Chapter 28 Ava
TWENTY-EIGHT
ava
The fury keeps my legs moving. At first, I wasn’t going to run, but Seamus… I…
Fuck. I had to run. I had to.
I shouldn’t have said any of those things to him.
Why the fuck did I have sex with him? Why didn’t I just shoot him between the eyes and be done with it?
Instead…
I shot the man who crept up behind Seamus from the mouth of the alley and pointed a gun at the back of his head. It only took the smallest movement of my hand to kill the assailant and save Seamus.
Not that he fucking deserved it.
I race around the corner and collapse against the side of a building, my chest heaving.
I should have killed him dead like the vile creature he is. After all, he fucking stole whatever Iosif gave me.
He and his brother announced that they’d be taking over my bratva. This from a man who kills people who hurt animals, who’s killed for me time and again.
I try not to give in to the shaking, ignoring a lone couple who pass me as I gulp down oxygen before taking off again.
Okay, I have to go somewhere. Anywhere but here. I should have stolen something expensive, maybe lifted a wallet for cash, but I’m not as gifted in that kind of theft as Seamus is. I need to distract, and…
My phone.
I pull it out and stare at it. Who the hell am I going to call? Onyx? Maybe I would if I had his number, but then again, he won’t touch anything Murphy. And Claudetta…
I swallow hard because is she still alive?
I text her.
Hey.
I stare at my phone anxiously, silently willing the three gray dots to appear. But what if Seamus lied and she doesn’t reply because she’s dead?
Or worse, Maria or Onyx texts me, confirming that she’s been killed.
My phone lights up and I let out a shuddering breath.
Claudetta’s name flashes and I click open the text, my breath catching in my lungs.
OMG, Queen. Some biatch stole my phone! Like a fucking robbery on the train. We need to hang, girl.
My legs wobble as a breath whooshes from my lungs.
Soon.
She’s alive. She’s fucking alive. A sob rises up and I swallow it down. I’m not crying. I don’t do that.
But the words dance through me, and I’m so damn grateful. I know Claudetta, and those texts were one hundred percent her.
However, it’s not like I can go and see her now. I mean, what if I put her in danger? So I continue my search.
I flip through my contacts, and it’s quick work. I don’t have anyone to call. Not really. My finger hovers over Iosif’s name.
The asshole gave me whatever that thing was, he can fucking tell me what to do. I press the call button.
But he doesn’t answer.
I try again.
Nothing.
Then I try the house line because he has a landline, too.
More nothing.
A strange beat stirs in my blood. Maybe everyone’s asleep. Maybe they went out. Maybe he packed up the house and flew to Russia like he keeps threatening to do.
It’s not that late, but it’s not that early, either. He could have legitimate business, but it’s odd that no one answers on the landline.
My stomach twists and I whirl around, like I’m being watched.
Except I’m alone.
I keep walking at a steady pace.
Fucking Seamus. How can I hate him like I do and… lo—like him. He just might be the other half of me, and I don’t know what that means or what to do about it.
Trust me, he said.
I laugh.
After everything, he said trust…
I stop in my tracks and have to force myself to keep going. After everything, he asked me to trust him. What if the lie was the meaning behind them claiming to take my bratva?
What if…?
A strong hand yanks me backward, a gasp knotting in my throat.
“You’re a hard girl to grab, lass.” A rough Belfast accent grates against my ear.
I whip my head around, rage burning in my blood when I see his face. Holy shit. I recognize him. Hank. Hanlon. The man who must have set up the Semtex bomb. “And you are?”
He laughs. “You’re definitely your father’s daughter. A Pakhan without a bratva. I knew him well, Ava. And we had a deal. He was an honest man, said he’d wait until I served my time. For the cause. The Irish cause is everyone’s because we all want freedom, don’t we?”
I don’t say a word.
Freedom? Or anarchy, but I can see what he’s doing, building himself into a pillar of nobility, and using my father’s reputation to do it.
Maybe Dad did have some kind of deal, but I don’t need to honor it, and my uncle definitely didn’t. Even with the laws set in place within the bratva, if there’d been evidence of a deal for this man, then I suspect it might have been honored.
He smiles, and it’s not a pretty smile. It’s hard, jagged, and full of sharp teeth. “But ye’d know all this, wouldn’t you? Marrying one of mine. A Murphy, even. A good and noble family. I don’t want to hurt them, on account of their da.”
I just say, “Your point?”
“I just want you to know how much I’d like to utilize your bratva. The bratva. So small and yet so important.” He pauses, his hand tightening around my arm. “I’ve met your sister.”
Alarm bells blare between my temples.
“I don’t—”
“You have a sweet little half sister, Eleanor Tatiana. She’s enjoying my Angie’s company.”
The smile’s still there, just below the surface.
He watches me closely, waiting for me to ask who this Angie is, but really, why would I care?
The person’s name doesn’t matter. Him having her does.
And if he’s telling the truth, and there’s no answer from the Sheepshead Bay mansion where Tatiana lives with Iosif…
Air abandons my lungs. “You took her? From Iosif?”
Now the smile grows. “It’s a sleepover.”
I don’t trust this man at all. He’s exceedingly dangerous. And if it’s true that he has Tatiana, I need to be careful.
“You know, at first I thought Romanov had all the power of Volkov. After all, he had the crest. He should’ve moved it for that ridiculous photoshoot, don’t you think?
” He sighs. “I thought maybe he wanted to shake things up, that he’d want to share the spoils of the routes with me.
But then you and the Murphys showed up.”
“You want the routes, I can take you on as a client.”
“No, you stupid girl, that’s just a bonus. I want all that money and all the secrets that make up the Estevez Cartel. I could milk them dry, use them to do my bidding. I could do great things controlling a cartel. Your father held that over them and stupidly did nothing with it.”
“H-how do you know that?”
“It’s amazing what you can find out when you wave some cash around at greedy fuckers who’ll divulge anything to get their hands on it.
” He pulls me in closer. “If I had that power, that cartel would have no choice but to band with me. I know the documents are somewhere, and you must know where as the daughter. The new Pakhan. I’ll have them, and your routes, with or without you. ”
“I don’t know where anything like that would be kept. I doubt those documents even exist.”
He studies me. “I think you’re lying. Would you be willing to bet your sister on that? What about your lover? I’d hate to hurt the Murphys, but…”
He’s a fucking psychopath. But I only meet his stare and ignore his taunts. “As I said, I don’t know where those documents are, or if they exist.”
“They exist. Trust me. I have it on very good authority from an ex-cartel member that they do.”
I shiver, I can’t help it. The way he says ex, I know he means he killed them. “I don’t know the first place to look for them.” I force myself to think. “Maybe out in Brooklyn, but I don’t have keys to that house.”
“You have the Murphys. Use them.”
Dammit, I wish I had that gun. I wish… No. Wishes get me nothing. “Is Iosif alive?”
“He was. I think. My men are very enthusiastic.”
“I can’t use Seamus or the Murphys. They’ll just take it from me and go after you.”
“Then they’ll have to die.”
“I have no love for them. I just want my sister back,” I say, trying not to shake.
“Good. Then use that key.”
“I don’t… I don’t know what it’s for.” I manage to stop myself from saying I don’t have it.
He sucks his teeth. “There’s an address with it. Go and all will be clear.”
“Don’t talk in idiotic riddles,” I snap. He hasn’t pulled a gun on me, and I think he needs me, but it’s still stupid to snip at him. “Iosif only gave me the key. I don’t think he wanted me to get involved.”
“Fucking bastard.” He lets me go and it takes everything in me not to run. “Use the key.” He recites an address and I recognize it as one of the Volkov storage places. “It’s locker forty-six. A big one.”
The lockers are good moneymakers, easy to use, and they come without risk because people in the know can store whatever they want. Cash keeps everything untraceable.
“What’s in there?” I ask.
“A bomb. You can take it or leave it along with the papers. Or you could earn my gratitude by removing the Murphy clan from this planet.”
“You mean blow them up?”
“Unless, of course, you don’t want to.”
Is he insane? I don’t want to do his dirty work, even if I did want them all dead. But I don’t. Not anymore. However, I don’t say that.
“I have no love for the Murphy clan. They want to steal my bratva.”
His eyes gleam and his smile widens. “So work with me. Take the bomb, lure them to their demise.”
“And my sister?”
“Do this,” he says, “get me the papers, and she won’t be harmed.”
“Give me a number.” I want to rub my arms so hard that I can practically feel bruises form, but I don’t. “This won’t happen right away. I need to use them to get to the papers. I need time to search.”
“You have until three a.m. tomorrow.”
“Give me a number,” I say again.
“I have yours. I’ll be in touch. Use that key.”
“And if I double-cross you?” I force myself to ask even though I already know the answer as dread floods my veins.
“Then,” he says, “a small life ends.”
He pulls out a phone and opens it, then shows me a picture of Tatiana and a woman.
“I think we understand each other,” he says.
“Yes,” I say, “I think we do.”
He turns and crosses the road, then gets into a car. I watch as it drives off, and all my senses burst into life.
I wait there for what feels like hours, but it’s probably only minutes.
“You know, sweet thing, you forgot your gun. Did you kill someone for me?”
He’s close, too close, and yet I shift back into his warmth. I breathe him in, deep, letting his scent infuse me. “No. I’m just a lousy shot.”
“Too bad.” His arm slips around my waist, and he pulls me against him. And to be honest, I’m not sure if he’s holding me as a sign of his affection or holding me prisoner. I’m not even sure there’s a difference anymore.
I want to be trapped and held down by him. I want to fight him. I just… I want him.
“Was that Hanlon?”
“Yes.” Now I pull free and he lets me go. I face the man I think I might be in love with. “Romanov… he took… Hanlon, he took Tatiana.”
His eyes narrow and he turns, putting his fingers to his lips and lets out an earsplitting whistle.
The Murphys, including Lucie and Harry, rush toward me.
Declan pulls up in a limo with Mikey at the wheel, and everyone piles inside. I stare. “You don’t need—”
“Fuck yeah, we do,” Declan says as Seamus takes my hand. “Where are we going?”
“Sheepshead Bay,” Seamus says. “Where this all began.”
Mikey drives the limo like it’s a race car, fast and sure. We get there in record time, and it still took way too long.
Seamus holds out a gun. And I take it. Together, we all go in, Torin and Cal first, then the rest of us.
It’s absolute carnage. Half the place is rubble, like a bomb went off inside.
There are bodies and limbs scattered around the place. Romanov’s soldiers are dead. I take off, racing through the house up to Tatiana’s room.
“Olga?” I call out the name of the woman who looks after Tatiana. But there’s no reply.
I find her. In Tatiana’s bedroom, a room I’ve only been in twice before.
She’s not moving, and when I dive down to the floor to check on her, I recoil.
She’s cold. Dead.
I put a shaking hand on the bed and rise from the carpet. I pick up a worn teddy bear, Tatiana’s favorite, and turn toward the doorway.
Seamus is there. He opens his arms.
I run to him and let him hold me, drinking in his strength, his warmth, and the strong beat of his heart.
Finally, I pull back, and he smooths my hair from my face. “Ava, I…” He stops. “Romanov’s alive.”
We head back down the stairs.
Iosif is holding a gun with one bloodied hand, and already some of his people are coming in from other places. Someone put out the call.
But he meets my gaze. “I… I warned you, Ava. And you didn’t listen. All I wanted… was… was to protect you both, you stupid, stupid girl. And now she’s gone.”
Cal frowns. “Who?”
I look at all of the Murphys. “My sister. Tatiana. I know who has her. And I’m getting her back.”