Chapter Nineteen #2
The spin class took place in a room at the back of the gym, right between the yoga room and the sauna. When I stepped inside, the class was filling with people, but Mira wasn’t here yet. We always took bikes in the back of the room, so I stood beside one and did some easy stretches to warm up.
I’d just bent over to touch my toes when I felt a hand slap my ass. Letting out a yelp, I stood straight and turned to see Mira standing there with a smile on her face.
“Couldn’t resist,” she said.
I grinned as I shoved her shoulder. “You’d better stretch too. Remember what happened last time?”
Mira cringed. “How could I forget? That muscle cramp ruined my whole day.”
Ten minutes later, the two of us had stretched out our muscles and straddled our bikes.
“Did you see the guy hanging out by the check-in desk? Tall, dark, and handsome was giving everyone the stink-eye as they walked into the gym. Kinda scary, but also kinda hot.”
“I don’t think your husband would like hearing you say that.”
She shrugged. “Connor isn’t the jealous type. He doesn’t care if I notice good-looking men because he knows I’ll always come home to him.”
I glanced around to make sure that no one was paying attention to us. When I saw that everyone else seemed to be engaged in their own conversations, I leaned closer to spoke to Mira in a low voice.
“He’s actually here for me.”
Her eyes grew huge as she gasped. “No! You’re dating that guy? When did this happen? You didn’t tell me you met anyone.”
“I’m not dating him, but a lot has happened over the past few days that I haven’t told you about.”
I filled her in on everything, from the shock of learning that Alexis’s father was the man on trial for orchestrating the killing of my boss to the confrontation and threats in the grocery store parking lot.
Before I could tell her about staying with Dmitri, she interrupted, her eyes flaring with anger and concern.
“What the hell? They threatened you?”
“And Alexis,” I said, a shiver running down my spine at the memory. “They threatened to take her if I don’t testify the way they want me to.”
“Did you go to the police?”
“No. They told me not to.”
“So what? Surely, the police could handle them.”
She didn’t understand the fear I felt when those men threatened me.
I believed they would know if I went to the police, that they would find a way to make me pay for it.
There was something about the menacing way they spoke to me, a confidence that made me sure that going to the police would do more harm than good.
They’d take my little girl as a punishment, and I couldn’t risk that, not for any reason.
“I couldn’t do it. It was too risky.”
“So, you’ve just been living in fear for the past few days?” She shook her head and reached out to grasp my arm. “I can’t believe you didn’t call me. I hate the thought of you dealing with this all alone.”
“I wasn’t alone,” I confessed, still keeping my voice low.
“Dmitri came to my apartment that night. He insisted that I come with him to his home. He says he can protect me.”
“Dmitri?” she practically shouted, making several people look our way curiously. “You mean the man who killed your boss?”
“He didn’t,” I said. “He didn’t kill him. Neither did his men. But he is involved in some questionable stuff.”
“Questionable?”
“The man you saw? He works for Dmitri. I get the impression that a lot of men work for him. That’s part of how he can keep us safe.”
Mira looked at me doubtfully. “That sounds shady as hell, Sarah. So, you’re living with this guy now? Does he even know about Alexis?”
“How can I tell him?”
I looked away, feeling guilty for not telling Dmitri that she was his daughter.
It was complicated. I was starting to trust him, but I wasn’t sure yet if it was a good idea to tell him that Alexis was his daughter.
He seemed fond of her, and my gut told me he would never mistreat her.
But what if he wanted to take her away from me?
I’d seen evidence that he was powerful. Would he wield that power against me in some way if he wanted Alexis to stay with him after the threat against us was gone? He and I had intense chemistry, but there was nothing deeper to suggest he’d be interested in something more with me.
Would I be kicked to curb, my daughter taken from me by the mafia leader I unknowingly slept with four years ago?
I didn’t want to believe that, and when I thought about the kiss we shared last night, a part of me didn’t believe it, but telling him he was her father still felt like a risk.
“I still think—”
Mira’s words cut off as we heard a shout coming from outside of the room. The gym sometimes got noisy when there were a lot of people working out, the murmur of conversations, the clanking of weights, and the hum of treadmills. But this was a single man shouting.
Alarmed, we all rushed out of the room. The class was about to start, but no one seemed to care as we joined the crowd of people near the front of the gym watching the commotion.
“Get off of me!” a man shouted.
That was followed by a scream and crying that I recognized. Panic rushed through me as I shoved my way through the people gathered. That was my daughter crying.
When I finally broke through the crowd and saw the scene that had gained so much attention, my stomach dropped.
Nikolay was restraining a man on the ground, an employee of the gym, based on the blue polo shirt he was wearing.
The man was struggling, but Nikolay had zip-tied his hands behind his back and was holding him in place with a knee between his shoulder.
The look in Nikolay’s eyes was cold as ice.
Nearby, Alexis stood with one of the people who ran the childcare room, tears streaming down her face as she watched the two men on the floor.
She looked terrified, and I rushed to her, lifting her into my arms.
Turning to Nikolay, I had to fight back the fear making my throat feel tight just to ask him what the hell happened.
“This asshole tried to take her,” he said, nodding toward Alexis, who buried her face in my shoulder, her tears soaking into T-shirt.
“What?” I gasped.
Mira came to my side, rubbing her hand up and down Alexis’s back.
I looked more closely at the man being restrained. I recognized him from my previous visits. He was a real employee of this gym.
“He works here!” I protested, annoyed that Nikolay would do something like this.
Nikolay eased off the man for a second and said, “Ask Alexis what happened, he grabbed her. If I hadn’t heard her screams, he’d have taken her.”
Was he associated with those men who threatened me? Or was it a coincidence that he tried to kidnap my child?
I glanced at my child. She was still crying. “Is this true, sweetheart?” I asked.
She nodded and pushed her head into my chest.
Tightening my hold on Alexis, I took a deep breath and silently thanked whatever divine intervention brought Dmitri to my door Friday night. I still didn’t know why he was compelled to help me, but if he hadn’t, Nikolay wouldn’t have been here today, and my little girl could be gone.