Chapter 38 - Gavril
We were a mess by the time we landed in the private area of the LA airport.
Both our clothes were torn and bloodstained.
Lilia had tried her best to wash up in the tiny airplane bathroom—seriously, I needed a bigger plane, although we’d managed just fine—but her hair was still bedraggled from her dip in the ocean, which seemed like weeks ago but was only just this morning.
She never looked more beautiful to me as she straightened her shorts and stepped out of the plane like visiting royalty. I already had intel from my people watching the Petrovs’ every move that Aleks and the others in Lilia’s rescue team had arrived back in the city shortly before we did.
If I made it through this alive, I might just ask Aleks what model jet he had, if he got back that quickly after still being part of the fight when Lilia and I left the farmhouse.
“I can’t just call him,” she said when we were in a chauffeured car and speeding toward my house.
The entire area was under lockdown after Luigi’s men had tried to breach it a few days ago. No one got on the property, and the security team had been whittled down to a select few of my best men from Russia as soon as they had arrived.
“Why not?” I asked. Time was of the essence, and if Aleks still believed I was behind the attacks, he’d go nuclear now that he must also suspect I was behind Lilia’s disappearance.
She rolled her eyes, explaining exactly what I had just been thinking. “He knows you’re part of it, he just doesn’t know we’re on the same side now. Unless he sees me face to face, there’s nothing I can say that will make him believe I’m not under duress.”
That meant I had to get her to Aleks in person. A man who would happily kill me on sight before either of us could get a word out. I didn’t love that plan, and I liked it less when I heard from Benedikt that some of the first attacks were already starting.
I still wasn’t a hundred percent convinced that Benedikt hadn’t crossed over to the other side, but according to other sources, his intel was good. To face the leader of the Petrov organization while mine was actively attacking his territory wasn’t going to work in my favor.
If I put out some fires first, it would go a long way toward gaining Aleks’s trust. And keeping me from a sniper’s bullet the moment I brought Lilia anywhere near him.
Another thing Benedikt had informed me of was that Luigi had made it out of the farmhouse alive. Ran like a cockroach after that first shot I got off, that killed the bastard guard. It was just like him to live to fight another day, but his luck was about to run out.
If I could find him. Benedikt swore he was working on it with all his best trackers, but was he? And if he got me the information, would it be good, or would I be walking into a trap?
“What’s wrong?” Lilia asked when I fell silent for too long.
I didn’t want to worry her, and there was no way I would bring her into danger. She was already going to have a fit when she learned I planned to leave her at the house while I found Luigi and ended him.
“I’m trying to figure out logistics,” I said, not a total lie. “I need to set a few things in motion, and we both need to get cleaned up and eat something. Then we’ll talk more about meeting up with your cousins.”
It was very clear she didn’t like this, but also that she had to be starving and was obviously sick of being in her dirty clothes. Once we were back in the house, I could make some calls while she was in the shower. If necessary, I’d just slip away and explain later when it was all over.
I didn’t like the idea of these little white lies, and I hated the thought of her being angry at me.
But there was no way I’d ever let her be in a situation where she could be shot or trampled, hit or put in any kind of danger again.
My heart still plummeted into my stomach every time I remembered her being tied to that chair.
Luigi was going to pay for that, if only I could find him. Now that he knew I had once again stolen his prize out from under him, he wasn’t going to be rolling out the red carpet for me.
The shower was barely on in the bathroom when Benedikt called me back.
I had known him since we were both kids.
He had never betrayed me before. Why start now?
I had seen how much he despised Luigi, maybe more than I did.
All I could do in the moment was answer the call and take what he told me with a grain of salt.
“Just got word that Luigi’s back in LA, but we lost him on the way out of the airport.”
“There are thousands of cameras at LAX,” I said coldly. If his experts lost someone that easily, they were either not experts or he was willfully covering Luigi’s tracks. I swore ruthlessly. “If you don’t have answers for me, why are you calling?” I snapped.
“The attacks are escalating. Our men have started fighting Luigi’s to stop the current one. So if there was any chance Luigi thought we weren’t against him, that’s done.”
Not good news since it would only drive the cockroach further into hiding. It was time for some extreme damage control. “Call off the men for now,” I said, silently raging that the fires I wanted to extinguish were blazing hotter instead. “Make sure they know I’m serious.”
Pacing restlessly, I listened for the sound of the shower still running before attempting a long shot. Instead of trying to hunt him down, I just dialed Luigi’s number. Of course the coward didn’t answer, so I left a scathing message.
“Where the hell are you? If we’re ending the Petrovs, I need my second in command.”
I waited, certain this wouldn’t work. The man couldn’t have that big of an ego. It wasn’t even a minute before he called me back.
“Nice try,” he said, voice heavy with sarcasm. “Do you think I didn’t see you making off with the girl?”
“I told you repeatedly that Lilia wasn’t part of this. If you weren’t so blinkered on that issue, you’d be asking why I was in Miami in the first place.”
“And?” he said.
Time to lie my ass off. “Your impatience is going to ruin everything. I was recruiting the Morozovs, who were on board by the way—if I could guarantee a victory.”
There was a pause, then he laughed bitterly. “Is that why your imports from Russia are currently fighting my guys?”
“Our guys,” I corrected, ignoring the disgust I felt. “And you’ve got old information. Check again. Nothing more than a bad command given by a guy who’s already dead.”
While that certainly wasn’t the case, it would be impossible to verify anything other than that the Russians had been called off. “We’re on the same fucking side here, Luigi,” I said. “If you’d get your giant head out of your ass, you’d know that.”
“You’re really all twisted up over that little girl, aren’t you?” he asked, sounding much more jovial now.
“Not enough that I don’t still want this city under Collective rule. We need to meet up to make sure this isn’t another embarrassment for us.”
There was only the slightest pause before he told me where to meet him. I ended the call, breathing out a long sigh of relief. I had a location. I could finally end this.
A small choking cry came from behind me, and my insides froze as I turned. I had been so caught up in fooling Luigi that I hadn’t heard the shower stop. Lilia stood in the bathroom doorway, wrapped in a towel with her long hair dripping onto her bare shoulders.
Holy shit, what had she heard?
Her lip trembled, but her hands were steady as she aimed my own gun, dead center at my chest. Fury blazed from her eyes. Apparently, she’d heard enough.