Chapter 17
NIKA
Idon’t know why I’m so nervous. It’s not like Gabe’s never gone off on some mission before.
It’s just that this time I know what’s at stake.
He might not come back.
And if Gabe dies, that means I’m free from this nightmare. I won’t be worth anything to his enemies anymore. I’ll be able to take my money and disappear.
That should be a good thing, right?
Except the idea makes me sick. It’s like I caught a glimpse of the person hiding behind that brutal mask.
He showed me a piece of himself, and in return, I gave him a piece of me.
That night was incredible, feeling him inside of me, tasting him, coming apart for him, and now I’m terrified I won’t get to experience that again.
It’s hell, pacing around this crappy motel room, imagining all the terrible ways he might die out there, leaving me broken and alone all over again.
All my life, I’ve been so small. My father’s men muscled their way into my world and jammed me down into a tiny box.
They kept me caged, even if I couldn’t see the bars right in front of my face.
I thought tiny thoughts, dreamed tiny dreams, and kept telling myself that was the best I could ever do.
Keep meek. Keep docile. Otherwise, they might do something dangerous.
But Gabe showed me another world. There’s always been another universe sitting right next to the one I've been trapped in. There are no horizons, no limits, nothing holding me back except for my own fear, and it’s like when I slept with him, a chunk of that terror was washed away.
I don’t have to keep myself locked away anymore.
Gabe wants more. His dreams are massive, they’re gargantuan, they’re as big as dreams can be, but they’re more than ideas. He’s trying to make them a reality.
I want that too. I want to be big, enormous, impossibly large. I want to stomp around the world like a dragon, spouting fire, burning forests.
I need Gabe to keep showing me how.
And if I lose him now?
I feel like a part of me will always be small, no matter how hard I try.
Besides, we still have a deal. He’s going to help find my mother. Without him, I think she’ll stay disappeared forever, and I can’t stand the idea of never at least knowing who she was.
Gabe keeps his promises. He has to come back to me.
I distract myself with crappy TV. The guards out front bring me some coffee when I ask, but otherwise tell me to stay locked down.
“He’ll be back soon, miss, I’m sure of it.
” Ilya offers me a small smile, a young man with dark hair and kind eyes.
Sometimes I’m shocked that half Gabe’s soldiers are my age, and already hardened criminals.
What the hell have I been doing with my life?
I take a long, hot shower, and when I get out there are weird noises outside. I dry off, get dressed, and start thinking about doing my hair when the noise gets louder like someone’s lighting off fireworks in the parking lot. But why the hell would someone do that here?
I peer out the window, getting on my toes to get a better view through the metal railing—
There’s a man. He’s wearing all black. He’s tall, bulky, and there’s a ski mask pulled over his face. He’s holding a weapon, a gun, and he’s shooting it straight ahead at someone I can’t see. My mouth falls open and I try to make sense of it—
This can’t be happening. There’s no way.
But he’s shooting, and there are more explosions nearby, and I realize those aren’t fireworks.
The motel is under attack.
I scream as the door flexes. Someone smashes into it, pounding from the outside, until the lock clicks. I leap, thinking I’ll be able to hold it closed, but I’m too slow. It bashes open and I slam straight into Ilya.
“Shit,” he grunts, hitting the frame of the door. He grabs me by the arm and shoves me back inside. “Miss, stay low.”
“What’s going on?!”
His eyes are grim. Blood’s splattered across his chest. He’s bleeding from a wound on his arm. “Attackers. Not sure who. I called your husband.”
“Where’s Gabe?!”
“He’s coming.” But Ilya doesn’t sound sure of himself. “Come, we have to go. I will get you out.”
“How?! It sounds like they’re everywhere.”
“Trust me. Please, follow, and stay low. Run when I tell you to run. Do you understand?”
“Please, can we stay here? Wait for Gabe? He’ll come for me.”
Ilya seizes my arm and holds my gaze. “If you stay in this room, you will die. We’re going now. Ready?”
I grab shoes and shove them on. When I’m done, Ilya drags me out onto the balcony and starts running, pushing me ahead of him, tugging on my arm to keep me down low. He shoots over the railing a few times and I risk a look to my right.
There are at least ten men down in the parking lot.
Half of them shoot at us wildly. Half are shooting at what’s left of my husband’s security detail.
I scream as bullets ping around the railing, just missing my head.
Someone shouts in Russian down below, but I can’t understand him.
My ears are ringing and I feel like I’m going to be sick with terror.
This can’t be happening. This really can’t be happening.
But Ilya shoves me forward, snarling for me to keep running.
I sprint ahead, angling toward the corner of the building and barely make it.
I careen, hit the railing, almost topple over.
Ilya grabs my wrist and rights me, and together we’re running down the stairs toward the back of the building.
“There’s a car—“ He’s out of breath and grimacing in pain. His whole side’s drenched in blood and I notice his wound’s worse than he let on. “Black Ford truck. Keys in center console. Get to it. Drive fast.”
“What? Where’s everyone else? I can’t leave!”
“You have to,” he snarls, eyes wide. “You’re the Pakhan’s wife. You have to go!” He grabs me, yanks me to a stop at the edge of the building, scanning for a second. “Find the truck. Keep going. You can—“
His head explodes.
Gore splatters my face. It gets in my mouth, in my eyes. I scream, staggering back. His corpse remains upright for a beat before falling to the ground in a heap. I retch, spitting and wiping his blood from my lips and eyes. I stumble backwards and fall onto my ass.
A man’s coming toward me. I know him. The forest, burning, his horrible form coming out of the smoke.
He pulls off his mask and he’s grinning at me, beaming like he’s having the time of his life, as I scramble backwards, covered in blood and vomit.
I sob and turn, try to get up, try to run, but I lose balance and smash my face on the concrete. I bite my lip and moan in pain.
I try to get up again. I puke, sobbing, choking on it, and manage to make my knees.
When I feel his hand grip my hair.
“Got you, cousin.”
I scream as he pulls me to my feet. Artyom laughs, genuinely happy. I twist and try to get away, but he holds me tight before pressing a gun to my head.
“Please, let me go, please don’t—“ I’m babbling, losing my mind from fear. Where’s Gabe? Where is Gabe? Where the hell is my husband?!
“Oh no, no, no, cousin of mine.” Artyom practically purrs as he drags me back toward the parking lot. “You’re too valuable.”
“What do you want? Why… Ilya…” I can’t breathe. I can’t think.
Artyom snorts. “That dead fuck back there was named Ilya? Doesn’t really matter. You’re safe now.”
I gag and try to elbow him, but it’s like hitting a mountain.
“Gabe’s going to find me… he’s going to find you…
he’s going to kill you…” I don’t even know what I’m saying.
All I can think about is my husband, how badly I want him, how afraid I feel, and I’m trying to find what’s left of my strength.
But it’s fading quickly.
Artyom scowls. He looks me over with pure disgust and throws me down to the asphalt. “Why the fuck do you think that Italian piece of shit is going to help you?” He kicks me, glowering. I roll onto my side with a groan. It’s strangely quiet, and I realize the fight is over.
We lost.
“He will… I know he will…”
Artyom kicks me again, vicious. I moan and curl into a tight ball. It’s all I can do now as the fear wins over and I resort to my instincts.
Be small. Be quiet. They’ll go away if I’m not a threat.
He crouches over me and grips my hair again. He wrenches my head back and forces me to look at him. His smile is gone. “Your husband destroyed your family. Do you have any idea what he did? What the fuck did he tell you?”
I whimper, not sure how to answer. “Aunt Yelena,” I whisper.
Artyom spits on the ground. “Traitor bitch. They’re all fucking traitors, your husband worst of all.
We thought he was coming to rebuild the Bratva.
He had big plans. Your father believed him, thought that Gabe’s access to his sister’s Dragon husband and their former Dragon grandfather made him a worthwhile ally.
Your father backed Gabe and was even going to marry you to him.
” Artyom’s smile is sickening. “Guess Gabe liked that plan.”
“I don’t… understand…” I shy away, heart racing so fast I can barely think.
“Gabe betrayed us, Veronika. Your husband murdered your father in cold blood. Didn’t you fucking know?”
I can’t make sense of what he’s saying. Gabe killed my dad? But how did my dad die? Nobody told me how it happened, only that my father was dead and the Bratva was Gabe’s. If it’s true, if Gabe really did murder my father, why is Aunt Yelena his ally?
“I don’t believe you.”
“God, you stupid bitch, he really did brainwash you, didn’t he? You married the monster, Nika. He killed your god damn father. But don’t worry—“ Artyom hauls me to my feet by my hair. “I’m going to put it right.”
He drags me toward several cars. His men are waiting, all big and bristling with weapons. The motel is a warzone, bullets sprayed all over the facade, glass blown out and shattered to bits. I stumble, almost fall, and my head’s a sludge-filled mess as I try to make sense of this.
Gabe killed my father? He betrayed my family?
But Aunt Yelena… but the Dragons…
No, this can’t be right. This can’t be happening.
I can’t be married to my father’s murderer.
A truck comes tearing around the corner. Artyom perks up and barks a command to his men. Two more trucks follow the first. They barrel into the parking lot, brakes screaming, windows rolling down as guns start firing rapidly, scattering my cousin’s men, forcing them to cover.
I drop to the ground and start crawling.
Artyom’s screaming and yelling. Guns are going off all over.
A man falls beside me, his body hitting hard, blood splattering my hair.
I moan, crying hard, whimpering and gasping as I crawl around his corpse, desperately trying to get to safety.
Gabe killed my father, he killed my father, he lied to me, he didn’t tell me the full truth, and now I’m seeing him for what he really is, and I’m sick, I’m sick, I want to scream—
“NIKA!”
His voice cuts through the chaos. I lean my back against a car, tears streaming down my face. Blood drips down my clothes.
Gabe’s in the parking lot. He looks feral, drenched in sticky red, a corpse slung sideways onto the ground beside him. He staggers at me, holding out a hand, and a bullet smashes into his side. I scream, jerking toward him on instinct, but he keeps coming.
“NIKA!”
Another bullet hits him. He doesn’t stop.
I can’t move, can’t think, this man killed my father, but now he’s fighting through hell to get to me.
Behind him, Daniel and several more soldiers clear out the perimeter, forcing my cousin to climb into a big black van.
Artyom flashes me a vicious smile as he slams the back of the door, and I know what that look means—
Have fun with your murderer husband.
“Nika! Nika!” Gabe sprints to me, staggering, and slams to his knees at my side.
His hands grab me and I flinch back in terror, taking in the face of the man that killed my father, that lied to me, that ruined my life, that fucked me and took my virginity, that broke me.
“Are you okay? Nika, fuck, baby, are you okay?!” He searches me desperately for wounds, despite the fact that he’s clearly injured.
“I’m… I’m okay…”
“I got you, baby.” He pulls me against him. I feel stiff and drained, like I’ve been hollowed out. “Fuck, baby, I was so fucking worried, but I’m here. I got you now, baby, I got you. I got you.”
“Gabe…”
“You’re safe.” He pulls back, handsome eyes locked on mine, brimming with emotion. “You’re safe, baby.”
I release an ugly sob and let him hold me, even if I’m not sure he’s right, even if I think I might not be truly safe ever again.