7. Chapter 7
seven
Rude Awakening - Prong
“Did you see what happened to my phone last night?” Jackie asked as she and Dimitri emerged from the steamy bathroom.
After the concert and its aftermath, they’d needed a shower—and opted to save water by doing it together.
They’d been in there long enough, however, that no water had actually been saved.
“No, Jacks. The only thing I saw last night was your clothes coming off,” he replied, finding his own phone among his strewn clothes.
Jackie took his lead and started digging through hers on the floor.
“Em asked about getting brunch before we leave, if you’re down.
Should probably get moving if we want to, though. ”
“Mmhm,” Jackie murmured her agreement as she finally found her jeans in the pile and dug her phone out of the back pocket.
She took it off ‘Do Not Disturb,’ and notifications immediately rolled across her screen.
A few texts from Naomi and Talia, but most from her security system alerting her of movement.
She scrolled through them all before clicking the first one.
“I guess it was a good weekend to go out of town,” she sighed, the thought of how wrecked her condo was going to be again already spiking her nerves.
“If all these notifications are any indication, it looks like the bratva finally made their move.”
Dimitri walked over, immediately interested in what Jackie was watching.
“Bratva, or Talia, tearing your place apart looking for her ring,” he chuckled, watching from over Jackie’s shoulder.
She joined him in laughing as they watched Talia search the cushions of the couch before huffing and making her way to the bedroom.
They watched as she ripped the sheets off Jackie’s bed, dumping the pillows out of the cases in search of her missing ring.
Jackie felt bad. She was sure Talia had lost the ring during a date night. She had looked for it, too, when she had a few minutes to spare. She didn’t know where the thing could be. Watching Talia search for it now just sent Jackie’s heart into a nosedive.
She had explained the ring’s significance to Jackie during one of their early date nights.
Talia’s grandmother fell in love with a man her family didn’t approve of.
He’d given her the ring before leaving to go to the United States for work, promising he would send her the funds to run away and be with him when he’d saved enough.
But the funds never came. Her grandmother never found out what happened to him, but she’d gifted the ring to Talia when she moved to Toronto, telling her not to hesitate if love presented itself.
Talia's face had fallen as she explained it, saying she’d stare at that ring every time she’d had the opportunity to ask Jackie out but had hesitated.
Knowing what it meant to Talia and her grandmother hurt Jackie’s heart as she watched.
They’d found their way together in the end, and now the ring was missing.
The feed changed suddenly, switching back to the front door. Eight large men stepped off the elevator and turned toward Jackie’s front door. Her eyes went wide as she watched them approach the door, pausing briefly to check in and coordinate their attack on the penthouse.
Jackie quickly split the screen to see both Talia and the Bratva about to break in. Dimitri’s breathing hitched as he watched Talia startle at the sound of the Bratva beating on the door. Even without sound, Talia’s jumps matched in time with the Bratva’s shoulders colliding with the door.
After the third collision, Talia bolted into Jackie’s closet. Jackie changed the feed to watch her there, as she tried to punch in the security code to unlock the panic room.
“That’s not the right order,” Jackie muttered, watching Talia punch in the numbers over and over.
“Will it lock her out?” Dimitri asked quietly as the Bratva broke through the door. “Like, will it shut down if she punches it in wrong too many times?”
“No, she just can’t get in unless she has the code right.”
They watched in horror as Talia tried again and again to punch in the numbers, her hands visibly shaking.
“It’s just the last three numbers,” Jackie breathed, tears beginning to fall. “She keeps mixing them up.”
Dimitri gripped Jackie’s shoulders. The Bratva filled the condo, dispersing to different rooms in search of their prey.
Talia punched the number into the keypad, but kept mixing up the last three digits, trying different sequences and getting them wrong each time.
“Come on, Talia. It’s six, three, one,” Jackie breathed. Talia punched the numbers in again, getting the six in the right place this time, when another body stormed into the bedroom. Jackie gasped, Dimitri’s grip tightening on her shoulders.
Talia turned, hearing heavy footsteps just outside the closet, and started searching for a weapon. Facing the camera, they could see tears and makeup streaked down Talia’s face as she searched helplessly for anything to defend herself.
Jackie knew exactly where the weapons were hidden in that closet, but she’d thought giving Talia the panic room code would be enough.
She assumed that if the Bratva had attacked while Talia was over, she would be there too to defend them while Talia opened the panic room for them to escape to.
Her chest ached as she watched Talia’s panicked searching now.
The man turned to the closet, spotted Talia’s frantic searching and stalked toward her. Jackie couldn’t breathe as she watched the Bratva grab Talia by the arm and shout something as he dragged her out to the living room. Another mobster was waiting with zip ties and a gag.
To her credit, Talia fought with every bit of strength she had as they bound and gagged her.
It looked like she might have even bitten the man who shoved the wad of fabric into her mouth.
The man cursed, spitting at her before hitting her in the side of the head, knocking her out.
He slung Talia over his shoulder, and the group filed out of the condo, leaving the smashed door wide open when they went.
Jackie turned to face Dimitri as the feed ended. Panic-ridden tears streamed down both their faces as they stared at each other in silence. Entirely too calmly, Dimitri lifted his phone to his ear, his eyes only leaving Jackie’s long enough to tap something on the screen.
“We need to get home,” Jackie breathed, though she remained planted in place, the shock of what they’d witnessed making her legs feel leaden.
Dimitri nodded as whoever he called picked up the phone. “Em, we can’t make it. We need to get home.”