41. Gabby
Gabby
The radios of the guards standing in the doorway of the living room crackle to life.
They’re back. I jump up and race toward the front door.
Nikolai comes through the front door first, his face unreadable. Behind him, Sergei, Maksim, Pasha, and everyone else file in like soldiers returning from war.
“We have a location,” Nikolai says.
The relief is so sharp that it almost brings me to my knees. “Where?”
He tells me. A building near an old rail yard. They’re planning the approach. Talking about entry points and contingencies and how many men to bring.
“I’m coming,” I say.
Every head in the room turns toward me.
“No.” Nikolai’s voice is final.
“He’s my son. I’m coming.”
“Gabby, this could get dangerous.”
“Which is exactly why I’m going.” I step forward, meeting his eyes. “He’s going to be terrified. He needs me there when you bring him out.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“I don’t care.” My voice cracks. “He needs me, Nikolai.”
He steps closer. “I will not come home without Luke in my arms, Gabby.”
“I know.” I swallow hard. “I’ll stay in the car. I won’t get in your way. I just need to be close.”
Maksim clears his throat. “For what it’s worth, Lila didn’t listen to your orders and snuck out. Could have gotten herself killed by doing it her way. Smart play is keeping her—”
“Close,” Lila chimes in. “Keep us close. I’m going, too.”
Maksim exhales and spreads his hands. “See. Better to know where they are.”
The brothers exchange looks. Some silent communication passes between them that I don’t understand.
Finally, Sergei exhales slowly. “They stay in the vehicles. Surrounded by guards. They do not exit for any reason.”
“Agreed.” Nikolai doesn’t look happy about it.
I want to argue, but I know I’ve pushed as far as I can. “I need a gun.”
Nikolai closes his eyes for a moment. Then, he turns toward the armory.
“Fine,” he says. “You carry what I give you.”
A few minutes later, he puts a gun in my hand and checks the safety. Maksim does the same for Lila.
The men stare at us. I’m in no mood, and they must see it.
“Let’s go fuck some shit up,” Maksim says.
Twenty minutes later, we’re pulling out of the driveway in a line of SUVs. I’m in the back seat with Nik beside me. Two guards sit in front, while Maksim and Lila take the third row behind us. My stomach churns with fear and anticipation. No one speaks.
I notice Nik rubbing his fingers together. His stim. I’ve learned all about stims over the past few years. That’s his. Luke rubs his blanket.
God, please tell me Matteo allowed Luke to bring his blanket. I can only hope he’s holding on to it and self-soothing.
The vehicles slow to a stop. I stare at a flat-roofed building. Not a house, but not a warehouse, either. No lights. No movement.
The men exit their vehicles with military precision.
Nikolai and Maksim get out, and Lila climbs forward into the seat beside me.
Nikolai pauses before going inside and looks back toward the SUV.
I know he can’t see me through the tinted glass, but it still feels like he’s looking right at me.
Then he’s gone, disappearing into the shadows.
Four guards are left with us, and it pisses me off. I want them all to go find my son. I feel a pang of guilt for going against Nikolai’s wishes. I understand why he didn’t want me here. He has to protect me. I’m dividing his attention. Dividing his forces.
I count the seconds. Watch the building. Wait for movement. The gun is on my lap. I check the safety. Check the magazine, just like Greg showed me. He taught me how to defend myself in case the worst happened.
It happened. I can’t think about Greg right now. I have to focus.
Lila is fidgeting nervously.
Time is moving too fast and not fast enough.
A blast tears through the darkness somewhere beyond the far side of the building. The SUV rocks beneath us, and a flash of orange lights the windows before smoke rolls into the night, as the radios crackle to life.
“Stay down,” one of the guards orders.
“Go, go, go!” I hear another one shout.
The radios are alive with men, all shouting commands. Most are in Russian. That’s strategy. I heard Nik and his brothers telling the others to speak in Russian in case they were being listened to.
“Oh, shit,” Lila says. “What the hell is happening?”
My eyes go to the building where Nik disappeared. The building my son is waiting for me in.
I watch two of the men rush toward the blast. The other two stay with us, one crouched behind the front quarter panel and the other taking cover at the rear of the SUV.
A gunshot cracks through the chaos, and the guard near my door drops out of sight.
The rear passenger door is wrenched open. Hands grab me, yanking me from the vehicle. Cold metal presses against my temple.
“Don’t move.”
Matteo.
Every part of me goes still.
I never thought I’d hear that voice again. Part of me didn’t believe he was actually alive.
And now, I know.
Another man drags Lila from the car at the same time. She fights, kicking and clawing, but he’s too strong. The guard on her side is down beside the SUV.
“Gabriella.” Matteo’s voice is just as I remember. Smooth. Controlled. Terrifying.
His free hand closes around my throat, dragging me back hard against his chest.
"I've been watching you," he says. "Imagine my surprise when I pulled up just now to take my son home, and find my wife sitting here.
" He laughs humorlessly. "The charge was not meant for you.
It was just insurance, in case someone came looking before I was ready.
A distraction to pull them away from the building. But this works, too."
He set the explosion. He saw me and used it. Nik will never forgive himself. I can’t let Matteo get what he came for.
“Fuck you.”
“Did you really think I wouldn’t find you?” He pushes the gun harder against my head. “I have been looking. Waiting. And here you are. You came to me.”
“I came for my son!”
I can hear Lila fighting, shouting, and cursing.
I can’t breathe. His arm locks tighter around my throat, and the gun digs into my skull.
“Where’s my son?” I choke out the words.
“Our son.” He laughs. “Looks just like me. A bit strange, but I’ll fix that.”
Rage floods through me, burning away the fear.
Then, everything happens at once.
I drop my weight suddenly, throwing him off-balance. His grip loosens just enough. I grab his wrist in both hands, twisting hard. The gun shifts away from my head.
He tries to get his arm back around my neck. Grabs a fistful of my hair and tries to slam my head against the SUV. I push out just in time and kick my leg back.
I fight like I never have before. For Luke. For myself. For every time this man has hurt me. He’s trying to shoot me. I understand this is my life or his death. I reach for the cold metal. I kick. Slap.
The barrel presses against my cheek. I jerk my head to the left and slip my finger over his on the trigger. I pull away as much as I can, but his arm is a vise around my waist.
I wiggle my finger, forcing every ounce of strength I have into the tip. I squeeze, praying he doesn’t shift the barrel at the last second.
POP!
The shot goes wide.
The sound is deafening. I feel the heat of it, and the percussion. My ear feels like someone jabbed a screwdriver through it.
And then I’m falling.
I land on top of Matteo. I can’t hear anything, but I can see. I’m staring up at the moonlit sky.
I’m alive.
I move away from the body under me. I feel more than hear another gunshot, followed by a second and third. Matteo’s body jerks on the pavement, and the man who had Lila drops beside the SUV. Then she’s there.
She’s staring at me. She’s talking, but I can’t hear her.
One of the guards who ran toward the blast comes sprinting back toward us and grabs my arm, trying to pull me toward the SUV.
Matteo is lying on the pavement, eyes wide and very dead. Blood covers his chest.
Sound starts to filter back in, muffled beneath a high-pitched ringing.
“Is he dead?” I shout.
He’s still trying to drag me toward the SUV when I reach for his gun. I step forward, stand over Matteo’s body, and pull the trigger, striking Matteo in the head. I wait, half-expecting him to sit up and reach for me again.
Lila gently pulls the gun from my hand and hands it back to the guard.
“He’s dead,” Lila says.
“He’s been dead before. I want to make sure he stays that way.”
She nods. “Very dead.”
The guard who was shot is pushed in through the back hatch. He’s dead. The other guard who stayed with us is alive but bleeding as one of the men helps him into the SUV.
Lila gives my arm a light squeeze. I look at her, and she shakes her head. I can barely hear her over the ringing. “Don’t,” she says. “Don’t focus on him.”
I get back into the SUV and turn my gaze back to the building. My heart is in my throat. Matteo is dead. Where is Luke?