Chapter 27
KAZIMIR
The room is stuffy, too warm and dusty after six weeks of being shut up.
I sink into the chair across from Roman's desk and bury my face in my hands.
He isn't supposed to be home for three more days, but when that bomb went off in our offices and Timur called to tell him we needed him, Roman flew home the same day.
Now I sit across from him, waiting for him to hand out the punishment I know I deserve. I'm such an idiot for believing that anything good would happen to me. I trusted her, backed her when my family was telling me the truth about her all the time, and look what happened.
"Start from the beginning," Roman says, relaxing back into his seat. I can tell he's had some time to process what's happened because he's calm and even-keeled. His temper isn't controlling him right now.
"You've already heard it from them." I gesture at Timur and Stepan who stand across the room in silence. They know now is not the time to speak. The heat is on me for this, not them. I'm the one who failed.
"I want to hear it from you."
I lean forward and plant my elbows on my knees. "I mean you've heard all of this, but communications started going wrong at first…" I eye him and then drop my head. "The American got hit and he backed out… Someone leaked the information about where I'd be picking him up and—"
"And we tried to warn you," Timur interrupts.
Roman raises a hand to halt him and I pour the rest out—how Fedorov questioned me, how folks got picked up at the fights because the cops showed up.
Then how everything went seriously wrong.
He sits calmly and watches my face. None of this was my doing, but every bit of it is my fault.
Because I trusted someone I shouldn’t have.
"And the building," he says, interrupting my story.
I look up at him, letting my shoulders sink as I straighten up in my chair.
The shame I feel is so heavy, there's no way he could ever make me feel worse.
I had one job, and I blew it. God, I failed so badly because I let my feelings for her get in the way, just like he predicted.
"Her brothers planted a bomb in the offices on the east side." I stop and suck in a deep breath to calm myself. I've already told the others, but I don't think I'm ready for Roman's response. "She's the one who warned us all it was going to happen, and we got everyone out safely."
"She?" Roman tilts his head. "We're talking about the Volyn girl."
"Zora. Yeah."
"We warned him." Stepan's voice comes from behind me. "Both of us. More than once."
"Three times," Timur says from the door. "At least."
As Roman absorbs everything I've said, he rubs his thumb down the side of his nose and nods at them, then purses his lips and looks off at the window. I've seen him dish out punishments to fighters who make bad choices, and most of them don't affect this club nearly as much as he pretends they do.
I've singlehandedly caused the downfall of the entire club.
We have no home office at all now. We have no gym to work in now because the police know right where to watch us.
Half of our fighters have been deported, and most of our bettors have watched everything that's been happening and they've pulled out, maybe for good.
I don't stand a chance.
"So your cousin and your uncle come to you and say this woman's a problem," Roman asks, "and you tell them what?"
"I told them they were wrong, because—"
"And they weren't."
"No. They weren't." My head hangs now. I have nothing left to defend myself. The entire time Zora and I were together, she was lying to me, and though she says she loves me—maybe she does—she can't be trusted. It's tearing my heart out because there isn’t a thing in the world I wouldn’t do for that woman. I love her and I wanted her to be by my side forever, and now I don’t know what way's up.
Roman leans back in his chair. "The organization's in damage control, Kazimir.
Alliances I spent years building are fractured.
Our building is destroyed, and every rival in the city knows we took a hit and they're already moving on it.
" He pauses. "What got into you that you stopped listening to your own family? "
My phone buzzes and I ignore it. Checking a message right now would be a huge insult.
But it tugs at me. I know the only person who has this number who isn’t in this room right now is Zora.
I'm so mad at her, I don't think I could talk to her if I tried, but the fact that my phone is going off means she's reaching out.
She's probably as hurt and confused as I am.
I know her brothers were total assholes.
She told me that from the beginning. The problem is she never told me who they were.
Now that I know who they are, I know why they were being assholes to her.
They are men like me, with one job—to destroy their competition.
The Volyn family fight club has rivaled ours for years, always looking for an in.
I handed it to them on a silver platter because I didn't realize they had a little sister who could snake her way into my heart. And she did.
"I didn't think she was harmful. She told me her last name was Gorin. I had no idea."
"But they wanted to check her out for you, give you a background check…" He narrows his eyes on me as my phone buzzes again and again. And a fourth time, back to back.
Roman glances at my pocket. "Do you think you should check that?" His eyebrow lifts as his lips purse, and I sigh.
"It's her… She's the only one who has this number besides you guys." I don’t even bother reaching for my phone because I don't want to piss him off. He's being controlled right now, but I'm walking on thin ice and I know it.
Roman's fingers drum on the desk as he flicks a glance at Timur. I don’t see what that expression is because Timur is behind me, but when Roman's eyes land on me, he is scowling. "I think you should answer it. Maybe she'll tell us why she did what she did."
It's not like knowing the "why" behind any of this will make it easier. It's obvious why she did it. They want to bury us, and they've succeeded. We won't be able to rebuild, and we may as well start searching the classifieds for a job.
"Ro," I protest, and he leans forward, glaring.
"Look at the texts, Kazimir." He isn't messing around now.
So I pull my phone out. The number on the screen isn't one I have saved, and I have several messages stacked up on the notification screen.
Unknown: 8:47 PM: Kaz, it's Zora. They took my phone. I stole my brother’s.
Unknown: 8:47 PM: They're putting me on a train to Novosibirsk tonight. Yefim arranged a marriage to one of their fighters. I don't have a choice in this.
Unknown: 8:48 PM: I know you hate me. I know what I did. But I'm begging you, please don't let them do this to me. I love you.
Unknown: 8:48 PM: Please, Kaz. Help me. They made me do this.
I watch the three dots scrolling across the screen and know she's typing.
My heart feels so twisted up right now. I see these words and want to run and help her.
I don't want her getting shipped off to Novosibirsk.
I want her in my arms. But she hurt us really badly, and my family would never understand.
I glance up at Roman as the phone buzzes again, and he is still scowling at me. "What did she say?"
"Ro," I start, but I can't finish the sentence. When my eyes return to the screen, I feel my gut lock up like someone dropped a stone in it.
Unknown: 8:50PM: I'm pregnant, Kaz. I need you to understand that my brother is going to take this baby and use it against you. You have to help me.
She's having my baby?
My hands feel heavy, my chest pounding. As my eyes slowly rise up to meet my uncle's, I feel the color drain from my face. He sits a little straighter, a little less anger on his face.
"What did she say?" he asks again, more calmly this time.
"She said she's pregnant…" I want to stand up and run, get in my car and find out where she's at, take her back.
But I'm so conflicted. I glance at Timur, then Stepan.
They're both still livid. They lived through that blast just like me, and they wanted to kill her for it.
But if she's to be believed, her brothers made her do this.
I don’t think I can trust a thing she says, but what if she's telling the truth? What if they forced her and she's in trouble now, carrying my baby?
"What's going through your head?" Roman asks, and then Stepan grumbles and moves forward. I hear his feet stomping up behind me.
"She's fucking lying. You fucking know it. She hasn't done anything but lie since the moment you met her. Now she wants you to go out there and save her? She's drawing you out with this ridiculous story." He's just as angry as ever, and I can't even say I blame him.
"Roman, if she's pregnant, it will be bad news…
" Timur comes in as the voice of reason.
I hear him approaching too. He's not wrong.
If the Volyns have a Kuzin baby in their possession, it could show our allies we are weaker than we think, and if they make it look like they have something over us, our allies will pull back from us.
Our enemies will attack and we'll have no one on our side.
"She said her brothers are sending her away tonight…"
Stepan leans over my chair, resting his hands on the back by my shoulders. "Let them."
"Stepan—"
"Let them ship her. She came here to tear us apart and she damn near did it, and now you want to go chase her down? You really think that baby is real?" He hovers over me, trying to sway Roman's opinion, and it pisses me off. "Wake up, Kaz."
I bolt out of my chair and whip around to face him. "You fucking listen to me. She got to that building and saved my life because she loves me. And you can say what you want but—"