Chapter 29
ISABELLA
This is probably the last thing I expected to see.
Alexei, alive, but looking a little beat up, is standing in the middle of the room staring at his father who is leaning against his desk, arms folded, with a gun on him. Pavel is standing holding the door for me, and his bottom lip is slowly swelling as blood trickles from the side of his mouth.
I have clearly missed several chapters here.
I walk in as Maxim smiles at me. Pavel closes the door behind me and immediately, I feel like I’m trapped… probably because I just walked right into one.
“What is all this?” I ask. I’m looking at Alexei’s profile. One side of his face and jaw are bruised up pretty good and he’s got blood splattered on his shirt, but otherwise, he looks whole. I want to wrap my arms around him and kiss him, soothe the angry, purpling bruises with my touch…
I don’t know that he would accept it if I did that, though. He was so angry the last time we spoke.
Maxim motions at me with his gun. “Have a seat, my dear.”
I walk over to the chair near the window and sit down. I don’t dare speak right now.
“Your arrival is quite fortuitous,” he says. “We were just discussing you.”
I shift uncomfortably in my chair. “You were?”
He shrugs. “I was questioning my son’s decision to bring you along to the cabin. An odd choice for a marriage of convenience, I think. Especially when we are actively at war with your father. A war, as it happens, he started.”
My mouth is so dry. The cold finger of fear runs down my spine. I feel like I’m either standing in front of a firing squad or sitting by and watching it.
“Alexei broke our agreement by targeting your father,” he goes on. “This… attack that happened to you this morning would not have occurred if he hadn’t made an attempt on his life. Now, tragically, I have to act. Retribution is inevitable, I’m afraid.”
He’s lying. I know he is. I don’t know what he’s trying to pull by attempting to make me believe that obvious fucking lie, but it’s not working. “Alexei didn’t try to kill my father,” I tell him.
“No? Well, who else would? Especially since it was I who ordered the hit.”
That terrible nausea that’s been swirling in my stomach for the past day has come back. I can taste it at the back of my throat. “You told Alexei to kill him?”
Maxim glances at me and smiles. “Don’t act surprised, my dear. It’s the perfect job for him. He’s an excellent marksman.”
I have to swallow to keep the bile down. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he…?”
“It doesn’t matter, does it?” he says. “All that matters is how we move forward. And now that you’re here, I want to make you an offer. Something that might solve all of the problems you’ve been having these past few months.”
“Problems?”
He nods. He’s not really looking at me. He’s looking at Alexei with slightly narrowed eyes as if waiting for him to try something with him. I hope he doesn’t. I don’t want to see Alexei get hurt.
“You must know that I am aware of your attempts at leaving him. Very ballsy. Disruption of your father’s plans for your own personal freedom. I guess it runs in the family. Too bad your sister succeeded where you didn’t.”
I look over at Alexei and my heart gets heavy. Why did Maxim have to bring that up? “You know about that, huh?”
“Yes,” he responds with a laugh. “As I was explaining to my son, nothing happens in this family that I am not aware of. It’s part of being a good boss.” He tilts his head to Alexei. “Now that your wife is here, we can be civil, yes?”
Alexei nods. A simple move of his head, but nothing more.
To me, Maxim says, “I want to offer you a chance to finally be free of this arrangement. As I’m sure you’re well aware of by this point, your father and I are no longer allies, so there is no reason for you and my son to remain married.
I can arrange for an annulment with no cost to you. All you would need to do is walk away.”
I blink. “Walk away? Just like that? Wherever I want? And you won’t send your people after me?”
“No,” he says. “I’ll even fund your escape if that’s what you wish. Though I would strongly advise that you stay away from your father and the rest of your family for a while as I cannot guarantee your safety if you should decide to return to him.”
My heart is thumping as my hand automatically goes to my stomach. “What about Alexei? Will he be free to come with me?”
“Oh, no,” he says with a laugh. “Alexei still has unfinished business to attend to. I wouldn’t count on his joining you.”
I swallow hard. “Does that mean you plan on killing him?”
“Whether he lives or dies is no longer your concern.”
I look over at Alexei and get nothing from his face. He doesn’t look fearful or nervous. It’s almost like he’s expecting all this. Like it was discussed before I got here.
And now, here Maxim is, offering me a chance to leave. I think about my father and how he was unwilling to try and help me save Alexei even if it would end this war. Maybe it was never on me to try and bring an end to it. Gangsters are going to be gangsters, after all.
If that’s why Alexei came here, it’s pretty clear that he’s failed. At least he won’t have to worry about me if I take Maxim’s deal.
And at least my baby will be safe. Goddammit, Alexei, why couldn’t you have chosen me in the first place? We could be halfway across the world. Now, I might have to decide to leave without you.
I said I would if he wanted to stay and I meant it. He’s got a gun to his chest, now. I suppose he wasn’t wrong about trying to get out of the family.
“What do you say?” said Maxim. “You get to leave this arrangement smelling like a rose.”
“Why?” I ask him. “Why would you help me leave?”
“I’m nothing if not generous,” he says, and I immediately know that’s bullshit. This is about something else. Maybe he doesn’t want to kill me in front of his son. Maybe he doesn’t think enough of me to waste the effort.
“Take the deal,” Maxim says. “I won’t offer it again.”
I look to Alexei and my heart sinks even further. If only he loved me enough to come with me.
He crosses his arms, blue eyes turning to stone as he glares at Maxim. “She’s not going anywhere,” he says.
“That’s not your decision.”
“She’s my wife and she belongs with me.”
I’m stunned. Alexei is looking at him as though he has the upper hand. He’s not backing down.
And Maxim looks just as stunned as I do. He glares at him with wide eyes, as blue as his son’s. “Excuse me?”
“If the offer is for her to leave, then I’m going with her.”
He laughed. “That is very courageous of you, but you know that option has never been available to you.”
“Then why would it be available to her?” he asks. “She’s been my wife, and by proxy, part of this brotherhood, for all this time and you would just set her free? The moment she walks out of this house, you’ll have her killed and we both know it.”
He smiles slowly at Alexei and says, “Whether or not she leaves isn’t your decision. It’s hers.”
I stand up. After everything that was said this morning, Alexei… Alexei’s made himself clear. If I leave, he’s coming with me. It’s all I wanted to hear.
“Thank you,” I tell Maxim, “but I have to decline. My place is with my husband. And if he can’t go, then neither can I.”
Maxim’s smile turns into a sneer and he says, “That’s so fucking touching. Oh, Alexei,” he sighs, standing up from his desk. “I didn’t want it to be this way, but sometimes a son needs a reminder of to whom his loyalty belongs. And that means that I must be cruel to be kind.”
In a flash, his hand twists toward me, the gun now pointed at my head.
I flinch and cover my face instinctively.
There’s no gunshot. I look up to see that Alexei’s grabbed Maxim’s arm, holding it up and away from me.
There’s a moment of shock between everyone in the room and it’s like we’re frozen in time.
Even Pavel’s standing by with a stunned expression.
Alexei pushes his father hard. The two crash into his desk, arms still locked together as they fight for the gun.
I see Pavel move toward Alexei and I’m rushing toward him before I know what I’m doing.
As he goes to grab him, I leap onto his back, nearly knocking him over.
He shouts, grabbing at me as I pull his hair and scratch his face.
“Fucking bitch!” he hollers, twisting under my weight. He finally starts rushing backward. My back collides with the farthest wall, sending a shock of pain through me that loosens my grip on him. I fall to the floor as he turns around and faces me, his face twisted into a snarl.
I kick him as hard as I can in the shin and he folds, stumbling backward as he grabs at his leg. I get to my feet and rush over to the lamp by the door. I only get a step before I feel him swiping at my blouse to try and grab me.
I get the lamp. It’s heavy ceramic. Probably an heirloom of some sort.
As I turn, I bring the lamp around with me, aiming for his head.
The end of the lamp hits him across the jaw with a thunk that’s almost musical.
The vibration rings through the ceramic and my fingers.
He nearly falls over, his head rocked to one side.
I bring it back around, this time catching him full in the face.
The hard ceramic cracks under the pressure, smashing against his face.
His nose explodes in a splash of blood that flies from him and hits the wall.
The second hit spins him and he’s down. I go to hit him again, raising the lamp over my head, but I stop the minute I see him, mouth open, a pool of blood forming under his head.
He’s out. Or dead. I don’t have time to debate it because a gunshot goes off. Startled, I drop the lamp and it shatters next to his head.
I look up to see Alexei and Maxim are still locked in battle. Their arms are now twisted between them, their rage-filled snarls slowly disappearing as they both realize the gun has gone off.
I stand up straight as I see blood appear on Alexei’s shirt. No.