15. Chapter Fifteen #2
That he can just hold me and let me know that he’s here for me.
And in this moment, as he holds me, I realize that for the first time since being with him, Mikhail starts to feel like home.
After a long while, we fix our clothes and leave the theater. Mikhail keeps his hand on my back, silently telling me that he’s here. That he has me. That I’m safe.
As we head for the car, something in my gut tells me to stop walking. Mikhail notices.
“Are you ok?”
“Mikhail… something doesn’t feel right.” I look around the parking lot but I don’t see anything to make me feel this uneasy.
To Mikhail’s credit, he doesn’t dismiss me. Instead, he stands to attention and looks around. “I don’t see anything,”
“Neither do I but…”
“Let’s get to the car.”
We take one step towards it when the car explodes into fire. Pieces of the car go flying. Mikhail pushes me to the side, covering my body with his.
“Oh my god,” I scream. “What happened? What?”
Mikhail’s driver was inside there. He’s dead now. But who did this?
It’s then that I see a car pull into the parking lot and a group of men get out. Four of them in total.
They point their guns at us before we can do anything.
“Get behind me,” Mikhail growls, practically shoving me back.
“Mikhail!” It’s Cillian. “Nice to see you again.”
“You blew my car up.”
“I did.”
“You were hoping I’d die, I’m assuming.”
He cracks his neck to the side. “I was. Shame you didn’t die though. That’s fine. Because now my men and I can take you and bring you in for a chat.”
“You want to kill me, you mean.”
“Well… yes.”
I grab Mikhail’s arm. “You can’t go with them. You’ll die.”
Cillian huffs. “He doesn’t have a choice. Grab him.”
The three men rush forward and pin Mikhail to the ground.
“The girl?” one of the men asks.
“She’s not worth it. We don’t need her. She’ll be nothing without her husband.” Cillian’s smile is pure darkness. “Call this an act of mercy.”
“No!” I scream, running at Cillian. I manage to grab his arm before he wrenches away from me.
“Natalya, don’t,” Mikhail says. “I can’t see you get hurt. Don’t fight.”
“But you’ll die,” I sob.
“Don’t fight,” he growls. “I will be ok.”
“Sorry to say but he won’t be.” Cillian laughs at his ‘joke.’ “Take him to the car.” His men drag Mikhail away.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask.
“Because I want him dead. He tried striking a deal with your uncle. I can’t have Mikhail gaining any allies. It would hurt me and Nico.”
“Is Nico behind this?”
Cillian stands up straighter, glaring down at me.
“Nico is not my boss. I make my own decisions. And I’ve made the decision that everything will be better if Mikhail is dead.
” He pats me on the cheek. “There, there. Be happy we’re letting you live.
” He whistles to himself as he gets in his car and drives away, taking Mikhail with him.
I slump right to the ground. They kidnapped by husband. The man I was starting to fall in love with. If Mikhail dies then… then I have nothing. No way to save my sisters. No way to save my mom.
No way to even save myself.
I need help but I don’t have any allies myself.
The only choice I have is to go to Denis and beg him for his help. I’ll have to offer myself to him but maybe he’ll take it. Maybe, just maybe, I can save Mikhail.
Since I don’t have a car now, I have no choice but to walk as fast as I can from the theater. I find the nearest subway station and hurry to my family’s house. It takes me around thirty minutes to do so. Thirty minutes where Cillian could be torturing Mikhail. Where he could be killing Mikhail.
The sight of my family’s house fills me with dread, not hope like I would have thought it would. A guard stands out front. This isn’t the home I shared with my family. This is a prison now.
Slowly, I approach the guard.
“Hold it,” he says.
“I’m Natalya. I’m here to see my uncle. It’s urgent. Tell him I’m here.”
The guard pulls out a walkie-talkie and lets the other person on the end know I’m here. After a few seconds, he nods. “You can go inside.” He opens the door for me. How gentlemanly. I almost want to vomit.
Stepping inside my home is surreal. I haven’t been back here since I shot Denis in the shoulder. But this time, I don’t have any weapons with me. I didn’t have time to go home and grab any.
Denis meets me in the foyer. “Natalya. I trust you’re not going to shoot me this time.”
“I don’t have any weapons. You can check.”
The guard next to him steps forward and does a body sweep. His hands linger a little too long on my hips and near my breasts. “She’s all good.”
“Good.” Denis steps in front of the guard, smiling down at me. “To what do I owe the pleasure? I never thought I’d see you back here again. Not when your husband kept you from me.”
“That’s why I’m here. My husband is in danger.”
He snorts. “And I should care… because?”
“Cillian Kennedy took him. He’s going to kill him. Cillian and Nico Bernardi are working together. If they kill Mikhail, then what’s going to stop them from killing you? They’ll take you down next. You’re Bratva. You’re best bet is to work with Mikhail, gain strength that way.”
“But how can I work with him when… he’s not here? When he’s been taken, as you say?”
“You get him back. You forge an alliance with him. And you take down Cillian and Nico together.”
“Or… I offer my services to Cillian and Nico and join forces with them. With your husband out of the way, that’s one less person who can try to claim a piece of the pie.”
I stare at my uncle in shock. “You really hate me and my family this much? You won’t save my husband?”
“Need I remind you, Natalya, that you shot me?”
“Only because I was desperate. Because you were – are – keeping my family hostage. Why are you doing this? Why not let them go?”
“Because they are mine!” he shouts, grabbing my jaw. “And I am not letting them go.”
“They are not yours. They are my family.”
“I am your family.”
“If you truly are, you’d save them, not hurt them. You save me,” I say as clearly as I can.
“Lev thought he could keep you all away from me. I don’t like that.”
“Why did you hate my dad so much? What did he ever do to you? He rarely ever mentioned you.”
His hand tightens on my face. “And that was the problem. He thought he got to have the perfect wife and the perfect daughters and power and money while I got nothing. So I took what I wanted from him and I’m not letting any of it go now. Your sisters belong to me.”
“You’re going to use them to make alliances.”
“Obviously. Not very bright, are you?”
I wrench my face away from his hand. “I came here, asking for your help. As your family. If you want me in your life, then you will do this for me.”
“Why would you think I want you in my life? You chose Mikhail. You chose to leave this family. I have no sympathy for you, Natalya.”
I’m running out of options. My only option is to do something drastic.
“I will divorce Mikhail,” I blurt out. Denis raises his eyebrows. “I will divorce him. And I will marry a man of your choosing. I will return to this family. But just save him.”
“Mmm. An interesting proposition. But one I’m going to have to decline.”
“Why?”
“Because it will just be easier to wait for Mikhail to die, then marry you off to a man of my choosing. You’ll be a widow soon enough.” He nods at the guard behind him. “Natalya is going to need her old room back. She’s going to be staying with us for a while.”
Coming here was a huge mistake, I realize. I knew it was risky but I thought I could reach my uncle’s humanity. That because we are family, he’d care enough.
But it’s obvious to me that he only cares about himself.
The guard grabs my arm and hauls me up down the hallway. There’s no point in fighting him. He has a gun. Denis has a gun. They could easily shoot me if they wanted. Denis might think I’m more trouble than I’m worth.
The only smart play I have now is to wait and find a way out of this mess.
The guard brings me to my old room and shoves me inside before locking the door from the outside. There never used to be locks on the doors. My father never treated me and my sisters like prisoners.
Slumping onto my bed, I can feel my tears welling up again. If my father were still alive, he’d make sure nothing bad happened to me and my family. But he’s dead.
And Mikhail might be dead soon, if he isn’t already.
I hear a tap on the wall and I press my ear to it. Irina’s room is on the other side. When we were younger, we’d knock on the wall and talk to each other through it.
“Natalya? Is that you?”
“Yes. It’s me.”
“How did you end up back here?”
“Mikhail is in danger. I was hoping Denis would help but it’s clear that he only cares about helping himself. I’m so sorry, Irina. I wasn’t able to save you. Once Mikhail dies, that’s it. I have no way to save any of you.”
She’s quiet for a long time before she finally speaks again. “I know you tried your best. Sasha told us that she called you. That you promised to protect her.”
“Did she ever get the name of the man that Denis wanted to marry her to?”
“No.”
It doesn’t even matter now, I realize. Since I can’t stop a marriage for my sisters from happening. I won’t even be able to stop Denis from marrying me off to someone once Mikhail is dead.
I have never felt more powerless in my entire life.
I fall silent since there’s no comforting words I can offer Irina. That stings most of all.
Mikhail
Cillian brings me to an old, abandoned warehouse that stinks of gasoline and cat piss.
His men laugh as they string my hands up over my head and attach them to a hook hanging from the ceiling. My feet barely reach the ground like this. I’m a tall man. I’ve always felt grounded in my life.
For the first time, that has changed.
One of the guards spits on my face. I don’t even blink. Nothing will faze me. The last thing I will do is show fear in front of Cillian fucking Kennedy. The door opens and in walks Liam, joining Cillian at his side.
“I wanted my future successor to see this happen,” Cillian says, wrapping his arm around Liam’s shoulders. “To see what it’s like to take down a king.”
“I’m flattered you think I’m a king,” I say with a smile.
One of the guards backhands me across the face. “Shut up.”
Cillian holds up his hand. “It’s ok. Let him talk. He won’t be talking for long. Not when we’re done with him.”
“So, let me make sure I’m clear on this: you’re going to torture me before you kill me, correct?”
“Aren’t you so smart? I want to make you suffer.”
“I didn’t realize you hated me this much, Cillian.”
“I personally don’t hate you at all, Mikhail. We need you out of the way so Nico and I can grow an empire. This is just business. Torturing you in the process is just an extra win in my book.”
On a table behind him lays row after row of knives, all different shapes and sizes. Cillian picks up a small one.
“Shall we begin?”