Chapter 3
Chapter Three
CADE
I’m fucked. Backed into the tightest corner imaginable, and…
My chest is vice tight, and blood like ice sludge.
My pulse roars a beat in my ears.
Jesus.
The monster has got a gun to her head.
A fucking gun.
What the fuck have I done?
A gun. To her head.
What the actual fuck did I expect from a man like this?
Men like Ivan don’t allow anyone to fuck with their agenda. He’ll fuck them right back.
Just like he’s doing here. With my Violet.
I stare at Vi as time seems to move like cold molasses.
She isn’t bruised, doesn’t look hurt.
I take every inch of her I can see.
Wait.
There’s a bruise on her upper arm, just peeking around the side from the back of her arm. And her throat has a red line. It doesn’t take much for me to work out it belongs to the rough piece of fabric that was tossed on her as she was flung in here.
The fucker tied that tight around her neck.
And she’s shaking, trying desperately not to.
Anger, hot and wild, sears through my veins with a jolt of energy, and I think I could rip Ivan’s head off with my bare hands.
But he’d shoot her if I made a move toward him.
The cramped spot I’m in gets tighter, smaller, and the oxygen is thin.
I need to think. Fucking think.
My threat was brilliant. I just didn’t expect this move, and I fucking well should have. This is a bratva pakhan, not some schlub on the street.
He’s fucking dangerous. Unstable enough to have shot dead a man he needs. Not only because he gets I’m better than his computer guy was, but because he said no to Ivan.
And the guy didn’t refuse to do what he was asked, he just wasn’t able to. But for Ivan, it amounted to the same thing.
He killed him point blank.
He hasn’t shot Vi.
Yet.
So… He needs me.
There’s a dark beat of hesitation inside. One where I know just how fucked I am.
We’re dead if Enzo doesn’t do his thing fast.
I could try and buy more time, taunt Ivan.
He’s not going to kill me. Not yet.
He’d prefer not to have the FBI and the cops all over his ass. I know how it goes.
He’s bratva, but if he is a diplomat, then he has other business, other people who he answers to back in Russia.
So, he’s likely to keep me alive. At least, long enough to undo what I said I did, long enough to have me do whatever else he wants. And maybe that’ll buy Vi precious time, too.
Or maybe he’ll just put a bullet in her head to show me he’s not fucking around.
“Hurt her,” I push out, knowing exactly the deal I’m signing with my words, “and I won’t do a fucking thing for you.”
Andronski is the type not to give up an upper hand. He shrugs. “So, I kill you both.”
“Kill me, and your fate’s sealed.”
“As is yours.”
“Harm her, kill her, and my fate’s sealed any way. I’ll put my head against your gun’s barrel and pull that trigger myself.”
Ivan shoves his gun harder at her, and she whimpers.
I hold her gaze.
He scoffs. “I can’t stand romantic fools. Are you doing this, or do I kill you both? I give you my word, you stop this, and she lives.”
I can’t risk her, not any more than I already am.
“Fine.” I know Ivan is going to kill me anyway if no one comes through the door.
Maybe not today, but he’ll kill me.
I just pray he’ll let her go.
No. I fucking pray my cavalry will get here in time.
I huff out a breath. “I’ll do it.”
“Cade!” her breathless slip of my name is acid.
I’ve let her down. I’ve…
I close my eyes before turning to Ivan. “Since you killed the only person able to help, it’s going to take me at least thirty minutes to undo this.”
He doesn’t say a word, just releases the safety. “You did this without him.”
“It’s easier to do something than dismantle—”
“Tick fucking Tock.”
I nod and sit, turning to the computer.
He lowers the gun as start working.
Twenty minutes should be enough time, more than enough, for Enzo to get here.
If he’s coming.
Ivan’s voice comes from behind me. “I changed my mind.”
Startled, I turn.
Vi stands, unmoving, her eyes big and green and vulnerable and on me like I’m either her savior or her destroyer. I know which one I want to be, but I fear which one I might become.
There are so many things I want to say, words soaked in emotion, in love, in self-hate, in apology that are just for her, but I can’t. I fucking can’t.
Do that, and he just might shoot her for fun.
Besides, she’s here because his men understand leverage. I’m betting if it wasn’t her, it’d be Jack.
And Jack…yeah, I’d save him, too. Try to.
But my brother isn’t here, and while not even Jack deserves being in a life-or-death situation, he’s not as innocent as Violet.
I look at the monster with the gun. “About what?”
He doesn’t move. “You now have ten minutes.”
“This is going to take—”
“Ten minutes, or…” He aims the gun at her and mimics the gesture of shooting her.
Fuck. The expression on his face is like stone.
“Clock is ticking.”
I don’t trust myself to speak, so I just nod and get back to work.
He’s lying, but can I call his bluff?
No. I need to make every second count.
It’s not easy making it look like I’m dismantling an alert that isn’t going to happen. As the minutes, the seconds, tick by, my deadline looms closer and closer.
I really begin to regret this move.
If no one comes I’m fucked, and Vi is dead.
“Almost got it…” I mutter, loud enough for Ivan to ear as time gets closer to zero.
I’m wondering what kind of chance I have if I try to play the eleventh-hour problem and grasping out extra minutes or seconds or if I can just sit back and claim there’s no way to do it in this amount of time…
And what? Have him shoot Vi?
The gun isn’t up, but one of his men has hold of her.
Ivan’s attention is on me.
I could smash this computer in Ivan’s face. It’d have to be at the last minute, with all my strength and focus going to the task instead of to Vi.
She’s not resisting, thank fuck, which means she’s not seen as a threat.
I’m not, either, not really. But I’m fit, and I’m sitting here testing muscles as I pretend to work, assessing the extent of injuries and trying to catalogue them into superficial and deep.
My ribs, for example, aren’t shattered. Hairline fractures yes, and something made me cough up blood—probably one of the punches to my jaw, but now I’m breathing easier, even as I keep wheezing.
My face hurts, and I think there’s a cut from a ring above my eye. One eye is swollen, yeah, but they know exactly how to hit.
How to hurt to bring on debilitating pain but not to harm on a more permanent level.
Not unless they need to. Or they want to.
Which means, I need to make a move soon. And I have to know how much strength and control I have on my side.
Which unfortunately, is not nearly enough.
But I’m fast. Good at surprise.
I—
The door bursts open, a cascade of splintered wood raining through the room.
Before any rational thought hits me, the computer is in my hands being ripped up as I turn, swinging, and I slam it into Ivan’s face, knocking him back.
I don’t think I’ve ever loved Enzo more in my life or been so happy to see him.
Men pour into the room, letting in the cacophony of gun fire from above rush in behind them.
I drop as Ivan stumbles aiming at me.
A bullet rips into his arm, the gun skittering.
I turn to shout at the men not to shoot my girl, right as the man still holding her pulls a gun.
Everything stops and tunnels down to just the gun in the fucker’s hand and Vi.
“Cade!”
Enzo tosses me a gun, and I catch it.
Aiming, I don’t hesitate and pull the trigger, hitting the guy in the head.
He falls, and I motion to Vi to hit the deck, too.
I go down, not caring about the jolt of agony that hits.
Amid the chaos of men pouring in, bullets flying everywhere, somehow Ivan gets up and runs from the room.
I grab Vi and cover her as bullets fly low.
Enzo shouts, “She fine?”
“Get the fucker.”
Enzo and the others take off after the fleeing bratva members and Ivan, gunfire sounding as they do.
I don’t hold on to the hope they took out Ivan. Even wounded, bleeding, men like that have countless others willing and able to lay down their lives for them and get them to safety.
And I really hope I’m wrong, but I’m pretty fucking sure I’m right.
“You okay, Vi?”
“Alive.”
That’s going to have to do.
I want to kiss her, turn her in my arms and cradle her, check to see how she’s doing, but I can’t. Yet.
Instead, I hold her sweet, shaking body against mine, protecting her, the gun still gripped tight as I look around, shooting any thug that moves.
Footsteps race closer, and I raise the gun, finger on the trigger until I see who it is.
I get up and help Vi up, looking at Enzo.
“Sorry, man. He got away.”
“You shocked? No, don’t answer that. We’ll deal with hm later.” I turn to Violet. “Hey.”
She lifts her head. “I’m fine.”
Her words are thin, brittle and I deliberately ignore Enzo’s expression.
Her pupils are a little too large, but she seems otherwise okay. However, I know how shock works, and I’ll carry her if needed.
“Can you run?”
Her eyes narrow. “To get out of this place? You bet your ass, I can.”
Anger. That I can deal with. It gives energy, motivation, and we need to get out of here.
I take her hand, and she grips it tight.
Enzo shakes his head. “We’re in motherfucking Staten Island. Since when did the Russians move in?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he likes to have secret lairs? I don’t think this is a place where he lives.” As we go, I look around at the opulence marred by blood and bodies. “I take that back. I think he might do more of his illicit business here.”
Enzo frowns. “How so?”
“By being outside his usual haunts.” Vi keeps her eyes on the floor so she doesn’t look at the destruction around her. “I don’t know…it’s what I’d do if I was some kind of criminal mastermind hiding behind the veneer of upstanding citizen.”
“She’s smart,” Enzo mutters, shooting a man who groans. “A keeper.”
My keeper flinches at the sound of the shot.
It’s eerie quiet now as we make our way through, but both Enzo and I are aware that if Andronski got away, it means we don’t have much time. He’ll be sending backup to take out us, other survivors, the whole building.
And Enzo knows it, but he is trying to keep things light. “You should watch it. I’ll steal her.”
“Try.”
He smirks. “I’m better looking.”
“That’s not what your mom said.”
“Leave her out of it.” He looks around. “Upstate I could get behind. The outer reaches of Queens. But Staten Island?”
“Could be worse. Could be Jersey.”
“True. Still… You owe me big time for this. You know that, right?” Enzo says as we approach the battered front door.
I snort, pulling Vi closer and wrapping my arm around her. “After how many times I’ve saved your sorry ass? Are you kidding? Have you forgotten what happened in Cancun?”
Enzo winces. “Not even years of therapy could erase what happened in Cancun.”
Violet raises her eyes to look at me and then Enzo. “What happened in Cancun?”
I’m about to answer when Enzo flashes me a warning look before he peeks outside and gives us the all-clear signal.
“What happened in Cancun stays in Cancun. Now, come on, let’s go.”
“No!” Violet rips her hand from mine, slamming it over her mouth.
Enzo meets my gaze. “It’s clear. For now, Cade. We need to go.”
“Violet, come on—”
Panic blooms as she shakes her head. “No. We can’t go without Jean.”
Enzo frowns. “Who?”
“Jean. It’s not her name, I just called her that, but…we have to get her out, now.”
She starts to turn, but I catch her before she runs. “Who’s Jean, Vi?”
“The girl. There was a girl in the cell next to mine.”
Cell?
I swallow down the fury.
“Ivan’s got a girl locked in a cell downstairs. She’s been there for months. We have to help her. Now.”