26. Lifesaver
26
LIFESAVER
Alice slumps further into Brander’s couch, eyes vacant. A hand smooths over her belly. The gesture should fill me with joy, but it doesn’t. Not yet. First on the agenda is murdering Vlad. How the fuck we’re gonna send a mafia boss to his grave, I’ll never know.
But Levi seems to know all the answers.
“Alrighty,” he says through the computer screen. A pixelated image comes into view.
I dunno why this has to be a fucking video call.
His voice alone gets under my skin.
The plan is to do a live stream so we know the plan of attack, but so far Levi is the only person in the room. A lamp, standing on a wooden table, shines warm light out into the room, elongating Levi’s lanky figure into something monster-like.
“Why would Vlad hire a scrawny sewage rat like him?” I mumble to Brander. “He might know how to hold a weapon and throw a punch, but he doesn’t look like he can defend himself.”
Brander narrows his eyes. “Who said anything about hiring? This is revenge, isn’t it? He’s been tasked to kidnap Alice and aid in Peter’s assassination to right a wrong.” He shuffles his body my way, angled away from the computer screen, and drops his voice. “What if he was already in the syndicate before he fucked the wife?”
I frown. Return to the computer screen to see Levi typing away on his device. Guns might be what Vlad put in his hand, but if he were to choose a weapon, I think intel core would be more his forte, not ammunition.
“Okay, I’m gonna mute you and turn off the screen. Vlad’s on his way.”
Silence stretches through Brander’s living room until finally, somebody says, “Okay.”
Of course it’s Alice.
God, just looking at her ignites fire in my belly. Pre-attack nerves disappear as soon as I look at her face, because I can’t afford to waste precious energy when her life and the unborn baby’s is at stake.
Peter’s too.
The situation would be made hella easier if the guy died tonight, but no matter how much he hates me, my heart will always find a place for that bastard.
Even if he can’t accept my feelings toward his daughter.
“Levi,” says a voice. “Hi.”
I turn to the computer and see Vlad walk into the frame. He wears his hair slicked back, a shade darker than midnight. His eyes appear to be the same lifeless color when his face turns briefly to the computer screen. At a guess, he must be in his fifties. Either he visits the Botox lady every week, or spends most of the day indoors. I wager the latter. Those few weeks ago, the night after Alice imprinted our hearts—not one sign was given that he’d been outside that day. His skin had no color, like now, and he seems to sit for long periods of time without shuffling.
Impressive body, though.
But he probably doesn’t go to the gym.
His workouts are murder, no doubt.
He sits opposite Levi at the table, sweeping a hand under his blazer, careful to not crease it.
“I have some news for you,” Levi says.
Vlad doesn’t use words of encouragement to prompt.
He uses silence.
Levi sits up. “Alice. You know Alice? My ex-girlf?—”
“My three casino owners were not impressed when you stole her away. I promised them a handsome reward. The kind that money cannot buy.” Something tugs at Vlad’s unimpressed mouth. “It would have been the perfect way for her to pass the time while we waited for Peter to act on my request.”
“But the strip club worked out better.”
Vlad squints his eyes like he’s trying to psychoanalyze the boy. “Yes,” he says after a long, drawn out silence. “Profit margins increased that night. Get to the point.” He pushes back a cuff-linked sleeve to glance at the time on a very expensive-looking watch. “I do not have all day.”
“Me and Alice are getting back together.”
No response.
“She wants to work at Ursula and Hook.”
Vlad straightens up in his chair, the wood creaking.
This seems to motivate Levi to continue.
“I think it’s fair to say Alice has a talent for stripping. She also wants Bratva involvement.”
“How do I know that I can trust you?”
“Because I want Peter dead as much as you do. He hates my guts for what I did to Alice. Also, when the mayor finds out that his daughter is involved in the Bratva, do you think he’s still gonna wanna move forward with the campaign?”
Vlad’s pointed chin accentuates in the lamplight, looking more like a triangle than a human body part.
Levi shuffles in his chair. “You’re gaining a valuable asset with Alice.”
“What’s in it for Alice?”
“Money.”
“And what about you?”
“I want my girlfriend back.”
Anger boils my face. I know he’s not bluffing this part.
I turn to Alice. Her eyeballs stare at the screen. Hard.
“After what I did,” continues Levi, “Peter will never approve of me and Alice. He wants my head on a spike.”
“And you want his?”
“Not on a spike. I just never wanna see it again.”
Alice squirms, lip quivering slightly.
The conversation with her father before wasn’t pleasant, from how she described it.
She did the right thing, putting herself first, but at the moment her deflated posture and tired eyes tell me that she’s still full of regret.
The curse of having a kind soul.
“And those bikers,” Levi says. “Those three Venom Vultures. They deserve to be buried under sand too for slaughtering several members of the syndicate, don’t you think?”
I narrow my eyes. Look over at Brander and Match and see them do the same.
“Okay.” Vlad rises from his seat.
“Okay?” Levi tilts his head.
“ Da . Yes.”
“Okay,” Levi says. “Meet me tonight at Ursula and Hook. We’ll get Alice center stage. I’ll lure Peter there. He’ll lose his shit when he sees his daughter a wardrobe malfunction away from being publicly naked. You can kill him then.”
Vlad stands from his chair and issues another “okay.”
Then he walks out of the room.
Levi hops off the chair as soon as the door shuts behind Vlad. He closes the live stream down, and the screen cuts to black.
Match strides forward. Smacks the laptop lid down a little too hard. “How can we be so sure this is gonna work?”
“We can’t.” Brander lifts from his chair. “But all we need to do is ensure that Peter, Vlad, and the three of us are all in the same room. Lifesaver and Match, you defend. I’ll scald the Russian.”
Alice slides off the couch, rubs her eyes, and makes for the stairs.
“Sweetheart?” I call.
She turns around.
“How are you feeling?”
I don’t know why I asked the question, to be honest. It’s obvious that the girl isn’t doing well. It shoots a pain through my chest seeing her like this.
Fuck, falling in love with a woman like her is all I wanted from life.
I could die a happy man tonight.
But I can’t.
Alice needs our protection.
And so does this child.