12. Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve
Mikhail
C illian and I agree to take down one of Nico’s drug shipments. It will weaken him and hopefully in the act, we can find him and kill him together.
I’m still not happy with Cillian after how he treated Natalya at the gathering I invited him to but I can’t let my anger hold me back. I have a wife to think about now. I need to protect her which means I need to end Nico’s life before he ends mine.
He’s been closing in on more of my gun shipments. More of my men have died in this war. A lot of them young men I hired as guards who were in over their heads and are now dead for it. This war is getting bloody and I need to end it.
I meet with Cillian at one of his restaurants. We agreed to go together to the location of Nico’s drug shipment. One of my scouts told me which road it will be on today.
“Ready to go?” I ask as I stand by the table, watching Cillian eat like it’s any other day.
“Patience, Mikhail. Patience.”
I want to snap and punch him and tell him to hurry up but I’m trying to be a team player here. I need to do this for Natalya.
I can’t help but to sigh though and Cillian notices.
“Are you not happy with me, Mikhail? You were the one who wanted to work together.”
“I guess I expected more respect from you.”
“Ah.” He sets his knife and fork down and leans back in his seat. “So this is still about the party. You’re upset over how I spoke to your wife.”
“You pressured her into dancing until she hurt herself.”
He waves a dismissive hand. “She’s a dancer. A ballerina. She’s trained hard all her life. I didn’t do anything more than what she’s used to.”
“But you’re not her dance instructor. You were my guest and had no right to talk to her like that.”
“How often are we going to go over this?”
“Until you apologize for it. And then we can move on.”
It’s Cillian’s turn to sigh. “All right. I apologize. Are you happy now?”
“You will never talk to my wife like that again, is that understood?”
“Yes. I understand.” Cillian’s lazy smile isn’t convincing me. He’s no more happy about any of this than I am. He motions to a man behind me.
I turn around to see a young man, late twenties, approach the table.
“Mikhail, this is Liam. He’ll take over after I retire.”
Liam nods but doesn’t say a word.
“Your son?” I ask.
“No,” Cillian scoffs. “Just a hard worker who’s impressed me. He’s like a son. I figured since we’ll be working together, you should know who my successor will be.”
“Are you retiring?” I ask. “Because I made the deal with you. Not with… Liam.”
“Not anytime soon. This is just my way of welcoming you into my world. Sharing intel with you. Don’t be so paranoid, Mikhail. Have a seat. Have a drink. Have a bite.”
“We’re on a time crunch. Nico’s shipment will only be on the road for so long. We know exactly when and where it will be but only for a short window. We have to act now.”
“Yes. You’re right. But I really would love for you to sit down and eat. Just a bite.”
I look down at the food on the table. A steak and potatoes. Cillian is eating his with no problems, so that tells me it’s not poisoned. But I look at the plate across from him – the one meant for me – and wonder if that one is. Poisoned.
“Why do you want me to eat so badly, Cillian? I don’t have time for this. My men are waiting to attack the shipment. Either come with me or don’t but I’m leaving.”
“Of course. We’ll meet you there, Mikhail.”
I leave with a scoff. Why is Cillian making this so fucking difficult? He made a deal with me to work together to bring Nico down. This benefits him too, so why is he stalling?
Does he have something planned I don’t know about? But we’re partners now. He needs to tell me these things.
Unless…
Unless he’s just humoring me and we’re not partners at all.
I don’t have time to worry about that. I just need to stop Nico’s drug shipment from reaching the city.
By the time I reach the road the van will be driving on, I only have a few minutes before it will appear.
My men are in place, waiting to ambush it.
They’re hidden in the trees. That’s the one perk of Nico’s shipments: he needs them to be undercover to avoid police detection but that also puts him in a vulnerable spot for me to attack.
The van appears around the bend. I remain in my car. This is for my men. They know how to attack.
Aaron parks his car in the road so the van is forced to stop. He gets out and approaches the driver. Before the driver has time to respond, Aaron shoots the poor guy. Well, not ‘poor’ guy. He was working with Nico and anyone who works with Nico will not get my sympathy.
Aaron gives me a nod as he heads around the back to check on the drugs. I can’t see him from this vantage point. Slowly, I get out of my car and approach the van. I have ten men here, all with guns, ready to shoot if any of Nico’s men are around.
“What’s going on?” I ask Aaron. When he doesn’t respond, my heart rake spikes.
I lift my gun, ready to fire, as I round the van and see what has him quiet.
A man is in the back of the van with a gun pointed at Aaron.
Shit. I don’t hesitate to shoot the man, killing him instantly. “Are you ok?” I ask Aaron, who nods.
“I think we need to get out of here, Mikhail. Something doesn’t feel right.”
“I agree. Get in the van and start driving. We’re not leaving without these drugs.”
Even though I can see the hesitation on Aaron’s face, he does as I say.
I start to head back to my car when I stop. The sound of multiple cars heading our way has me on edge. That’s when I see four cars round the bend and stop.
Cillian gets out of one of them.
My heart rate doesn’t slow. “Cillian. Kind of late to the party.”
“Sorry about that, Mikhail. What can I say? I wanted you to do the hard work for me.”
“There was a man waiting in the back of the van. There’s never a man waiting in the back of the van. What tipped Nico off?”
“Probably the fact that you keep stealing his drug shipments. He figured it would be good to have some protection.”
“You’re right,” I say, even though something doesn’t feel right. I don’t head closer to Cillian. Something is telling me to stay back. “Why were you late? We agreed to be in this together.”
“I’m here to offer protection now. I’m sure Nico has men waiting to attack.”
It dawns on me then how easy this was to steal the drug shipment. Normally, we have to kill at least a few of Nico’s men who are guarding the way. But now, there are no Nico’s men around. So where are they?
“Did you kill Nico’s men?” I ask. “The ones that he normally sends to guard this place.”
Cillian scratches the back of his head. “Uh… no.”
Liam heads for the van. “Get out,” he says to Aaron. “We’re taking this with us.”
“I never said that your men get this drug shipment,” I say to Cillian.
“Think of it as a peace offering.”
“So I do all the hard work and you get all the reward? I don’t fucking think so. What’s going on here, Cillian? You can’t pretend everything is normal when you’re acting fishy as fuck.”
Cillian drops his chin to his chest and sighs. “I am sorry, Mikhail. I considered your offer. I really did. But Nico had already offered me a better one.” He whips out his gun and points it at me.
“You’re working with Nico?” I hiss. “For how long?”
“This whole time. You were just a fun amusement to pass the time.” He fires his gun right as I dive behind my car.
His men fire at the car, blowing out my tires so I can’t use it.
Liam shoots Aaron in the head. Cillian starts firing at my men and they fire back.
A few of my men are killed while they kill some of Cillian’s men. It’s another fucking bloodbath.
And I’m caught in the middle of it.
In the past, I would be laughing as I shot down men but all I can think about is Natalya and getting back to her. I can’t protect her if I’m dead.
My car is shot. There’s no way I can use it.
My eyes flick to the woods across from me.
All I have to do is run. Cillian’s men will hunt me down but I’ve been in worse scrapes than this.
Not actually but I have to tell myself that.
I have to have hope or I will not make it out of here alive. I will not make it back to Natalya.
With a deep breath, I keep low and lunge for the tree line. Bullets whizz past me but none of them hit. I use the trees as protection as I run with all my might. I can hear Cillian’s men following me into the woods.
I keep running until I come across a large mossy boulder. Ducking down, I hide and wait.
Two of Cillian’s men walk right past the boulder, giving me the chance to shoot them both in the head. With my silencer in place, it helps muffle the sound. That doesn’t mean I won’t be caught sooner or later.
I know some of my men already killed some of Cillian’s men so there’s only so many that can be coming for me. I doubt Cillian will. He won’t want to put himself at risk. Nor will Liam, since he’s the next in line for the Irish mob throne.
I ease away from the boulder and take off running again.
“Hey!” someone shouts.
Fuck.
I hide behind a tree right as a bullet whips past me. Cillian’s man stops. We’re both waiting for someone to make a move.
I don’t have time all day. I need to get back to Natalya.
With a growl, I look past the tree and see Cillian’s guy waiting for me. He fires right as I do. His shot misses.
Mine doesn’t.
I shoot him square in the chest, sending him to the ground. I don’t spare him a second look as I start running again.
This time, no one follows me.
I head deeper into the woods, knowing I’m getting lost. I don’t know this area all that well. But I have to keep moving. I have to find a highway and walk back to the city. I have to get back to Natalya and nothing will get in my way.
Natalya