Chapter 15
She cried. As we got out of the car she tried to make her escape in.
As we rode in the car Juvie was driving.
As we walked back into Maxim’s house. As I closed the door behind us in the bedroom suite.
She just… cried. I could’ve dealt with her sobbing and screaming in anger, fighting me, something.
But that quiet crying? Like her heart was completely broken again?
Jesus. I couldn’t stand that, not when I couldn’t hold her, touch her, reassure her.
She hadn’t told me not to, but I just knew instinctively that if I had tried to pull her into my arms, she would’ve completely fallen apart on me.
So, all I did was mutter, “I’ll be back. ”
She hadn’t even looked up from where she’d curled in on herself on the bed.
Theory didn’t give a fuck about my coming or going anymore, and I couldn’t blame her.
I was definitely the villain in her story right now.
If I were a better man, I’d sit with that guilt, let myself carry the weight of it.
But as much as I hated her crying, as badly as I didn’t want her to hurt, there was a part of me…
a dark, selfish part of me that couldn’t be upset about it and wasn’t backing down from the fact that we would be married Saturday.
So, the fucked-up feelings I was having about her tears?
They had to manifest in some other way. They made me angry. Restless. Murderous.
So, I planned to go to the warehouse, but I didn’t go straight there.
I went looking for Maxim. His house was lit up like some kind of fortress, all cream stone and sparkling glass.
Of course, his ass had a big fountain. Of course, the lawn was perfect, all lush and green.
My brother would accept nothing less. The heat slapped me in the face as soon as I stepped out of the back of the house. Texas at midnight was hot as fuck.
He was outside when I found him, standing near the edge of the circular drive, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his phone. Lev was a few feet away. Two more men hovered near the walkway. They saw my face and shifted immediately.
Maxim didn’t.
“Stand down,” he ordered, before any of them could move fully.
Lev frowned. “Sir—”
“Now.”
The men backed off. I crossed the lawn, rolling my shoulders and cracking my knuckles before shaking out my hands. I was ready to hit something. Well, somebody. Yeah, Igor was at the warehouse, but Igor hadn’t sent me to Siberia. Igor hadn’t separated me from my woman. My brother had.
Maxim slid his phone into his pocket and finally looked up, his silvery eyes moving over me.
“So, tonight, then?” he asked calmly.
“Yeah,” I said. “Tonight.”
He nodded once. Then he took off his jacket and handed it to Lev. I hated how calm he was.
In the background, I heard Juvie mutter, “This family crazy as shit. Let me call the big dawg.”
I shook my head. I never could tell if his timing was off or perfect. I suspected the latter.
“I wondered how long you would pretend to respect my order,” my brother said.
“I respect it.”
“No… you put up with it. There’s a difference.”
I smiled, but nothing in me was amused. “You sent me to Siberia,” I said.
He shrugged. “You survived.”
“You called Theory my weakness.”
“She is.”
“She cried tonight because of shit you put in motion.”
His expression didn’t change. “That is yours to fix.”
I swung before I knew it. My fist flew through the air, landing on his cheek. He stumbled, then his knuckles came back with a sharp jab that snapped my head to the side.
I grinned. “Oh, you been waiting, huh?”
“Yes.”
I threw a right cross this time. It would’ve fucked up his face if it landed. Instead, he caught most of it on his forearm, but the force still rocked him back a step. Then he stepped in close and drove a short punch into my ribs. Air left me in a big whoosh.
I knew this nigga had hands, but damn. I went for his jaw. He ducked under it and came back with an uppercut that hit my chin. Pain flashed behind my eyes. I stumbled back, laughed once, and rushed him. We hit the grass hard.
Somebody cursed behind us. I heard the sound of men moving in, then Sergei’s voice from somewhere near the front steps.
“Nyet.”
He told them no. That’s all he said, no yelling, no panicking. Everybody froze except me and Maxim.
I got my forearm across Maxim’s throat and pressed. He drove a knee into my side, then shifted his weight. He hooked one leg around mine and rolled us. Suddenly, his forearm was across my throat, and his knee was digging into my ribs.
His face hovered over mine, calm except for the blood at the corner of his mouth.
“You fight like you mad about my authority,” he said.
I bucked hard, throwing him off just enough to get my hand between us. “And you talk like a man who wanna get hit again.”
I slammed my palm into his ear. Maxim grunted and shifted. That was all the room I needed. I threw him off me and jumped to my feet. He came up almost as fast, grass on his sleeves, blood on his lip, and murder in his eyes.
I smiled. Right now, he was not the pakhan, not the king, not Sergei’s perfect successor. He was just my brother.
He came at me first this time, throwing a quick jab right at my face, and then another one just as fast. I was able to block the first punch, but the second one split my lip.
Before I could even get my bearings again, he landed a solid body shot that made my stomach tighten.
I fired back with a hook to his ribs and smirked when I heard the pained sound that came out of him.
Yeah, nigga.
I stepped in and threw a flurry of punches, a jab, a cross, a hook.
He managed to block most of them, but one of my punches, a right hand, made it through and hit him right on the cheekbone.
His head jerked to the side from the impact, but Maxim just blinked once and then looked back at me, like it didn't even faze him.
Then he smiled. It was just for a second, cold and crazy as hell.
“Careful, brat. You are beginning to impress me,” he said.
“You are beginning to annoy me because you still standing,” I responded.
He rushed me. His shoulder drove into my middle, arms locked around my waist. We went backward into the side of the stone fountain. My lower back lit up in agony. Water splashed up, cool across my arms and face.
We struggled out of the fountain. Wasn’t no technique after that.
We were all hands, elbows, knees, and rage.
He hit me with a short right that made my ear ring.
I caught him with a left hook that staggered him.
He kicked the side of my knee hard enough to make my leg buckle.
I grabbed his shirt and yanked him with me, then drove my forehead into his. Pain cracked through my skull.
Maxim staggered.
I staggered.
Juvie yelled, “I know you hard-headed, OG, but damn!”
Mikhail rumbled, “You are not helpful.”
Lev said something in Russian that sounded disrespectful as hell.
I wiped blood from my mouth with the back of my hand. Maxim did the same. We circled each other on the grass, both breathing harder now.
“You done?” he asked.
“Is ya mama done?”
His eyes narrowed.
I grinned. “My bad. Reflex.”
“The dozens. That’s that Black mama side. What y’all know about that?” Juvie crowed.
Maxim moved again, and this time I was ready. He went for my ribs. I dropped my elbow and caught his forearm.
Then a hand caught the back of my shirt. Another caught Maxim’s.
“Enough!” Sergei roared.
This time, everybody stopped.
I was breathing hard, blood dripping from my mouth onto my shirt. Maxim’s lip was split, one cheek swelling already, his hair falling loose over his forehead. We stared at each other while our people held us apart.
Neither one of us looked away.
Neither one of us had lost.
Neither one of us had won.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
Sergei came down the steps slowly, wearing a black robe over dark pants. Mama must’ve had more sense than all of us because she was nowhere to be seen. His eyes went from Maxim to me.
“You are finished,” he said.
“No,” I told him.
“Yes,” he returned.
Maxim pulled his arm free from Lev’s grip and straightened his shirt. “I agree with Papa.”
I laughed, but it was humorless. “Of course, you do. Scary ass”
His bloody mouth curved slightly. “Not because I cannot continue, but because we have work. We have enemies to address. And you have a crying wife.”
That reminder hurt, damn him.
Sergei looked at me. “You needed this?”
I flexed my sore hand. “Yeah,” I admitted.
“And now?”
I looked at my brother. He looked back. Nothing was settled, not really. But I felt a little better about where we stood.
“Now we go to the warehouse,” I said.
Maxim picked up his jacket from Lev and slid it back on like he hadn’t just been bleeding in the grass. “Good. Try not to limp. It will make me sad.”
“Don’t get knocked out in front of Jesus and yo’ landscaping.”
He gave me half a smile. “Later, brat.”
Juvie released my arm slowly. “I’m gon’ need hazard pay, paid leave, and family counseling after tonight.”
Mikhail looked at him. “You are not family.”
“I’m family adjacent,” Juvie insisted.
“You are noise adjacent,” Mikhail corrected.
I shook my head at them. “Let’s go.”
Forty minutes later, Mikhail, Juvie, and I were back at the warehouse, striding down a cool, dark hallway.
Grigor and Timur were waiting on us. They'd had some time with Igor, time during which the tech wizard seemed ready to spill. I hoped he wasn’t though.
That was too easy. I needed a way to act out my rage.
He was it. The men we’d sent on to glory earlier in the day were just a warm-up for what I had planned tonight.