26. Alexander

Chapter 26

Alexander

N atalya hides in our room while I finish placing a few more cameras around the apartment. I make sure to have one prominently displayed above the pool, an outdoor model that won’t mind the elements, and have it placed high enough that she can’t easily reach it without getting out my ladder.

I’m smiling while I work. Sex with Nat does this to me. I don’t know what it is about her, but the moment we’re together it’s like an explosion of passion.

She’s everything I dislike. Privileged, spoiled, and messy. The girl barely knows how to do the dishes, for fuck’s sake, and she leaves her little herds of water glasses all over my damn apartment.

There’s a pile of shoes growing on the floor of my closet like moss on a log and I’m pretty sure half of them are missing their match.

Its infuriating. And yet the moment I see her, so small and delicate, with those pouty lips and her gorgeous hair, I can’t help myself.

She’s always been so god damn sexy.

I had a crush on her when we were younger. She was pretty back then, and she’s only gotten more attractive as she’s matured. Now her figure’s filled out and she’s an absolute fucking smoke show, the sort of woman that drives me crazy. But looks shouldn’t matter. There are thousands of beautiful women in Philadelphia alone.

Except there’s something special about her.

Catching a glimpse of her bare skin turns me into a god damn idiot.

Lev bails me out of this conflicted hell a couple hours later after the sun goes down. I make sure the cameras work before I meet him down in his truck.

“Got word the Marinos are planning something,” he tells me as he drives fast down south, heading in the direction of the docks. “The Marinos do a lot of business with the Irish, and I’m good friends with one of their mid-level captains. He’s got a Rolex addiction. Anyway, he says the Marinos plan on hitting part of our new Canadian enterprise, and he thinks it’s got something to do with our containers.”

“You think they’re going to steal from us?” I almost laugh at the audacity. It’s one thing to go violence-for-violence; street level fighting doesn’t have to get in the way of business necessarily.

But hitting our goods is going to escalate the situation.

We were all set to become allies. Natalya’s marriage to Adriano would’ve forged a new order in Philly and established both the Marinos and the Zeitsevs as the dominant force on the east coast. Everything was just right—until I put my hands on her.

And fucked everyone over.

The worst part is, even knowing how much misery and death my relationship with Nat is causing, I’d still do it again in a heartbeat.

Not because she’s a great partner or anything. But because she’s pregnant with my child, and I couldn’t live with myself if I let another man raise what’s mine.

Much less touch what’s mine.

And I own Natalya. Every inch of her supple little body responds to my touch like she can’t help herself, and it’s obvious in the way she gravitates toward me that she wants me as much as I want her.

The sex is mind-blowing. It’s other-worldly. Frankly, sex like that shouldn’t exist.

And even though people are going to die so I can continue to fuck her into a senseless oblivion, I can’t really work up the energy to give a fuck about them.

She’s mine. She’ll stay mine.

Only, I feel guilty about Lev and his father. They treated me like a son and I betrayed them in the worst manner possible. I’ll have to find a way to make it up to them one day, only I’m not sure that’ll ever happen.

Lev pulls the truck up to a booth at the entrance to the docks. The guy on shift only nods and lets us through. Typically, we’d have to have identification and shit, but the Zeitsev Bratva’s got a whole lot of connections in this part of the city, and their goods move through here like fish through water.

We drive slow through the narrow street and park in the darkness on the side of the admin building. Lev nods at me as he loads up his gun and tucks it into his jeans and we climb out together. Our footsteps slosh through puddles and echo off the steel containers. I catch glimpses of their originating ports in the dim orange light: Morocco, Sudan, Thailand, Ecuador. These have come from all over the world, only to end up in south fucking Philadelphia.

The place is oddly quiet. Even on slow days and late into the evening, there are people working here, cataloguing and checking contents, doing whatever the fuck dockworkers are supposed to do. But as we move through the narrow lanes between the massive piles, we run into nothing and nobody.

It’s fucking spooky.

“We should wait for backup,” I tell him, already fingering my gun. I’m on edge and a bad feeling crawls up my spine.

“Fuck that. I want to make sure they’re not getting away with this shit.”

“Did you tell anyone where we were going?”

“I got a team on the way.”

“Then we should wait.” I grab his arm, but he wrenches himself away, glaring death at me.

“This is your fucking problem. You’re the perfect little soldier, always playing by the rules, but I’m sick of that shit.”

“I break the rules when it makes sense. Right now, it doesn’t. We can post up here and if the Italians are nearby, we’ll stop them before they can escape.”

“How about you do that then? I always knew you were a stuck-up perfectionist, but I didn’t know you were a coward.”

I step toward him as a spike of rage runs through me. How dare this bastard call me a coward of all things? I’ve risked my life for him and for his brother a dozen times over, and I’ll keep on putting myself in danger because that’s what I do.

But there’s a difference between doing the hard thing and being a reckless idiot.

Lev turns and storms off. I stand there for a beat, cursing him and myself. Then I start texting anyone that might be coming until I get a picture of the guys involved. Lev’s got two teams on their way, the nearest still five minutes out, which isn’t good. Why the hell did I let him drive us here in the first place without waiting for muscle? If Marino’s actually moving on our containers, he’s going to move in force. The two of us can’t do shit on our own.

But Lev’s not slowing down and I’m not about to let him go in alone.

He’s gone around a corner up ahead by the time I start moving to catch up, annoyed with this whole stupid operation. I’ve been so distracted by thinking about Natalya that I’m only right now realizing that Lev’s on some kind of suicidal fucking mission to prove himself.

As I get closer to a junction up ahead, I hear a shout. It’s an angry yell, not really words, and I start running. I’m not sure what’s going down but we’re close to our containers and the worst-case scenario plays through my head.

And I’m fucking right.

There’s a glut of people standing in a clearing up ahead. A ring of light makes it look like a glowing oasis in the center of an otherwise dark and claustrophobic group of containers. I don’t know the men, but I recognize a voice.

It’s Lev, telling them to go fuck themselves.

I rip my gun from my waistband and consider my options. I can wait for backup, but Lev will be dead by then. I can charge into the fray, but that’s probably not going to end well, considering I’m outnumbered big time.

If I die here, my kid grows up with a father.

But if I don’t do something, I’ll lose Lev, the only friend I have left in the world.

It’s a horrible moment of indecision. Widow Natalya or save her brother. Risk myself or stay alive for my kid.

With a curse, I turn to the containers and start climbing. I’m fast and as quiet as I can, and fortunately they all have ladders built into their sides to let workers scale them when needed. I get to the top of the three-container stack and sprint to the far end, trying to be as quiet as I can, before dropping down to my belly and crawling the rest of the way.

Lev’s on his knees with a sneer on his face. He’s staring up at Adriano Marino who has a gun aimed at his head. Their conversation finally reaches me as I edge forward into the ring of light. There are six other Italians, and if any of them looks up, I’m fucked.

“…your friend on a leash,” Adriano’s saying.

“I don’t control what Alexander does and doesn’t do.”

“Then you’re not worthy to run your family when the time comes. Should I make your father’s succession plans easier? Kill you and force him to find someone more qualified?”

“Go ahead, pull the fucking trigger. But we both know what’ll happen if you do.”

Adriano’s smile is startlingly calm. “There will be war. Real war, full blown war. But that’s an inevitability at this point.”

“I don’t even know why you care so much. You never like Natalya.”

“No, you’re right. But it embarrassed me when she was stolen away, and I can’t have that.”

“Then what? This whole thing was a trap from the start?”

“I knew you couldn’t help yourself. You’re too impulsive, and now you’ll pay the price.”

Lev tilts his chin up. He shows his teeth and doesn’t blink.

I’m proud of him, that crazy bastard. In the face of death, he’s not begging, flinching, or shying away. He’s facing it with strength and dignity.

But lucky for him, his guardian angel is watching.

I squeeze off a round. I’m at least fifty yards away and the lighting’s bad, which means my shot has to be perfect. Unfortunately, it’s not—and I only manage to hit Adriano in the calf.

He grunts in shock and staggers. When he shoots, the bullet goes wide of Lev’s head.

Well, so much for fucking stealth.

I start firing like a psycho. The Italians don’t know what’s going on at first. I manage to kill two of them while the rest scatter, looking for cover. Lev rolls to the side and stumbles as he picks up a dead Italian’s gun. But it’s Adriano who figures it out first, even though he’s down on one knee and bleeding from a wound. He shouts and fires back at me, forcing me away from the edge of the containers.

“Lev, run!” I shout, rolling to the side and coming out one more time to start shooting. It’s a dumb idea, but if Lev’s going to escape, he needs cover.

Down below, Lev sprints like a man possessed. At least he knows better than to stop and start shooting too. The Italians are surprised and pissed that their ambush didn’t work, but they’re already regrouping under Adriano’s leadership.

Once I’m sure Lev’s on his way out of that death trap, I shove myself up and start sprinting along the top of the containers. It’s dark where I am and I have to hope the Italians aren’t very good, otherwise I’m beyond fucked.

Sparks burst from the metal all around me. I feel something sharp rip through my shoulder and arm, but I keep going. There’s yelling and screaming and more shooting, and I keep going, running as hard as I can.

That’s when the real pain starts. I grunt and stumble as fire burns through my thigh, just above my knee. I try to push through it but my pants are soaking wet, and I realize it’s blood.

“Fucking shit,” I growl as I stagger and fall. I nearly slam my face but catch myself at the last moment. I manage to shove myself back to my feet, but I’m stumbling and staggering like a drunk, and I don’t know how much further I can go. I’m bleeding from a few wounds, and while the pain isn’t that bad, the blood loss is going to finish me off.

Lev got out. I know he got out. Even if I’m dead, at least Lev escaped. He’s getting the second chance his brother was never given, and I’m thankful for that.

But a deep mourning fills me.

My baby. My child. I’ll never get to know them. Girl, boy, whatever, I’ll never see my kid grow up.

As I finally trip on gap between two containers and go down again, all I can see is Natalya’s face in my mind.

Her beautiful smile. Her frustrated frown. The teasing way she rolls her eyes. Her gorgeous body as she gets out from the pool, water dripping from her hair and lips, those big, vulnerable eyes looking at me with a mixture of fear and desire.

I’m going to miss her most of all.

“You stupid bastard!” Lev’s voice. Even though I’m dying, I still imagine him insulting me. “You shouldn’t have come back for me.”

Then he’s grabbing me, and I realize it’s really him.

“What are you doing?”

“I got you, big guy.” He helps me to the edge and swings me down onto the ladder. Agonizing pain lances up my leg. “Come on, you strong bastard, you gotta climb.”

“The Italians,” I murmur.

“Our guys are here, but we still got to hurry.”

With one last surge of adrenaline, I stagger down the ladder. I make it nearly to the bottom before my strength gives out and I let go.

I fall a few feet before Lev catches me.

“Got you,” he says, wrapping something around my leg. “Just keep it together a little longer.”

I’m lifted in the air and everyone around me is speaking Russian, and I think I ask if Natalya knows where I’m at, before the world goes black.