Chapter 21
The flashlight helps me find the light switch, which I flick on despite Ivan’s warning. He’s just not quick enough for my wandering hands.
“You need to be more careful,” he says, clamping his hand down over his heart. “You have no idea what’s dangerous in here.”
I wrinkle my nose at his reaction. “Um, Ivan, it’s just a light switch. I feel like you’ve been doing this Bratva thing for too long, and besides, I know my uncle Dimitri. He wouldn’t rig explosives to a light switch. Too easy to kill yourself by accident.”
“You thought you knew him,” Ivan corrects, moving in front of me and scanning the room. “But you didn’t even know he was a member of the Bratva.”
I shrug. “Okay, so there were a few things he didn’t want me to know, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know him. I spent tons of time with him, even when I was going to school.”
“I spent decades with him,” Ivan grumbles. “Please don’t sass me.”
I laugh. “Where did you learn that word from?”
He turns to me, his eyebrows drawn together in a deep from. I can tell he’s offended. “Stop acting like I don’t know English. I moved here from Russia before you were even born.”
I smirk. “Then why is my English better than yours?”
He rolls his eyes. “Okay, princess. You win this time, but you’re setting yourself up for another round of spankings when we get home.”
I bite my tongue before I can say anything that will dig me any deeper into this hole. I don’t altogether mind the spankings, especially when they end the way the last ones did. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
“Get a look at this,” Ivan whispers, grabbing my attention from across the room.
I hurry over to him, looking around Dimitri’s lab for the first time. It’s a surprisingly simple room, with four steel walls and a similarly metallic floor. There’s a cabinet on the far side of the room, where Ivan is standing, and a desk with a computer at it a few feet away.
“I think we hit the jackpot,” he says as he opens the cabinet doors to reveal a stack of manila folders. He pulls one out, leafing through it for a moment before jumping up. “Lily, this is it. This is the good stuff.”
My blood pressure spikes, and I try to keep my voice from shaking as I meet Ivan’s glowing eyes. “How… how far along is the research? Can you tell?”
“I’m not sure,” he says, his voice shaking just as much as mine is. “It’s… shit, where was that. Ah, yes, it’s here,” he says, opening one of the folders and thumbing through it for a moment. “Okay, it looks pretty complete. I’m not going to lie, I think he might actually have finished it. We’ll have to take it to some experts to know for sure.”
“That’s great news!” I say, jumping up on my toes and grabbing Ivan in a tight embrace. I press my face into his chest, smelling his comforting scent and sinking into his warmth. His heart is beating so fast in his chest it’s almost concerning, but mine is doing the same.
Ivan wraps his arms around me, holding me in place for almost a minute as we both retract into our heads for a moment. I don’t know what he’s thinking of, but I’m imagining a future together where we don’t have to worry about anything ever again. If he really was so rich, beyond his wildest dreams, even, he would have more time to spend with me.
It’s a selfish fantasy, but one that stays with me, even as our embrace ends and we continue pilfering through the lab. I want to have a life with Ivan, even to possibly get married one day. I’d never admit it to him now, since I’m sure he’d think I was getting ahead of myself, but I’m so obsessed with him it’s becoming difficult to contain.
“I’m taking the hard drive out of this computer,” Ivan says, moving over to the desk. “Could you turn your flashlight on again so I can see in here?”
“Yeah, sure,” I say, rushing over to him and pulling it out.
Just as I’m clicking the button, a noise from outside causes us both to freeze.
It’s the sound of a car engine, and we’re supposed to be alone.
“Be prepared to run or possibly shoot. Both, if necessary,” Ivan says, his voice deepening as he walks past me. “There’s no way that’s good news.”
“You think it’s the Red Hitters?” I whisper, my skin crawling at the thought of facing those corrupt cops again. They give me the creeps.
“It could be, or could be some kind of local security. Either way, it’s not good. We’re technically not supposed to be here because it’s not our property, which means we’re at risk of arrest at the very least.”
“I can’t go to jail,” I hiss, my stomach tightening. “I have a job, and an apartment, and…”
“Relax, princess. You don’t have anything anymore except for me. You gave all that civilian crap up once you joined the Bratva,” Ivan says, shooting me a fierce warning look. “Just stay calm and follow orders.”
I nod, feeling a shimmer of hope knowing that he’s with me. I’ve never had any legitimate run-ins with the police before one of them tried to kidnap me. I just don’t know what I’d do if I ended up in jail over it.
I mean, one of them died because of me. I watched them shoot him to pieces and I did nothing. That makes me complicate in his murder.
An awful thought creeps into my mind as Ivan moves toward the door. What if they came for me? What if the shooting was caught on video outside the gas station and they’ve been following me ever since?
Ivan opens the door an inch, peering outside as the sound of the engine grows louder. He stiffens, closing the door quickly and spinning on his heels to face me. “There’s someone out there, and they’re not moving. I think they know about us.
“What are we going to do?” I ask, trying to keep the fear out of my voice and failing miserably.
“We do what we have to do,” he says, pulling a phone from his pocket. “I’m going to call in reinforcements, but we can’t stay here. We need to start moving away from the lab. We can circle around back and go from there.”
“We’re just going to make a run for it?” I ask, putting my hand on my gun. I almost want to go out shooting, just to know what it feels like to be in the action. I’m already a criminal. What would stop me from acting like one?
“We shoot only if necessary,” he warns, pushing my hand away from my gun. “Don’t do anything to draw more attention to us. It’s bad enough as is. The Red Hitters are drooling for a chance to start a full-out war.”
“We’re already in a war,” I hiss. “Those motherfuckers came at me once. If they do it again, I’m shooting them. Period.”
He sighs, shaking his head, but a smile creeps onto his face. “I should’ve known you’d be like Dimitri. That man was as cold as ice when push came to shove, and he loved shootouts. As dangerous as they were, he seemed to thrive off them.”
“I guess we’re not all that different, then,” I reply, puffing out my chest.
“Yes, but the difference is that he was a lot more experienced. Sure, you can hit some targets on the range, but there’s a difference between a bright orange piece of stagnant metal and a man running through the field at night.”
He’s got a point, but I feel the urge to push back. He doesn’t trust me with my gun, and I need to prove to him that I’m capable.
I unholster my weapon, holding it up. “I’m ready to kill, Ivan. I promise you I’m not going to take the coward’s way out.”
He grits his teeth, pulling the door open again and peering out. He closes it again, and shakes his head. “The car is still there, but I don’t see anyone. I’m texting Donovan for backup, and then we’re getting the hell out of here. I suggest you put that gun away before you shoot something by accident.”
I narrow my eyes at him, but I respect that he’s the boss. Holstering my weapon, I wait for him to text Donovan, and then we slip out the front door.
The night air is cool and clear, slipping into my lungs with the same refreshing nature as cold water at two in the morning. The trees to the back of the field rustle in the breeze as Ivan I huddle behind the shack, planning our next moves.
“I don’t know what they’re here for,” Ivan mutters, looking around the corner for the dozenth time.
“Maybe they’re not here for us,” I whisper.
“That’s a possibility, but then why are they here at all? There’s not another farm. They’d have to go a quarter of a mile down the road.”
I’m all out of ideas, but Ivan doesn’t seem satisfied not to know. With the manila folders clutched in one hand, he uses the other to pull out a pair of binoculars. “Night vision,” he says with a grin, pressing them to his eyes and peering around the corner again.
“You see anything?” I whisper, my impatience getting the better of me after only a few short seconds.
He looks back at me, putting the binoculars down. “Yeah, and it looks like a lone scout. We could probably ambush him.”
My heart jumps up into my throat. “What? You’re serious?”
“You wanted to shoot your gun, didn’t you? Now’s your chance, unless you were just putting on a show for me earlier.”