31. Konstantin
KONSTANTIN
I knew something was wrong the moment I pulled in front of Marchetti’s Paris home to find him and his men on the sidewalk. Marchetti preferred not to have his men around.
I jumped out of the car, leaving the door open behind me.
“Konstantin,” he said in a cold voice.
“Where is she?” I barked, my eyes flicking to the house, then back to him. “Where are my wife and sister?”
Marchetti grimaced, knowing me well enough to understand that if a single hair was out of place on my wife, I’d go to war with him. I didn’t give a shit that It was an open display of weakness or against the rules of the Omertà.
“Tatiana was kidnapped,” he said. “I heard her screaming, being shoved into the trunk. By the time my men and I got here, the car pulled away.”
My chest tightened and my gut clenched at the thought of my wife in harm's way. I pictured the terror in her eyes and instantly a red mist coated my brain and vision.
The anger, violent and consuming, rushed through me and I lost my shit. With a roar, I slammed my body against Marchetti’s, gripping his collar.
“ Porca puttana !” He wasted no time and shoved a Glock to my temple. “Fucking mad Russian.”
“I’ll show you fucking mad,” I bellowed, my gun pointed at his head and pushing him back a foot. “Maybe you’ll care about my warnings then.”
“You better watch yourself, Konstantin,” he snapped. “Calm down before you cross the line.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” I roared, shaking him with force while blood rushed in my ears.
“And I don’t give a shit about the line.
” I had no idea how Marchetti shook me off, I went berserk, hellbent on killing anyone in my path.
“She’s pregnant,” I shouted. “All you had to do was keep her with you until I got here.”
I shoved my hands in my hair and pulled hard on the strands. I wouldn’t survive this fucking life without her. Without our babies. It’d destroy me losing her. Break me for good.
“I had a man follow them.” Marchetti's voice came through the rush in the brain.
“We have her on the tracker,” Boris reasoned. “We can find her.”
I’d tear Nikita apart. Skin him alive. Then break every fucking bone in his body.
Fuck!
“There’s something else,” Marchetti said, his voice cool. Unperturbed while I was falling apart at the seams. “Either Adrian has a twin or he’s not dead.”
I stilled and met his gaze. “Adrian? Are you sure?”
“I’d stake my life on it,” he retorted wryly. “Which makes sense now. The videos never stopped coming. Tatiana wasn’t sending them.”
The haze in my brain slowly began to clear. Adrian was alive. He had my wife.
I fixed my suit sleeves and straightened my cuffs. My hands shook for Christ’s sake. I killed men. I killed Isla’s mother. My hands never shook. But the thought of Tatiana being hurt had me shaking.
“Nikita is a traitor,” I said, my voice hoarse. “And he’s Adrian’s cousin.”
“Fuck,” Marchetti muttered. “How long have they been planning this?”
Apparently a very long time. Years. Possibly decades. For fuck’s sake, Nikita had been working for me for decades.
“Where is Isla?” I asked, trying to get myself together.
“She’s locked in a safe room inside.”
I nodded. She shouldn’t be in Marchetti’s house, but I’d be no good to her now. All I could think about was my wife in Adrian’s clutches.
Or maybe she prefers it that way , my mind whispered.
If she did, she wouldn’t be in a trunk. Jesus, I had to get a grip.
“Where does the tracker show her?” I snapped at Boris.
He turned the screen over my way. “That’s the private airport,” I said, recognizing the area. “Tell the pilot to have the plane fueled and ready. We’ll follow them.”
My phone buzzed. Unknown caller. It rang. Once. Twice. Three times.
Marchetti glanced at me. “You going to get that?”
I pressed the answer button on the fourth ring.
“Hello, Brother.” Adrian’s snarling tone came over the line. “Miss me?”
“Adrian,” I growled. “Where is my wife?”
He snickered. “She’s sitting here next to me.” He let out a heavy sigh. “It doesn’t look like she missed me either. I feel so betrayed.”
“I swear to God,” I hissed. “You hurt her–”
“You’re in no position to threaten me,” he snarled. “She’s going to meet the same end as my parents. Eye for an eye, Brother.”
My heart iced over. His parents. I remembered that night as if it was yesterday. His father. My mother. It turned out, it was our mother.
The look of pity Marchetti gave me set my teeth on edge.
He knew that my odds of getting her back were slim.
After all, he lost his wife and mother to a kidnapper.
He’d know firsthand how these things end.
I blamed him as much as Adrian. I wanted to punch him, beat him black and blue, for not keeping Tatiana inside.
“She has nothing to do with that,” I gritted. “Let her go. You can have me.”
“I don’t think so,” Adrian drawled. “I like this better. Want to see a video of her?” His taunting voice marred my vision with a red mist. The cell phone in my hand protested with a crack at my firm grip. Then it beeped, signaling an incoming message.
I opened the message and I froze. I fucking froze as I watched my wife tied up to a chair, her face covered in tears and her eyes full of terror. A Glock was pointed at her temple, the sheer fear in her blue eyes sending a shattering ache through my soul.
Pain, unlike ever before, exploded in my chest. It didn’t compare to the feeling I felt when I learned she eloped. Or when I saw her utterly happy and in love with Adrian. This feeling tore through my soul with a raw blade and let it bleed.
I finally got her back. After years of waiting for her. And now, I might lose her and just the thought of it made my chest squeeze worse than anything. It had to be the way a heart attack felt.
“What goes around, comes around, little brother,” Adrian purred, satisfied with himself.
Adrian used her. He fucking used her for all those years only to get to me. My father’s words came back haunting me. Adrian should have died that night. Goddamn him!
“I swear to God, Adrian,” I started, my voice cold and calm, despite the volcano ready to erupt inside me.
“You hurt her and I’ll hunt you down. I’ll burn down any and all relatives you might have.
Starting with your aunt in New Orleans. In fact, I have men on her already.
One scratch on Tatiana, and Nikita’s mother is dead. ”
He didn’t think I’d find all his relatives.
My contacts were very thorough when tracking family trees and digging information.
The world was a lot smaller than I initially thought.
I found the last members of his family and now I’d wipe them all from this fucking planet to keep my wife and family. Safe.
Click. He hung up. Fucker!
I breathed so harshly, my pulse roared in my ears. Each beat screamed ‘I cannot lose her’ in my brain over and over again. Seven fucking years. I waited seven years. It was our time. She had always belonged to me.
“I know where they’re going.” I strode toward the car, the doors still wide open. “Boris, keep tracking them, but I believe the general direction is Russia. The same parking lot.”
He perked up, already issuing orders to the driver and typing a message to the pilot.
“Take a few of my men,” Marchetti offered.
It was on the tip of my tongue to refuse, but I didn’t know what Adrian had planned. More men might come in handy. If Nikita had turned rogue, I could have other men who worked against me.
Boris and I shared a glance.
“Okay,” I accepted.