Chapter 39
ISEULT
The bulletproof vest is heavy around my chest, my combat boots thudding against the concrete. I always carry the proper gear in my car in case of emergencies, and this is one big fucking emergency.
With a gun in hand, I slowly creep in the darkness of the abandoned warehouse I once called home for a week.
I never wanted my sister to know what it was like. The fear. The powerlessness. The panic. But here I am, back where it all began.
My skin crawls when I recall how he burned me, how I begged for him to stop. How I cried. My heart rate accelerates, but I fight the first instance of panic. Taking deep breaths—in, then out—I control it. I ease it.
I can’t lose my composure. My focus has to be on saving Eriu and Kora.
“Show your face, Sergey!” I yell out.
Laughter greets me—a villainous laugh.
This is my time to finish him off. To reclaim my life. Because while he was out there, I couldn’t rest. I couldn’t breathe without thinking about what he did.
“I’m so happy to see you, malen'kaya.”
His voice climbs from somewhere above, but I can’t see a damn thing. The flashlight I’m holding on to isn’t big enough to illuminate the entire space. I point it upward, finding him standing at the top of the stairs.
Something animalistic twists inside me when I stare at him after all this time. A snarl fights its way out, and I rush for the stairs, needing to get to him, to end his life once and for all.
The years haven’t been kind to Sergey. His face has aged quite a bit, and he seems shorter than I remember, or maybe it’s because I’m not a little kid anymore. He wears a black eye patch around his left eye, and despite the three-piece suit he wears, he still looks like a damn pirate.
I bet Gio has already told my whole family where I supposedly went, and they’re all definitely looking for me.
Unless he decided to go rogue—which, knowing him, is a strong possibility.
I just couldn’t afford any of them fucking this up.
He’s going to be pissed, but once I’m alive and the girls are safe, it won’t matter.
“Where are they, asshole?” I start up, pointing my nine right at him.
“I must admit, I was very skeptical that you’d show up alone,” he says. “But my men have informed me that you have kept your word.”
“Unlike you, I actually know how to do that.” I take two more steps up. “What is this about, Sergey? Want payback for your eye? Well, I’ll give it to you.”
I climb up further until I’m right in front of him, practically towering over his short frame.
“Just let them go.”
“I’ll take more than your eye, dorogoya. I’ll take everything.” His upper lip curls. “And just like your mother, I’ll burn you alive and send your papochka the video present.”
At the mention of my mother, my pulse beats like a drum in my ears and my hands itch to get to him. To kill him. But I have to save my sister and my friend. They’re alive. They still have a chance. I can’t let him take them too.
“You can do whatever you want to me. Just take me to them and let me see that they’re okay.”
“Let’s go, then.” He extends a hand for me to lead the way.
But I shake my head. “You go first.”
He chuckles. “I won’t hurt you. Not yet.”
“Just walk, old man,” I snap, and that has him scoffing.
“Funny girl.”
He leads the way through a long, equally dark narrow pathway, a drip of water sounding off in the distance. We turn right, then left, then another right, and come to a black door.
“Open it,” he demands, standing off to the side while my body pumps with adrenaline, a bout of anxiety hitting me in the chest.
I place the flashlight back in my pocket. My hand on the doorknob, I slowly turn it, pushing it all the way, coming into a large empty room.
It’s then I see Eriu and Kora, all the way at the back. Gagged, hands tied up in front of them, while they’re on the floor on their knees, two men behind them with guns pointed to their heads.
Anger pummels through my voice. “Get those weapons off of them!”
“Why would I do that?” Sergey challenges. “It’s my insurance policy. You do something to me, and they shoot both girls.”
Eriu wails while Kora holds her hand. My sister’s eyes lock with mine, tears leaking from the edges.
I’m sorry, I mouth, and she only cries harder.
“They’re innocent,” I tell Sergey, as though that has ever made a fucking difference to the psychopath.
“Net dorogoya, there’s no such thing as innocents in our world. You should know that by now.” His fingers run down my arm, and I flinch his touch away.
“What I know is…” I bite down on my molars. “…that you killed my mother over territory and then took me as revenge, which cost you your son. Was it worth it?”
He stares at me through his one good eye, his dark brown gaze turning narrow. “To do what I did to your father, to take his wife… Of course it was worth it.”
His leery grin doesn’t help the quiet wrath that dances inside me, wanting blood.
“He was always so full of himself. I wanted him to hurt, and I did that.”
He doesn’t even care that his own son is dead, does he?
“Let’s get this over with,” I clip out, marching toward the girls.
When I get right in front and see my sister’s bruised cheek and Kora’s bloody nose, my blood rushes to my ears.
“You fucking hurt them!” I grab him by the collar of his blue pinstriped jacket and near my face to his, until there’s barely anything between us.
“They were resisting.” He chuckles. “That’s what happens to bitches who don’t behave.” He looks me straight in the eyes. “Get off of me, or they die.”
The men dig their muzzles into Eriu’s and Kora’s heads, giving me no choice but to release him.
“Tell your men to ease off of them.” My inhales and exhales fight for space in my lungs. And I squeeze the weapon in my hand.
He inclines his chin at them, and they back off a little.
From the corner of my left eye, I find a few bricks just lying around, like someone forgot to finish a construction of some kind, dust and debris under my feet.
Maybe I can figure out a way to distract them, then hit one of the men with a brick and shoot Sergey and the other one.
But that would be risky. Either one could kill the girls.
What the hell can I do here?
As I’m thinking of ways to extinguish all three, something rattles in the distance, like someone hit or dropped something below us.
Sergey jerks his head toward the noise.
“Idi prover,” he tells one of the men.
“Lodna.” The guy rushes out of the room.
Within a minute, he lets out a scream. And soon enough, that scream dies, and we’re left with nothing but silence.
“I swear…” Sergey tightens his jaw. “…if you sent someone, you will all die.”
“I have no idea what’s going on out there.” I lower my face until I’m in his space. “Maybe it’s your boys. Last I spoke to them, they wanted you dead.”
He laughs, throwing his head back. “They will get what’s coming to them for turning on me.”
The rattling sound returns, taunting us in a steady rhythm.
Sergey peers over at the other man, like he’s not sure if he should tell him to go and see what’s happening.
“What’s wrong, Sergey?” I mock. “Scared to be alone with me?”
My devious grin makes his whole face go red.
“I’m not afraid of any woman.” He looks me up and down with disgust. “I remember how loud you screamed. How much you begged.”
His laughter grates up my insides while the rattling grows louder.
“Not begging anymore, am I?”
“Go see what happened,” he tells the other man, who silently walks away, taking his weapon with him.
We’re finally alone, and I don’t worry about who’s out there—who’s hurting his men—because as the second one screams, I rush for Sergey and throw him on the ground with a round kick.
He falls hard with a grunt, the gun in his hand slipping.
I grab it immediately, whacking him hard on the head, before I drop it and use my fists, over and over until he groans, until blood seeps from his forehead, his cheek, his brow. It’s everywhere.
Kora screams to get my attention, shimmying closer, and I realize their ankles are bound too.
Leaving the bastard behind, I slip both guns into my waistband and rush toward Kora, undoing her binds first, knowing if I need help, she’ll be the first to be able to give it to me.
She rips off her gag and throws her arms around me for a quick embrace while I free my sister.
Once Eriu’s gag is free, she snivels and throws her thin arms around me, tucking her head into my shoulder as she cries.
“You’re okay. It’s okay. I’m sorry.” My hand clasps the back of her head. “I’m so sorry about everything.” My voice cracks, relief washing over me.
She’s okay. He didn’t hurt her.
“It’s not your fault.” She sniffles. “I left because I didn’t want to marry him. Because I knew he cared about you.”
“What?”
Before she can say anything else, a gunshot rings out.
“Fuck! We have to go. Get Eriu out of here while I deal with him,” I tell Kora, who jumps to her feet.
“I need a weapon.” She reaches out a hand. “Just in case those assholes come back.”
I nod, handing her Sergey’s gun while I tighten my grip on mine.
“Take your sister and go.” She glares down at my tormentor with revulsion. “Let me take care of him.”
“Make it hurt,” I toss out crudely, no longer caring if I’m the one to kill him.
Getting my sister to safety is the priority now. Taking Eriu’s hand, I plow toward the door, and as I do, a gunshot rings out.
Eriu lets out a guttural scream, and it takes me a second to realize why.
Because that bullet didn’t come from the outside.
No. It came from here.
A river of crimson rolls down my arm, and I register the burn at my shoulder as I turn around.
Slowly pivoting.
And as I do, my best friend’s demonic eyes greet me. The gun I gave her is pointed at my chest while she wears a vicious grin I’ve never quite seen her wear before.
GIO
The amount of fury I have within me right now, knowing she lied to me about where she’s going, is insurmountable.
Of course, I had every intention of following her. And she knew that. My little Red knows me well. I tried tailing her after she left, but she must’ve caught on, driving like she was in a drag race before I lost her.
When I finally arrived at the location she gave me, it was an empty, abandoned lot. No trace of Sergey or Iseult.
I called Tynan and told him everything, and he wanted me to come to Patrick’s home so I could help them with intel.
As soon as I saw Patrick, I knew I still wasn’t his favorite person. But I also knew we had to talk. I owed it to Iseult and to our future.
While the Quinn boys are grabbing weapons and equipment before we go scouring all possible locations, I walk into Patrick’s office without knocking.
He’s got his face in his palms, a glass of clear liquor beside him. He’s lost two daughters, and my mother is still pissed at him. He’s got a lot of reasons to drink.
He looks up, a tight glare crossing his face.
“We need to talk,” I say, pulling up a chair in front of his desk, not giving a fuck if he wants me here or not.
“What the hell do you want? Not enough you got one of my daughters running away and another doing God knows what.”
“When I get her back, I’m marrying her. Iseult will be my wife. And the way I see it, you have two options.”
His nostrils expand, but he lets me go on.
“You either accept it or live a life without her. Because there’s nothing you can do to me to make me give her up.”
“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?” He rises slowly, eyes expanding.
My features tighten. “We’re both men. I’m just telling you what’s going to happen.
I thought, of all people, you’d understand, seeing as how you didn’t get to be with my mother.
How you two were sneaking around while she was engaged to my father.
I thought you’d see through your bullshit and let us be together. ”
“That is not the same.” His chest rapidly rises and falls. “I loved her.”
“And I love her.”
“What?” His brows rise, and speechlessly, he nestles back down, the hardness vanishing from his face little by little. “You love my daughter?”
“Hell…” I run a hand down my face with a laugh. “I may have never been in love before, but I think I am. Because I don’t know what else this feeling would be.” I press my fingers to the center of my chest. “That heaviness here that makes you feel like if she’s not with you, you may as well die.”
“I know that feeling quite well,” he snickers. “And you’ve been in love with her how long now?”
“Sometimes it feels like I’ve been in love with her forever and just didn't know it until I met her.”
He chuckles faintly. “Oh, son, yer fecked, aren’t ya?”
“Yeah.” I shrug. “She’s worth it, though.”
“Aye, she is.” He nods. “So when did it start?”
“I met her way before I knew she was your daughter. We were both on the same job a little over a year ago. Then she ran off. And I found her. And once I did, I couldn’t keep myself away.”
“A year, and I’m only hearing of this now?”
“She disappeared on me for four days the first time and a year the second time. I couldn’t find her until that day I walked into your house and saw her again, standing next to her sister.”
“Jesus Christ.” He drowns his drink and pours himself another. “If you two would’ve explained this, we could’ve avoided all the theatrics.”
“I tried. She didn’t want to, telling me she’d never marry me and that’s what you wanted. Then too much time passed, and she got nervous.”
He nods. “And she wants to marry you now?”
“She does.”
He smiles. I can tell he really loves her.
“She’s tough, my girl. As tough as they come. But she’s also fragile, and she doesn’t like for people to know that. So if I agree to this, you’ve gotta promise me you’re going to take care of her, even when she fights you on it.” His eyes are stern as he waits for my answer.
“I’m used to her fighting me.” I smirk.
“Feckin’ hell. I’ve gotta talk to her. I was too harsh. I didn’t know… I was worried about Eriu, and I said things.” He shakes his head, picks up the glass of liquor, and downs it in one quick gulp. He places the glass back down and stares at me. “You ask her already?”
“I have.” I nod. “The day before you threw her out.”
“And what did she say?”
“Well, she didn’t toss the ring at me.” I chuckle.
“I guess we’re going to have ourselves a wedding.”
There’s a knock on the door, and Cillian appears, his green eyes bouncing between us. “We got a location on Iseult. We’ve gotta hurry.”
“Where?” Patrick and I jump to our feet simultaneously.
“The same place that fucking bastard held her back then.”
“How the hell didn’t we think of that?!”
Patrick storms toward the door, and I follow.
“No time for that now, Dad. We’ve gotta go before he takes them all somewhere we can’t find them.”