Chapter 33
RUSLAN
“Sit still.”
Bradley’s deep demand isn’t enough to keep me sitting on the bed but his heavy hand on my shoulder is.
Pain lances through my entire body from the contact, so I grit my teeth and glare at him.
“I don’t have time to sit here! Ivy is out there with that maniac, and every second I spend in here with you is a second too long that she is with him. ”
“You’re in no state to go anywhere,” Bradley remarks, somehow remaining calm when it feels like everything for me is on fire. “And the longer you fight me, the longer you have to spend here.”
“Better listen to him,” pipes up Valentina from her seat across the room. “None of us has ever won an argument against him.”
“There’s always a first time,” I mutter. Unfortunately, the painkillers I threw down my throat haven’t started working yet, so regretfully, I obey and slump back down onto the bed.
“Good,” Bradley replies, and he resumes stitching up the gash above my eyebrow. “You want to go out there and look for her, but it’s a big city and we don’t know where to look. So let Raven work and when we have something, you’ll know.”
“It’s been too long,” I murmur. “Too long.”
I failed her. They kicked the shit out of me and I couldn’t save her.
The last time I saw Ivy was five hours ago as she was dragged into Alexei’s car and driven away, while all I could do was crawl.
I crawled until darkness took me, and Valentina’s team apparently found me thirty seconds later.
Since then, I’ve been cleared by the doctor of anything life-threatening, although advised not to engage in any strenuous activity since those bastards cracked a couple of my ribs, kicked a tooth right out of my jaw, and bruised enough internal organs that I’ll be pissing blood for a week.
“Hey.” Raven appears in the doorway of the medical wing and I nearly surge upward.
“Have you got something?” I demand.
“No, sorry. But Kraven wants to talk.”
“Kraven,” I spit, shaking my head. “He’s lucky I don’t kill him.”
“It’s not the first time someone’s let the world burn for their son,” remarks Cassian as he follows Raven inside. “We can’t blame him.”
“I can,” I growl. “That fucker knew where his son was and didn’t want to tell us. The only reason he told you, Cassian, was because he realized his son wasn’t being a good boy and hiding until all this blew over.”
“What does he want to talk about?” Bradley asks, ending my tirade by cupping my jaw so he can clean some torn skin under my chin.
Raven sighs. “He’s pissed that we’ve broken a few rules and involved ourselves so deeply in a family matter.”
“And he’s right,” Cassian adds. “We never ordinarily would have been involved in something like this.”
“Seriously?” I drag my face out of Bradley’s grip.
“Maybe we need to change those rules then because without me and Ivy, how many Italian families would have borne the brunt of something they had no involvement in? How much blood would have been spilled while Kraven got his revenge? And Ivy’s family?
They were innocent. They weren’t even part of our world.
They all would have been slaughtered and forgotten and Kraven would have no inkling of his son’s hand in any of this if we hadn’t done such a good job protecting Ivy.
This shit is the shit we should be doing. ”
“As much as I was against this in the beginning, he has a point,” Valentina agrees. “How many times have we witnessed carnage because some asshole got jealous? How many times have we stood by because we’ve deemed an issue not big enough for interference?”
“Where’s the balance?” Raven asks, perching on the table. “There’s a fine line between helping people and being overbearing.”
“Maybe there’s no magic line,” Cassian adds.
“Maybe we just have to pay attention to the bigger picture and step in when we need to. You have a good point, Ruslan. Without our protection covering Ivy, Alexei would have killed her and Kraven would have torn through the Italians seeking retribution for a destroyed deal. And we would have thought him justified.”
“Love makes things messy,” Valentina remarks, peering over Raven’s shoulder. “Make you wonder how many things the Suit has overlooked as business when really, it was about love making someone crazy.”
Love.
My attention drifts to Valentina.
Is that really what this comes down to? Alexei’s obsessive, jealous love for Florence. Florence’s love for Camden. Camden’s love for his daughter.
My love for Ivy. The moment I think of her, the moment I know I wouldn’t have tried this hard for anyone else.
Because I don’t love anyone else.
I love her.
And she’s gone.
Shit.
“This isn’t the time for this,” Bradley interjects. “I hear you all and I understand. But right now, we have more pressing matters.”
“Ivy,” I say, and her name turns sour against my tongue. I let her down. How could I do that? How could I let them take her? “If he’s killed her already, Alexei is a dead man walking.”
“Let’s not make assumptions,” Bradley says. “Lie back. That wound on your abdomen needs a stitch.”
“Fine.” Slumping back, I gaze up at the ceiling I studied so often while resting next to Ivy as she battled her fever.
This is the first time she hasn’t been with me in months and emptiness is glaring.
As Bradley starts working on the gash across my abdomen from where broken glass from Alexei’s cars cut into me as they dragged me across the ground, I mull over Kraven.
Whatever information he has had better be worth its weight in gold or I’m going to kill him with my bare hands.
Not getting to see Kraven until early the next morning was the most painful part of my night.
Bradley must have slipped a sedative into my coffee because sleep came quickly.
Still pissed, I glare at him from the edge of the room while Bradley stands before Kraven.
It’s the first time Kraven’s ever looked small.
“I’ll only ask this once,” Bradley states, his voice deep and flat. “Where is Alexei?”
“I don’t know,” Kraven replies. “I did what you asked. Yes, I knew where he was, but you have to understand that he is my son and you are—”
His next words leave him in a strangled gasp as Bradley suddenly leans across the table, grabs Kraven by the collar, and drags him back across the table. Several guards shuffle forward, anxious to protect their Pakhan without overstepping the Suit.
“He is your son. I understand. This goes beyond your son blowing up a plane, ruining a drug deal, or even kidnapping that poor girl. Your son nearly killed our Ace. Again. I’m not here to play games.
I’m not here to listen to excuses. I’ve already called several families under your control to ensure that if anything happens to you, they will happily step into your enterprise and ensure this world keeps on turning.
So I’ll ask you again. Where is Alexei?”
Kraven struggles against Bradley’s grip, tossing his head back and forth and wiggling as he’s held awkwardly over the desk. “I don’t know!” he chokes out. “B-But he won’t kill the girl! He needs a scapegoat!”
I step forward. “Explain.”
“H-He’s trying to save face, don’t you see? The Suit hunting him down is a nightmare. It’s a nightmare for all of us. That girl is the only thing keeping him alive right now! He’s a smart boy, he’s just stupid. He’s reckless.”
“He’s endangering you and your entire estate,” Bradley growls. He finally releases Kraven and he falls down onto his desk, coughing and gasping.
With a wave of his hand, his guards step back against the wall and await further orders.
“I know,” he croaks. “Don’t you think I know that?
Everything I’ve spent my life working for, everything I’ve built…
in tatters because of him. I’ve spent my life trying to keep him on the straight and narrow after his mom died, but he was born with a streak I can’t tame.
Never—” Kraven coughs sharply. “Never have I had trouble with you, King. You know me. I know the rules and I play by them.” He coughs again.
“If I knew then I would tell you, I swear.”
Bradley adjusts his suit and glances at me, seeking approval in my eyes for how to proceed next. After I nod, Bradley sighs. “Then how do we lure your son out?”
“He will do everything and anything he can to keep himself alive,” Kraven explains. “He’s a survivor.”
“So he wants a deal? An exchange?”
“Maybe.” Kraven slowly sits back down in his chair. “A deal could work. Immunity for Ivy’s life. Would you be willing?”
“No,” I reply before Bradley even has a chance. “Alexei declared war on us the moment he sent his goons to kidnap and torture me. Your son isn’t getting a deal.”
Kraven’s eyes narrow faintly. “Then you aren’t getting your girl.”
My stomach twists, and I walk forward until I’m next to Bradley, focused on him so my fury toward Kraven doesn’t get the better of me. “War will draw Alexei out.”
“War?” Bradley lifts one thick brow. “What war?”
“We make him think that we believe the Italians are behind everything, that they fucked with the plane and shoved the poor Russians into such a tight spot that Alexei had no choice but to act out to save his father. Desperate times for men to do desperate things. If he gets a hint that there’s a chance we don’t blame him, I bet he’ll take it. ”
Bradely holds my gaze for a long time as he mulls over my idea, then slowly, he nods. “That could work. But to pull that off…” With a deep sigh, he turns back to Kraven. “We’ll need your help.”