Chapter 37
MAXIM
“He’s one man!” My fist collides with the wall, sending pain lancing up my arm. “One fucking man and he’s a ghost. Tell me how this makes any fucking sense?”
“That anger you feel?” My father stands behind me, a glass of Bourbon in his hand. “I understand it.”
“No, you don’t.” That fucker was at the club, likely scouting out his next victim until he ran into us.
Losing him in the blizzard weighs on me like the worst mistake of my life, and despite how we searched, he vanished into the city with another victory under his belt.
“It’s failure after fucking failure on a man I know more about than my own friends.
I’ve scoured every property he’s ever owned, questioned anyone he’s ever associated with, tore apart that flash performance troupe looking for him, only to find out that he crashed it.
He’s constantly one step ahead of me and I can’t catch up! ”
Turning, my father’s face remains passive with only a flicker of understanding in his eyes.
“I felt the same when your mother died.”
“What?” Despite the fury licking at my heart, my mind stalls briefly. “How is that the same?”
“Having someone ten years younger than me telling me there was nothing they could do for her now, that her death was unavoidable… I blamed him. And I hunted him to the ends of the earth, but he kept slipping away from me because I forgot one important detail.”
“What detail? The fact that he was just her doctor?”
“Exactly. He was a normal, regular person. They don’t think like us.
They don’t plan like us. When they’re running, they react.
You’ve been chasing this Vinnie because he’s from this world, but he’s hardly deeply ingrained.
He’s a worthless cunt on the outskirts and thus, he doesn’t have the same calculated mind we have.
You can’t catch up to someone who doesn’t know where they’re going. ”
My fists tighten and pain bleeds across my bruised knuckles. “So, what do I do?”
“He’s lashing out. He’s furious at you and us, which is why he and the other one attacked the girls at your club, right?”
“Yeah.”
“He prolonged their pain and torture because he could. He wanted to show that he’s in no rush, but it reveals that he doesn’t fully know what he’s doing.
He’s trying to hurt you, to fuck things up enough that someone else will take notice and think he’s the key to your downfall.
He’s like a mosquito dancing on the edge of our web. ”
“So how the fuck do I ensnare him?”
“You have to act like you don’t care.”
“And risk more lives? Not a chance.”
“Think about it, Maxim. He’s returning to the scene of the first crime by coming back to the club. He’s looking for his next victim and all our people are on high alert. At worst, you have to sacrifice one or two more to get him.”
Shoving past him, I stalk toward the door, then turn back and angrily point at him. “How can you talk like that? What kind of loyalty does that show the people I’m supposed to lead? Telling them they’re fucking expendable?”
“You can’t save everyone!” he yells suddenly, then catches himself and steps back.
“You can’t care about everyone, Maxim. You can’t protect everyone.
You can put things in place to keep people safe but at the end of the day, the only people who truly matter are family.
Caring for everyone means caring for no one, and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you’ll be able to think about this objectively and stop this fucker. ”
I want to tell him he’s wrong. That his words are cold and heartless, but deep down, I know he’s right.
There are countless businesses and families under our rule, far too many to count, and I can’t keep them all safe.
I can’t save everyone the moment there’s a lick of danger. I can’t be everywhere at once.
Defeat clings to my shoulders no matter how hard I try to shrug it off. “So what do I do?”
“Protect those you care about.” He brings his glass to his lips. “And Vinnie will come to you.”
Hollie.
I love her.
It’s the only certainty in my life and twice, that fucker has gotten too close to her. I need to get her out of his sight, especially if she’s pregnant. It doesn’t matter where we go, but it has to be away. Then, if Vinnie really wants to get my attention, he’ll have to follow.
“Shit.” I sink down onto the nearest chair. “How can one man cause all of this?”
“It feels big, but he’s just a pebble in your shoe, chipping away at you. We have to make sacrifices sometimes, and then we soothe over the pain left. We kill who we need to kill, we save who we can, and we make deals that stop us from sleeping but keep us afloat. That’s the cost we pay.”
My eyes close and I press my fingers to the bridge of my nose. “Hollie… she has this opportunity to go—”
The sudden buzzing from my phone cuts me off and an unknown number flashes on the screen, derailing my thoughts. Exchanging a glance with my father, I answer. “Hello?”
“Maxim?” Susan’s trembling voice fills my ear. “Oh, Maxim, I didn’t know who else to call!”
I’m on my feet immediately as ice spreads its cold, killer fingers through my chest. “Tell me.”
“It was awful, oh God, it was awful!” Susan dissolves into tears and fabric scuffles over the phone, then Martin’s voice follows.
“He’s taken her,” he says thickly. “I don’t know who, but a man came.
He’s killed your men and he’s taken Hollie.
I’ve done what I can, but you need to bring my daughter back, do you understand me?
I don’t care what this is, but you told me you married her to save her, so you'd better fucking save her, you hear me?”
The cold spreads like a fever throughout my body and my eyes lock with my Dad’s. “He’s taken her.”
“Move.” Dad abandons his glass and we’re rushing through the manor.
“I’ll get her back,” I swear down the phone. “Tell me everything.”
By the time Martin’s told me everything, I’m in the car with Stu driving and Dad in the backseat.
Hearing Toto’s alive is the only good thing coming out of this current disaster, and my dad mobilizes several teams to secure Hollie’s parents.
As the call ends, I’m about to ask Stu to take me to Rex when another call comes through.
“Hollie?” Despite barking her name, she doesn’t speak and all that comes through is the hum of a car engine. I place the call on speaker and Stu pulls over to the side of the road as we exchange a glance.
“Why him?” Hollie’s muffled, teary voice crackles through what seems to be a layer of fabric. “Why do you care so much?”
“Are you thick?” Vinnie’s voice follows, somewhat distant. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to have your family wiped out because someone leagues away from you decides it’s the only way to move forward? People make mistakes but the fucking Krasnovs act like they’re above all of us!”
“What’s that got to do with me?” Hollie gasps. “He kidnapped me, remember? Forced me to marry him.”
“I’d believe you, but I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” Vinnie sneers.
“How did you find me?”
“I was going to take you at the cafe but when you snuck away, I got curious. Is it his baby? Are you carrying his fucking spawn?”
Stu’s gaze locks on me and he mouths ‘no fucking way’.
“No,” Hollie gasps. “I was pregnant before I met him.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“So that’s how you found me? You followed me from the clinic?"
“Nah. I left you at the clinic and followed your mom from the cafe. Then I just had to wait. Everyone fucking loves their family at this time of year.”
“And now you’re taking me upstate? What’s your plan, huh?”
“My plan? I’m tired. No one would give a shit if it wasn’t Maxim acting like a fucking dog with a bone. But now I have you, and as long as I have you, he’ll leave me the fuck alone until I’m ready for him,” Vinnie snarls. “And he’ll do anything to keep you safe, which buys me a new life.”
“A new life where, the far side of Central Park?”
“What?” Vinnie mutters. “What are you talking about?”
“Nothing.”
“What’s that?”
“Nothing, Vinnie, stop—”
Their conversation dissolves into rustling and muted yells, then a thump as the phone seems to fall further away from their arguing voices. As the voices grow louder, there’s a yell and my heart jumps as something akin to a gunshot blasts through the air.
Then there’s a deafening screech of metal and another scream.
Then nothing but silence.