Chapter 25 - Kristopher
I keep glancing at my watch, rushing to get things finished so I can leave. My hopes of getting out of here a little earlier have been useless, but if I leave in the next ten minutes, I’ll still be on time.
I hurry to send off the last few emails, then stand, satisfied that anything else can wait until tomorrow. Or the next day. Who cares. All I want to do now is focus on Georgie and the incredible night I have planned for us.
It’s her fault I didn’t leave early. Her cheeky phone call distracted me so much, filling my head with thoughts of her wearing those ridiculously sexy dresses.
It slowed me down. And later tonight, I’ll have to punish her for it.
I grin, shoving my phone into my pocket as I picture slapping my hand across that gorgeous ass of hers.
It’s six. Time to go. The rest of my people left at five, and I’m alone here, but that’s nothing unusual.
I’m about to close my laptop when the coldness of his voice grates over me like gravel.
“Hello, Kristopher,” my father says, stepping into the doorway of my office.
I’m about to snarl at him, warning him that he’s in danger for his arrogance. But my heart stops dead in my chest.
He has Georgie in front of him, locked against his body with his arm wrapped around her throat and a gun pressing into her temple.
She’s breathing heavily, her eyes wide and her mouth tight with fear.
I only steal the briefest glance at her before turning my full attention to my father.
I want to tell her it’s going to be ok, that I’ll get her out of this…but that isn’t the right move in this moment. Focus. You have a plan. You prepared for this. Just stay focused and don’t let the fear overwhelm you.
I knew he’d be back. I knew he’d try something.
When Georgie asked me about it last night, I saw no reason to leave her in fear. But I knew.
“If you move, I put a bullet through her pretty little head,” Faiz warns me, stepping further into my office, pulling her along for the ride.
It’s easy to plan. It’s easy to prepare. But seeing her in his hands now, the danger that she’s in, I can barely control the fear. I’ve never felt anything like this before in my life. My heart feels dangerously close to imploding.
My body is rigid with adrenaline. I can barely move, barely pull my thoughts together.
My hands start to shake, and I lean against the desk, needing to hide it. I can’t let him see what he’s done to me by bringing her here like this.
I can’t give him that power. The power he clearly has. He could snuff her life out in a second, and being the man I know he is, he would feel nothing for it.
Don’t think like that. Fucking pull yourself together. Otherwise, you will lose her.
“I’ve been expecting you,” I say, casually, my voice not wavering or giving away the pulsing anger inside me.
“So, where was the red carpet to welcome me?” he sniffs.
“Sorry,” I laugh bitterly, standing up straight again, the shake in my hands under control. Stick to the plan. “So, what was your goal here, Faiz? Shoot up the place? Take over again?” I laugh, the same coldness in my voice as his. I hate sounding like him.
“You betrayed me, Kristopher. My own son,” he snaps bitterly.
“I don’t think I was ever a son to you, Faiz. You made that clear, day after day, year after year, over and over again. I can’t even count the number of times you told me you wished I’d never been born.”
“Stop deflecting from what you’ve done. Own your actions, Kristopher. You are the monster here. You betrayed your own father.”
I shove my hands into my pockets, my fingers brushing over my phone as I walk casually around my desk and lean against the front of it.
While he’s talking, I press a button on the side of my phone, holding it in while I count to four.
The emergency signal has been sent. Now all I have to do is keep him here long enough for backup to arrive. And to make sure he doesn’t hurt her.
I still haven’t looked at her. I can’t. The moment I do, I won’t be able to hide my emotions. My mask will slip, and he’ll know. He’ll know he holds all the cards.
“So, you came here to scold me? Or do you want to ground me? Take away my video games?” I laugh.
“Stop being such a fucking child,” he shouts, making Georgie flinch.
Don’t look at her.
“Alright, then you go ahead and explain your plan, Father,” I say calmly, trying to keep track of the time, calculating how long it would take them to get here from their hotels.
All of them stayed in the city. We were waiting for this, and we knew I’d need backup when it happened.
The five West Coast Pakhans are all here in Phoenix, and my father is about to face us all.
“You see, son, when you betrayed me, you proved what kind of a man you truly are. No one wants to ally with a man who doesn’t even respect his own blood.
You might have them all on your side now, but it’s going to change in the blink of an eye.
In fact…what if I killed her, right now?
How would that affect you? Would you still be able to work? ” he smiles.
I hide the rage inside me. “You always called me soft,” I sigh. “You never realized that I was just like you. I don’t have room in my life for emotions,” I bluff.
I see the flicker of annoyance across his face. He presses the gun harder into Georgie’s temple, eliciting no reaction from me. This annoys him.
“Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention,” he snaps. “Your emotionless heart would explain why it was so easy for you to destroy your own father, the man who raised you, who gave you everything.”
Faiz launches into a monologue. He drones on, saying all the things he’s said before. About how I am nothing without him, how he created me. He made me the man I am today. He talks and talks and all I can think is, yes, keep going. Your time is running out.
When it happens, it happens fast.
Nestor and Benedikt are the first to burst through the door. Behind them, Ardalion and Emmanuil and their teams of men, waiting just outside.
Faiz spins in horror, finding himself face to face with too many guns to reason with. In a moment of panic, he lets go of Georgie, and I don’t miss the chance to grab her away from him and pull her to safety behind my body.
Georgie screams when it happens, and instinctively her hands go to her belly, cupping it protectively.
It’s not her fault. She is going to be a mother. Her instincts are where they should be, protecting her unborn child.
But Faiz notices, and when he does, his expression changes.
“She’s pregnant,” he snarls, turning his back on the other Pakhans.
I open my mouth to give him one last warning. But he’s already lifting his gun, ready to shoot her, ready to try and take away the one thing in my life that gives it meaning.
“She’s carrying your child,” he shouts. I’m reaching for my gun when he fires. His first shot misses.
He doesn’t have a chance to fire a second before the bullet from my Glock smashes through the bone of his skull.
His eyes roll until all I can see is the whites of them. Blood splutters from his mouth and his body convulses, fighting to survive, despite the gaping hole in the back of his head and the fact that his brains are splattered over the wall behind him.
Regret? For killing my own father?
No.
Not even a glimmer.
Before his body hits the ground, I’m already turning to pull Georgie into my arms.
“Are you okay?” I ask, brushing my hands over her, wanting to check every inch of her, needing to know she’s unharmed.
“He didn’t hurt me,” she murmurs.
I tug her close against my chest and hold her so tightly my muscles are trembling.
Relief, anguish, happiness, gratitude. I am flooded with emotions, overwhelmed by them as I lift her into my arms and walk past the other Pakhans.
“We’ll clean up here,” Nestor says, stepping out of the doorway of my office. “Get her home.”
“Thank you. I don’t think I can ever thank you enough for everything you’ve done. All of you.”
Benedikt gestures towards the door. “Go on. We can talk again another time. There will be plenty of time in the future to say thanks.”
I nod, smiling tightly, still clutching Georgie against me.
At home, she finally cries.
She was quiet on the drive, her body shaking, her eyes still wide and fearful. But when we get into our bedroom, the shock in her eyes disappears and she finally lets go.
“I thought…I thought he was going to kill you,” she sobs, climbing into my lap. “I was so scared.”
“No, little one. I had a plan all along. He never stood a chance.”
She leans away from me and grabs my face. “Next time you have a plan, don’t you dare hide it from me. I asked you last night. You told me he wasn’t here anymore. That he wouldn’t show up.”
“I told you that if he did, we had men everywhere who would let us know.”
“So, you knew.” She’s angry, and she has a right to be.
“I didn’t want you to live in fear when I had it under control, my love.” I talk gently to her, brushing my thumb over her cheek to wipe away her tears.
“I was so scared I was going to lose you,” she sighs, her shaking beginning to calm.
“Never,” I smile. “You’re stuck with me forever, little one.”
She huffs, a little laugh, a moment of relief.
“He’s gone forever, Georgie.”
She nods. “He is. We can truly be free now.”
“We can.” I press my lips to her and kiss her, pulling her close and holding her like I never plan to let go again.