Chapter 16
ALEXEI
We’re standing and looking out at the city as Father tells me about the gunman. The sun is well into the morning, hanging above the tops of the buildings, giving the city an orange glow. It’s almost like a normal day in Fortune. Except for the fact that I just received the worst possible news.
It’s taken a little over a month to find the shooter.
Pavel and several of his father’s men caught him hiding in New York proper.
According to them, they’d been following his trail since the night I was shot.
A few eyewitnesses identified his appearance—short, dark-haired, skull tattoo on his upper arm…
He’d managed to get as far as Manhattan before one of Father’s men spotted him in a local club.
They grabbed him and brought him back to Fortune, where Pavel had his first taste of interrogation.
He must have done a good job because the bastard confessed easily to his crime…
and to having been hired by my father-in-law.
It’s still hard to believe. There’s no reason for them to lie about this. Word has been out about finding this guy and I know everyone’s been on the hunt for him. I don’t doubt this story at all. And yet…
Pecora and my father both have been working hard to secure this alliance. Pecora sacrificed his own daughter to make it happen. Now I’m supposed to believe that he just decided to throw it all away? Why? How could he benefit from double-crossing us?
My thoughts go to Isabella. If we go to war with her family, Father might see her as a threat. He may even see me as someone who is sleeping with the enemy. We could both be in very real danger.
I want to question this action, not just because it simply doesn’t make sense, but also for Isabella’s safety. We’ve gotten closer this last month, and despite my misgivings about this arrangement, I suddenly have little desire to be apart from her for any reason.
My father stands next to the couch while my brother stands next to me at the glass doors. He puts a hand on my shoulder to reassure me, but he’s also staring with careful eyes that way he does when he’s waiting for me to react so that he will know what his next move is.
“So,” I say as I turn to my father. “What’s next to be done?”
“I have to pay a visit to one of the clubs this morning before it opens,” he says.
“After that, you and the rest of the brigadiers will meet to plan a resolution.” He nods to my brother, signaling for him to accompany him as he turns to leave.
When he gets to the door, he turns back and says, “Be sure that your cousin is with you. I might have need of his talents.”
Father leaves and I’m left here with this whole mess in front of me. I don’t understand why Pecora would do this. Then again, as Father said, it’s not for me to understand. I have to fall in line.
There’s no time to consider anything else. I get my phone, sitting lonely on the coffee table, and I call Dmitri.
“Hello?” he says groggily into the phone. “What’s up?”
“It’s Alexei. You’ve been summoned to an emergency meeting later on this afternoon.”
I hear the rustling of movement, then he says, “What’s going on? Has something happened?”
“They found the guy,” is all I say. He knows what I mean. “Turns out I’ve got a bounty on my head.”
He pauses and I hear more movement. “Okay. Who paid for it?”
“Pecora, according to the guy. He told Pavel under interrogation that he was the one who hired him to take me out.”
He doesn’t say anything, which is concerning. Dmitri always seems to have something to say about everything. “What?” I urge.
“Nothing, nothing. Let me get some pants on and—”
“Speak your mind, Dmitri. Whatever you’ve got to say, just say it.”
He sighs. “It’s just… why would Pecora dismantle something he helped to facilitate? What does he have to gain from doing something like that?”
“That’s not for us to know or to question. The fact is that he took a shot at me. That needs to be answered for.”
“Right, of course. I’m only asking because it doesn’t make any sense. Alexei, there’s no benefit in doing this to the alliance. Not for Pecora, anyway. His empire only stands to grow from allying with us and now he’s breaking it up?”
I frown and say, “What are you suggesting?”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I just know that it’s only been a month and no matter how much Pecora has gained in this association, we still have the upper hand in this deal.
Maxim hasn’t had any designs on taking over his territories since you and Isabella were married.
But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still want them and wouldn’t jump at the chance to wage war should the opportunity present itself. ”
“He wouldn’t jump straight to war.”
“No. Not unless his son’s life was threatened. Pavel knows that better than anyone.”
I sigh. This rivalry between them is getting old. “Dmitri, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to avenge your brother after an attack.”
“No, of course not. But if I thought I deserved to be heir over my brother and I was looking for a way to do it without arousing suspicion…”
I almost want to laugh. “You are joking, I hope. Pavel would never betray me or the brotherhood. My father’s words are law—”
“You don’t have to explain the rules to me. I know,” he says in a patient tone. “All I’m saying is that it’s not entirely unheard of for the son of a Pakhan to make a grab for power. You and Maxim are both taking his word that the shooter fingered Pecora. Pavel—”
“Not Pavel,” I tell him. “And I would suggest you drop it. Talk like this is the kind of thing that causes divide, and I won’t hear it.”
“Okay, okay. Subject is dropped.” Dmitri sighs, then, “I’ll wait for the call, then. Thank you.”
I hang up, a little pissed that Dmitri would even make the vague suggestion that my brother is planning a coup. He might be hotheaded and he may make poor choices every now and then, but he is loyal to the brotherhood. It is something that should never be questioned.
Anyway, I should let Isabella know I have to leave. It’s still early and there’s a part of me that would rather just leave without disturbing her sleep, but after all we’ve gone through, I have no desire to have her think that I’ve abandoned her yet again.
I walk into the bedroom to find the bed empty. I go to the open door of the bathroom and see that it’s empty too.
There aren’t too many places that she could go where I wouldn’t find her in this penthouse. And if she’s awake…
Shit. She probably heard the conversation, or at least part of it.
I head to the study. I never told her about the emergency exit there, but she has been left alone here more times than not. It would be no wonder if she found it…
The second I walk through the door, I realize that’s exactly what’s happened. The hidden door is slightly ajar, revealing the hallway leading to the elevators. I close the door and rush to the bedroom to get dressed.
There’s only one place that she’d go right now.
I’m not sure how long it’s been since she left, but it couldn’t have been all that much time. As I’m rushing through the lobby, I have the thought to ask the front desk girl how long ago they had seen her but decide against it. However long it was, every second is counting against me.
I’m already in the car and on my way. Pecora’s territory’s still about five minutes away and I’ve been on the road at least twenty.
I wonder how long it might have taken Isabella to dress, then get to the lobby and hail a cab.
I might already be too late. She could be there right now, telling her father what she’d heard.
I can’t say as I blame her, really. I might do the same thing in her position. All I keep thinking about is how there is a bullet out there that’s meant for me. Her acting in my name might change its trajectory and once again…
It can’t happen again. Not like this. It simply can’t.
Before long, I’m turning down his block. I cruise past the first few houses and I see a taxi round the corner.
It’s her. I park the car across the street from Pecora’s and wait as the taxi pulls in right in front of the house. As she gets out, I do. The taxi pulls off as she starts up the walk.
“Isabella,” I call out to her.
She whirls around and the second she sees me, she freezes, fear in her eyes. Like a deer caught in the headlights of a stalled truck, she just stands there for a split second, then she turns to continue her walk up Pecora’s door, moving faster.
I rush across the street. “Isabella, stop,” I call out to her.
“No,” she shouts back. “You don’t get to stop me, Alexei— Hey!”
I’ve grabbed her arm. I whirl her back around and she snatches her arm out of my grip. “Get your hands off me!”
I grab her again and yank her to me. “You cannot be here right now,” I growl at her. “Get in the car and let’s go. Now.”
She wriggles out of my grasp. “I have to warn him.”
“Isabella, your father has a hit out on me,” I tell her. “There could be someone watching us right now—”
“I don’t care!” she shouted. “You can’t stop me, Alexei. You can’t.”
I sigh. I understand her anger, her pain. Her loyalty to her father is something to be admired.
It’s also dangerous as fuck. “I’m sorry, Isabella.”
She only has time to take a single step back before I grab her around the waist and lift her off her feet and into my arms. She flails and kicks, slapping me in the face as I carry her back to the car.
“Put me down, goddammit!” she shrieks.
I get the back door open and throw her in, shutting the door behind her.
By the time, she pops back up, I’m in the driver’s seat and locking the doors.
She struggles with opening the door as I pull off.
“You bastard!” she screams, kicking the back of my seat.
“This is bullshit! You and your stupid Bratva loyalty! Your lives are not worth more than his!”
I have nothing to say in response, and honestly, I don’t disagree with her fundamentally.
But facts are facts and what she just did was reckless.
We get about a mile away when she kicks my seat hard enough to make me brake hard.
The car skids to a halt, the sound of the tires echoing through the air. I park the car and turn around to her.
“He tried to kill me,” I yell at her. “You understand? That can’t go unanswered, Isabella! If one of us took a shot at him or someone else in your family, he would never risk coming to you to warn you about what was coming. What you did was foolish, Isabella. Just being here could get you killed.”
“He’s not some heartless Pakhan,” she spits back at me. “He might not be the best father in the world, but he would protect me if I were in danger.”
“Please, Isabella. He sold you off to me to save his own skin. He’s not your savior.”
“And you are?” Her watery eyes are filled with rage. “What the hell are you saving me from in my own home!”
“It is not your home! Not anymore! You are my wife, now! Whether you like it or not, you are of this brotherhood. Your life is no longer his to protect. It is mine.”
She just stares at me, speechless. I turn back around and put the car in drive, too angry to speak another word.
We drive a little while in silence before my phone rings. Pavel’s number pops up on my dashboard, so I answer it. “Yes?”
“We need you at Father’s house,” he says in Russian. “Now. He’s been arrested.”
I can’t even comprehend that statement. Arrested? “What?” I respond in kind. “How…?”
“The club. It was raided this morning. They’re saying they found several kilos of cocaine on the premises, but that’s bullshit. He never kept drugs there in the clubs. The risk is too high.”
He’s been set up. That’s the implication. Shit. The war truly is on. “Alright. I’m on my way.”
I hang up and I hear from the backseat, “What’s going on?”
I almost don’t want to tell her, but I don’t have time to drop her off back at the penthouse and I can’t trust that she’ll stay there, anyway. She’ll have to come with me while I deal with this madness. “My father was arrested in a raid. Pavel needs me to come to his house. Now.”
She doesn’t say anything for a long few seconds. Then, “What did he do?”
“Nothing. He’s been set up.”
She scoffs.
“I don’t have any details yet, so don’t assume anything.”
“I didn’t say anything,” she says. “But that phone call was too short for you to know for a fact that he was set up. Pavel already has my father figured for the rat, right?”
“When we get there,” I say with a big breath, “you will be expected to keep your mouth shut and do as you are told. If you don’t comply, so help me—”
“I get it, all right? You’ll carry me out of there like a toddler. Again.”
“Maybe if you didn’t act like one—”
“Fuck off, Alexei.”
We drive the rest of the way in silence, and thank goodness. It’s not even nine in the morning yet and the day already feels like the longest in the world.