37. Chapter Thirty-Seven
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
V iktor
“It’s a girl, yes?” I overheard my father asking Alexie in the birthing suite. How he knew was a mystery I didn’t have the energy to question.
Pain radiated down my back with every step that I took. It was why I was avoiding Tiffany. I didn’t want her to know what a failure I was. I didn’t want her to be a part of my shame.
“Kill the bastard and be done with it,” my mother’s voice soothed in the back of my mind.
I wanted to. Oh how I wished I could take my father’s life. Not just for the years of abuse at his hand ever since I was young, but because he was the worst Bratva leader we had ever had. So were his forefathers before him. He was the worst, because he kept the archaic traditions instead of changing with the times. Women no longer held any value in our world. What was the point in killing them?
We’d already made them weak. Rumors had been circling of a female assassin, but my father didn’t believe women could be capable enough to take out men. I was cut from a different cloth. I knew what women were capable of, because of what I’d seen them endure. My father was on his way to getting killed, and I couldn’t wait for that day to come. I just needed to make sure my hold on the men was secure.
“Where’s Tiffany? Doesn’t she want to see the baby too?” Alexie asked me.
It was strange, but I hadn’t seen Tiffany all morning. She and Sloane had become fast friends, so she should have been here, but she wasn’t. A tingle of fear rushed down my spine, but I couldn’t think like that. I should have kept her in my sights at all times. It was just that this morning’s meeting with my father hadn’t gone as planned. I couldn’t let my wife see how weak I truly was.
I got distracted by the most beautiful baby on the face of this planet. As I made cooing noises to her, Alexie went to find my wayward wife. I was in awe of the little piece of perfection Sloane had created. I didn’t think of Alexie’s part because he probably didn’t do much. He was lazy like that.
On his way out, he cracked a joke that Tiffany probably got lost or distracted. I knew my little milyy could be a bit of an airhead, but that didn’t mean I was going to allow him to disrespect my woman.
“Tell your daddy not to make fun of my milyy , or I’ll be forced to kill him,” I cooed to my niece.
She grinned up at me. Just as sweet as pie.
“You’re good for him, you know?” I wanted to leave Sloane with some kindness today. She’d earned it, and as the future Pakhan , it was my duty to make sure all of my people felt seen.
Exhaustion covered her face. “He’s it for me.”
I nodded. “I can tell. And I’m glad.”
My father interrupted our heart to heart with mindless chatter about business. I tuned out, bouncing the baby and thinking of my own. I was just about to leave the maternity room to look for Alexie and my wife. There was a sinking feeling in my gut that something wasn’t adding up.
Alexie stormed in, red faced, and out of breath.
“What’s wrong?” I grabbed my side piece, my body immediately on alert.
“T-Tiffany. I can’t fucking find Tiffany.”
Calmly, ever so calmly, I handed Sloane back her baby. “What do you mean you can’t find Tiffany?” I growled.
“When I couldn’t find her, I went to the security room. We searched through the camera feeds. She is gone. No one has seen her.”
“Where’s Roger?” I wasn’t capable of listening to more. He would find my wife. He would help me.
“We don’t know. He escorted the Italians out, but he is also missing.”
I rushed toward Alexie, but he placed a steadying hand on my shoulder. He pulled me close and said, “then we find them and kill the rest. Simple as that.”
With his words coursing through my veins, I headed out of the suite, but before my feet could get too close to the door, I heard a wheezing gasp.
Our father was turning blue and clutching at his chest. It must have been that the stress of having a granddaughter, and his daughter in law missing, was too much for his heart to take. We watched in shock as he tumbled face first onto the floor. No one moved. The mighty Pakhan had fallen, and we hesitated to make a move.
“Someone call the doctor,” Sloane cried out.
We blinked before I pulled myself out of it. Barking orders, I got his body moved to another room. There was no pulse. The doctor couldn’t do anything for him. We needed a priest. I called the Father of our parish so he could say last rites, and got ready to find my woman. I wasn’t giving up, not yet.