Chapter 24

Twenty-Four

"That's the last one. Have you gotten any more information?" Callum asks as I clean off my hands.

I let a little of the relief I feel knowing that each and every man who was in that diner to hurt my wife is dead now. Linus was the last one. For being the leader, he's the one who cried the loudest. At the first cut of his skin, he was willing to tell me every single thing he knew.

It wasn't much, but it was enough.

"I already have the search going. I think it's someone close to her father. I'm not sure her father is even aware of what's going on. We haven't received another message from him besides that first one. Linus insinuated it was her father's new bratva that hired him, but why would they want her dead only to then save her? It's not adding up. If it was him, then how did the stalker know to intervene? It's not like the kid just walked in to deliver it at the right time. He was told to wait for Linus and his crew."

"You think it's the same person."

"I do. To have the money to pay them and make the decisions with the weight of the Bratva name behind them, they would have to be higher up."

"Who does that leave us with?"

I move to my computer, pulling the plastic I put over it off. Then I sit down, ignoring the blood seeping into my pants. I'm already soaked in it from the way I drained Linus of every last pint. He deserved it. He was willing to gut the woman I love. I won't stand for it.

Bringing up my virtual killboard, I point out each man.

"At the top, we have Vladimir. He is obviously running the show in their operations. He's in California according to Alexi. He has eyes on him. His second in command is this brute. Oleg. Nothing special about him. From what I can tell, he is more brawn than brains. I think Vladimir chose him because he won't try to overthrow him. Third in command is this fucker, Leonid. He is a slimy fucker and has a thing for younger girls. I think it's him."

Callum points to a picture I have on the side with no ties in. "Who is that?"

"That's Nikita's baby brother, Grigoriy. He's sixteen. I'm not sure how he factors in yet. He is in Chicago. I've seen him in my surveillance, but he's just a kid. Doesn't seem to be overly involved in anything."

"He matches the description they gave."

I consider it a moment. He is tall. He has dark hair like Nikita. So does Leonid, though. All of the notes she received had a sexual vibe to them. There's no way it could be him, right? Not her brother.

I move his picture over with Leonid.

"I won't rule it out, but I have a hard time thinking he would write sexual things about her. Or kill their other sister."

"You'd be surprised," Callum says. "People who are unhinged will do some crazy, fucked-up shit. Especially to those closest to them. Put someone on him. I want him monitored."

"Yes, sir," I tell him, clicking back to the document I have on him.

"Go home, Declan. Clean up. Spend some time with your wife. I'm sure she's making you dinner right now. Autumn said she's taken to being a housewife."

I frown. "I don't want her thinking that's all I want from her."

"Oh, she doesn't. According to my wife, she enjoys being domestic."

"Really? Pillow talk? I didn't take you for the hair-braiding type, Callum."

"Sure. Mock me now. You wait until your wife starts telling you all the little shit she hears from the girls."

I smirk at him. "I can't wait."

He shakes his head. "Get out of here. I'll make Finn clean up the mess."

I chuckle. "He's demented enough to enjoy that."

Packing up the laptop, I head toward the door.

The basement is just that. A basement underneath one of our warehouses on the outskirts of Chicago. The entire drive back home, I itch to call Nikita, but I want to surprise her. I want to see her face light up when she sees it's me.

I cringe when I realize I'm covered in blood, but it'll have to be okay.

When I get to the parking area for our building, I grab some wet wipes out of the glove box and try to clean up my neck and face the best I can. The jeans are done for, but you can't really tell on my black shirt.

Deciding I'm done waiting, I enter the building, nodding to my men. When I'm outside our door, I greet Seamus.

"How was it?"

"Good. Interior designer is still in there with her. It's been a couple hours, but you know how women get."

I smile thinking about what Callum said.

"Yeah. I know."

Opening the door, I call out to Nikita.

"Wifey, I'm home."

Silence greets me. I frown when I don't see her in the main area.

Thinking they might be in the en suite, I head that way, but no one is there.

"Seamus, get in here," I call out, panic starting to set in.

She's not here.

"What is it, boss?"

"Where the fuck is she? Where is my wife?"

His eyes grow wide as he takes in the apartment. It's not a huge place. Only a one-bedroom. Not much room to hide.

Pulling my phone out, I sent out the distress call. A simple code that will be sent to everyone.

Going into the living room, I pull out the laptop I keep here and pull up the cameras. I see the moment the woman enters the apartment. I can see them chatting in the living room. Then they head into the bedroom. I watch as Nikita charges her before falling to the floor.

Mo chroi.She tried to fight.

Then I watch the woman open the window, looking down below. My heart lurches in my chest when I see her drop Nikita out the window without a care.

I switch to the exterior cameras. I let out a breath of relief that my wife isn't splattered on the concrete below. Then I glare because, looking right into the cameras is Grigoriy Smirnov, smiling at the camera as he catches my wife. Then he squeezes her ass before he walks off, leaving the blonde to climb down the fire escape on her own. She hustles after him.

"I want everyone, and I mean everyone. I'm going to trace every fucking camera until I find out where he took my wife. I won't let him live," I growl.

"I don't think you need to track him," Callum says, walking in with a box in his hand.

He hands it over to me.

Opening it, I want to go berserk. Inside is the delicate ruby ring I picked out for my wife. The one she wears every single day and has since the day I slipped it on her finger. Even when she thought we were fake, she still devoted herself to me. As I did her.

We have always been a team. I'm not letting her go now.

Beneath the ring, there's a note.

Bloomingdale Park at the Brick House Art Work. One hour. Alone. Bring anyone, and I think our Wifey will lose a pinky. Or maybe I'll do what you are too scared to do and fuck a baby into her. We will see how I'm feeling.

I crumple up the note and toss it on the floor.

"He's going to kill you if you go alone," Callum points out.

"Not right away. He will take his time. He is psychotic. I've been fucking the woman he thinks is his." I have to force the vomit down at that statement. "He wants to punish not only me, but her. He will take me to her just to see her hurt by what he does to me."

"What if you're wrong?"

"Then you get my wife back and make sure she has the best life she can ever expect. Get her the baby she desperately craves and take care of them both for me."

Callum gives me a nod. "What's the plan?"

"You're going to get Haruaki or Kenji over here with one of those fucking trackers, then I'm going to go get my wife. Try not to take too long riding in with the cavalry. If my wife gets hurt, I'm going to kill someone."

"Understood. Are you sure about this?" Callum asks.

"If it was Autumn, what would you do?"

His eyes grow hard. "Go get suited up. We got a rescue mission to execute."

Hold on, mo chroi. I'm coming.

Groaning,I try to open my eyes, but they feel so heavy.

What did I drink?

I feel like I'm hungover, but why would I have gotten so drunk? I try to think back to the last thing I remember. Declan left me a note. I remember that. It was sweet. I put it in my underwear drawer because I wanted to keep it. I remember showering and getting ready for the day.

My brain hurts the more I try to think, but I push past the nausea and pull at the thread in my head.

The girls. I called them. Miya sent that awful lady over.

The lady.

I gasp, my eyes popping open. They feel like there's sand in them.

My limbs still feel lethargic. It takes three attempts to push myself up. When I do, I prop against the headboard.

I frown when I realize I'm in a bedroom. One that's decorated with pictures. Pictures of me.

My stalker.

My breaths start to come faster, but I force myself to calm down. It's been a while since I've had to use the breathing techniques I taught myself as a kid, but I use them now. I let my mind find that garden in my head. Then I picture myself walking the younger me there. As the calm fills me, I leave young me there as I lock the gates. When I open my eyes again, I startle when I see a man standing across the room.

"I used to love watching you do that, you know."

"Grigoriy? Why am I here?"

He walks out of the shadows into the light. He's not the little boy I remember. He looks older somehow. Even at sixteen, he looks more like a grown man. Part of it has to do with his height, but the other part is the look in his eye.

What did my father make him do to give him that look? I thought I was closed off, but he's practically dead inside.

"Sister, you have been gone too long. I've missed you. I haven't seen you for far too long. At least, not up close and personal. Father never wanted me to interact with you. He thought you might taint me somehow. He used to tell me all about that poisoned pussy your mother had."

He's testing me. I can see that in the way he studies me for a reaction. He won't find one, though.

"I suppose that's why he killed her then," I answer him.

He smiles then. "That's what I said. Galinia didn't agree. She said your mother couldn't control the children she had. I'm really sorry you had to see her like that. You needed to be punished, though. You married another man."

Another man.

My brother is the one who sent me all of those notes. He killed our sister.

I can't wait to see your hair spread out on my sheets while I fuck you.

Oh god. He has some sort of sexual fixation on me. This is bad. Very bad.

Part of me wants to break down, but I push her into a box and lock that bitch shut. I can't let the woman I've become under Declan come out right now. I have to be the one I grew up as. The one who is ready to handle anything my father throws my way.

Only it's my brother now.

"It was not my choice. Father gave me to them to do what they pleased." I keep my tone monotone.

"I know…" He moves closer, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'll take care of him when the time comes. He kept you from me. He saw my obsession with you even then. You were thirteen. You had grown tits, and they fascinated me. Father didn't like how I would stare. So he kept me away."

I'm surprised at his words. My father has never cared for me, so why would he stop his precious heir from doing anything to me. I'd more expect him to hand me over on a silver platter.

"I can see the wheels turning. Father had plans for you. Selling your virginity to the highest bidder after he got rid of Ivan. Only Ivan made a mistake. He fucked with the wrong person and was chased from town. Father refused to be chased out of the city he was planning to claim, so he pivoted. He offered you in order to secure some goodwill with the Yakuza. He didn't expect them to turn around and hand you over to the Westies. That pissed him off. Especially when they plastered your wedding announcement across every newspaper and television in the state. He wrote you off, you know that? Decided you weren't worth it."

Of course he did. I'm only worth the pussy between my legs. He made sure I knew that. He knew I likely gave it up with my time with the Yakuza. Hell, he told them to use me.

Thinking about it now, I don't think he ever planned to get me back.

"Don't worry." Grigoriy reaches out, touching my face. It takes everything in me not to flinch. "Little brother is here to take care of you. I'll kill that husband of yours, then you can marry me. I'll treat you better than father did. In fact, I'll bring you his heart in a jar if you'd like. I just have to wait until I'm a little bit older. The men don't take me seriously yet. They will."

He's mental. He is living in his own little world. He truly thinks we are going to be together.

"Does father know you are here?" I ask.

"That idiot is in California working with those stupid Ukrainians kidnapping women to sell on the black market. He put his eggs in the wrong basket. Even I can see that the syndicates won't stand for it. There are whispers about them, you know. The four factions of families joining forces to stop the skin markets. It's quite magnificent to see, really. Who would have thought that the Catalini, Westie, Yakuza, and Petrov Bratva would work so well together? Has father and that Ukrainian bastard scared shitless. If it wasn't for the Polish fucker running things, they wouldn't still be doing it."

I file this information away for later. If I can manage to get back to Declan, he will need to know this. I know he's been fighting against these traffickers. Anything I can get from Grigory will help him.

"I really liked the gifts you sent me," I tell him.

He smiles at me. "I knew you would. Father deprived you of too much. I'll change that for you."

"What about Trisha? Where is she?" I swallow hard, my mouth feeling like cotton.

He stands, moving to the side where a mini fridge is sitting. Pulling out a water, he brings it back to the bed, handing it to me. I thank him, taking a small sip.

"Would you like to see her?"

Not really.

I can't say that, though. I need to know what I'm up against.

"Yes, please. I should thank her for reuniting us."

He starts laughing maniacally. "Let's go thank her then."

He stands, holding his hand out to me. I take it, ignoring how my skin shivers at his touch. He's dangerous. He's on my side right now, but I'm under no illusions that it will stay this way.

I go to stand, but my legs are weak. Grigoriy doesn't question it. He pulls me to his side, similar to the way Declan does. It makes my skin crawl, but I let him help me out the door and into the hall.

"Where are we?"

He grunts. "The house father bought. It's about an hour from the city. Don't worry. We are safe here. Your husband's men can't find us. Father purchased it under an alias that they haven't found yet. I have to say, as much as I hate Declan, he is one hell of a hacker. It's been fun playing with him."

I have to push down the flash of anger I feel. I want to lash out at him. Tell him not to talk about my husband. That I hate him for taking me from him. I don't say a word, though. Instead, I put those familiar walls back in place. I turn back into the ice princess Declan loved to call me.

"He's something, that's for sure. Is it much further? My legs are weak," I tell him.

He swings me up into his arms, kissing the side of my head.

Another thing Declan would do. It makes me sick to think about it.

Grigoriy walks me the rest of the way before stopping at the back door. He opens it, flicking on the lights.

My eyes adjust as I see two dogs tearing into flesh. It takes me a second, but I recognize the face right away.

Trisha.

I hated the bitch, but to know she's being eaten has my stomach rolling.

"She shouldn't have thrown you so carelessly. I almost didn't catch you. I would have been peeved had you died, my darling sister. She had to pay for almost harming you."

He shuts the door, turning off the lights as he turns to carry me back down the hall.

I can't say a word.

He's sick.

I'm going to die by his hand. If not today, in the future. I can't pretend to love him. Not even as my brother.

The doorbell rings then.

"Oh good. Our guest is here. Let's get you settled into the lounge."

He carries me into a large room with a couch and coffee table. There's a television on one wall with a fireplace on another.

"I'll be back in a jiffy." He sounds like a kid on Christmas Day.

My stomach is knots. I don't want to know who our guest is. I have a feeling it's not a good guest.

Then they drag his body in.

My eyes meet his, and my heart stops.

Declan.