Chapter 23 Sergei
SERGEI
There was no time to waste.
Natalie had left so recently that it shouldn’t have been as hard to track her down as other retrieval or rescue missions.
Once I told my uncle that I was committed to finding Natalie and Maisie, and that I intended to keep them, he acknowledged that I could use all the Orlov resources that were available to locate her as soon as possible.
Andre was already on it. He’d been on it while I was still out with George—who had killed the Popovs and returned to assist in finding Natalie and Maisie.
But Andre’s help kept me in check, preventing me from losing it.
He and I had grown up together, so close in age, and he was more than a cousin.
More than a fellow Orlov man. At times, he was my closest confidante and best friend.
His presence at this rough time allowed me to count on him like I could no other.
He’d be right there with me so I could succeed in finding my woman.
And to find Maisie too. If I allowed myself to imagine that young girl afraid or harmed, that rage would take over me.
Maintaining a level head was my best chance to help them at all, and Andre was my partner to rein me in. Roman, too. My younger brother didn’t hesitate to step in and lead another crew to look for them.
We checked her apartment first. That was a no-brainer, but she wasn’t there. Roman followed up with the babysitter, tracking her down closer to campus to question her without freaking her out.
Andre and I headed out to the streets. All night long, until dawn crept close, we painted the night with blood. Capturing Popovs and even the capos for Roberto Giovanni, we questioned soldiers and leaders. We struck ruthlessly and interrogated them without mercy.
No one owned up to knowing about Natalie, which was a lie.
No one confessed to knowing of any capture of her, which also had to be a false answer.
She couldn’t have anywhere to go to hide this well. Not even with that bartender she’d worked with—we looked.
No one pointed a finger at any criminal organization to lay blame, and that was the least hopeful part of it all. Usually, someone would rat another out and it would be a clue.
But it ended up being a pure stroke of luck for us to finally drive in the direction of where Natalie and Maisie were held.
One of our men listening in to the police dispatch line alerted us to a 911 call.
An older woman, one of those bored, lonely, cat-loving busybodies who lived near Little Italy, had called in a concern about a woman with a young girl screaming on the sidewalk.
From her window, she witnessed a woman and girl be abducted, and she swore on her life that the men snatched them away into a van.
Since she was such a true crime documentary viewer and an avid fan of murder mysteries, she knew to pen the plate number down.
It tracked to the location of a Popov operator, and we were on our way there.
Andre and I had been riding together all night, but now Roman joined us in the kitted-out SUV.
“We can go in first for you,” my brother suggested.
“The fuck you will.” I was itching to see Natalie again. Alive. Unharmed. Maisie, too.
“You don’t want a careless mistake to cost you,” Roman said.
I glared at him.
“He’s right,” Andre said.
“You’ve been at this all night,” Roman said. “You’re running on fumes.”
“So are you. You’ve been on this all night too and you’re just as exhausted.”
He shook his head. “No. I’m the night owl. I’m fine.”
“I’ll be fucking fine when we get there and get them back,” I snapped.
Andre shook his head this time. “He’s right. You’re too close to this. Thinking emotionally instead of logically. Your reaction time isn’t what it should be.”
I grunted a weak laugh. “Shut the fuck up. Come in with me. Because nothing is going to stop me from going to get Natalie and Maisie and see that they’re safe again.”
Andre and Roman shared a glance.
“What?” I barked. “What is it?”
“She might not want to see you,” Andre said bluntly.
“If she heard those guards talking about your being connected to her husband’s death, she might not be as receptive to you as you might think she will be.
Even if you’re coming to save her, don’t get your hopes up that she’ll be happy to see you. ”
I didn’t want that negativity in my mind, but he had a point. Of course, he had a fucking point. In a life-or-death situation like this, I couldn’t be scared about that.
“She can hate me all she fucking wants,” I said as I got my gun out of its holster as we pulled up to the building. “Just as long as she’s alive to be angry with me.” I looked them dead in the eye, daring them to argue with me. “I’d rather her hate me and be alive than dead.”
With that final statement, we rushed out of the SUV and stormed the building. Numerous men came with us as backup. They screeched to a halt at the curb and filed in.
So much blood coated my hands and stained my suit from the violence of the night that it would be a useless attempt to distinguish what came from which hit.
It didn’t matter.
All I focused on was eliminating every obstacle as we rushed into the building. I killed everyone I saw with the most direct shot possible to ensure they’d stay down and out of my way. Now wasn’t the time or place to worry about someone popping back up and endangering those I cared about.
Andre and Roman didn’t hesitate. They joined me in the merciless hunt for the woman I wanted to keep as mine. For the young girl I wanted to see smiling and laughing without a care in the world.
We found them locked in the innermost room on the third floor. No windows were available for them to escape. No lights were on for them to not be shrouded in the shadows and afraid.
“Release them,” I ordered after kicking the door open and scoping the room with my gun out.
Natalie wrapped her arms around Maisie, huddling together on the bare floor.
Two men had hidden in here with them, and they attacked as soon as we broke in.
Roman darted forward to block them.
Andre dropped back to shoot at more men in the hallway who were trying to sneak up and ambush us.
And I was there as the enforcer I was trained to be.
Without pause, I aimed my gun and killed the man who swung his gun around to target Natalie. He dropped dead.
The other rushed at me, shouting, and I pulled the trigger three more times, making a trifecta of death on his forehead.
Blood sprayed back from the direct hits, but it couldn’t be helped now.
At the quietness that sank in after the rapport of gunfire, I caught my breath and searched over Maisie and Natalie.
The little girl was on her mother’s lap, blocking a full view of the curvy woman, but as I scanned them both, I began to relax that no cuts or wounds showed on them. No crimson stained them.
My heart had yet to slow. I was too tense, bracing for another hit. Until I got them out of here, I would remain on edge and ready to kill.
Natalie lifted her head, squinting to see through the haze of the dust that had been stirred up with the commotion. When those Popovs dropped dead, their bodies flung up a cloud of particles.
Roman found the lights and hit them. All of us blinked at the brightness, but I waited for Natalie to seek me out. To see me.
She did, but it wasn’t with gratitude or relief shining in her eyes.
Glaring at me with such a wretched intensity of loathing, she pierced me with her deep emerald orbs of anger.
I swallowed hard, wishing against everything I was that she wouldn’t. That she’d defy the expectations my cousin and brother had put in my mind.
That she’d be happy to see me.
To rush into my arms and embrace me.
“Sergei.” Andre muttered my name and shook his head, as if recognizing how I struggled with this coldness from the woman I wanted to love and keep as mine.
At the quiet utterance of my name from him, Maisie sat up. She craned her neck and twisted her body. While she didn’t break away from her mother, she slanted to see backward and spot me.
“Mister Sergei!” She cried it out with surprise. Joy. Relief. Unbridled happiness. Fat tears streamed down her cheeks as she wrestled to escape her mother’s hug.
She got to her feet clumsily and then ran toward me, dodging Natalie’s outstretched hands to hold her back. Without a thought, I dropped to one knee to get on her level. Roman and Andre flanked me, still securing the situation should anyone live in the hallways and want to take her—or me—out.
Maisie didn’t stop until she jumped into my arms.
She hadn’t hugged me yet since we’d met.
While we talked a little and acted like roommates or with me as a landlord nearby, she hadn’t extended an interest in hugging me.
Until now.
I hadn’t experienced the joy of hugging her and making her feel comforted with a simple gesture of a hug.
But right now, as she strapped her small arms around me and clutched me tight, my heart swelled with a new love, a never-felt-before fondness of her accepting me even when her mother wouldn’t ever again.
Natalie glowered at me as she watched Maisie hug me.
I’m sorry.
Now wasn’t the time to talk about her late husband.
This wasn’t the place to discuss the coincidence of our connection that I hadn’t realized before.
I’m sorry.
She didn’t flinch. Staring at me with so much hatred as her daughter sobbed and I hugged her close, Natalie proved that she wouldn’t be anywhere near as happy to see me.
Maybe not ever.
And it hurt more than I wanted to admit.