56. Matvey

56

MATVEY

The first thing I hear is sirens.

I hurl myself out of the car while it's still moving.

Yuri slows down, calling after me. "Matvey!"

But I don't hear him. I can't hear a goddamn thing. Only a sharp ringing in my ears… and those sirens.

When I see the police on the scene, the ringing gets louder. The building's being evacuated— why ?

I'm a pakhan. Fear is a privilege that people like me don't have. Ever since I left that little boy I used to be behind in the Russian snow, ever since I donned the mantle of leader, I never allowed myself to feel fear again.

But when I see April heaving on the steps, I remember what it's like to be afraid.

"April!" I jump the police cordon, oblivious to the officers shouting after me.

They want to stop me?

Let them fucking try .

April lifts her head. When her eyes lock with mine, a wave of relief crashes over her pained face. "Matvey!" She tries to stand, but she sways.

The medic by her side holds her still. "Ma'am, you shouldn't be upright. Take deep breaths and relax, alright? The ambulance will be here soon."

I stop dead in my tracks. Ambulance?

"Okay." April sits back down. Even with all the pain she's clearly in, she still manages to offer the medic a polite smile. "Thank you."

The medic squeezes her shoulder in reassurance. The familiarity of that gesture almost makes me snarl in jealousy, but I force myself to calm down. This isn't the time to mark my territory.

After all, I wasn't here for her, was I?

The medic's gaze flits to me, then back to April. "I have to check up on the other guests. Can I leave you with your boyfriend?"

"Oh, he's not?—"

"Yes," I cut in. "I'll take it from here."

I don't look at her then, or think about the words I just said. The weight of them. The implications.

All this time, I've been lying to myself. Telling myself that there was nothing between us, that she was nothing to me . That she was only mine in a way that wouldn't make me hers.

But nothing opens your eyes to what's yours like almost losing it forever.

"Alright," the medic says to me. Then, turning briefly back to April: "Keep breathing like we've been doing. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Got it?"

"Got it," she whispers. "Thank you."

With that, we're alone.

Well, not alone, exactly. The place is packed with people, all voicing their panic and/or outrage loudly. Whatever went down here, it's left many guests unhappy.

But I couldn't care less.

All that matters is in front of me.

If only it hadn't taken me this long to fucking see it.

"Are you alright?"

April hesitates. "I think… I don't know. I was fine, and then it just started to hurt." She circles her belly with both hands and breathes, hard and deep, like the doctor said to do.

I'm powerless. All this strength, this money, this influence, and I couldn't do anything to prevent this . "Does it still hurt?"

She gives a small, pained nod. "I'm scared, Matvey."

Wordlessly, I take her hand in mine.

Yuri catches up to us. "What happened? Where's Petra?"

Just hearing her name is enough to make me boil over with rage. "Nowhere near here, if she knows what's good for her."

But apparently, Petra doesn't know what's good for her. Because as soon as I say those words, the woman who put my child and its mother in danger rounds the corner in a rush with her bodyguard at her heel.

When she sees April, she speeds up.

Then she sees me , and she stops dead in her tracks. "Matvey."

I rise to my feet, ignoring April's tug on my hand. "You."

Petra opens her mouth, hesitates. Then she croaks, "Is she okay?"

"Is she okay ?" I snarl, pressing up into her space. Julia tenses at her side, but I don't give her the time of day. If she so much as thinks about drawing her gun, I'll put a bullet in her eye before she can fucking blink. Her first, then her mistress. "You think you have any right to ask that? After all you've fucking done?"

"Motya…" Yuri puts a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe we should?—"

I shake it off, hard. "There's only one thing we should do," I grit. "Only one thing traitors deserve."

If we weren't in public right now, I would've done it already. The second I saw her, I would've put a bullet in her head. No last words. No excuses. Just death, swift and merciless.

She tries to go around me. "April?—"

"Do not fucking talk to her!"

I almost push her, but Yuri gets between us. "Matvey, let's not be rash. Think about the consequences?—"

"Consequences?" I snap. "She should've thought about the consequences when she kidnapped my woman !"

"You broke our deal." Petra trembles. "What did you expect?"

"I expected you to be an adult." No matter how badly I want to keep yelling in her face, I'm aware people have already started to stare. So I lower my voice and spit, full of barely-concealed fury, "I expected you to keep your shit together. Most of all, I expected you not to abduct a pregnant woman and force her into a goddamn heist."

Her eyes widen at my words. "That's right," I say, twisting the knife. "She didn't even have to tell me anything. It took me five minutes in my penthouse to figure out your plan. Only, you didn't actually have one, did you?"

"Matvey…" April tries to interject.

I steamroll right over her, never taking my eyes off Petra for a second. "You thought you could ride the coattails of someone better than you, again. You thought you could make vor on somebody else's dime. So much for doing it yourself, right?"

"Matvey."

"And for what?" I roar in Petra's trembling face. "All this, and you haven't got a thing to show for it. No diamonds, no title, no nothing. And not a single person willing to help you out of it." I look down on her in disgust. "So congratulations, Petra Solovyova: you're finally on your own."

"Matvey, enough!"

That's when I finally turn to the source of those words.

I find April standing, struggling to stay upright. "Don't," I warn, rushing to help her back down.

But she grips my arm and refuses to sit again. "No one's innocent in this," she breathes through the waves of pain. "Not you, not Petra—and not even me. So please, just… stop."

"She kidnapped you," I growl back. "She endangered our child."

"And I haven't forgiven her for that," April retorts. "But haven't we suffered enough?" Her eyes fill with tears. "Hasn't our baby suffered enough?"

That's when I hear it: sirens, again. An ambulance.

The pakhan in me is screaming with bloodthirst, clamoring for revenge with every breath. But I can't be another reason April gets hurt today.

I pull her close, then turn to Petra. "The Groza Bratva is done with you. I'm done with you. And if I ever see you again near me and mine, I will kill you. So don't even fucking try."

I can't read Petra's face at all. If I didn't know better, I'd say she's holding back tears. Real tears, of pain and regret.

But this is Petra Solovyova we're talking about. If she ever had a heart, it's been frozen over long ago.

She straightens herself up. Even now, she tries to make herself look dignified. "I'm sorry," she says to April and April alone.

April doesn't reply.

Then she leaves.

"Wait!" Yuri calls after her retreating back. " Blyat'. " Then he goes after her.

I have no idea what the hell he's thinking. Is he trying to salvage the alliance? Did he not fucking hear me?

The ambulance pulls up. "Ms. Flowers?" a paramedic asks.

April nods. "That's me."

I help them load her up into the back. But when I make to get on, the same paramedic stops me.

"Are you family? Because if not, I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave."

I don't know if he's being brave or stupid. Every single one of his colleagues has already taken a step back, sensing the danger in my aura.

"It's okay." April tries to smile. "I'll be fi— Matvey !"

"Sir!" the paramedic insists as I push past him. "If you're not family?—"

"That's exactly what I am."

April looks shocked. I suppose a part of me should be as well. Shocked that I've allowed a stranger into my sacred circle. Shocked that I declared it to the world.

But the truth is, I'm just shocked it's taken me this long.

"You want to keep me out?" I snarl. "By all means, go ahead and try."

Then I take my place at April's side.