12. Nikolai
NIKOLAI
“Have you tried calling Sierra?” Lilia asks, tapping her foot in the air. Her blond hair is up in a ponytail, artlessly casual. Between the funeral and the insanity of the past twenty-four hours, we’re all breaking down.
“A hundred times,” I grit out.
“And?”
“Nothing. She won’t pick up.” She blocked my number.
At least I know she’s still alive, or was a few hours ago.
I pace the floor, wondering where the hell my brothers are.
Rion has disappeared without warning, leaving me on my own to track down my missing wife before our unknown enemy can kill her or kidnap her to use as bait.
Unless…my own brothers have put a target on Sierra’s back. They want control of the Orlov empire as badly as I do. Ruthless bratva heirs will stop at nothing to get what they want.
“I’ll try the twins again. One of them has to turn up,” Lilia says.
“They’re off chasing their own brides.” I can’t stop pacing.
I know I screwed up. I shouldn’t have threatened Sierra.
I shouldn’t have let her go. It was my own goddamn fault I kicked in that door.
She would have let me in. Instead, I lost my temper and was stuck getting chewed out by mall security for property damage while she walked out of my life.
I’ve never felt like such a pathetic baklan. Utterly humiliating.
If she’s gone for good, I will deserve it.
“She has to be in Los Angeles,” I mutter. But how did she get there?
“Then, why are you still here?” Lilia says.
“Someone has to guard you and Mamushka.” I haven’t abandoned all sense of responsibility.
Lilia pops up from her seat and takes my face between her hands. In Russian, she says, “Niklolai Orlov, you are an idiot. You obviously love Sierra. Mother and I can fend for ourselves for a few days. We have guards. We have guns. We will be careful. Get your ass to LA and get your girl.”
A smile ghosts across my lips. “Promise me you won’t leave the house.”
“And miss the drama of all four of my brothers fighting to the death for control of the family business? I think not.”
“Brat.” I drop an affectionate kiss on her head.
“Get out of here.” She swats my bicep and points to the door. “Go get your woman.”
Sierra
I hate crying in front of anyone, forget my sister. But last night, that’s exactly what happened. Rae agreed to put me up on her sofa for the night while I try to regroup. Dawn has arrived hard and fast. I’m no closer to a decision about how to get out of this mess.
Obviously, I can’t take the money Nik promised me. I don’t want to become an accessory to a crime.
I now recall what Lilia told me in a different light. That money was intended to be a backstop in case something happened to our marriage or to him. To keep me safe. I’m starting to see why that might be a customary tradition amongst the bratva.
I might be able to sell some of the clothes he bought for me.
I sigh wistfully at the thought of parting with the red-soled high heels I bought for myself, but there’s no denying those would fetch a high price.
Last night, my plan seemed so straightforward.
Sell enough stuff to run. Annul the marriage.
Move to another city and get a job under Rae’s name. Hide. Forever.
Live in hopeless, grinding poverty. Forever.
I’m worse off than ever, thanks to Nik. Yet I can’t fault him for doing what he did. He was raised in that messed up world, too. He saw a way to prove himself to his family. In a way, my foolish heart still aches for him.
I shuffle into the kitchen, make coffee, and drink it while waiting for my turn in the one bathroom.
First Rae’s boyfriend, then my sister, take showers.
I meekly wait my turn. As the irresponsible idiot who ran off to Vegas and married a Russian mobster on a whim, I have a lot of crow to eat before either of them will respect me again.
“I’m going to work,” Rae says, giving me a tight smile. “Don’t do anything rash. Like leave the house.”
“I won’t.” I hug her, inhaling her powdery scent. I guess if nothing else, this debacle has brought us back together. When the chips are down and everything is going wrong in life, you can still depend on family. No matter how hard you’ve fought. Even when you were in the wrong.
That’s what hurts so much about Nik’s accusation that I’m a spy. He should know better. He is the one who blew up my life. Not the other way around.
He kidnapped me.
He bribed me with ten million dollars to marry him in a quest to win control of his family’s apparently criminal enterprises, a minor detail he was not upfront about.
He is the one who stole my employer’s car and got me fired.
Worst of all, he had unprotected sex with me and despite all his horny words in the hotel room during our truncated honeymoon night, he doesn’t seem to care whether or not I’m pregnant with his baby. So much for being a family man.
I truly have the worst taste in men.
With a sigh, I watch my sister walk to her car from the window of her ground-floor apartment.
A shadow shaped like Nik melts out of the neat hedge growing along the fence.
Shock slices through me. How would he have found me?
Without hesitation, I dash for the door and run out onto the lawn in my bare feet.
“Rae!” I shout. She turns, sees the man in a suit drawing a gun on her, and throws her purse at him. His arm comes up. Startled, his shot goes wide.
It’s not Nik.
Cars come speeding around the corner, all of them black and menacing in the bright California sun.
“Get down!” a man shouts. I don’t listen. I run to my sister and tackle her to the pavement, knowing that Rae would try to take them all head-on. Gunshots ring out. We flinch in unison.
“Get the women!” Strong hands grab my arms. “You have to move, kitten. We can’t stay here.”
Nik. I’m so shaken that I allow him to get me to my feet. A second man, who at a glance looks similar but a few years older with a hard jaw and steel eyes, picks up my sister like she’s a rag doll, and throws her into the back of a huge black SUV.
“Why are you taking us?” I wail. “Leave us alone!”
“I’ll explain once you’re safe. Get in the car.” He doesn’t give me a choice. He drags me into the back seat and shouts at the driver, “Go.”
As we speed away, police sirens wail in the distance.