Chapter 23 Ruslan
RUSLAN
Half of me aches to leave with Ivy and make sure she’s okay, but it’s clear she needs a moment. It can’t be easy to listen to your father’s lover and not feel absolutely overwhelmed.
I have no reason to be gentle.
“Not once did it cross your mind that you were breaking up a family?”
Florence sniffles and glances up at me. “What?”
“You’ve told me you were enamored with him and how he treated you, you fell for him, etcetera. But not once did your morals ever speak up about fucking a married man?”
Her eyes widen. “It was complicated.”
“Was it? You didn’t feel anything for his wife or his kid?”
“I did! But it was like I said… we fell in love. You can’t control who you fall in love with.”
She’s right, to an extent. Moving from the door, I walk closer but remain standing so she’s forced to crane her head back to look up at me.
“You’re Italian.”
“Mmhmm.”
“Who is your family?”
“I’m a Marino.”
“Marino… I don’t know that name.”
“And yet you told me all families are cared for.” Florence scoffs thickly. “See?”
“Tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell. My grandfather used to be an Enforcer for a bigger Italian family. They faded decades ago and my father did odd work here and there. He was a runner for most of his life, but nothing like the big dogs.”
“A runner. Drugs?”
She fixes me with a narrow stare. “Guns.”
“And now?”
“He’s in prison. My mom is dead. My brother is dead. What does any of that even matter?”
I lean forward very slowly. “Because there’s a war going on, Florence. A war that tried to end until someone intervened, and it just so happens that poor Ivy got caught in the middle.”
“And you think I had something to do with that?”
“You are fucking her father. Sorry, were.”
Florence’s hand flies out suddenly, but I catch her wrist before she can slap me.
“Fuck you,” she sobs. “I loved him, okay? You can dig into my life as much as you want, I don’t care.
There’s nothing to see, nothing to find.
I worked in a hotel and now I work at a gas station, okay?
My life isn’t bright or romantic. The only good thing I had was Camden, and we were going to be together! ”
“Then why did he have to change his name?” My brow lifts as her pulse races against my fingertips. “Who was he hiding from?”
“I don’t know! If I did, I would tell you because maybe they were involved in his death, but I don’t know, okay? We were just two people in love. He knew my past and he didn’t care. I knew he was married and I didn’t care, okay? I didn’t care about her or his daughter because I loved him.”
My grip tightens a fraction. “Then why did you bring her flowers?”
Florence jerks her arm but she’s unable to free herself. “I’m not a monster! I heard what happened to her. It was horrible.”
“But why wait so long?”
Florence frowns. “I didn’t wait. I’ve been bringing her flowers every week since I heard what happened.
We both lost him, and I’m not there to ask her for forgiveness or anything, but I loved Camden, okay, and he’s gone!
He’s been taken from me, so the last thing I can do is care for her for him.
Because that’s what he would do. All I can do is bring her flowers and tell her I’m sorry. That’s it!”
Gazing into her eyes, I don’t see any lies buried there, but I’m not going to believe her immediately. I release her arm and she immediately clutches it to her body, massaging the red mark my grip left on her skin.
Exiting the room, I pull out my phone and dial Raven’s number.
“Joker,” she answers cheerily.
“Hey, I need you to confirm something for me.”
“Gotcha.”
“We found Camden’s woman. Florence Marino. She says she’s been bringing flowers to Ivy’s mother for the past few weeks. Can you verify?”
“Sure thing.”
Silence falls so I glance down the corridor. No sign of Ivy. She must have walked out into the store. As I start to follow, Raven’s voice fills my ear once more.
“Yep, I have her on CCTV. Every Thursday for the past month.”
“Anything on her?”
“Nah. Cassian thinks her father used to be a gun runner, so he’s calling a contact.
The name’s familiar only because his father’s uncle was neck deep in guns and would always brag about using smaller families because you could pay them less until one idiot smoked too close to a warehouse of gunpowder and let me tell you, that was hell. ”
I’m only half listening because out on the shop floor, Ivy isn’t here either. Three security guards mill about the store, casting their eyes around like roving cameras, but Ivy’s absence immediately sets me on edge.
Did she go to the bathroom?
“How is she?” Raven asks. “Ivy, I mean. I can’t imagine how scary it is seeing the woman your dad was leaving the family for. Does she know anything? The woman? You don’t think she’s involved, do you? That would be fucked.”
I don’t reply as I stride across the store toward the other staff room. Inside, two staff members jump in alarm at my sudden entrance but they don’t get a chance to speak as I see right through the open door to the bathroom.
It’s empty.
“I’ll call you back.” Hanging up, I charge back into the store and grab the collar of the first security guard I see. “Where the hell is she?”
“Huh? Who?”
“Ivy!”
“She’s outside. She needed some air.”
Throwing him aside, I sprint toward the door. The windows don’t show anyone standing outside, but there’s a chance she’s lingering just past the building. Skidding into the sidewalk, the street is filled with a scattering of people and I scan each face in half a second.
None of them are Ivy.
She’s not here.
Footsteps thump behind me as security joins me and tension tightens so rapidly across my shoulders that my breath catches in my throat.
Not again.
It can’t have happened again.
I told her not to leave.
Why the fuck didn’t she listen?
Dialing her number, I turn to security as the call rings out unanswered. “You didn’t watch her? You didn’t keep a fucking eye on her? Do you have a fucking death wish!”
“We were!” One barks back. “She stepped out for air and Tony followed.”
“Well, where the fuck is Tony, huh?” I cast my arm wide, narrowly avoiding smacking a passing man in the face. “Where the fuck is he?”
Ivy doesn’t answer her phone.
My heart races faster and faster as I dial Raven’s number next, but before I hit call, the arrogant security guard shoves his phone under my nose. On the screen, two small dots flash a few blocks away.
“See?” he remarks sharply. “He’s just around the corner. Tony says she’s fine.”
“Why the fuck did they leave?” Not waiting for an answer, I break into a sprint and rip my gun from my holster as I run past the first block.
Too much could have happened in the time we were separated.
It only takes a few seconds for a blade to find a critical artery or for a bullet to strike an organ.
It takes even less time for someone to snatch her off the street and steal her away from me, to finally take her and kill her like someone’s been fighting to do ever since the crash.
She wouldn’t leave willingly.
I know she wouldn’t.
This is too important.
Reaching the next block, I spot Tony instantly.
He wears the same suit as the two guards I left in the dust behind me, so I make a beeline for him.
He sees me a split second before I crash into him.
Both my hands latch onto his collar and I haul him upward an inch, then slam him down on the hood of the nearest car.
“Where the fuck is she, huh? What have you done with her? Where is she?”
Tony stares up at me in alarm, his eyes wide like saucers, and then he points behind me. “She’s fine, Boss. She’s fine! She’s right there, in that cafe!”
My head snaps around as every fear of what could happen to Ivy swells in my mind like a cresting wave, ready for my own failure to watch her to break my heart.
But my fears don’t reach reality.
Ivy really is fine.
She sits inside a cafe with her head resting on her upturned palm, nodding along as she listens to the woman across the table. Moira, I think her name was.
Shoving Tony aside, I stand and sprint into the cafe with such force that the door crashes loudly against the wall when it bounces from impact. Everyone jumps and Ivy spins to face me, her eyes wide.
“Ruslan?”
“I told you not to leave!” Grabbing her upper arm, I haul her out of the chair as worry gives way to anger. “Do you think this is a fucking game?”
“Hey!” Moira’s on me instantly, slamming one fist into my chest while trying to get between me and Ivy. “Let her go, you asshole!”