walking away.
One press of my button on my phone was all it had taken to alert George and the new recruit to come back me up. He was always on call, under my lead. I’d sent the auto text to him before I stepped out to protect Natalie, just in case I needed more gunpower to get those Popovs away.
Outside, the sounds of fading gunfire and shouting reached us in this barren and dim lobby. One lightbulb flickered overhead, casting muted and shifting shadows on Natalie’s face. It was enough for her to see me as I informed her of a change in plans.
“Go get some things,” I told her, tipping my chin up to indicate she needed to go up the stairs. “Grab whatever you need for the night.”
Her brow lined immediately. Confusion took over the shock. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“I’m… what?” She had yet to move.
“Get some things for tonight.” I closed the distance between us, making the decision on the spot. She was coming with me. They’d be safer with me, under the protection of the Orlov forces.
So much for taking my time and giving her space to get used to being with me.
The danger in this area had forced my hand.
“What?” Indignation cut into her expression, hardening in with a flare of sassiness that I wished I could admire. I wanted her to be strong. I enjoyed this lick of a fight in her. But not against me, not now when I was taking control for the sake of her protection. “Sergei, I live here.”
“I know,” I replied, prodding her to go up the stairs.
“You—” She stopped short, glowering at me. “You knew? How? I didn’t let you walk me home. I—” Her eyes opened wide. “You stalked me? You followed me home?”
“You’re welcome,” I replied. I’d caught my breath from the rush of the fight, but I was getting tense and agitated with her protests as she stalled going up the steps.
“I’m not going to thank you for being some stalker!”
I grunted. “But you’ll thank me for handling that situation outside?” I challenged, arching one brow.
“I…” She clamped her lips shut again. Under my gesture to move it, she resumed walking up the stairs. “Sergei, I appreciate your help. I… I don’t even understand why that happened. Or how. Or who those men were. I can’t tell if I even know who you are.”
I didn’t miss her worried glance at the gun in my hand that I kept out just in case there were any more surprises to handle.
“But you can’t just take charge and tell me what to do.”
“I am,” I replied after she unlocked and opened a door to an apartment.
“The hell you are,” she shot back. “I don’t know you.
I don’t know enough of who you are and why you thought it’d be okay to stalk me and…
” She shook her head, scrambling to express herself.
This was precisely why it had seemed wiser to give her time and space.
Of course she’d freak at the idea of my being in the Mafia, a member of an organization that ruled with violence and wealth.
We were from two different worlds. Standing in her small but tidy apartment, it was even clearer how she’d suffer through culture shock to be a part of my world.
“Sergei, who are you? Who were those men?” She frowned at me in the cramped living room. “Where do you think we’re going?”
“I’ll explain more once we are safe. You’re coming home with me where you’ll be far from anyone hurting you.”
Her mouth hung open. Maisie perked up. “Can I come?”
Natalie blinked, putting her hand on the back of her head. “No. Yes. I mean…” She scowled and shook her head. “We’re not going anywhere, Maisie.”
“You are. If you won’t pack whatever you need for the night, I will.” Moving toward the doors that looked like they’d lead to bedrooms, I proved that I was a man of my word and I always meant what I said.
“Don’t you dare.” She intercepted me, still holding Maisie at her hip. Putting her free hand out, she tried to stop me with a shove at my chest.
I grabbed her hand and held it close. “Be mad all you want, Natalie.”
“I’m not mad. I’m furious! I’m shocked and, dammit, I am mad that you can even think you’ve got any right to barge into my home and my life and tell me that you’re taking me home.”
“Your protests don’t matter,” I replied calmly.
Her jaw dropped again.
“I’d rather face your anger than your death.”
“Mommy!” Maisie hugged her tighter. “Mommy’s dying?”
Shit. I had to watch how I spoke. “No. Not as long as I am around.” I didn’t flinch, meeting the young girl’s scared gaze. “I am bringing your and your mother to my home where you will both be safe.”
“Oh.” Maisie nodded slightly though she still watched me warily.
“No, you are not!” Natalie turned, as if shielding me from Maisie because she was on my side now.
“We don’t have time to argue. Until I can check that my men have the situation under control out there, you both are coming with me.
” Not giving her a chance to argue and protest again, I stepped around her and grabbed the first bag-like thing I saw hanging up on a hook.
Stopping up here to get some clothes wasn’t even necessary, but I wanted to give George and the others a chance to eliminate any threats at the building before we were on the move.
“Your men?” Natalie demanded. “Who are you, Sergei? What’s going on?”
“I’m taking you to a safe location,” I repeated.
She snatched the bag out of my hands. “Who are you? Who are those men?”
“I’ll explain later.”
“Mommy,” Maisie said. “I want to go be safe.”
She frowned at her daughter. “We are safe here. We’re home.”
“But he’s a good guy,” she reminded her. “Is your home away from those bad guys?” she asked me.
Yes and no? “You will be protected at my home.”
Another gunshot went off outside, as if punctuating the fact that this neighborhood wasn’t as stable and safe as Natalie might have assumed.
“Is your father around?” I asked the girl.
She shook her head. “He’s dead.”
“Is there anyone else here?” I asked, glancing at Natalie.
She still glowered at me, no doubt furious about how I was taking over. “No. It’s just me and her. And thank you for the offer, but we will be fine here.”
“It’s not an offer.” I took the bag back. “Pack. We’re leaving.”
“I’m not—”
I gave the bag to Maisie before Natalie could take it. “Can you pack what you need for a couple of nights?”
Natalie growled, taking the bag back.
“For a sleepover tonight?” Maisie asked.
I nodded. Not just one night…
“Sergei…” Natalie set Maisie down on the edge of the bed and shook her head. “I can’t let you do this. I don’t know what’s happening and I can’t uproot like this just because you say so. I can’t keep up and know what’s safe and—”
“I can. I know what’s safest for you.”
She pierced me with an angry glare. “You don’t know me!”
I wanted to. And I intended to. “Grab what you want for the night and let’s go,” I ordered again. “If you don’t, I will.”
Seething and slitting her eyes like she wanted to slap me, she gritted her teeth as she crossed her arms. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me who you are and where you think you can take us.”
I exhaled a deep breath through my nose.
Stubborn looks good on you, darling.
But it wasn’t what I wanted to deal with right now.
I approached her, unafraid to pick her up and carry her out of here if she didn’t surrender.