Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Henry
Ariana’s face went pale the second the words left my mouth.
Victor Kane put a target on his wife’s back.
I hated telling her. Hated being the one to drive that final knife into her chest. It didn’t matter that she despised him. That he’d beaten her. Broken her. Stripped her down to nothing but fear and scars.
To learn the man who was supposed to love and protect her had paid to have her abducted still shattered something inside her.
“H-how do you know?” Her voice was strained, like she was holding herself together with fraying threads.
I leaned forward, my elbows on my knees, and exhaled a long breath.
“When I first saw that man try to take you, I figured he was just some schmuck hoping for a big payday. Someone who thought he could grab Victor Kane’s wife and cash out.
” I shook my head. “But after I ran his prints and face through every database and corner of the internet yet still came up empty, I knew it was bigger than that. Deeper. This man was a ghost. You don’t hire a ghost for a routine snatch and grab, so to speak. And then…”
“Yes?” she pressed, urging me to continue.
“Then I went back through her videos. The last one was from Santa Monica right before she’d died.
I’ve seen it hundreds of times. Thousands maybe.
” I paused, pushing down my frustration over everything.
“But this time, I noticed something I’d missed before.
A man walking in the background.” I lifted my eyes to hers.
“He only looked at the camera for a split second and he kept to the shadows, but it was him. The same man who tried to abduct you.”
“It could have been a coincidence,” she suggested.
“I don’t believe in coincidences.”
Her throat worked around a hard swallow.
“Sarah died shortly after that video,” I went on, forcing out the words that were still hard to come to terms with.
“A few months later, the same man who appeared in Sarah’s last video tried to take you.
A ghost with no record. The second I saw him in the background, I knew Victor had to be behind it.
I couldn’t prove it yet, but I could feel it in my gut.
Which I was able to confirm last night.”
“How?”
“After I took care of the men the Bratva sent, one of their phones rang. I answered. Victor was on the other end. Demanded to know what was taking so long. Reminded them he’d paid good money.”
“Maybe he hired them to find me.” Her voice practically pleaded with me to consider the alternative. But there wasn’t one. Not with everything I now knew about Victor Kane.
“We know the man who tried to abduct you was working for the Bratva. What are the chances Victor also hired the Bratva to find you? Plus, I uncovered these photos from the gala.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket, swiped through the photos Blake sent me, and handed it to her.
“Do you know this man?”
Her brow furrowed. “That’s Maxim Covell. One of Victor’s lawyers.”
“He’s the one who pulled him away at the gala, correct? Before you disappeared into the exhibit where we spoke.”
“Yes.”
“Swipe to the next photo and tell me if you know who that is.”
She did, her brows furrowing as she studied it. “I’ve never seen him before. Not that I can recall. Who is it?”
“That’s Nikolai Volkov. The Obshchak of the Miami Bratva.”
Her head jerked up.
“And the man you know as Maxim Covell,” I continued, “was born Maksim Kolokov. He’s essentially the Bratva’s front man. Handles their legitimate dealings while Volkov is in charge of their less than legitimate business. Laundering. Bribes. Trafficking. Drugs. Guns. Stuff like that.”
She stared at the phone for several long moments. “So the night before a man broke into your home to take you when your husband was conveniently out of town, Victor was pulled out of a public event to talk to a known criminal. This was planned, Ariana. And Victor’s involved.”
Her eyes fluttered shut. A single tear cut a clean path down her bruised cheek, glistening under the low light, catching on the shadowed curve of her face.
My chest ached watching it. For a heartbeat she looked fragile.
Like she was about to shatter into a million pieces.
Then steel slammed back into place, her expression hardening, her despair replaced with anger.
“Why? Why go through all this? It doesn’t make any sense.
If he wanted me dead, he’s had plenty of chances over the years.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I was confident he was seconds away from finally killing me.
Or is this his way of keeping his hands clean?
Allow him to act the part of a grieving husband instead of a murderer? ”
“I considered that possibility, too. But I don’t think he wants you dead.
That man who tried to abduct you? He could have easily killed you.
Same with the team they sent to Maine. Hell, one of them had a hitman tattoo inked across his neck.
They were all capable of ending you in seconds.
But they didn’t. You saw the messages on the phone. What did they call you?”
Her jaw tightened. “Merchandise.”
Rage burned through me at the reminder, but I forced it down. She needed calm. Logic. Not my fury.
“Exactly,” I said tightly. “There’s another reason. Something else they want you for.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to figure it out,” I promised her, my voice steadier than I felt with all the uncertainties swirling in my head.
“Is there anything you noticed about Victor’s behavior in the days leading up to that man taking you?
No matter how small or insignificant it may seem, it could help. ”
Her mouth twisted. “He didn’t usually involve me in anything important. I was just supposed to look pretty, keep my mouth shut, and take whatever beating came my way.”
My hands curled into fists, my blood running hot. It took everything I had to push down my anger.
“Anything at all, Ariana,” I encouraged. “Don’t doubt yourself.”
She exhaled slowly, shaking her head. Then she stopped, peering into the distance.
“What is it?”
“It’s probably nothing.”
“Or it could be everything.”
“That night at the gala… He never left me alone like that. Ever.”
I nodded, contemplating what was so important for Victor to leave Ariana if he usually didn’t. I was kicking myself for not following Victor instead of Ariana. If I had, maybe I would have figured out what he was involved in. What Ariana’s role was in all of this.
But if I hadn’t followed her, I never would have spoken to her. Never would have been mesmerized by her. Never would have been on my boat outside her home on Star Island.
And I never would have seen that man try to take her.
As much as I wished I knew what Victor had discussed with Nikolai Volkov outside the art museum, I couldn’t regret not tailing him. Not when that one decision may have saved Ariana from whatever Victor had planned.
“How was he afterwards?”
Her laugh was brittle. “Aside from nearly choking me to death for talking to you?”
I gritted my teeth until my jaw ached, my nostrils flaring as guilt collided with rage. What I wouldn’t give to wrap my hands around Victor’s throat and bring him to the edge of death.
I had to remind myself his time would come. I’d make sure of it.
“I swear to you, Ariana,” I began, my voice trembling with the raw fury vibrating through me.
“I’ll make him pay for every second of fear he instilled in you.
Every bruise. Every scar. Every minute he made you wish for death.
I’ll make him do the same. And I won’t fucking rest until he can no longer hurt you or anyone else. ”
I kept my eyes glued to hers so she could see the truth in my words. I’d never wanted anyone to believe me as much as I wanted Ariana to believe me right now.
To trust me.
For one suspended heartbeat, I thought she did. Thought she saw me not as her captor, but as the man who would risk everything for her. Who would bleed for her. But just as quickly, her walls went back up, her expression tightening once more.
“I assumed it was because he saw me talking to another man,” she admitted, pinching her lips together as she stared past me again, deep in thought.
“But now that I think about it, he was on edge before we left for the gala. He went straight for the scotch when he came home earlier that day. He only did that when something had him rattled.”
“So he comes home upset,” I began, hoping to make sense out of the various puzzle pieces.
“At the gala, he leaves you to discuss something with the Obshchak of the Miami Bratva. The following day, a man tries to abduct you. A man we now know was paid to take you and was working with the Bratva to some extent. It has to be connected. I just don’t know what their endgame is. ”
“What do we do now?”
We. The word hit me straight in my gut. It gave me hope I hadn’t completely fucked this up. I didn’t expect her to forgive me right away. Or trust me. Not after everything her husband put her through.
Not after everything I put her through.
But I was going to do everything in my power to earn her trust. Even if it took me the rest of my life.
“We don’t do anything,” I told her gently. “You have a concussion, along with a sprained knee and some bruised ribs. All you need to do right now is rest.”
“You expect me to rest while the Bratva is after me?” She sucked in a sharp breath, flinging her eyes to mine, panic and concern swirling within.
“What is it? Did you remember something?”
“My mom. What about my mom? What if they…” Her voice cracked as tears welled in her eyes.
“Your mother is fine.”
She vehemently shook her head. “You don’t know that. The day I was taken, she warned me. Said she saw a man with a raven tattoo. I thought it was just her nonsensical rambling, but what if—”
“Ariana.” I leaned closer, firm but steady. “I swear to you. She’s fine. Would you like to see for yourself?”
Her breath caught, and she snapped her eyes to mine. “How?”
I smiled faintly and stood, sliding my phone back into my pocket. “May I?” I gestured down her frame.
She frowned, not understanding, but nodded anyway.
I bent and carefully lifted her into my arms.
“What are you doing?” She gasped, clutching at my shirt, the heat of her touch searing through the fabric.
My god, it felt good to feel her again. To have her body against mine. To have her hands on me.
“What I promised.” I adjusted her gently, mindful of her ribs. “Taking you to see that your mother’s fine.”