Chapter 23 - Sergey
The wind coming off the water carries the stink of gasoline and blood mixed with acrid smoke and burning rubber. I grip the wheel tighter, jaw clenched, as I pull up to the loading docks and do an initial sweep of the scene once I get out.
It’s immediate chaos. Police scanners haven’t caught up yet, which means Ivan was smart enough to call me before it could turn into an even bigger shitshow. But it’s still bad regardless.
He called me when I was on my way to one of the warehouses, requesting backup to help address the situation that had greeted him first thing in the morning. Certainly not an ideal way to start the day.
While I don’t love cleanup jobs, I know it’s something I have to take in stride. And given how I’ve been walking on thin ice recently, a few dirty assignments might just earn me my brothers’ favor again.
Ivan stands near one of the shipping containers, talking low and urgently with one of our cleanup guys. When he sees me, he waves me over while looking paler than usual despite the sun hanging overhead.
"You took your time," Ivan says, but there’s no bite in it. Only a notable and understandable exhaustion.
"I got here as fast as I could," I mutter, glancing between my brother and what looks like a massacre behind him.
The docks have always been my least favorite corner of our empire, but today, it’s worse than usual.
While a few others move around the space, handling the bodies before they can really get into scrubbing the scene down, another group is busy sifting through shipping containers and half-broken skids of product.
"What the hell happened?"
Ivan glances behind himself with a heavy sigh.
“We were hit just before dawn. A crew came in targeting a recent shipment full of fresh cargo, and they took mostly substances, along with some weapons. They offed at least five men that we know of, and three more were injured. About a quarter of the load is gone. We think they came in through the southwest fence…it seems they were in and out of here once they got what they wanted.”
I run my hand down my face, feeling the beginning of a headache forming behind my eyes. “And what about security?"
“They were knocked out before they could contact anyone, and of course, they’re among the dead. We’re lucky the backup patrol caught the tail end of it. Otherwise, we wouldn’t even know what was missing until way later.”
I nod, feeling my jaw clench. This was a calculated, intentional attack, and they knew what they were after.
I follow Ivan toward the carnage. Our men work fast to make sure the evidence is gone before any legal bodies can come sniffing around. They drag bodies out of sight, hose down the blood, and sweep up shell casings like it’s just another Tuesday.
I step over fragments of a broken pallet and catch sight of a corpse near the loading ramp. His eyes are still open and glassy despite rigor mortis having set in already. Before I can focus too much on it, I force myself to look away.
“This is nothing like how the Nikolaevs operated,” Ivan says under his breath. "This was smarter and far cleaner.”
I look over at Ivan while we share mutual grim expressions. “You’re thinking this is another to add to the long list of Balakin hits?”
“So we assume, anyway,” he murmurs, looking vaguely irritated while he silently mulls over the recent problems. “There was a short while of quiet from their side of things, and it started making us question if we were wrong about their movements after all. It didn’t seem like adequate retaliation for you marrying Katya, but now everything is up in the air without a direct threat from the man himself. ”
Without hesitation, I feel it in my gut. “It’s Yuri."
Ivan raises a brow. "You sure?"
"Positive."
He nods absently to himself. “I’m leaning the same way, but we need confirmation of some kind. At the very least, a hostage would be ideal.”
“It has to be him. After that night a few weeks ago when Yuri’s guys chased down Kat and me, he must’ve been lying low to prepare for something bigger like this.
Nobody else would come at us with this kind of power out of the blue,” I tell him, finding myself trying to claw at any explanation that might make sense given everything that has happened.
“In almost all ways, Yuri has been keeping things tight as far as we can tell. Our scouts are having a hell of a time even tracking him down lately,” Ivan admits, looking especially aggravated by the fact.
Before I can say anything else, one of the guys hails him down, and Ivan excuses himself and heads over to help.
I nod my understanding, then I stand in place for a moment longer, mulling over what this means.
If Yuri did this, he would likely be feeling brave.
And if he’s getting brave, he might take a misstep and find himself cornered by us. But we have to be ready first.
A moment later, my phone buzzes in my pocket, and I fish it out before glancing at the screen.
An unknown number.
Not hesitating, I swipe to answer and lift it to my ear. "Yeah?"
The other end is silent for a second, then a voice I barely recognize comes through. It’s low and rough, but in a way, it’s strangely familiar to me.
"You genuinely thought you could steal my sister and not face the consequences, Sergey?"
Yuri.
That’s it…strangely, he sounds vaguely like Kat.
My whole body tenses, and my grip on the phone tightens. “You took your time responding to it...but you can’t fault me for acting when you wouldn’t.”
Yuri’s tone gives away his true irritation. “She was mine to protect. Mine to marry off when the time was right. You Lukov pigs have already taken enough from me, but this? This I can’t tolerate.”
Feeling myself lingering between smugness and anger, I move toward the end of the dock, back to the clean-up, and my attention is solely on the call.
"You’ve got some nerve talking about protection when you had us chased down not that long ago.
Letting your guys open fire on your betting chip is risky.
But it’s too bad you don’t even know her. "
He laughs, but it comes out too sharp and bitter to be sincere. "I know her as much as I need to, and now, you’ve made yourself my target."
"I’ve been one of your targets since your dad was put in the ground, but me putting a ring on it has only sped things along. Let’s not pretend otherwise."
He pauses, then returns, "You think I’m going to let you get away with this? You think marrying her changes anything, or earns you her loyalty? Try all you want, but at the end of the day, Katya is my blood, and I will get her back.”
The words hit their mark, digging into a wound that I wasn’t fully aware of. My protective instinct spikes so hard I can feel it in my throat tightening.
"You won’t touch her while I’m breathing."
"Then maybe it’s time I fix that,” he says, tone cold and full of icy intent.
Then, the call drops, and I’m left to the stifling silence on the other end.
I lower the phone slowly and stare out at the dark stretch of water, well aware that the call wasn’t a warning. It was a promise.
When I turn around, I find Ivan not far, and his eyes are on me. "Yuri?"
I nod, doing everything in my power to hold back my anger.
"What did he say?"
"He acknowledged the slight, and now he’s determined to get Kat back,” I answer, finding myself grinding out the response.
Ivan’s eyes narrow. "You think he’s coming for her?"
"I know he is."
“Shit, Sergey,” Ivan mumbles, forcing out a breath while he scrubs a hand down his face. “This isn’t even close to a de-escalation.”
No kidding…
Everything in me is screaming to get back to her.
But I can’t just leave right now, especially not since I’ve already been running hot lately.
I’ve been too emotional, impulsive, unpredictable, and as right as Roman has been about me, I can’t keep living up to that piss-poor image he has of me in his head.
Our family can’t afford that version of me, especially not with someone as calculating as Yuri involved.
Clenching my jaw, I pull in a breath and try to focus on the task at hand.
“We’ll make sure everything here is spotless before we leave.
I’ll debrief with Roman later, but I also want tighter surveillance around every shipment, and we should double-check our informants.
Someone gave them our schedule, and whoever did will regret it. ”
Ivan nods, more focused now with the semblance of a plan laid out in front of him. “On it.”
I don’t leave until the afternoon once I walk the perimeter twice, check through the cameras myself, and take note of everyone we lost during the hit. It doesn’t ease the pressure in my chest of knowing how devastating the attack was, but it’s a start.
When I finally drive back, the city is quieter than usual while most are still at work, and it doesn’t help the exhaustion pulling on my limbs. Rolling up to the house and parking in the garage does soothe the need to be back, at least.
Moving through the house, I find Kat curled up on the couch in the living room, asleep with a blanket tangled around her legs like she didn’t mean to doze. She hugs one of the throw pillows tightly.
My chest aches just looking at her, and I waste no time kneeling beside the couch to gently brush her hair away from her face.
After a moment, her eyes slowly open, and she speaks with a touch of grogginess to her words. "Sergey? What time is it?"
“Almost four,” I murmur. “I just got back.”
She sits up slowly and rubs at her eyes. “Did something happen?”
I nod. “One of our shipments was hit at the docks. I spent the day overseeing the cleanup.”
She doesn’t say anything at first, just stares. I can see the tangled mess of shock, worry, and potentially something else flickering behind her eyes. “Who did it?”
"Yuri,” I admit, hoping not to get into too much detail. But I sigh and barely brush my thumb over her cheek. “He called me after the fact.”
That gets her attention, and she visibly stiffens. “He did?”
I try to soothe her with my touch, and I nod again. “He knows we’re married and he’s pissed.”
Her mouth tightens. "Of course he is.”
"He says he’s coming for you,” I add, fighting back the rage in me all over again at the thought.
She lets go of a bitter laugh. “I’m not surprised. He’s always been willing to do anything to get what he wants.”
I cup her face fully then, searching her expression. "I won’t let anything happen to you. I swear."
"I can protect myself, too, Sergey."
"I know, but that’s not the point."
Pulling up from my spot on the floor, I sit beside her while the need to act races through me, but I try to temper it. An almost defeated breath escapes me, even if I’m far from wanting to surrender in any capacity.
"I thought marrying you would tie things together, but I only managed to stir up more shit."
Kat looks me in the eyes before she reaches for my hand and holds it in her lap. “It’s not all on you."
"Maybe not," I admit. "But I can’t keep making mistakes like I did that night. Ignoring that guy at the casino…we could’ve died."
Kat’s eyes soften, and she lightly runs her fingers over my palm. “Fortunately, we didn’t, as close as it was.”
Contemplating her words, I know she means well, but I can’t let myself off the hook for what happened.
While sitting there, I feel as if the weight of it all has grown even heavier, and I can’t begin to hide it.
Noticing, Kat gently guides me to lie down with my head on her lap, taking on a caring expression. “You look exhausted…just relax for a while.”
“I want nothing more,” I say with an exhale as I get comfortable, closing my eyes briefly while I face her. I hum the moment her fingers reach my hair, and she lightly combs through it. “But you’re definitely coddling me right now.”
A quietly amused huff escapes her. “We can let it slide for now. You look like you need it.”
She isn’t wrong.
After a moment of quiet between us, I crack an eye open to peer up at her. “You know, I’m starting to think you might like me or something.”
That makes a grin break out across her lips, and Kat leans in until her nose brushes against mine lightly. “And if I do?”
I find myself smiling back despite everything I witnessed today, and after being made aware of what’s to come.
“Then that makes me the luckiest man in the world.”
With the temptation right in front of me, I lean in, brushing my mouth against hers. It’s slow and tender at first, but she doesn’t pull away.
When our lips meet fully, it sparks with mutual fire and tension. It’s all-consuming, but perfectly encapsulates just how deeply I need her.
And this time, it feels like the beginning of something we both want and deserve.