Chapter Twenty-Four Konstantin’s POV
Chapter Twenty-Four
Konstantin’s POV
I didn’t stop glancing at Alina as we drove away from the house. It was clear she didn't want to speak with me. I couldn’t fault her for it, regardless of how much I didn’t want it.
Being the only lady in a room of mafia lords, Alina was nowhere near intimidated. I sat beside her with pride as she contributed and listened. I could have pulled her into a hug as we left, but I knew she wouldn’t want that.
“You did well in there,” I praised as we got to the unpaved parking lot.
“That went better than I thought,” she answered, blowing out a breath from her mouth.
I opened the front door for her, and she raised a questioning brow.
“I’m driving us back,” I explained.
She looked like she was about to say something, but she nodded and got in. I shut her door and went around the car to the driver’s side, her closing up on me making me feel hollow inside.
I found myself hoping what I planned gets to her, even if in the tiniest of ways.
“I never thought there’d be a day when I’d see you drive,” she remarked as I adjusted the driver’s seat to the back and she fastened her seat belt, her eyes on the windscreen.
“I prefer riding,” I divulged as we pulled out of the parking lot.
“Riding what?” she inquired, not missing a beat.
“Bikes,” I answered. “Motorcycles, I mean.”
“Wow,” she commented, turning to face me. “Well, I can definitely picture it.”
I glanced at her, and she was squinting her eyes at me like she was painting a mental picture. She looked so adorable.
I chuckled.
“Nice,” she added, turning the other way again.
We kept driving in silence until I got off the road and she asked, “Another route? This was definitely not where we passed earlier.”
“That’s correct. It isn’t. We’re not going home.”
“If we’re not going to your manor, then where are we headed?”
I didn’t miss the way she called the house my manor when I called it home. It hurt more than I would have thought.
“We’re almost there. You’ll see.”
She sighed impatiently, and my free hand itched to hold hers, to touch her in some kind of way, but I just kept driving.
The houses around became farther and farther apart until there were none of them, and we were surrounded by greenery and nothing else.
“We’re close,” I told her.
She sighed again.
The clearing was finally in sight, and I slowed the car to a halt and killed the engine.
“Are you meeting someone here or what?” she inquired, looking around.
“Undo your seat belt,” I told her as I got out of the car and shut my door.
As I led her away from the car, she saw the snacks and food in different trays right at the center of the clearing. She turned to me and asked, “What’s going on? A picnic?”
“I wouldn’t call it a picnic.”
“When did you even have all this arranged? Called your men during the meeting?” she inquired as I picked up the folded plaid blanket.
“Not during. After.”
She took off her footwear as I spread out the blanket. I took mine off and sat facing her.
Her eyes were intent on me, and I practically got lost in them. Until I remembered why I had brought her here. I brought the snacks and food closer, racking my head for how to say what I needed to say.
“I was wrong. I’m sorry,” I blurted out.
She blinked slowly. “Sorry for?”
“For doubting you. I shouldn’t have. You’ve given me no reason to doubt you,” I answered, sighing. “Even when we came upon the driver guy's information, I knew that you didn’t intentionally hold it back from me. You’ve been honest with me even when I treated you like a suspect. I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t just doubt me, Konstantin,” she replied, her voice soft. “Yes, you did. But that was the part I might have understood. The painful part was you just turning around and looking at me with suspicion again.”
“I see now how cruel I was. And I regret it. Alina, you’re the last person I want to be cruel to.”
She dabbed at the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand.
“There is no rationalizing it, I’m not a good man.
I’m far from it. I have my demons, and I don’t fight them by playing by the rules; I fight them with sweat and blood.
It’s the only way I know, the only currency in my world.
I deal with facts and proof—things I can see.
So when proof comes in, my first instinct is to get to the root of it.
I don’t stop to think of people or feelings. It’s how I was trained.”
I continued, my voice lower. “But you make me want to pause, Alina. Until you, I never thought to take what anyone says for truth. It was all about what I could see. My feelings, emotions, everything inside of me was untouchable. You came along, you reached in, you touched me deep inside. I started to see things, feel things. And I sure don’t know how to handle that.
I find myself wrestling internally now and then.
I hurt you, and I did it again. I hate myself for it, and I'm sorry.”
She sighed deeply, her chest heaving in the process.
“I don’t…I don’t know what to make of all this when…
” she shifted on the blanket, “I mean, I’d be lying if I said I’m not flattered by all you said.
Because I am.” Chuckling, she said, “Konstantin, you said sorry. I don’t need to spend ten years with Bratva men to know that doesn’t come easy to you.
Even my ex, who didn’t have much power as you, couldn’t apologize when he was wrong. ”
She went on, her face devoid of humor. “But then, you say this now, and you turn against me tomorrow. I’m not going to lie, I can’t deal with you being all intentional with me today and then treating me like a fly on the wall tomorrow.”
“You can’t ever be a fly on the wall to me,” I told her. “You’ve infringed on my thoughts and feelings from the very beginning.”
“Beginning of?”
“Since Russia, baby. I just refused to acknowledge it then.”
“It wasn’t until the attack that we…you know,” she started before I cut in.
“That wasn’t when my body started yearning for you. Long before then, I’d noticed how much I loved watching your hips sway as you move, how your soft voice makes me soften inside, how your beautiful eyes sparkle when you’re angry. I've been attracted to you since way before then.”
Her pupils dilated, making me chuckle.
“But it wasn’t until recently that I started to see the extent to which you’ve affected me. You’re in my blood, Alina. And I only want you more, not away from me.”
“What am I even supposed to say?” she asked, like she was talking to herself.
“Forgive me for doubting you. I want us to go back to the way things were just yesterday. I meant it when I said I wanted to know you better.”
“I forgive you,” she disclosed.
I was in her personal space in an instant, cradling her face and kissing her lips.
For the first time, the place I’d always come to relax and clear my head felt like heaven.
**********
“All set?” I asked Sergei.
“Yes, boss.”
“We’ll be down right away.”
I put my phone back into my pocket and told Alina, who sat in the chair facing the table I was leaning on, “It’s time.”
Nodding, she stood as I moved away from the desk.
It was time for the sting operation we'd been planning for days. Just like any other sting operation, the aim was to draw the mole out of hiding. I, for one, was more than ready to end this. It had been drawn out for too long.
Somehow, knowing I hadn’t turned my back on Alina, and I had her by my side this time, made me ready to face whatever may come out of the operation.
“Sure you’re ready?” I asked her again.
“Of course,” she answered. “It’s not like I’ll be lifting free weights.”
I took her hand as we left my office.
“Free weights,” I repeated, turning to the side to give her a meaningful look. “Did you hear that in a movie?”
“I used to be a gym buddy,” she answered, shaking her head. “Damn, I'm insulted.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.”
“Clearly,” she replied, giggling.
“I hope everything goes fast. I can’t wait to get it over with,” I confessed as we went down the stairs.
“Mila is sure it will,” she told me, and I nodded.
Sergei was in the downstairs office with Mila. She was set up on the other side of my desk this time, another laptop beside hers.
“The security cameras are all in place,” Sergei said as Mila gestured for Alina to take the seat beside hers.
“So, what do I do?” Alina asked Mila, rubbing her hands together.
“While I feed false data into the system, you'll log in with your old credentials. The mole should bite.”
“Okay,” Alina answered, nodding.
Sergei and I stood behind, watching them.
Devlin came in a minute later.
“Boss,” he greeted. “All the guards have been repositioned.”
I nodded in acknowledgement.
“They’re in!” Mila exclaimed, pointing at the screen of the laptop in front of her. “The mole is trying to exfiltrate the false data. They know she’s logged in.”
Devlin rushed to the other table, expanding the small squares of the live footage.
“I got him!” he announced, a sardonic laugh leaving his lips. “The bastard is in the basement.”
I nodded at Sergei, and the both of us were out of the office and on the basement stairs within seconds.
“Recording device?”
“Always on me, boss,” he assured.
He threw the basement server room door open, and I saw the guy sitting on a chair to the right. The light from the laptop in his hand illuminated his face in the dim room. Alarmed, he tossed the laptop to the pile of wires beside him as he rushed to his feet.
“Sir! Boss Sergei! I…I just came for—”
“Sit,” I instructed, bringing out my gun from my holster.
He did as I said as we stepped closer, my gun pointed at him.
“Sir, please,” he begged. “I’ll stop everything and go far away from you.”
“Who do you work for?” I questioned.
“Sir? I…it’s not what it looks like….”
I interrupted him again. “If I ask you a question twice, you lose a family member. Well, they’ll lose you, either way. But you get the drift. All your information is in the contractors’ dossier.”
“They paid me,” he rushed.
Sergei brought out the compact recorder from his pocket.
“The few standing members of Vitya Morozov's network. Someone also joined forces with them to destabilize your Bratva. He’s a new political player in Russia.”
“Names. Who are they?” I asked.
“Aleksandr Aslanov, Vissarion Romanov, Aliya Reece, Matvey Alexeev, Fyodor Pavlov…I don’t know if there are others. That’s all I know, please—”
I pulled the trigger, my bullet making a hole in his forehead.
His body fell back into the chair.
I went back upstairs. Alina was standing, and nobody else was in the office. She was waiting, her face pale but steady.
“It’s over,” I told her, walking over to her. “You’re free.”
“Am I?” she whispered.
And then she walked right past me and left the room.