Chapter 45

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

DECLAN

Finn walks into the kitchen as he shoves his phone back into his pocket. "I just got off the phone with that hot nurse thatworksNew York General?—"

"The psycho one who tried to stab you?" Liam interrupts him.

"She wasn't psycho. She was just really fucking mad that I fucked her best friend," Finn corrects him, and I try unsuccessfully to hold back my sigh of annoyance.

"Finnigan!" I huff. "What the fuck does this have to do withQuinn."

"Nothing," he responds, and I nearly climb over the counter to kick his arse. "Rory. I called her about Rory."

"And?" Conorasks the questionwe are all wondering the answer to.

"He's still in surgery, but it looks promising," he shares, and we all collectively expel a sigh of relief.

Rory might not be blood like the men in this room, but after today, he is no less an Evans than any of them. He might not have been successful, but he was more than willing to give his life to protect Quinn.

He didn't fail her. I did.

I never should have given in to her insistence for a stupid tradition.

We've all been back home for hours and have made no progress toward figuring out where shewas taken. These fucking Bratva, for as brazen as they are, they hide like fucking cockroaches when the lights turn on.Inthe hours that we've been back here, we haven't made it any further.

Me foolishly expecting different does not differ from expecting a miracle.

"Between the lot of us, we must know someone. Anyone that can give us a shred of useful information." I flex my hands and groan at the soreness of my cracked and bruising knuckles. "We have to do something. I can'tfuckinglose her."

I promised I would protect her and that I would keep her safe. We might not have sworn it before God yet, but I promised her a life with me.

"We are trying, Dec," Tristan imparts. "Every lastone of us is doing everything we can."

"It's not fucking enough," I roar as my aching hands pound against the countertop. It won't be enough until we bring her back home.

Hours pass— too many hours —and I'm readyto start makingmy way through Brighton Beach door by door until I uncover something that will help me find her.

Liam's phonebuzzes on the counter,andhe looks at it. His expression gives me the faintest bit of hope. "It's Kira," he announces.

After I killed Akim, Liam did exactly what he had said he would. Or he tried. He offered to get Kira out of the city and far away from servicing men like Akim had planned for her when he held her hostage. She made it no further than Westchester County before turning and running back into the brutal arms of the Bratva. Apparently, the abusive life she'd been living was less terrifying than the unknown.

The last time he checked on her, she had latched onto a mid-level soldier. A now ugly fuck who took one hell of a beating, leaving a scar running along his face to win the privilege of securing her as his personal whore.

Liam answers the phone on speaker, and her timid voice cracks through the phone, "I shouldn't be talking to you. Yuri will kill me just for knowing that I called."

"I… We can protect you from Yuri," Liam promises.

"I overheard him," she sobs quietly into the phone,"He was so mad about some redhead. He kept rambling that she was going to ruin his plan."

"His plan?"

"He was going to offer me to the Pakhan. Send me back to Russia so the Pakhan would give him morepower." Her voice is soft, but she rambles her terrified thoughts, "I can't go back. Not… Not with him. Akim let him… Once… He's an evil fucking man, and I can't be his. I know the redhead is yours."

"How do you know?" I blurt, unable to control myself.

"Yuri kept rambling about how the Evansweregoing to fuck up everything for him. Because Emil had gotten hishands on the girl who killed thePakhan's lieutenant. The Evansgir—Shit, Yuri is coming."

"Kira?" I call her name when the line goes silent, a muffled conversation the only indicator that Kira is still on the other end of the phone. We listen to the muffled yelling on the other end for minutes.

"I'm not calling for her. I'm calling for me," Kira admits through sobs when she comes back on the line. "I'll tell you where to find her if you promise to take me, too."

"Yes," I agree without glancing at my brothers or even remotely thinking it through.

"I need you to promise."

"I swear on my life," I vow. "I will do anything for you if it means you will help get my wife back to me."

"I will text you the address," she whispers before the line goes dead.

I'm coming for you mo chéadsearc.

Tristan paces for a moment.Alwaysthe pragmatic one, he huffs, "This could be a trap."

"It could be." I nod in agreement.

"Theycould be usingKira to get to us," Conor concurs.

"They could be. It could also be the only chance Ihaveto get Quinn back. The only chance before they force her on a plane and she disappears forever… To a life she'll never survive."

I don't know if I could survive with the guilt of knowing what she would be enduring. Shaking my head, I sigh. "I'll go alone if I have to."

"Fuck that!" Finn shouts. "If you think I'm going to let you go alone after those assholes ruined my face, you've got anotherthingcoming."

Conor smirks. "And I'm fucking pissed they totaled my Escalade."

"I'm not going to letyou fucks go kill a bunch of Bratva assholes without me," Liam states matter-of-factly.

All of us looktoTristan. "You know how I feel." He shakes his head. " Rudarbithdo modheartháir ."