Stepan
Radimir and I are doing eighty on the ring road when Timur's name lights up my phone. We've been rushing from one scene to another trying to keep things from blowing up all night. I tap the speaker and as soon as the call connects, he's speaking, spitting out words I don't want to hear.
"Step, Marina's gone. She left the compound sometime this morning."
Confusion furrows my brow, because I swear he said Marina left Roman's compound. "What do you mean, she left the compound?" How the fuck could she get away from Ro's place? Yegor was supposed to be watching her.
I don't need him to tell me which building she went to.
A swirling, sinking feeling turns my gut.
Kuybycheva runs through the industrial district and her father's been running operations from the factory at the east end of it for as long as I've known his name.
If she went there alone more than two hours ago, God only knows where she's at now.
I know what men like Sergei Belova are capable of and with as angry as he is, I could be too late already.
"Call Kaz," I say. "Tell him to meet me at Kuybycheva and Gagarina, armed and ready. And call Ro and tell him I'm not making it to the club."
"Stepan, Roman specifically told you to handle the club first." I hear the warning in Timur's voice, but Marina is too important. That club is just a building, but she will be my wife soon. If I desert her now, what sort of man does that make me?
"I know what Ro said, but Marina is having my baby. Sergei could hurt her, Tim. Roman can wait."
"Yeah, I get it..." He sighs, then I hear more typing. "I'll send Kaz. You be safe." When he hangs up, I start to regret leaving Marina. I knew how volatile this situation was, and she was so calm watching me walk out. I should've seen it. She thinks she can talk her father down or something.
Radimir opens the glove box and pulls a spare clip and checks it then slides it into his jacket. No words really pass between us, but he gets it. Wherever I go, he goes. He has no other choice since he's in my car. But that means both of us have to be prepared for fighting.
My mind races ahead of me to every worst-case scenario possible—Marina's been tied and gagged, she's been beaten or locked up, or my nightmare—they're taking her to an abortion clinic.
I can't let that happen to her, and it isn't because of how I'd feel knowing I had a chance to be a father and lost it.
Marina will never be able to live with herself or her family again if that happens.
I push my car harder, zipping off the ring and into the industrial district.
When I whip around the corner on Gagarina, Kazimir's car idles, parked along the curb with its headlights off.
He gets out when he sees me pull in behind him and walks back to us.
Timur must've briefed him already because his jaw is clenched and he looks ready to fight.
"Have you heard from her?" he asks as I roll my window down.
"No, and I don't like this. If she's still in there, I’m scared of what we'll find." I push my door open and hear Radimir climbing out his side. "She told me her father is going to force an abortion..." Just saying the words makes my heart drop.
"Fuck, man... She's pregnant?" Kaz runs a hand through his hair as Radimir joins us, and we all turn toward the building.
"Yeah, and he's not happy about it. You see what he's been doing all night.
" These attacks aren't anything we can't handle, but they're out of nowhere. We weren’t ready for them so they took us by surprise.
We're playing runaround trying to put out fires while he does God only knows what to his daughter.
"So we go get her..." Kaz squeezes my shoulder and nods at the building. "I scoped it out while I was waiting for you and I think the service entrance is where we should go in."
The fury in my veins is burning so hot, I feel like I could faze through the walk and burn the place to the ground. But I take a deep breath and follow his lead. I'm not too foolish to think I know better than him. He's level-headed and I'm not in my right mind right now.
"Alright, I'm following your lead," I tell him, pulling my gun from the waistband of my pants to check the clip. It's full, and I chamber a round as we start across the street.
Radimir hangs on our heels as we walk quietly. I'm sure this place has a few cameras, so there's no way we'll sneak up on Sergei if he's watching. But with as much chaos as he's been instigating around the city on our properties, I doubt he has very many men here this afternoon.
We get our first glimpse at how lax security is when we walk right in the back door and no one is there.
"Fan out," Kaz orders. "Rad—go to the security office and shut down any cameras.
" He nods at the large sign on the wall along the far side of the building, then he looks at me.
"You take the main offices," he says, nodding at the front of the building. "I'll check the loading docks."
He cuts off, leaving me to weave through the rows of machinery and boxes on my own.
My mind starts to wander toward all the things I might do to Sergei Belova if he's harmed a hair on Marina's head.
I didn't hesitate to strangle Orlov with my eyes wide open, and I know that was crossing a line.
It wasn't self-defense or enforcing a rule or family law.
It was cold-blooded murder, and I know it.
And my fingers are itching to do it again, just to make sure Marina is mine.
When I hear the first shots pepper off near the back of the building, I know Kaz found some men around the loading dock.
For a Saturday afternoon, I'm surprised there are any men here, anyway.
The factory workers are enjoying their weekend, and Belova should be at home sleeping or out playing golf.
But my gut tells me he's here and that he's got her tied up somewhere.
I creep toward the office door, hearing a man's voice. It sounds like he's talking on the phone. I only hear one side of the conversation. So when I sneak up and round the corner and see another man in the hallway, I'm a little surprised.
His back is to me, and to avoid alerting Sergei to my presence, if it's Sergei at all, I walk up the hall with my gun raised, as quietly as possible. My feet roll heel to toe to avoid loud footfalls, and the man never sees me coming.
I'm on him in under five seconds, arm wrapped around his neck squeezing hard to put him in a sleeper hold.
He squirms, clawing at my arms and jerking his body around, but soon his face goes red and his eyes shut.
When he goes limp, I lay him on the ground and take his weapon off him, sliding it into my waistband.
As I stand over him, I realize it's Marina's uncle, the one who brought her to the fights that night.
His suit is rumpled and he has soot on his hands, and a smudge on his face too.
It means he's been out helping set those fires.
I should put a bullet in his head right now, but that would let Sergei know I'm here, and I want to see the shock on his face when I walk in.
Besides, when I straighten and even think of pointing my gun at him, Kazimir and Radimir appear at the end of the hallway. The burning sensation of my cousin Roman being disappointed in me for killing this man keeps me in check.
"Anything?" I ask them, but Kaz grumbles and shakes his head.
"You?" he asks quietly, and I nod at the closed door.
"He's in here, I think," I tell them, and I look up to see the words "break room" written on a sign over the door.
Then I hear banging, and the faint muffled sound of shouting, and instinctively, I know it's Marina.
"I'm gonna kill him," I growl, but Kaz slams his hand into my chest and holds me back.
"Step— No." He's firm but he's not hostile with me. "We do this right... We can still make this work, you just have to be calm."
I look at his face and see how serious he is and know he's right.
Roman hopes to turn this into a potential alliance, not start a war.
Even if the Belovas can't fight back or the Orlovs turn a blind eye for now, attacking the little guy will only make the rest of the criminals in this city hate us more.
It would only be a matter of time before they bound together to attack.
"If he hurt her..."
"There will be hell to pay," Radimir chimes in. "Kaz is right. We do this the right way and it'll work out." He rests a hand on my shoulder and gives me a gentle push. With these two keeping me in line, there isn't much that I can do to screw this up.
I grumble a few choice phrases and point my gun at the door.
"Rad, you open it, and I'll go through first. We get her out, and if he ends up belly up, it's not gonna hurt my feelings.
" I can't believe I left her side. We'd never have gotten into this situation if I were with her.
It's so frustrating, but I don’t blame her for wanting to make things with her father right.
Radimir grips the door knob and locks eyes with me, nodding at me as he slowly turns it.
When it swings open, Kaz and I rush in with our guns raised, shocking Sergei who stands in the center of the room on the phone.
His jaw drops first, then the phone, before he darts toward a cupboard, where I'm assuming his weapon is stashed.
Kazimir is on him before I can move, diving to tackle the man to the ground. His gun goes skittering across the carpeted floor just out of reach and Kazimir pins him to the ground as I raise my gun on him.
"Where is she?" I snarl, not at all concerned for this man or what he might potentially mean for my family. I want Marina back and I need to know she's safe and unharmed.
"Go to hell," he spits with his chest heaving and his angry glare and teeth bared.
Kazimir pushes off him and stands on his wrist while I keep the gun pointed at him.
"I said, where is she?" I tell him, clicking my safety off. But then I hear the muffled shouting again and see a large metal table shoved against a door. When I glance that way, his eyes narrow and he looks a little frantic.
"You stay the hell away from her! Don't you fucking touch that!
" Sergei writhes under Kazimir's foot, and my cousin drives his knee into the man's face, knocking him out cold.
The shouting from him ends immediately, but I still hear the woman behind that door.
Except now, she's screeching and banging on the door.
"Get her," Radimir growls, and he steps forward, holding his gun to Sergei as I start moving toward the door.
The table is so heavy, I can't move it on my own. My muscles strain under the weight until Kazimir takes the other side and helps me. We manage to move it back a few feet and the door pops open.
Marina rushes out, sobbing and terrified, and buries her face in my chest.
"Oh, my God, Stepan. What are you doing here? They'll kill you." She's trembling and she's ice cold, like that storage closet is more of a fridge unit than just a closet.
"Hey, shh," I tell her, "I'm not hurt. Okay?"
"Get your fucking hands off my daughter," Sergei growls, and I turn to see him coming around. He sits up, leaning against the table.
"You know what?" I hiss, turning until my weapon is pointed at him again. I've had enough of following Roman’s fucking orders and being the nice guy. "You need to shut the fuck up."
"Stepan," Marina whimpers, grabbing my arm. "He's my father." Her voice shakes and cracks, and when I turn to look at her as Kazimir picks up his weapon and trains it on Sergei, I see her pleading expression. "Please."
I clench my teeth and breathe out through my nose. No way am I going to cap him with her standing right here, but if she weren't here he'd be dead already.
"Baby, he locked you up."
"Step... please," she says again softly, and I see Kazimir standing over him.
It takes me a few seconds to shake myself loose from the rage, and I’m only able to do it because of Marina. She means too much to me to hurt her now. She looked right past who I really am when I walked her into Ro's garage. Not many women would do that.
"Get up," I order him, and he slowly struggles to his feet. At the same time, Radimir crosses to the door where I hear him ordering her uncle into the room.
We stand with weapons trained on the two men as Kazimir lays out what's really going to happen.
The Belova name is nothing in this city without an ally, and with Orlov dead, it's time they start thinking about the real future. The Kuzin-Radin alliance could save them and it's the only path forward.
Sergei doesn't look happy, but he's not a fool.
Right now, he's furious about being overpowered, but he knows it was inevitable.
There was never a chance that he'd be able to defeat us.
The best he could do was catch us off guard, and now we're the ones in control.
The future for him is only possible if he aligns with us, and I have a feeling Roman will be able to get through to him now that I have his daughter.