Chapter Twenty-OneAlexei

Chapter Twenty-One

Alexei

"You're anxious," Irina says, reaching for my hand and squeezing it softly. I get a whiff of her flowery perfume, but even that is not enough to calm the turmoil raging inside me. "Are you worried I'll get hurt?"

"I am," I answer honestly.

Our car stops in front of a white monstrosity where the masked party is being held. I take in the building, making a note of every corner with a possible escape route. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't keep Irina from coming. Not after she poured her heart out to me, not after she told me she loved me and how scared she was of losing me.

I already regret my decision. I had from the moment I said yes. I can't shake the foreboding feeling things will go awry tonight. I don't care if I die, I just want her safe.

"We'll be fine," she assures me. "Both of us, and the guys. We'll all be fine."

I want to believe those words, but I've stayed in this darkness long enough to know things won't be fine just because she says so. "If anything happens—"

"Don't worry about me, make a run for it," Irina recites, repeating the same words I said when we left our home an hour ago. She chuckles. "You've said that a hundred times already. I don't think I'd forget it even if I was dying."

I frown at her.

"Alright, I won't die. You're such a drama queen." She chuckles.

I'm struggling to understand how she can be so cheerful at a time like this, but I can't deny how beautiful she is when she smiles. I lean toward her, cup the back of her head and kiss her. When I pull away, I pull my mask over my face and say, "Let's go."

The bodyguard opens her door. I open mine and slide out, then I round to car to meet her and allow her to loop her arm through mine.

My wife is wearing a beautiful black dress and a mask that makes her look mysterious. She's stunning, and if it were another time, I'll probably push the dress up and fuck her.

Dimitri's gaze meet mine at the entrance. We'd decided not to travel together to lower our chances of being discovered. He looks like he's about to explode from the way Nikolai is clinging onto him, pretending they're lovers.

We enter the hall which has clusters of masked guests. Music from a piano encourages a few of the guests take to the dancefloor. I scan the hall for a sight of Paulo.

Nikolai grabs a grape from a moving tray and holds it close to Dimitri's mouth. Nikolai can be a complete asshole sometimes, he just wants to piss Dimitri off and it's working because Dimitri looks like he would shoot him if he could lay his hand on a gun.

"Handsome couple, aren't they?" Irina asks, giggling. "I wish I could take a picture of them."

"Dimitri will throw up for days if you do." I manage a smile. It's hard not to when Irina is smiling so widely. Her happiness is contagious.

"But it will be worth it." She reaches for two glasses of champagne from a tray a waiter is carrying and hands one to me. We don't drink though, we're merely holding the glasses to make our fa?ade a little more believable.

An hour passes before I spot Paulo, fat as a cow, talking to woman who looks distressed. She looks no older than nineteen.

I'm boiling with rage just looking at him.

"Is that him?" Irina asks, looking in the same direction I am. "What is he doing to that girl?"

"I warned you. You can see what he's doing. She's probably one of the girls they kidnapped and groomed to—" I can't bring myself to complete the sentence. I blame myself for all of this, I should have guarded my territory better.

"Does that mean he'll try to sleep with her even if she doesn't want it?"

I nod.

"We can't allow that happen," Irina says, her voice laced with panic.

I explore my options. I can either walk up to him and shoot him dead, or I can trail him and strangle him before he has a chance to do more than touch the young woman.

I'm still contemplating my next move when Irina shoves her drink in my hand. "Hold this."

Before I can stop her, she's striding across the room to Paulo and the girl.

Paulo takes an immediate interest in her, waving off the girl and scrutinizing Irina like she's a whore he'd like to stick his miserable dick in.

My jaw ticks and my fists clench. Rage flares at the way he's looking at my wife, and I don't know how much longer I can hold it in before I do something stupid.

They talk for a while, then he places his hand at the small of Irina's back and starts to lead her upstairs. She turns to me and inclines her head.

This wasn't the plan. We'd planned to capture his attention and lead him to a place where we can kidnap him, not this. But Irina…she'd thought this through, and she didn't tell me because she knew I wouldn't agree.

"We have to go with them," Nikolai whispers to me. Dimitri is standing beside him. I hadn't noticed them walk up to me.

"We do." I place the drinks on the table behind me and follow up the stairs Irina and Paulo had disappeared from.

There at least twenty room on the floor, but I know which one Irina is in, because she left an earring in front of it.

As we approach the door, I take a deep breath and grasp the handle, my heart pounding in my chest. This is it, the moment we've been waiting for. I twist the handle and nudge the door open, revealing a dimly lit room with a large four-poster bed in the center. Irina stands at the far end, her back to us, and Paulo is standing close behind her, his hand resting on her waist. Nikolai and Dimitri follow me inside, their faces set in grim determination.

"Paulo," I drawl my voice low and dangerous. "What do you think you're doing with my wife?"

The old fart is already half naked, he's wearing a boxers that looks more like a skirt on him.

Nikolai chuckles behind me. It's so like him to find scenarios like this amusing.

Paulo turns to us. Color drains from his face. His eyes wide with fear. "Alexei…" He drags his gaze to Irina. "You fucking whore."

"Watch your tone when you speak to my wife, Paulo. We don't want your death to be any more painful than I have planned."

"You won't get away with this," Paulo yells. "The Phoenix won't let you get away with this!"

"That is exactly why I am here. To gather all the information I can on the Phoenix. I heard you were one of the leaders."

"Fuck you." He shoves Irina and tries to run, but Nikolai grabs him by his arm before he can reach the door.

My brother wraps his arm around Paulo's neck, choking him until he passes out.

Holding Irina by her shoulders and steadying her, I search for injuries. "Are you okay? Did that asshole touch you?"

She shakes her head. "I'm fine. He didn't get a chance to."

"Are you sure?"

"I swear I'm fine." She stares anxiously at the closed door. "Is there someone outside?"

"No, is something wrong?"

"I feel there's someone there, but maybe it's because I'm nervous." Her gaze returns back to me. "Other than that, I'm fine."

I sigh with relief. "Good, because I'm very mad at you right now." I hold her hand and look toward the emergency exit Mikhail found yesterday. He's parked outside the exit with some of my men waiting for us.

"Can you two carry him?" I ask Nikolai and Dimitri.

They both nod.

"Let's get out of here." Taking Irina with me, I lead the way. My brother and Dimitri follow. We burst out of the exit, shove Paulo in the backseat of one of the cars and drive away. No one follows us. It would seem they're too busy having fun to be bothered by anyone leaving early.

By the time we get home, Paulo has regained consciousness. He's strapped to a chair. Irina goes upstairs while we stay with Paulo in the basement.

His eyes crack open and he slowly takes in his environment, scanning each of our faces before he grins. "Alexei, we meet again."

"I guess this is the part where I say, ‘It's a pleasure to meet you again'." He lets out a laugh that sears through me in the worst way possible.

"You think this is funny?" I ask, my brows raising to my hairline.

"Isn't it?"

"Let's see." My fists clench and I punch him in the jaw.

His bones rattle and he whimpers. "Fuck, that was a hard—"

I punch him again before he can finish his sentence, and then I take a fistful of hair and pull it.

He groans this time.

"Listen to me, old man," I growl. "I don't have time for games. Tell me everything you know about those who run the Phoenix with you."

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Blood drips from his mouth onto his suit jacket. "There's only so many times a man can die, boy."

"There's only so much torture a geezer like you can endure." I lean in and whisper, "Brace yourself, Paulo. I plan to make this very painful if you don't start speaking now."

"Shit, man. You make really good threats."

"Do I?" I roll the sleeves of my shirt. My fist drives into his stomach. He keels over and screams. "Start talking. Who else runs the Phoenix?"

He coughs out blood and spits it at my feet. "You'll never be able to bring the Phoenix down, boy. It's so much larger than you think. They'll kill you before you even come close to bringing the organization down."

"Bullshit!" I grab his neck. "There are three leaders, and you're the third. Who are the other two?"

"I have no freaking idea, boy!"

My phone rings. I ignore it.

Nikolai walks to me and takes it out of my pants pocket. "It's Dominic, you should take it.

"Not now, I'm busy." I want to rip out Paulo's tongue and feed it to him, but I can't, at least not until I get what I need out of him. "You think I'll believe that? You fooled me, made me believe you were dead."

"You got a good deal out of it though, didn't you?" He sneers. "You married that girl. She's hot, too bad you interrupted before I could get a taste of her."

My grip on his neck tightens. "Shut up, you fucking son of a bitch!"

The sound of my phone ringing again reverberates in the basement.

"You're not very smart, boy, are you?" He chuckles sardonically. "You're not very hard to fool, and you fall easily for it."

"You can't pull another stupid trick on me when you're dead." His lips curls to the side. "I wonder how long it will take for you to figure it out."

"Figure what—"

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I read the amusement in his eyes, the smile on his lips, how easy it was to take him. It was all… a trap.

Terror washes over me like ice. In the foreboding silence, my phone rings again.

"Get your weapons ready." I snatch my phone from Nikolai who's looking at me with confusion. "Go!"

All three of them hurry out. Mikhail starts to make a call.

"Dominic," I say when I finally answer my phone.

"The Phoenix had this planned out," Dominic pants over the phone. "They're closing in on you."

"Irina." She's all alone upstairs. I don't have time to think or react. There's an explosion, and the next thing I know I'm floating the air, colliding with the floor of the basement and thudding to the floor.

Pain splinters through me. There's a ringing in my ears before the world goes dark.

When I open my eyes again, Paulo is standing over me with a smile. He pats me on the head and says, "You're still too easy to fool, boy."

Through foggy vision, I see someone carrying a woman. She's unconscious and slouched over his shoulder. He's carrying my wife. They're taking Irina.

I try to move or at least call out to her, but I can't. I'm in too much pain and too weak.

My eyes prickle with tears as memories flood into my mind. I'm plunged into the past when I was nothing but a helpless little boy. The images that flash in my head are like a nightmare; all the times my father hit my mother, and the night when he killed her.

And I just stood there, helpless.

That is how weak I am. They're taking my wife and I can't do anything. I start to slip into darkness again, but all I can think of is Irina.

I can't die. I need to save her.