Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
AINSLEY
A s I ride in the backseat, heading toward campus for my first class of the new year, I think back over the wedding. Looking down at the rings on my finger, I smile. Mikhail tried to give me a beautiful wedding on short notice. He had our patio area decorated, and the pool covered. My sister Lennon was there to stand with me, along with Sparrow. He had Andrei and Dmitri stand with him. I wore a beautiful off-the-rack, off-the shoulder ivory matte satin dress. The long lace sleeves were sheer and sparkled, just like the rest of the dress. It hugged my figure and was alluring but still sexy. He was dressed in a tux that made his muscular tall body look even sexier.
My gift to him was a beautiful, long lace gown that I wore for him when he came into our bedroom later. He showed me how much he loved the gown, and I swear he was trying to say more to me with the look in his eyes. I can’t help the soft smile that spreads across my face at the memory of our lovemaking.
Tonight is my first class of the new semester, and Mikhail is at the Russian Cardroom, preparing for an exclusive poker game they’re hosting in February. I have two guards with me, plus Damir. Mikhail said I should be safe, but he’s still very protective, especially since the shooter from December still hasn’t been found.
Damir sends one of the soldiers with me into the building as he takes a call. But after a moment’s hesitation, he tries to stop me.
“I’ll be okay,” I tell him, shaking him off.
As we head down the hall, a man walks toward me with determination. His stride long and powerful. I’ve never seen him before, but it’s a large campus—he could be new. He has dark hair and is clean-shaven, but something about him feels familiar.
His hand swings from behind his back, and I see the gun seconds before he fires. I quickly move to the side. Blood splatters me as the soldier next to me grunts and hits the floor with a thud. I’m grabbed by my hair and lifted up from my crouched position.
“You never should have been born,” he growls in my face as he presses the gun to my upper right shoulder. He fires just below my collarbone. A sinister smile spreads across his face as I scream in pain.
“Why?” I ask.
His fist slams into my face, and everything goes dark.
* * *
I come awake to the shouting of voices as I lie on the cool cement floor. I keep my eyes closed so he doesn’t know I’m awake yet. I can feel the blood oozing from my body. The pain is so intense, but I bite my tongue to hold the groan in. I need to figure out who they are and why they’re after me.
“Johnny, this wasn’t the plan. You promised you wouldn’t hurt them, just that you’d talk them into not claiming anything from our father,” a male voice says.
Our father?
Realization clicks. These must be Jimmy Duncan’s sons. Jimmy never let Lyric and me meet our half brothers. He always said his wife would divorce him if she ever found out about us, and he couldn’t risk losing his connections to the Irish mob.
I’m lying on my stomach and slowly inch my eyes open. I stare at my surroundings through my lashes. The men are behind me, so I can’t see them.
“Jordon, as long as they live, they are a danger to us. To me. They could inherit what’s mine. They could cause the boss to forsake me more than he has. Paddy already doesn’t treat me the same as he does JJ,” Johnny, the man who shot me, says.
Johnny and Jordon. These are the middle and youngest of Jimmy’s three sons.
I’m so glad Lyric is safely in Hawaii. I’m scared I won’t live to tell Mikhail I love him. That I’m happy I married him.
I hear the scuff of approaching footsteps, growing closer. I’m kicked hard in the side, and I scream. Air rushes from my body when he kicks me again. I roll away and push up with my good arm.
“Stop hurting her,” Jordon shouts. “I didn’t sign up for this. I don’t want to be the reason she dies. The Bratva will come after us, and Paddy won’t be able to save us. Family is off limits.” He tries to protect me.
“Don’t worry about that. This is the plan. She has to die so the war can start. Besides, I have someone who will help us.”
I rise to my feet, taking in both of them. Jordon is young, with dirty blond hair and a lean, swimmer’s body. Johnny is stockier. Jordon looks closer to Lennon’s age, and I remember Lyric mentioning Johnny is only a couple of months younger than she and I.
One word gives me pause, though. War? The families have all been getting along better than ever, even after everything my sisters and I did. The only wild card is the Chinese, but they won’t rock the boat after Dmitri shot the boss’s son. Still, could Johnny have someone on the inside with the Chinese?
“Our father wouldn’t want you to kill me,” I say, hoping to calm him down by bringing up Jimmy. Make him think Jimmy cared for Lyric and me, when the truth is he only used us.
“ Our father . Our father . He was my father,” Johnny shouts. He pushes Jordon out of the way and fires his gun at me.
I’m hit in the side as I dive away from him. The gun clicks empty when he pulls the trigger again. He throws it at me. Jordon moves back between us.
“Get out of my way, Jordon.” Johnny’s voice sounds off. I turn when I hear metal scraping and watch Johnny pick up a long crowbar. “She will tell us where Father is, then I’m going to kill her. That’s the plan.”
“No,” Jordon says. “I called JJ. He’ll help us.”
I watch in horror as Johnny swings the bar at his brother. Jordon raises an arm to block the blow, but there’s a sickening thud, and his arm hangs limply, twisted at an unnatural angle. I scream as Jordon collapses to the floor, his head snapping against it. Blood begins to pool where his bone is exposed.
“He can’t help me,” Johnny spits bitterly before turning to look at me. “Look what you made me do, bitch.” His mind is fracturing apart, and I’m watching it happen.
He swings the crowbar at me, and I turn away, trying to get as far as I can, but it slams into my hip. I cry out as I fall to the floor. Pain bursts through my already tortured body, but I don’t scream. I won’t give him the pleasure.
“Where is my father?” He looms over me.
“I don’t know,” I say, barely managing to get the words out.
The bar comes down on my leg. This time, I can’t hold back the scream. The sick grin on his face confirms he’s enjoying this.
“Tell me so I can make your death swift.” He swings the bar again, and I let the pain take me under.
* * *
Mikhail
A s soon as my phone rings, I know it’s bad. But when my office door flies open and Damir steps in holding his arm, blood smeared across him, I’m out of my chair and advancing on him.
“Where is my wife?” I yell, praying none of the blood is Ainsley’s.
“He took her. He killed both of the other guards and then tried to kill me. I followed them as best as I could. He was heading southwest toward Southern Highlands. I don’t know who he is.”
“Get to the medic. I’ll take care of it.” My phone rings again, and I look down at the unknown number. “ Da ,” I answer.
“I don’t know where she is, but I know who has her. My brother Johnny has lost his mind and took her,” JJ Duncan says into the phone. As he’s Paddy’s underboss, I’ve spoken to him several times. He’s also Jimmy Duncan’s oldest son and Ainsley and Lyric’s half brother. “Paddy and I will meet you at the location when you have it. I know you have a tracker on my sister.”
“I’ll kill him if he hurt her,” I bite out the words.
“You’ll have to beat me to it. She is my little sister.”
“She’s my wife. My beloved wife,” I growl into the phone as Andrei and Dmitri step into my office.
I turn my back on them and walk over to the laptop. I open the app for the tracker in the slave cuff bracelets I gave her as a wedding gift. As soon as I have the location, I dial JJ back.
“She’s at a warehouse on Ninety-Fourth.”
“I know which one. We’re on our way.”
“Be prepared. You’ll be lucky if I don’t kill him. He’s the one who shot me and took a shot at her, isn’t he?”
“Yes.” JJ pauses, and I hear a shuffling as we move downstairs to the alley exit.
“Sokolov.” Paddy MacElvoy’s deep voice comes across the line. “He’s mine to take care of. He’s gone against my direct orders. I don’t hurt family, and you know that. She’s my cousin too,” he says. “I don’t put up with insubordination amongst my men. When I give an order, my men listen, or they die.”
“Doesn’t seem like he listened.”
“Two spies, you will let me handle my man.”
“I can’t guarantee that,” I say, done arguing with him. I know not to disrespect him by hanging up on him, so I give the phone to Andrei before turning to Dmitri. “Did Osbourne deliver the latest shipment?”
“Yeah. He included your gift.”
I point toward the back of the SUV. “In there?”
“Already loaded and waiting.”
I pop open the back of the SUV and unlock the secure box inside. A small grin tugs at my lips at the sight of the brand-new SIG MPX Copperhead. The compact 9mm submachine gun is low-profile, powerful, and fits my holster better than anything else. I slide it under my jacket, grab the extra mags, then shut the back and head for the driver’s seat.
“Paddy, we’ll see you there,” Andrei says, then hands my phone back.
We take off, heading for the warehouse. I say a silent prayer that he isn’t hurting her, but I know it’s going to be bad. Something in my gut clenches, fearing I’m going to lose her, and it will be my fault for allowing her into my heart.
We pull up just as Paddy and JJ arrive. JJ—Jimmy Junior—is tall, built like a brick wall, and has dirty blond hair. I can see similar features between him and Ainsley.
We take off toward the entrance. Dmitri charges ahead with the ram and slams it into the door, forcing it open. I’m right behind him, weapon drawn and ready to fire. I spot Johnny Duncan with a crowbar in his hand, standing over Ainsley. I take in her bloody and beaten state. A roar tears from my throat, raw and feral, as I raise my gun to shoot.
“No,” JJ shouts beside me and fires before I can get a shot off. His bullet hits his brother in the shoulder, sending the crowbar to fall next to Ainsley’s body.
I run for my wife and slide to my knees. Praying she’s not dead. That I didn’t lose her too. I push her hair back from her face and see where he must have punched her. I want to touch her more, pull her into my body, but I’m afraid of hurting her.
I press my fingers to her neck, searching for a pulse. Relief floods me when I find it. It’s steady and strong. It settles me, but only slightly. Until she opens those beautiful eyes and her sweet lips fire off some sass, I won’t calm.
“I’ll kill you,” I growl and look up to see JJ has a gun pointed at his brother’s head. “She’s alive.”
“What about Jordon?” JJ’s voice is full of pain as Paddy checks him for a pulse.
“Yes,” Paddy says, and I can’t take it anymore. I grab the crowbar and stand up.
“Watch her,” I tell Andrei, and he nods. I move to stand in front of Johnny. “You like beating on people. Take this.” I swing with everything I have and hit him in the chest. He screams and starts crying like a little bitch. I drop the crowbar when I hear a noise and look at my wife.
“Mikhail.” Her voice is so quiet, so full of pain, it’s almost unbearable.
I drop to my knees beside her. Someone calls for an ambulance, and two soldiers lead Johnny from the building.
“I love you,” she says before falling unconscious.
“No.” I cry out as I lean over her. My hands carefully skate over her body, cataloging her many injuries.
I’m about to take back my word and kill Johnny when a commotion at the entrance gains everyone’s attention. I look up to see the two soldiers covered in blood and Johnny lying on the ground, his head blown apart from a bullet.
“Sniper,” soldiers from both sides yell and take cover. A few moments later, my phone buzzes with a text message.
Blocked number: One shot. One kill. Died for her.
Whoever it is sends another message—an image of Aphrodite rising from the sea.
I read the text over and over before Andrei snatches my phone away. “It’s safe. The sniper is gone. They got their kill.”
Two ambulances arrive, and both Jordon and Ainsley are loaded up and taken to the hospital.