Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
AXEL
Viktor and I walked into the back alley and stood under umbrellas in the pouring rain.
“I know you didn’t want any contact with me.”
I stared at my brother, drinking in the familiar sight of him. It didn’t matter that I matched him in size and height. I always felt like his younger brother. “I’m trying to keep everyone safe.”
“I’m not doing surveillance on you, but our team recently stumbled over some information that has some relevance to your life.”
I was curious more than anything. “Okay.”
“I heard you were looking for a dog.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “How do you know that?”
“We do pro bono work for some animal shelters, and our system flagged a specific search on the adoption of a dog named Bandit and then an illegal look at their security cameras at the exact time Bandit left the building.”
I didn’t even bother trying to justify my actions. “We traced the van that left with him, but it was a stolen vehicle with stolen plates. That’s where we lost track of the dog.”
“I’m not here to interfere but I think we can help.”
“My wife is devastated. I’ll take all the help I can get.”
He handed me a scrap of paper. “He’s a low-level dog fighter. He isn’t into big money yet and he’s fighting dogs in random places, but he always works the same underground fight that happens tomorrow night at this address.”
It had been so long since someone had truly had my back. I almost didn’t recognize the feeling. The hope of reuniting Mila with her dog felt unfamiliar in my chest, but not unwelcome. “Appreciate it.”
“We’re staying out of your business, but we’ve always got your back.”
He disappeared into the rain and dark, and when I got back inside, Mila had disappeared behind her closed bedroom door.
I spent most of Thursday thinking about Mila while at work. The fiasco with the wine and Giselle was managed with a couple of phone calls. Giselle laughed it off and my clients accepted my apology with ease.
But things with Mila hadn’t been resolved at all.
I knew she was worried about Giselle, and the fact that she’d found us dining alone had exacerbated those feelings.
Mila and I shared undeniable chemistry and the draw between us was real, which is why I needed to keep stepping back.
The deeper we moved into this, the more she’d get hurt in the long run.
The problem was that my willpower was slipping. Every time she pressed for more, my control frayed. And I had already crossed the line too many times with her.
I needed to reestablish the boundary between us.
So, I didn’t know how I ended up sitting in my truck in the driveway, staring at the lights on inside our house and wondering what Jordan had cooked today.
“Food doesn’t count,” I said out loud as I killed the engine, knowing full well that I wasn’t heading inside for the food.
I stepped into the cozy warmth of the kitchen. Mila sat at the island, wearing a soft cream knit sweater and a smile full of trepidation. “You’re home early.”
“For once.”
I tossed my jacket over the chair and then poured myself a drink. “How was your day?”
She sounded shy. “Good.”
I looked over at her to gauge how she was doing.
She rushed with her words. “Would you like me to heat you up some casserole?”
I knew she was trying to make amends for the night before, but in the big picture, she really didn’t have to. She had been fully justified. And she certainly didn’t have to wait on me. “I can heat up my own food.”
She stood up. “I insist. Come and sit down.”
I sat down because it gave me an excuse to watch her and soak all of her in. She tossed a simple salad with vinaigrette and then heated up my food for me.
“Did you take your spa day yet?”
She smiled at the thought. “Not yet. We’re waiting for Tanya’s mom to have a day off work so she can watch the baby.”
I took a sip of my drink. She stood on the other side of the island, twisting a cloth napkin in her hands.
“What is it?”
She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry for throwing the wine and for being so mean and terrible last night.”
I gave her a mild look. “I thought we decided it was deserved.”
Her lips parted in shock. “What?”
“It looked bad, and I handled it badly.”
“I think I handled it worse.”
“Already forgotten.”
She studied me for a long moment, as if to assess if I was really telling her the truth. “Thank you.” The microwave beeped, and she turned with the napkin to retrieve my food. I heard her grumble under her breath. “Still don’t love Giselle, though.”
That made me smile. “Giselle is an integral part of my business. I need to have client dinners with her.”
She presented me with a plate that smelled incredible, her expression contrite. “I know.”
“But I’d love it if you could join me more often.” The suggestion came out of me before I could stop it.
She looked surprised. “Even after I threw wine?”
“Yes.” Maybe if she saw how I interacted with Giselle, she’d stop being so concerned about her.
“How’s the food?” She interrupted my thoughts.
I took my first bite. “Really good.”
She sat beside me, but instead of returning to her book, she watched me eat.
“How have you been doing lately?” I asked, looking at her. She looked so cute with her bulky sweater and her hair piled on top of her head.
“You mean with school?”
“And dealing with your recent loss.”
I was trying to gauge where she was with Bandit.
Her eyes filled with tears. She blinked several times at the ceiling, trying to gain control of herself.
Finally, she managed to speak. “I know you might think I’m overreacting, but I’m so worried about him.
I can’t handle thinking he’s out there in this world, wondering where I am and why I abandoned him.
My punishment is that I’ll never know if he’s safe.
Does his new family love him as much as I do?
These are the things that keep me up at night. ”
I thought about how Bandit had been forced back into dogfights by yet another abusive owner and might not even be alive anymore. “You’re not overreacting.”
“You don’t think so?” She looked at me with so much softness I felt something hard inside of me crack. Inwardly I promised that I would do whatever it took to find out Bandit’s fate.
I didn’t understand this weird connection she had with a dog she had met once, but I wasn’t going to argue how she felt. People dealt with trauma and grief in their own ways, and even if it didn’t make sense, it still mattered. “Not at all.”
Later that night, Maksim and I sat outside a large, rundown warehouse that was a hub of activity for a place so off the beaten path this late at night. Most of the clientele were younger men, a lot of whom I recognized as being gang affiliated.
Maksim finally spoke. “I recognize both of the doormen. They’re definitely Volkov.”
I looked at him in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Where did you say you got this intel for the dog?” He looked over at me.
I couldn’t tell him about a brother that didn’t exist in this world. “A trusted source.”
There was no way we could safely visit this fight if it was being run by the Volkov family. “Let’s find the van and put a tracker on it.”
I woke up with a jolt and fumbled for my phone.
“Hello?” I squinted at my alarm clock. It was 3:27 a.m.
“Sorry to call so late, boss. We have an update on that van.”
“No apology. What can you tell me?”
“We followed the van after it left the fights. One male dragged a large dog into the backyard and chained him up. Then he went into the house.”
I sat up in bed, wide awake. “The dog’s alive?”
“Yes.”
“Can you confirm it’s Bandit?”
“Not fully. It’s dark and we didn’t get a good look.”
“Understood.”
I needed to get that dog back for Mila.
“What do you want us to do?”
I was so tempted to tell them to kick down that door and beat the guy within an inch of his life, but that could jeopardize Mila’s future with Bandit. “Put eyes on the house and see if you can identify the dog when the owner leaves.”
I got another call at nine.
“What’s going on?”
“The guy has left and no one is home. The dog is still chained in the backyard. He’s an identical match to the photos you gave us.”
I had zero qualms about stealing a dog from a dogfighter. “Retrieve him.”
“We’ve attempted that, but we’re having some issues getting near the dog.”
“Why?”
“He’s pissed.” I could hear snarling and barking in the background. “Do you think you could ask the dog trainers to drop off a muzzle and a couple of those dog handler poles?”
“I’ll do better than that. I’ll send you the dog handlers.”
Two hours later, Maksim called me to the bay.
“What’s the issue?” I asked, as I walked across the cement tarmac.
“Just wait.”
One of our vans backed slowly into the bay. I stood and watched as two men, in full protective gear, fought like hell to get Bandit out of the back of the truck. The dog was absolutely wild, all teeth and frothing spit and pure rage.
I looked at Maksim. “Does this dog have rabies?”
He shook his head. “He had all his vaccinations at the animal shelter, including his rabies booster. This dog is just pissed.”
I watched as they worked to bring him to the kennels at the back of the bay.
Holy shit.
“So this is the illustrious Bandit,” Maksim remarked.
“Mila fell in love with him at the shelter.”
He glanced at me. “You know we can bury this fucker. She’ll never know we found him.”
I was terrified to let this dog near her. I put my hands in my pocket and touched the Bandit necklace that I had been carrying around ever since I had gotten the clasp fixed.
Last night my wife had confessed that she believed her punishment was not knowing Bandit’s fate. I couldn’t commit her to a lifetime of that emotion. “My wife deserves the truth. I’ll need the handlers here when I bring her by.”
“What do you need?”
I looked around. “I want the dog muzzled. Two armed handlers to bring out the dog. If Bandit tries to hurt her, we stop him by any means necessary.”
He gave a solid nod. “I’ll set it up.”
“Tell everyone to protect my wife at all costs.”
After school, Mila froze when she got into the car and saw me sitting in the back seat, but then a huge smile crossed her face. “What are you doing here?”
“I have a surprise for you.” I nodded at Anton, who started to drive.
Her eyes were wide. “What?”
“We have to drop by my work first.”
She looked nervous.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ll be safe.”
“I know,” she said, her voice small, but I could tell she didn’t believe me.
When we pulled up outside the bay, I told Anton to let Maksim know we were here. When he shut the door, I pulled the necklace out of my pocket and hung it from a finger. “I think this belongs to you.”
She covered her mouth with both hands, and her eyes immediately filled with tears. “You fixed it.” Her eyes met mine. “I felt so terrible that I did that, and so ashamed. And it was my only connection to Bandit too.”
“Can I put it on you?”
She nodded and lifted her hair so I could clasp the thin chain around her delicate neck.
She touched her necklace and gave me a shy look. “This is the best surprise ever. Thank you so much.”
Maksim appeared in the doorway and nodded.
For a moment I wondered if I was insane letting her near that dog, but then she gave me such a pure, sweet smile. “This gift means so much to me.”
I couldn’t not let her see the dog.
“There’s one more thing. We found Bandit.”
She froze in disbelief. “What?”
“He’s alive. And we tracked him down.”
“Oh my god.” She burst into tears, but through her emotions she still managed to ask, “Is he okay? Where is he? Does he love his new family?”
“He wasn’t taken to a nice home. He’s had it rough, and now he’s in a bad way.”
She started to sob harder. “Oh, my poor baby. Where is he? I have to see him!”
“You need to listen to me, Mila.” I grabbed her hand. “Something has happened to him.”
“Tell me.”
“Sometimes dogs have such a bad time, they turn. It’s like they’ve given up on people, and we don’t get them back.”
“No! That’s not Bandit.”
I chose my words carefully. “He’s not the same dog you fell in love with, okay? He’s very angry. And I think he’s lost part of himself. I’m not sure he’s ever going to come back from where he is now. So I don’t want you to blame yourself.”
She looked at me with so much hope it almost crushed me. “He won’t be angry at me.”
“I mean it, Mila. If he can’t behave around you, if he tries to harm you, I will protect you.”
“Is he hurt?”
“They made him fight. He’s pretty beat up, but he won’t let anyone near him to help.”
Tears streamed down her face. “I’m so happy and sad at the same time right now.”
“Come on.”
Her eyes went wide. “He’s here?”
“You have to stay back. We have to give him a chance to remember you, okay? Don’t rush him.”
“I won’t,” she promised.
We stood on the tarmac inside the bay and watched as two handlers brought out Bandit. Maksim stood off to the side, his hand on his sidepiece. There was a scattering of observers watching from the second floor.
Bandit was going absolutely bonkers, fighting and snarling. He had a muzzle on, but he was frothing at the mouth like he was rabid, twisting and fighting his restraints.
“Bandit!” Mila cried, and, before I could react, she was running toward him.
“Mila, no!” I yelled, taking off after her.
Bandit froze at the sound of her voice, and then twisted to see Mila running toward him.
I was about to give the handlers a signal to remove him from the room when Bandit dropped, lay on all fours, put his chin on the ground, and emitted a high yelp.
A moment later, Mila slid toward him on her knees.
I stopped running, not wanting to freak out the dog.
But neither of them paid any attention to me.
Mila was sobbing, and Bandit was limp as he let her pull off the restraints. He continued his whimpering while his tail slapped the floor.
“Careful, Mila,” I warned her as she tenderly pulled the muzzle off him.
“I’m so sorry, Bandit.” She sat on the floor in front of him.
He was in a crouch position, inching toward her, crying and yelping with excitement as his tail went berserk. And then his head was in her lap and she was curling around him, sobbing as she held him.
“You poor, sweet darling,” she said through her tears. “You’re safe now, okay?”
Bandit responded by whimpering and reaching up to wildly lick the tears off her cheeks.
I looked back at Maksim, who roughly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
“Goddamn Disney movie.” He cleared his throat, then yelled, “Everyone get back to fucking work.”