Chapter 70
“I have a hit!”
Lev bursts from the basement door with such a speed, I’d believe he broke it. He rushes toward me where I’m by the entrance undoing Veles from his leash after our morning jog.
Running didn’t clear my mind like usual, didn’t help me stop reliving last night over and over. I’ll happily take whatever Lev’s about to tell me to distract from thinking about Zeno returning to Rome.
Whenever my mind drifts to yesterday, it hurts . More than any physical pain. An ache I wish to never feel.
After Zeno walked away, Anastasia found me in the club. I managed to dress before she entered, but that was all before I stopped functioning.
She held me while I cried.
At some point, I stood up, brushed myself off, and we went home.
It took two sleeping pills to pass out for longer than one-hour stints. After a decent sleep-in and wake-up by Veles licking my face, today’s the start of my forever. A forever that doesn’t include a certain man.
Lev stops in front of me as Anastasia treads from the kitchen gripping a glass of green froth, her preferred smoothie. “You’re going to wake the dead with that volume.”
He ignores his twin, jabbing his cell in my face so close, the screen’s a blur. “Ivan turned on his phone for the first time. I finally got a hit! He’s here, outskirts of the city. I won't even bother with how many exact seconds this took.”
Veles’ leash falls to the floor as my mind whirls with everything we need to do, while also trying to contain my excitement. “Tell Dimitri to get home this instance.”
Last night after getting home, I got a text from him saying he had to check on Katya after receiving photos of her from an unlisted number. By the time I responded, he was already in the air. But I’d bet the entire Bratva this was part of Ivan’s plan, getting Dimitri out of the country before making his location known.
“Call whoever’s around. We’ll leave right away.” I usher Veles down the hall and rush to the closest weapons’ storage, gathering what I can physically fit on me.
As I’m strapping a gun on, a chime rings through the foyer, this one from my phone. I yank it out of my pocket without checking the ID, eager to get the conversation finished so we can get moving.
“Vanessa Volkov,” I greet in a tone that conveys go away .
“Plemyannitsa.”
The gun slips from my hand as I hear my uncle’s smooth voice. Quickly, before he can speak again, I put it on speakerphone and wander closer to Lev and Anastasia.
“What do you want, Ivan?”
“I’ve been thinking of how shitty I’ve been to you. How after your papa was murdered, I should have respected your rights as his only child, gender aside. You’ve certainly proven yourself over these years.”
Lev’s brows furrow and Anastasia outright sneers. I’m there with them, assuming his polite words are utter bullshit. After everything, someone doesn’t have this kind of personality growth within the month.
“I can smell your bullshit.”
He chuckles, the sound jamming straight into my patience. “I mean it, Vanessa. You’ve become a Pakhan worth remembering.”
“What happened to being a disgrace to the organization?”
“Why do you think you’re worth remembering?” he lilts, undoing the little progress he may have assumed he made. “Which is the purpose of my call. It’s time to really prove yourself.”
My eyes narrow on Lev’s phone, still with the map up and the pin of his location. Now, I realize why he turned his phone on—to taunt me. The mental games are a cheap price in exchange for his location.
“I ask again: what do you want? Tell me quickly, because we know where you are.”
“I hoped your team would be smart enough to find me as soon as I willed it so. If I were you, I’d start making my way to that spot or else I’ll have to choose for you.”
“Choose?” My heart beats alongside every syllable, trying to decipher the game he’s playing. If Ivan’s forcing options onto me, they can’t be good.
“I have your sister and your husband.”
No. No, no, no.
“Tick tok, Vanessa.”
I don’t know at what point I’ve moved, but suddenly, I’m out the front door, leaving Lev and Anastasia behind. My steps take me straight to my bike, a single gun strapped to me because it’s all I’ve managed to get on before Ivan’s call.
It’s all I’ll need. One shot.
Sorry, Dimitri. If he hurts them, I have to.
Serafina in the hands of Ivan is sick. For every hair missing from her head, Ivan will lose a vital organ. And Zeno?—
Fuck. My heart both stops and quickens. Sweat builds on my palms until holding my phone seems impossible. I won’t think about what I’ll do to Ivan if he hurts Zeno. I’ve never wanted to kill someone as much as I do right now, Boris included.
Because if Zeno is hurt?—
He’ll be able to take care of himself.
I bring the cell closer to my mouth. “How do I know this isn’t a trick? Send me proof.”
“Is that why you’re currently rushing from your house? I know you too well, plemyannitsa. See you soon, Vanessa.”
The call ends right as Anastasia catches up to me. “Lev’s gathering whoever’s close. I’ll bring a vehicle around.”
“Meet me there.” I reach my bike and climb on, switching it to life. “I’m not waiting.”
She steps in my way, chewing on her bottom lip. “He might kill you if you go there alone.”
“I don’t care.” The truth flows easier from my lips. “Serafina’s only in this mess because of her connection to me. Ivan’s using that.”
“And Zeno?”
“Ivan’s dead for taking what’s mine.”
She steps out of the way as my tires burn against the cement in my speed to get moving. I drive the road off my property and in the direction of where the pin leads to. Wind whips through my hair, a testament of my speed, but it’s not enough and my hand throttles the bike, making it faster.
With every passing kilometer, I let myself go. Let myself feel everything.
Raging dread.
Freezing terror.
Murderous rage.
Ivan will not be shown mercy. Not this time.
I park outside the warehouse that’s on the edge of Moscow, usually saved for larger deals from neighbouring cities that should be out of public view. Ivan chose this one specifically because it’s one of the farthest from the mansion but closest to the borders, which means he’s assuming he’ll be able to escape.
Somewhere far behind should be Lev and Anastasia eventually catching up, but waiting for them is out of the question, so I enter the warehouse with no back-up and only a single gun, making what could be my final fatal error.
I could be one against a few, because I doubt Ivan did all this without support, and no doubt, those few are heavily armed. The odds fall completely in his favour.
When I enter, I see them. Ivan’s doing little to hide his mini-army sulking in the shadows. No one stops me as I walk across the large space and toward the five figures who own the rest of my attention.
To Ivan front and centre, grinning like he’s already won, and the two soldiers beside him, each holding a gun to the back of their assigned captive’s head.
To Serafina whose staring dazed at the ground, her shoulders shaking. Cloth is tied around her mouth, keeping her fear limited to petrified whimpers.
To Zeno who’s communicating with his deep gaze. A subtle head shake and skin furrowed, I imagine his question: What are you doing here? Cloth is also tied around his mouth, his face darker from where they obviously were rough with him.
He’s okay. Alive. It doesn’t quell the murderous rage knotting my muscles.
“Drop the weapon,” my uncle commands.
With his order, he unlocks his army and two charge forward. A quick glance to the side confirms what I suspected, that I have guns trained on me. Except they mean nothing because Ivan’s already played his hand. If he wanted me dead, I’d be dead already. Instead, he went through the trouble of kidnapping two others.
“Why should I?”
Ivan looks to his left, and the man standing behind Serafina pulls back the top of the gun to cock it, the implication of actions to come if I continue ignoring him loud and fucking clear. Serafina’s gaze flashes to me and it’s her fear, not Ivan’s orders, that allows the gun to slip from my hand.
One of the men behind me retrieves it, making my teeth grit. Now I’m even more stuck. At the very least, I can distract him long enough for Lev and Anastasia to arrive.
“You’ve made your point. What do you want?”
“Don’t like your pets threatened?” Ivan mocks, spreading his hands to gesture to both of them.
“What. Do. You. Want?” Each word is a punch at my aggravation because he better get to the fucking point. “I’d demand they be let go, but you wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble of kidnapping them if you didn’t want something.”
“True.” Ivan nods with a seriousness like we’re talking casual business. “Zeno was the simple one. Picked him up before he could fly off.”
Zeno’s eyes narrow on my uncle, but guilt brushes against my heart. If I let him walk away when he tried, he might have been safely home, but I kept him at the club for longer, making his takeoff later.
“The girl,” Ivan tips his head to the side, “was a bit more complicated. Many steps were involved in retrieving her.”
“Is it praise you want, because if so, good job, Ivan.” My words are drawled, almost mocking. “You need to get to the point.”
Ivan watches me for a few seconds before shrugging. “Too easy. Being a leader involves sacrifice and making tough decisions, so if you’re still willing to prove yourself worthy of the Bratva, here’s one more test: choose which Mancini gets to walk out of here alive.”