26. Titus
TITUS
Being with Sofia last night was like drinking from the fountain of life. I woke up this morning with purpose on my mind.
I only have a few photos of Luka when he was a baby and only one of them I keep in a frame in my closet.
When he first came to me, he was a few months shy of a year.
The features he has now, nearly the spitting image of his mother, had already started forming.
The day that I learned of his existence, my mind was black with rage and despair from his mother’s death.
I couldn’t imagine a world where I could be a father and I didn’t want this child to have to suffer because his father couldn’t love him.
And then I held him in my arms for the first time and absolutely everything changed. I would move mountains to keep him safe and… well, up until recently, I had done just that. The failure that I feel runs through me like poison. And it seems that the antidote was being in Sofia’s arms.
She wasn’t in bed with me when I woke up this morning. I have to guess that she went to her own room. Wherever she went, she took my robe with her. I’ll have to get it from her room after breakfast.
I’m sitting outside, eating under a cool blue morning sky. She’s probably having breakfast in her room the way she always does. I should have invited her to eat with me so we can talk about last night.
I said things to her that I haven’t said since Angela.
What’s worse is that I felt things that I haven’t felt since her, either.
I’ve been walking around all this time, intent on letting those feelings die with Angela.
I needed to avenge her death and in order to do that, I had to think singularly. There has been no time to find love.
But I’m afraid it might’ve found me somehow. I’m not sure yet what to do about it. She’s probably upstairs with stars in her eyes about the whole thing. I need to make sure to bring her back down to earth.
Or maybe to bring myself down to earth as well.
I finish my breakfast and head inside. I should check in on Ignat first. I walk up to his room and as I approach, I notice the door is ajar… and I hear Sofia talking.
“I just mean, somebody should probably have changed these bandages sooner. You’re going to get an infection.”
I peek through the cracked door to see Sofia sitting on the bed dabbing Ignat’s back with a damp rag, a bowl of brownish water on the night stand. He leans forward and winces with every touch.
“That burns,” he says.
“Of course it does,” she says. “The stitches are all inflamed. You tell Doc when he comes through to wash his hands the next time he stitches somebody up. He also needs to get somebody here at least twice a day to change these wounds.”
As amusing as this is, I interrupt them, pushing the door open. Ignat looks up at me and tries to smile, but he only ends up wincing as she presses the rag to his wounds. “Good morning,” he says.
“Morning.” I watch Sofia for a few seconds longer as she discards the rag into the water and grabs a bandage, pressing it to the wound. “Didn’t know you could also play nursemaid.”
She glances up at me briefly. “I know basic first aid, that’s all. And don’t get any ideas. This isn’t my job.”
“It is if I say it is, Princess,” I retort, arching my eyebrow.
I see a flicker of a smile appear, then she turns her attention to Ignat, finishing the bandage. “There. All patched up for now.”
“Thank you,” Ignat says with a sigh of relief.
She stands and wipes her hands on the yoga pants she’s wearing. “Follow your own advice,” she says with a smile as he leans back in bed.
I clear my throat. “Can we talk, Sofia?”
Her eyes get large for just a moment, then she says, “Sure.”
She follows me out of the room and we walk down the hall toward the living room. “Last night,” I start, then my mind goes blank. What do I say here? Don’t let my proclamations of love go to your head. It’s not that deep. I suppose I could say that. It wouldn’t be truthful, though.
I start again. “I want to talk to you about last night,” I say slowly. “My mind has been clouded with all that’s going on. I’m thankful you were there to comfort me.”
She doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t look at me, either. Her eyes are down, looking at her hands, and her mouth tightens into a thin line.
“Sofia?”
“Sorry,” she says quickly. “It’s just… you just thanked me, and this is going to sound weird, but I didn’t think you had it in you.”
I smirk at her. “You didn’t think I had it in me to thank you?”
She opened her mouth to respond, but then she closes it, thinking better of whatever she’s about to say. She takes a short breath and says, “I don’t mean that you’re not capable. I just didn’t think you cared enough about me to bother.”
I stop and she stops with me. How could she think that after last night? I need to set her straight. “Sofia—”
My phone buzzes in my pocket. Shit. “Hold that thought,” I tell her as I answer the phone. “Yes?”
“Good morning, sir. It’s a lovely day today, isn’t it?”
It’s Cyrus. My jaw clenches. “You have a lot of fucking nerve—”
“Whoa, hey. It’s too early for foul language. Let’s keep this conversation civil, all right? Or else I might get upset and take it out on your boy.”
Rage nearly sends me over the edge. I step away from Sofia and hiss, “If you lay a finger on him—”
“He’s fine,” he says. “So far, anyway. He’s a handsome kid, you know. Looks nothing like you. Guess he got Angela’s looks. Or maybe he’s someone else’s? I mean a D.A. with morals low enough to fuck a Bratva can’t be taken at face value, can they?”
If I could reach through the phone and strangle him…
“Anyway,” he goes on, “I’m not going to take up too much of your time. I’m just calling to offer you a solution to your problem. The way I see it, we both want something that the other has. You want your son back and I want your job.”
“You piece of shit.”
“Language,” he chides. “You know, you really have to work on that temper of yours.”
“Where is my son?” I growl at him.
“He’s safe,” he says. “For now, anyway. If you want him to stay safe, then you’ll consider stepping down as Pakhan. We need some new leadership around here. That’s become painfully clear thanks to your most recent choice of the company you’ve been keeping.”
I’m vibrating with anger. I have to take a deep breath and listen.
“Let’s meet to discuss the terms of your resignation,” he says. “Once you agree to step down, we can talk about you getting your son back.”
“I’ll never hand this Bratva over to you.”
“Oh, yes, you will. You will or I’ll blast the little shit’s brains out right in front of you.” He pauses, and I feel like I’m going to throw up. Fucking asshole has me by the short hairs.
Through clenched teeth, I finally say, “All right. Where do you want to meet?”
“Center parkway at noon,” he says. “Come alone. I’d also advise you to be on time. A minute late and my trigger finger might get itchy.”
“I’ll be there.” With that he hangs up. I look at the time on my phone. I’ve got about three hours…
I start moving, going for my arsenal in my office. There’s no time to gather my forces and even if there were, I can’t risk Cyrus seeing them coming and killing Luka.
“Titus. Hey, what are you doing?” I hear Sofia’s footsteps behind me as I walk and the desperation rising in her voice. “You’re not going to them, are you? You can’t go to them.”
“Stay out of this,” I tell her.
“I’m not staying out this. Dammit, Titus, stop!” She grabs my arm with both hands, forcing me to stop. I whirl around on her.
“They will kill him if I don’t go,” I bellow.
“They might kill him anyway,” she yells back. “Titus, just stop for a second and think about this.”
“There’s nothing to think about.” I turn away and she runs around me, blocking my path. “Move.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “Just listen to me for a second,” she says. “You know as well as I do that no one just leaves a Bratva. No one. Not the daughter of a Pakhan and most certainly not the Pakhan himself.”
“Make your point, Sofia.”
“I would think my point was pretty fucking obvious. If you meet with the twins, they will kill you. It’s not going to go like you think it is.”
“It sure as hell won’t,” I growl at her, “because if Luka is hurt, I’ll put a bullet in both their heads.”
“Well, that’s not off the table. But the only thing they want is your throne. Your place at the top. And there’s only one way they’ll ever get it legit. They are going to kill you.”
She glares at me with anger, but also pain, her eyes shaking with signs of panic. There is no doubt in her mind that if I leave, I won’t be coming back.
“Sofia,” I say, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “I have to do this. There isn’t any other way. At the very least, I need to get Luka safe before—”
“Let me go with you.”
I scowl at her. “No.”
“Dammit, Titus.”
“This isn’t about your skillset or whether or not I think you belong on the battlefield. I’m to meet with them alone. If either of them sees you with me, it’s all over.”
“They won’t see me,” she says, taking a step toward me. “Not if I’ve got them in my sights.”
That stops me cold. “What do you mean by that?”
“Give me a rifle and I’ll show you.”
I almost laugh. I might if I had the time or the inclination. “So, you’re a sniper now?”
“I’m damned good at it, too. Where are you meeting with them?”
“Sofia—”
“So I know where to be where they won’t see me. Trust me, Titus. All I need is a clear shot at them. I can take them out before they even know what’s happened.”
I shake my head. She’s insane. Or she’s going insane. “I really don’t have time for this.”
“No, you don’t. Look, if you go without any backup, they will, one hundred percent, kill you. Your life is the prize here. Nothing else matters. You’re serving yourself up to them like a lamb to slaughter. You cannot go alone.”
She’s right. I know she’s right down to my bones. I knew it when I was on the phone with Cyrus. “He is my son,” I tell her. “I would gladly give my life for him.”
“I know,” she says softly. “And all I’m saying is that you don’t have to. Let me do what I can to help you. Please.”
I’ve found that there are only three words that Sofia has ever spoken that’ve ever made me change my path, and she just said the third one. Please. Looking at me with those eyes the color of precious jewels, I find it impossible to resist her.
“Come on,” I tell her. I sidestep her and walk the rest of the way to my office with her right behind me.
In my office, I walk over to one of my bookshelves and press a button, hidden on the inside of the middle shelf. It swings around revealing a wall of my guns. ARs of at least three varieties, handguns, and rifles, including one sniper rifle sitting in its slot at the very top of the rack.
I turn to her and she’s standing behind me, mouth open in awe. “Oh, my God.”
“You know your guns?” I say. “Tell me about the sniper rifle.”
She looks at me cautiously. “What do you mean?”
“Pick it out and tell me about it.”
She rolls her eyes and walks past me to the wall, then stops. “It’s too high up,” she says.
I nod toward the chair next to the shelf. “Be creative.”
She grabs the chair and places it on the side of the wall, then climbs on top of it. With ease, she lifts the sniper rifle from its place, cradling it under one arm, pointing it down to the floor as she steps off the chair.
“This is a Steyr HS .50 M1.” She lifts it up to her face, looking down the scope.
“It’s a long range sniper with a picatinny rail system and a five-magazine capacity.
” She looks over the rifle, turning it one way, then the other.
“It’s a good rifle. Personally, I prefer an SVD, but I can shoot with this just fine. ”
I cross my arms to hide exactly how shocked she’s left me. Is there no limit to how much she knows about battle?
“Guess your father trained you well,” I say.
“He opened the door,” she says, taking another look down the lens and bringing it up toward the wall. “I just walked through it.”
I’m amazed by her and a little taken aback. Had I known about her years ago, I might’ve acted against her father sooner. In fact, there’s no way in hell I’d have let her live. She’s dangerous in a way that I’d have never seen coming.
And some would say that she still is. Ignat and probably everyone else in the Bratva would tell me that trusting her not to exact the revenge that I have owed her this whole time is foolish and definitely a sign that I have grown too weak to lead.
But looking at her now and knowing that she could have taken my life a million times over at this point and hasn’t…
Maybe trusting her with my life is the greatest test of my strength.