Chapter 27 - Sergey
The moment my phone reads nine o’clock and Kat still isn’t home, my stomach sinks. Something isn’t right.
She knows to tell me if she’s held up working on a project, and if that were the case, her guard would contact me immediately.
My chest tightens as I try her phone again, pacing like I’m about to lose my mind in the kitchen. But there’s nothing again. Instead, it goes straight to voicemail.
I’m not an anxious person by nature, but that burning feeling has been crawling under my skin since the moment I got home, and now it’s coming out in full force.
Once again, I call her security. But, no answer.
That isn’t protocol. It damn well isn’t a good sign.
"What the hell is going on?” I mutter, shoving my phone into my pocket before heading for the garage. My instincts have fully kicked in, and I can’t sit still. I refuse to sit around while not knowing where she is.
Kat wouldn’t ignore me…not like this. Maybe she would have before, but not now.
The drive is a blur of city lights while I clutch the steering wheel, half tempted to crush it beneath the force of my concern. I don’t even remember what I saw or how I ended up there, but either way, I don’t stop until I reach the shop.
When I pull up outside the garage, it looks quiet and normal from the outside. But I know it’s too calm. The SUV is parked out front, but something feels wrong.
Killing the engine, I force myself out and approach the vehicle, but my stomach drops when I see him.
The guard is motionless while he stares forward through the windshield. At first glance, he looks perfectly normal…until I see the trail of blood running down his temple and pooling onto the seat around him.
Frozen completely in place, I stare at the guard’s body a moment longer while every possibility enters my mind at once. He’s dead when he’s supposed to be watching over Kat. My wife.
Despite the ice moving through my veins, I push away from the vehicle and hurry towards the main entrance. I shove the door open and step inside, almost jumping as the bell chimes.
"Kat?"
I’m met with deafening silence while I keep moving, leaving the front office to reach the shop door.
My skin’s frozen over by the time I reach the far too quiet space. Where the radio is usually blaring while Kat paints and Roland tinkers, there’s nothing. Just pure, agonizing silence.
Then I see Roland, and it both feels like a relief and torture.
He’s on the floor, leaning against a workbench with blood dripping from a cut above his brow. He looks disoriented while he dabs at the blood with a rag, barely holding onto consciousness. It looks like he just opened his eyes.
"What the fuck happened?" I snap, storming over and grabbing him by the collar, eliciting a groan of protest from him.
"The guys…” he begins, wincing from my tight grip on him. But as he lets the words sink in, his eyes widen by a fraction. "Two of them came in here. They claimed to have work for Kat, but one of them knocked me out. I didn’t see it coming."
Fury spreads through my chest and makes me clench my fingers into the fabric of his shirt. I barely grind the words out. "You were supposed to protect her. How could you let this happen?”
"I tried," Roland spits back, pushing against my chest to get me off him. "Your guy’s dead, Sergey. Even he couldn’t stop them.”
My stomach aches, and I bite back the urge to lose my mind on him. “I know. I found him out front.” Running a frustrated hand down my face, feeling the slight tremble in it, I try to keep myself calm. I try so hard, but it’s creeping from beneath the surface.
They took her. Whoever these men are, they have to be with Yuri.
Right on time, my phone vibrates in my pocket, and I snatch it out to read the screen.
Unknown number again. Without hesitating, I accept the call and bring it to my ear. “Where is she?”
"You took your time," Yuri’s voice murmurs from the other end.
Rage bubbles up in my throat, and it takes everything in my power not to crush the phone. "Where the fuck is she?"
"She’s safe…for now. If you want to try and get her back, then you’ll come to the old meat processing plant off the highway before the night’s up. But come alone."
Fury swirls beneath my skin, hating even the mere idea of him using Kat to his advantage. “If you touch her—"
"Don’t be late," Yuri says with a note of finality before hanging up.
The line goes dead, and I clench my jaw until it aches.
I could bring my brothers. Really, I should. But something inside me says not to.
This is my fucking mess. The one I made, trying to prove myself like an attention-starved idiot, but I’m not letting them clean it up again. Not this time. I’ve heard enough of Roman’s chastising, and I just want this to end.
Just as I’m about to leave, Roland groans and slowly pulls himself up. “Sergey?”
Pausing with a touch of impatience, I hold his gaze. “What?”
He lets go of a shaky breath, seemingly trying to maintain a brave face despite the pain. The rag is soaked in blood, and it’s a wonder he’s even still conscious. “Get her back.”
I linger there for another moment, hearing the words he doesn’t need to say for me to understand. He’s trusting me with this, even if I’ve never been his number one fan. I hardly doubt he’s been mine either.
With a simple nod, I give him one last look before leaving, making the mental note to send someone out here to treat him and make sure he gets home.
Reaching the night air, bypassing the dead guard, I focus on the task ahead. The proposition Yuri has dangled in front of me.
I don’t care that it’s likely a setup. It doesn’t matter…not while he has Kat.
Still, I’m not completely reckless. At least, I’ve been working on that part.
I pull out my phone and find Roman’s contact.
"What is it?” he answers after the first ring, not hiding the irritation in his voice.
"Yuri has Kat, and he’s demanding I meet him alone. I’m going.”
Roman stays quiet for a moment, then he murmurs, “You’re going to get yourself killed."
"Then send a unit or two, but keep them back just in case,” I return, keeping that determination in my tone, not wanting it to fizzle out. “I need to go in alone.”
“For fuck sakes, Sergey,” Roman utters, forcing out a breath. “If you die, I’ll kill you again. Got it?”
That’s as close to a ‘good luck’ as I’ll get, so I’ll take it.
“Got it.”
With another sigh, surely aware that everything is coming to a head, Roman drops the call.
The drive to the processing plant is short, but the adrenaline makes every turn feel sharper, every second prolonged and more painful. Every moment that I don’t have her with me, not knowing what Yuri has done with her, feels more akin to torture.
Finding several cars around the lot, I pull up and park, leaving my gun in the glove box. I stare at it for a moment longer, wondering if I should try to bring it just in case. But it doesn’t matter. It’s Yuri and all his men against me anyway.
Cautiously enough, I walk towards the plant, finding the place dimly lit once I get inside, save for an open room with a few overhead lights on.
From there, I find Kat off to the side while she sits in a chair with her hands tied and guarded by two men.
Her eyes find me instantly, and relief scurries through them, followed by raw anger.
She’s pissed, but that’s good. That means she’s alive.
Around her, Yuri’s goons hang around, quieting down when they spot me. The place falls so silent that I only hear the soft padding of my shoes against the concrete floor. Then, Yuri steps out.
He looks just like her with his sandy-blonde hair and brown eyes, but there’s something noticeably darker in his gaze. Something that spells out just how willing he is to do whatever it takes to get what he wants.
His lips pull upward while he looks me over. “You actually came alone. Impressive."
I don’t miss a beat. “Let her go. Now."
He keeps a subtle distance between us, circling me like a vulture. At the same time, his guys move in, turning the space into a makeshift ring. “You took my sister, Sergey. You can’t honestly think I’d allow that.”
“You’re only angry that I took her out of your schemes,” I return, keeping a close eye on him while he moves. “She’s not anyone’s property, and you don’t get to trade her like a pawn."
"Says the man who married her in a power move."
My jaw clenches, and my rage spikes ever higher. "That wasn’t all it was. It still isn’t.”
“Fine, I’ll admit your move was an inconvenience to my plans.
I had the perfect arrangement planned, but you snatched her up before I could marry her off,” Yuri sneers, allowing his disdain to come through.
“If this is about more than power, then prove it.
You and me, right here, right now. No guns, and no blades.
Just fists…the old-fashioned way. The winner gets Kat. "
My gaze narrows as the thought alone kicks up the storm inside me. Hearing him talk so flippantly about his sister pisses me off beyond belief. “We’re not using her as leverage here. She’s not a prize."
"Then walk away," Yuri shrugs, more than prepared to let me take the high road if it means leaving Kat. "But think I’ll just keep her in that case. And next time our paths cross, I won’t be so nice."
I glance at Kat, and she shakes her head at me frantically.
I’m sure watching us fight is the last thing she wants, and I have every intention of respecting that.
“I believe you’re mistaken,” I tell him, meeting his gaze again with nothing but determination coursing through me. “I won’t gamble her…but that doesn’t mean I’m leaving this place without my wife.”
A beat of stillness lingers in the room, and for a moment, I can’t calculate his next move. I don’t even know what he’s thinking.
But Yuri doesn’t wait.
Instead, he lunges first.
The punch lands square against my jaw, forcing my head back. I stagger but recover fast, forcing the sting down while I bring my arm up just in time to block the next hit. My eyes harden, and the adrenaline pumps through my system.
He wants to fight? Fine.
Then he’s getting one.