Chapter 7
LYRIC
“Help. Get an ambulance,” I yell.
I can’t believe Ainsley verbally attacked Lennon. I agree we need to stop this. It’s gotten out of hand. Not only is the Triad now after Lennon because of Sparrow’s dead stepbrother, but the Italians and Irish mobs are after us now too. I didn’t want people to physically get hurt, especially my sisters.
The bathroom is flooded with people, and I look around when I don’t see Ainsley anymore. My phone buzzes in my pocket, but I ignore it.
“What happened?” an older woman asks, her eyes boring into mine.
“She collapsed. She was puking, and she collapsed.” I don’t give her the complete truth, but she stares at me, waiting for me to give her the full story. “My sister was arguing with her. She fainted.”
Scared, I hold Lennon in my lap against my body.
The paramedics arrive and try to clear the room. “We need everyone out so we can get to the patient,” one of them says, and I shake my head.
“She’s my sister,” I say, and all the eyes in the room turn to me. I know what this means. I’m willing to pay the penance for Lennon. I’d do it for Ainsley too.
I scoot back so the medics can work on her. When they say they have to transport her, I follow them out. The older woman from before grabs my arm.
“Don’t you run.”
“I won’t.”
I climb up into the ambulance along with Sparrow.
“I’m her sister too,” she says, and I nod at her. She and Lennon have some similar features, but she is petite compared to our average height.
“I know.”
“What were you arguing about?” she asks me as she takes my hand.
She’s too sweet and kind for this world. Tears prick the back of my eyes as emotion takes over.
“I didn’t want this. No one was supposed to get hurt,” I tell her. “I didn’t know Daron took a gun that night. I didn’t know your stepbrother was still after you,” I confess, and she squeezes my hand.
“No one could have known what he had planned. We can only work with what we know and go from there.”
“Ainsley is dead set on finding our father. I—” I stop because I can’t give up the truth yet.
When the ambulance pulls up in front of the emergency room, we are directed to a waiting area, and I sit there. Everything I’ve done wrong from the moment I found Jimmy comes back tenfold. I should have never searched for him. I should have never let him become a part of our lives. It’s been toxic and unhealthy since then. The doors open and I expect Lennon’s husband, Dmitri, to walk through them, but instead it’s Mac Bronwyn, Leni’s father. I lean back and try to shrink in my chair, but Sparrow jumps up and races to his side. She’s angry with him, but I can’t make out what they are arguing about. The nurses direct him back, and I sit there.
I’m not going to take off. I’m not going to run, I keep repeating to myself. I’ll face the consequences of my actions.
Moments later, the doors open again, and in walks Dmitri with Andrei and Mikhail. A bunch of their soldiers follow behind them. Dmitri is in shorts and a tank top. Remnants of tape are wrapped around his hands. He was at a fight. I’d heard there was a big underground fight going on tonight.
He points at me and looks back at the men with him.
“Don’t let her leave,” he orders, and walks to the counter.
I sit there knowing my fate isn’t going to be good. I’ll be traded to one of the families to keep peace. I will never see Aleksei again, and I might be killed for my actions. But I’ll take it if it keeps my sisters safe.
I tune back in when the admissions representative tells Dmitri he’s not Lennon’s emergency contact. I stand up and watch as all the men around me prepare to jump on me to keep me from running. I step toward Dmitri.
“It’s Bronwyn,” I share, and then I give him the truth. “I’m not leaving. I need to talk to you, but you need to take care of my sister first and protect her.”
I need him to know the reason I went to that party tonight. It wasn’t to attack her. It wasn’t to confront her. It was to let her know the Triad general who purchased her from Sparrow’s stepbrother is in town. But Dmitri doesn’t give me time to tell him. He starts yelling, his anger and guards descend on us.
Everyone tries to get Bronwyn to answer their calls so that Lennon knows that Dmitri is waiting to go back. But he only answers for Sparrow and then lies to her. We wait and wait some more. The older woman from earlier shows up, and I learn she is Andrei’s grandmother. I’m able to understand what they say when they are speaking in Russian, but I don’t let on that I understand them.
When Bronwyn finally steps out, he and Dmitri argue for a bit until a nurse comes out. I lean forward so I can hear what they are saying.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen, but she just checked herself out AMA. She’s left,” the nurse informs them.
I can hack the records and find out what’s going on, but I need to figure out how best to protect her because Lennon is in a lot of danger right now. I jump up and move toward the nurse.
“She went AMA? She’s not here?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Dmitri and Bronwyn argue with the nurse about getting her medical diagnosis. Dmitri turns toward Mikhail, who I know is pretty good at computers, but I’m better. He orders him to look for her, and I slip out my laptop and begin looking too. I start with her medical record. Maybe it will give me some insight into why she ran. I scan the pages and discover what Ainsley suspected is true. When I hear Dmitri talking about leaving, I decide now is the time to tell him about the Triad. I also whisper Lennon’s diagnosis to him.
Andrei starts issuing orders of where people need to go. He still hasn’t told his men to take me into custody, so I follow along as everyone moves out of the hospital to the cars. If I don’t go with them, I’ll go on my own. Bronwyn follows along like he’s going to go too. Andrei and he get into a confrontation about how Bronwyn didn’t even tell Lennon that Dmitri was in the lobby. Anger flows through my body. I know Lennon wouldn’t have run from Dmitri if she knew he was here. Bronwyn did what he normally does.
Hurt her.
I can’t stop myself. I advance on him and punch him as hard as I can. His nose explodes in a spray of blood. I look at my knuckles and find they are instantly swelling. Shit, I broke my knuckles.
“Damn it, now we have to take you to a doctor.” Andrei points to my hand.
The fuck is he talking about. This isn’t the first time I’ve broken my knuckles.
“No. My sister is more important.” I swing back to Bronwyn. “All she ever did was want to please you. If she’s hurt, I’ll bury you. I can do it too. You hurt her every chance you could,” I yell at him.
I’m directed to get into the car with the men, and we head to their office, where I know they each have a condo. I overheard that Dmitri was supposed to participate in the fights tonight. I don’t understand why, but that could have been one of the things that set off my sister. She wouldn’t want him to be in a fight because he could really get hurt.
“I only wanted to tell Lennon that the general was here. I didn’t want to hurt her. I swear. I don’t want any of my sisters or Sparrow hurt.” I defend my actions for showing up tonight. “I hacked Lennon’s schedule and saw the thing at the restaurant. I didn’t know she was sick or having issues. I wouldn’t have taken Ainsley if I’d known. Ains is hell-bent on finding Jimmy.” Everyone in the car goes silent. The tension in the air ramps up, and their bodies tighten. I know what set them off, but they are unaware that I know the truth. Ainsley still doesn’t know. “Ainsley was yelling at Lennon. I tried to stop her, but it was too late. Lennon fainted. I’ll face whatever punishment I have to.”
As I talk to them, I continue to search for Lennon on my laptop. I hack into various camera feeds around the hospital, trying to pinpoint her route. The men fall into a discussion, and I ignore them. I don’t want to hear what they have planned for me.
We pull up to the back of the Russian Cardroom and make our way up to Dmitri’s condo on the third floor. I’m seated at the table, working on triangulating Lennon’s position as he goes to his room to dress.
“I have her,” I tell him. “She’s at Clare’s House.” I explain that she wasn’t running from him, but more than likely from Bronwyn, who was probably being as much of an asshole as he is.
I take the offered ice pack from Mikhail as the men prepare to leave. I expect this is where they are going to leave me, and I’ll be sent to a warehouse just like Bronwyn was.
“What happened now?” a voice I could never forget says, and when I turn, I find he’s focused on me. “I know you,” he says before he’s in front of me and pulling me to my feet. He looks down at my ice-covered knuckles and the computer on the table next to me, then looks me up and down.
“Um, maybe,” I say, keeping my voice low. I don’t want to confess how I know him in front of these men.
“Don’t you maybe me, krasota. I told you I wasn’t letting you go. You are mine. You gave me yourself. That makes you mine.” He proclaims loud enough for all to hear, leaving no doubt we know each other in the biblical sense. My skin warms, and I want to hide from them.
Dmitri introduces us, but we both chuckle as it’s moot at this point. Other than him now knowing my name, we already know each other. I know him better than I’ve ever known a man before. I remember everything from our night together. I remember the sounds he made. My breathing increases, and when he leans down to kiss the side of my head, I can’t hold in the sigh.
Aleksei takes my uninjured hand, lacing our fingers together. I try to pull away, but he holds on tight. He leads me down to the SUV we were in earlier. He has my laptop bag slung over his shoulder, where his bag is too. I follow behind him, praying I’ll get one more moment with him before they kill me.
As we head toward Clare’s House, I dig through information on my laptop. My hand hurts, but I ignore the pain.
Alek
When we pull up to Clare’s House, police lightbars bathe the surrounding area in red and blue. I know this isn’t going to be good for my friend.
As soon as he called me and told me he had the hacker, I had to come. I knew it was going to be her, but I couldn’t expect the reaction my body had upon seeing her again. I need inside her body. I need to claim her as mine again. My cock is straining against my fly. But now’s not the time.
When we get inside the building, we learn that Lennon’s been kidnapped.
I sit down with Lyric and watch as she logs onto her computer. She begins searching for any cameras in the area.
“Check ATM ones too,” I suggest, and she smiles at me.
I watch as she effortlessly hacks into nearby banks and businesses. Her fingers fly across the keyboard. She has several video feeds up on her screen, and we watch as the van Lennon was placed in goes by each one, following it all the way to where the Triad meets.
Dmitri storms back into the lobby after going up to Lennon’s condo. He demands to know what we’ve found, and I tell him.
“We got the van.” I look over at Lyric. “My girl is good.” I can’t hide the wonder and awe from my voice. It’s decided that we should head to the restaurant where the van went to first. It’s also where the Triad is based.
As soon as our large SUV pulls up to the nondescript restaurant, I order two guards to protect Lyric and stay with her. I’m not going to risk her being taken or her running from me again. I’ll handcuff her to my ass until I get her committed to me.
“I don’t need guards. I’m not going to run,” she argues with me.
I stare her down without saying a word.
“Okay,” she says, her voice soft. “I’ll get information on the warehouse.” She sits back in the seat and buries herself in her laptop.
I haven’t been on this side of the business in a long time, but I’m here to help my brothers. We step through the doors, and the room instantly changes. People get up and move around. The Chairman, who is the head of the Triad, ignores the rest of us and addresses Andrei only. They argue back and forth for a bit. Andrei has his gun out and aimed at him. He will kill for Dmitri’s wife. The Bratva protects their own.
When Dmitri kills one of the guards with a shot between the eyes, the Chairman realizes how serious the situation is and what he did. He could have stopped this, or at least we thought he could.
“Wait. Wait. Wait. I tried to stop him, but he’s a general. I can’t control him. He’s from the family back in Hong Kong.” He tries to make a deal with Dmitri, using Lyric and Ainsley as collateral. Andrei doesn’t know yet she is mine, and I’m not letting her go. No one gets her but me.
“No, she’s mine.” I draw my father’s gun that I carry and fire a warning shot over the Chairmen’s head.
He turns to me. He knows who I am. Many in Vegas know me from before I went clean, but he also knows me from the Lucky Dice.
“What are you doing taking all of our enemies as your women? You can’t just claim them to protect them. We’ll get one of them eventually,” an idiot seated with his back to us and facing the Chairman says.
Dmitri slides his knife across the guy’s throat. He’s dead before his head hits the table.
The Chairman and Andrei continue to discuss the girls, who the Bratva are claiming and protecting. I have Lyric. Dmitri has Lennon. But no one has Ainsley, who appears to be the problem child of the three.
The Chairman then turns to Dmitri and argues his status with the Bratva as a second in command. I watch the subtle nod from Andrei before Dmitri shoots the Chairman’s son in the shoulder. It’s a threat to let them know if they involve our family, then we will theirs.
We walk out, and I’m happy to return to Lyric’s side. Until she has my ring on her finger and my baby in her belly, she won’t be safe. I stop and pause at that thought. I really do want her pregnant. I want to see her round and bred by me. I want to see her breasts ripe from my seed and full of milk. The thoughts cause my cock to become close friends with my zipper, and I adjust myself as I climb into the SUV.
The doors close, and Dmitri is facing Lyric, questioning her instantly. “Who knows you’re the hacker in this little gang?”
She turns from looking at me to him. Surprise is etched across her face.
“I didn’t tell anyone but my fa—Duncan. He asked me to hack the Lucky Dice because of Aldridge stealing it from him. But Lennon said that’s a lie. I was going to research it and find out. But I know.” She turns to me and then turns to look at the rearview mirror, where she can look directly into Mikhail’s eyes. “I know you killed him.”
“Da.” He doesn’t deny it. But does she know why, and how does she know?
“My sisters don’t know though. I saw what he did.” She turns to look at Andrei. “He was going to kill that woman.” Her voice is so soft, but it’s loud to us because we understand she’s not mad. She expects his execution was for his transgressions against Erika.
“Da,” Andrei answers her just like Mikhail did. A simple yes.
“My sister is going to want to prove you murdered him.” She looks at Mikhail with a warning, letting him know Ainsley is going to want revenge.
“Nyet,” Mikhail growls. “I’ll take one for the team on this.” She turns to look at me with fear in her eyes.
“What does that mean?”
I pull her into me and make sure they know my intentions.
“This one is mine,” I declare.
She looks up at me, and my chest clenches.
“I’ll discuss it later, but you are both safe,” I say, calming her fear.
We pull up to the warehouse where Lennon is being held and proceed to rescue her.