31. Sebastian
Sebastian
“Who owns Pavlova Pastries?” Dante asks as Finn and I sit back down in front of the computers.
My head is killing me from staring at these screens all night. The moment I turn them back on I can feel the pounding between my ears start all over again. But I can’t stop.
Because every time I think about what could be happening to Enzo I feel like I’m going to vomit.
I can’t stop because I just watched Joe kill her own father over the shit he’s done to her.
I can’t stop because every time I look at the people I love I see the sorrow in their eyes. The pain. The heartbreak.
Their hearts are breaking.
And so is mine.
“Alright,” Ronan says as he and Mac come back into the room. “Our guys are taking care of the body.”
My hands hover over the keyboard, and I look up at Joe who’s standing right next to me. “You good?”
“I just want to find him,” she whispers. Aka, I don’t care about anything else right now.
“I’ll find him.” Grabbing her hand, I kiss the back of it before refocusing my attention.
It takes me all of two minutes to pull up all of the information about Pavlova Pastries. “Looks like it’s owned by an Ivan Andreev,” I announce to everyone in the room, not bothering to pull my eyes away from the screen.
Finn quickly types the name into his computer next to me. “Ivan Andreev died two years ago.”
“Figures.” A couple more keystrokes and I find the name of his only living relative. “He has a daughter, age forty-two. Lives in New York and…” I pull up her most recent tax information. “Is employed at Pavlova Pastries. Her name is Katya.”
“Address?” Joe seethes.
“I just texted it to all your phones.”
“Ours too?” Ronan asks. Dante, Luca, and I all look at him in question. “We’re going and I don’t want to hear anything about it.”
Finn, Mac, and Ronan all then look over at Harper. She smiles softly and nods in understanding. “I’ll wait for you all here.” Her eyes stray to Joe who’s still standing next to me. “But I don’t think she will.”
“Vita Mia…” Luca sighs heavily.
“No,” she bites out. “I’m going. You let me go to the Novikov house. How is this any different?”
“We knew what to expect at that house, Love,” I remind her.
“Exactly. And look at how that turned out. Enzo could have just as easily been you,” Luca adds.
“I am not staying here while—”
“Josephine, the answer is no. We can’t risk you—”
“If that was me, would you risk it?” Her question causes all of us to pause. “Answer me.” She looks between the three of us. “If that was me would you risk it? Would you walk into the unknown to save me?”
Dante goes to her and holds her face in his hands. “I’d run into hell to save you, Mama. Over and over and over again.” She reaches up and runs her hand along his jaw. “Just as I would for him.”
“Then let me too,” she says softly. “Let me run with you.”
Dante pauses a moment before looking over at Luca and me. Against every one of my better instincts, and likely his too, we both nod. Looking back at her, Dante says, “Alright. But the same rules apply. If it gets too intense you go back and stay with—”
“Uh uh,” I blurt out. “I’m not staying in the van.”
“Goddammit,” Luca groans. “Can the two of you just please—”
“Luca.” My tone causes his eyes to immediately snap to mine. “I said I’m not staying in the fucking van.”
The two of us stare at one another, and I can tell just by the way his chest is heaving that he wants to reach out and punch me in the fucking face.
“The two of you can have a dick-measuring contest later,” Mac butts in.
“Cormac Donovan-McDermott,” Harper hisses.
“What? I just mean that they can be mad at each other later. Right now we have to move.”
“As obnoxious as he is and as much as it pains me to say,” Ronan says with a roll of his eyes, “Mac’s right. The longer we stand here, the worse shape we could find him in.”
“If either of you get hurt”—he points between me and Joe—“I’ll kill you myself.”
“Oh so I’ll just get fucked then,” Dante grumbles.
“You know what I mean.”
“Guys!” Joe snaps. “Are we going or are we going?”
Luca looks at the Donovan-McDermotts. “You guys got gear?”
Mac grins. “In the car.”
“Meet in the garage in ten.”
The three of them nod before each of them kisses Harper goodbye.
“Harp, make yourself at home. We will see you soon,” Luca tells her before kissing her on the cheek.
“See you all soon.” Her gentle voice calms me slightly.
The four of us quickly get our gear and climb into the elevator.
I open my mouth to say something to Joe, but she holds up her hand to stop me.
“If any of you lecture me about being careful or ask if I’m okay one more time I’m going to come unglued.
And considering I just shot my own dad in the head, that’s saying a lot. ”
“Josephine…” Luca’s voice is laced with concern but he doesn’t say anything else.
Relenting, she sighs and says, “I will be as careful as I can be, and I’m okay as I can be right now. I’ll have time to emotionally unpack everything later, but right now… right now I just want him home.”
“Home?” I ask her.
“Yeah. Home. With me. With you. With all of us. Home.”
We’re silent the rest of the way down, and when the door opens we immediately see Ronan, Mac, and Finn standing in front of their Lamborghini Urus. “Let’s take the wagon,” Dante says, but we all pause once we reach it.
Enzo drives.
“I’ve got it.” Josephine grabs the keys from Dante’s hands. All three of us pinch our brows in confusion, and she winks. “You boys continue to underestimate me.”
“Well alright then.” Luca shrugs before turning to look back in the direction of the Donovan-McDermotts.
“Follow us there. When we get to Katya’s the four of us will go in.
The three of you be on standby and be ready to move to a new location.
It’s unlikely Enzo will be there, but she’s going to know where he is.
There’s no way her bakery has the exit to a Bratva escape tunnel and she’s not in-the-know. ”
“Got it,” Ronan says with a nod.
Joe throws the driver’s door open. “Move it or lose it, gentlemen.”