33. Konstantin
KONSTANTIN
T he image of my wife played on repeat in my brain.
Tied up. Scared. Did he torture her? Touch her?
A red mist covered my vision and the world around me turned to blood. I’d burn the entire fucking world down and tear Adrian limb from limb if there was a single red mark on her skin.
My control rattled the bars of the cage, ready to snap.
I couldn’t handle anything happening to Tatiana.
Adrian hurt her. Because of me. I should have told her everything. I should have told her what had happened that night of the accident and what led us there. Instead, I kept it all in and pretty much sent her to search for answers.
I knew Tatiana wasn’t the type to just accept half-truths. Fuck, I knew it and still I refused to tell her out of fear I’d lose her.
That was what it was. I feared losing her.
Somewhere deep down, I knew my own mother feared me. Maxim feared me. I didn’t want to see that same fear in her eyes too. So I hid it all and now, I could lose her.
I shoved my hands in my hair again, pulling at it. I felt like my sanity was hanging by a thread and it’d snap at any moment. I had to get her back. I needed her.
This world was safer with her in it. Without her in it, I’d make this fucking planet burn. Without her, neither I nor this world would survive. Losing her would break me.
She was the air I breathed. My reason for existence.
“You’re right,” Boris said, interrupting my dark thoughts. “They’re headed to Russia. On a cargo plane.”
No wonder we couldn’t trace any commercial or private flights. We assumed he traveled the normal way.
“We can’t be late,” I rasped. Boris nodded. Marchetti’s men hung in the front of the plane, checking their weapons.
I kept checking my phone. I didn’t know whether calling her brothers was good or bad. Was calling her brothers admitting defeat or not? Then before I’d change my mind, I dialed up Vasili.
He answered on the second ring. “Found my sister?” His greeting was filled with humor.
If Adrian wasn’t involved, I might have felt it too. Except I didn’t. Adrian would give Tatiana the same treatment my father gave our mother. Only for the fact that I loved her. That was her only offense.
“I did.” My voice was raspy. I gritted my teeth before adding, “Adrian has her.”
Two heartbeats passed.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” He roared so hard that the static came through the headset. “What in the fuck is going on?”
“In short, Adrian isn’t dead after all and is using Tatiana for revenge against me,” I rasped. “He’s my half-brother and he’s going to kill her unless I get to her in time to stop him.”
“Fuck!” Vasili’s voice portrayed rage. Anger. “And why didn’t I know this?” he bellowed. “How the hell did he go from being dead to being alive? That’s my baby sister he’s taken. You’re supposed to protect her, not put her in more danger.”
“Maybe you should have checked into your friend a bit more,” I snapped. I didn’t need him to point out the obvious. “You should have never let him touch her.”
“Do you even know your wife?” he spat, anger lacing his voice. “Telling her to stop is like adding fuel to her fire and throwing her into it.”
Yes, I fucking knew that. I fucking did that by withholding information. Except, I was so fucking pissed off, I needed an outlet.
“Where is Adrian?” he demanded. “I’m going there.”
“You’ll never make it on time,” I said, resting my elbows on my knees and gripping my hair. “They’re headed to Russia. Outside Moscow.”
He was already barking orders. He’d go to Moscow either way.
“I’m going to tell you this, Konstantin,” he growled. “If anything happens to my baby sister, Adrian will be the least of your worries.”
He hung up. I clenched my jaw so hard that my molars protested. Before I knew it, the glass that sat on the table next to me flew across the cabin and hit the little round window. The liquid spilled over the seats and the glass that once held my drink shattered.
“We’ll get her,” Boris said in a low voice. “We’re not far behind. If anything, we’ll probably pass them. Cargo planes go through extra steps at the border.”
I stared at Boris. The idea flickered to the surface and I immediately dialed my contact at the border. Five minutes later, I had it all lined up. Every single cargo plane in all of Russia would undergo additional inspection and scrutiny.
“Good thinking,” I commended him. At least someone was able to think clearly since obviously I was out of my fucking mind.
“Illias?” he called out. “She might want to leave after–” He paused when I shot him a dark, murderous look. Apparently it wasn’t scary enough because he continued talking. “After she learns about the connection and shit.”
I let out a sardonic breath. “I think she knows.” His brows furrowed. “She mentioned a picture she found of Adrian and his parents. She suspected it, but I thought it was too far-fetched.”
“Nothing with your father was too far-fetched.”
Wasn’t that the goddamned truth?
It didn’t matter. I wasn’t my father. I’d never let Tatiana go. She was mine and I was hers. She was in this mess because of my father. Because of Adrian. I’d get her out and then I’d keep her forever.
She was my woman. For better or for worse. In sickness and health.
I meant every vow we spoke when I put that ring on her finger. It was more than just obsession or physical attraction. After all the shit with my mother, my father’s bitterness changed him. He taught me that women are useless and good only for two things. Fucking and breeding.
My mother taught me that Maxim and I were unworthy of her love. She was unwilling to let go of her lover to stay with my father. She was willing to risk all our lives. Deep down, she must have known she’d get caught. Nothing ever escaped my father. And still she didn’t care.
But when I met Tatiana, things in my chest shifted. I didn’t notice it. Not at first. I spent years obsessing over the blonde angel until she strode through my L.A. restaurant. Only to learn weeks later she’d already eloped.
She was my nirvana. My chance at redemption. My chance at happiness.
Tatiana had touched parts of me that were dead from the moment I saw my mother shot in front of me.
The parts of me I had forgotten. It was more than just a physical need.
It was about the connection I felt with her.
Whenever she fell apart under me, I felt her soul merge with mine.
I felt that connection grow with each word and each gaze.
There was no sating this thirst for her.
I wouldn’t be able to live on without her. Just the idea of losing her had raw pain exploding in my chest, making it unbearable to breathe.
So I’d chase Adrian to that fucking parking lot where it all began.
I’d give him what he wanted. If it was my death he wanted; he’d get it. But he’d die too. It was the only thing that would protect Tatiana and our babies.
My father’s voice from all those years ago echoed in my brain like a broken record.
Boys grow up to become men. They come back to find you, and suddenly, the hunter becomes the hunted.
No more second chances.
It was a hard lesson to learn.