Chapter 18 - Yefim

I'm so happy that Tia finally quit her other job.

Now the only work she has is with me, at my business. The family business—a family that she is already a part of.

I haven't really told her this yet, but I know that it means a lot more than just leaving a job. She's let go of something a lot bigger than that. She gave up that control over her life. That security. She let it go.

She's put her trust in me in a huge way, and I am fully aware of it.

I won't let her down. So, I want to show her how much it means to me, and that I can take care of her in the ways she needs.

The driver stops outside the restaurant bar where I was told the debt collector she owes the most money to likes to hang out. He's the asshole who I got into a fight with, so I thought I should try and resolve that one first. Pay him everything he's owed, plus some interest, and get rid of him for good. I don't want to leave room for error, so I'd rather pay a little more. I know how these guys work. They're assholes.

Of course I also want to warn him that if he ever comes near my wife again it will be his life on the line, so I plan to have a word with him about that as well. He knows who I am. He knows my family name. It should be enough to scare him into understanding.

I climb out of the car and head into the bar at the side of the restaurant. He's more likely to be in there than eating at this time of day. The bar is smokey and noisy. It smells of body odor and old leather jackets. Not my style, definitely not the type of place I would hang out. But, I remind myself, these guys are debt collectors. They aren't on the same level as I am.

I glance around the room, searching for his face amidst the sea of strangers.

He's easy to spot, a tall guy with a broken nose, dark patches beneath his eyes where the bruises are starting to heal. He looks up as though he can feel my eyes on him.

He recognizes me as soon as I walk in as well. I guess I stand out in my own way, too clean for this place. I chuckle as I head in his direction, the duffel bag swinging in my grip.

I walk straight over to him, perhaps not being aware enough of my surroundings—that was my first mistake. My second mistake was coming alone.

I underestimated them.

Odd, because I tend to overthink things and never underestimate anyone. But I definitely underestimated this asshole.

"Yefim Dubrov. We've been expecting you," the asshole says, egotistical and sure of himself. His deep voice sounds rough from years of chain-smoking the cheapest, strongest cigarettes on the market.

"We?" I say, dumping a bag of money on the top of the bar. "This is everything she owes—plus extra. I think we can both agree that you've hounded her for her dead mother's debts for too long now and it's time to—"

The blinding pain that cracks against the back of my head catches me completely off guard. Who the fuck hits someone from behind?

I drop to my knees as the world starts spinning wildly. Blinking, I lift my arm to touch the back of my head, to feel the warmth of the bright red blood I know is oozing over my skull, but I don't get that far. Before my fingers touch my skull, a heavy leather boot slams into my ribcage, and all the air is punched from my body.

I gasp and slump forward as new pain rolls through me. Broken. My rib is definitely broken. It hurts so much I could easily believe that it's cracked in half and pierced my lung. I can't seem to get a breath of air into my body.

No. No. It's okay. I can breathe.

I'm about to make some smart-ass remark about being too chicken to face me when they fight me when two men lift me from behind. I feel their hands wrap beneath my armpits as they drag me to my feet, letting me stand unsteady and struggling to breathe.

The asshole stands in front of me, grinning, his dark bruised eyes filled with hate.

"So, we aren't going to talk, then?" I mumble, eyeing him through narrowed lids.

He turns his head to the side and spits, right on the floor, in the pub. Then he starts punching, and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it because the two other thugs have my arms pinned behind me. The world is growing dark as I fight to stay in it. Pain is searing through my entire body and growing worse with each punch, each kick, each blow to my head.

I don't know how long the beating goes on for. I'm lying on the filthy floor, blood dropping out of my mouth, over my swollen lips, cut and already turning blue.

I am in and out of consciousness when I hear my brother's voice.

"Step away." He sounds calm but threatening.

I blink towards the familiar sound and see him pouting a gun towards the thugs. They start stepping away from me with their hands raised in the air. They don't look particularly worried, but they were also caught off guard. Perhaps too caught up in the moment, enjoying beating the life out of me.

Leon and Alexei are right there next to Oleg, also armed, three of their body guards behind them.

"Step away, keep moving," Oleg says again, firing a shot that smashes into a bottle behind the bar and sends glass and whisky spraying through the air. I wince at the sound. Then, realizing that this is the moment for me to get out of here, I try to push myself to my feet, but my legs are shaking and not listening. My body won't get up. It feels so heavy.

I feel someone lifting me and blink to focus on Leon's face. He doesn't say anything. Now isn't the time, surrounded by the enemy. He lifts me carefully, not like the thugs did. More gently this time. I do my best to drag my feet into action as I lean against his side. The only thing stopping me from falling is his arm around my waist.

"You've got the money? The debt is paid?" Oleg is talking to the asshole.

"I don't want to see your brother here again."

"Is the debt settled?"

"No, this is only the beginning. He should never have pushed us."

Oleg shakes his head, no more words. He grabs the bag off the bar counter and turns to walk out. I'm carried with him.

They put me in the back of a car. I glance around in confusion.

"How did you know I was here? How did you know I needed your help?" I mumble, my head pounding and throbbing in pain. I press my fingers to my temple to try and massage away the aches.

"Your driver called us," Alexei answers.

"Come on, let's get him home," Oleg huffs.

"No, not home. Tia can't see me like this."

She already made me promise not to interfere. If she knows I went to see the guy, and this is how it turned out—she'll be furious.

I don't want her to worry. I don't want her to stress about me. I'll be fine. I'll figure out this debt shit. I'll go over the debt collector directly to the source if I have to.

But everyone is safe for now. That's what counts right now.

"Do you know who the fuck you were messing with?" Leon snaps from the front seat, glaring at me in the rearview mirror, his eyes filled with anger. Perhaps even fear. "You almost got killed, you fucking idiot. Do you think I want to lose my brother? Do you think I want to come and peel your body off a pavement outside a shithole like this one? What the fuck were you thinking, messing with that guy alone?"

Oleg glances over at Leon. "Hey, maybe wait till he's feeling a bit better?"

"No, he needs to hear this now. He's a fucking idiot going in there alone."

"Yeah. I know who the debt collector is," I mutter, my lips feeling swollen and awkward.

"Not the debt collector. The family he collects for. The Vitali family. The biggest family in Boston, alongside the Dubrovs. Probably the only family who you don't want to mess with, because they actually have enough power to make our lives difficult."

"Yeah, yeah." I sigh, in too much pain to really think about the danger I was in only a moment ago. They probably would have killed me, even if that wasn't their original plan. They would have ended up killing me in the heat of the moment, like sharks in a feeding frenzy. Once men like that get going, it's hard for them to stop.

I didn't know he was working for the Vitali family. In my stupidity, I only took the time to look into the debt collector. Now I know why Tia was so angry that I interfered in the first place.

Well, whatever, I'm alive. I'll be fine.

"There is no way you can avoid Tia seeing you, Yefim. You live with her," Oleg sighs heavily.

"So, don't take me home. Take me to one of the safehouses until I don't look like I'm about to die." I chuckle, but it shoots pain through my side.

"You know that's going to be a few weeks, right? This isn't going to heal overnight. What do you expect us to tell Tia when you have just disappeared, all of a sudden, for weeks?"

"Tell her I had to go away on business. Look man, figure it out. Right now just get me to a fucking bed and hand me a bottle of painkillers so that I can sleep till next Tuesday." I lean my head against the backrest of the car seat, wishing the street lights outside weren't so fucking bright, piercing more pain into my skull.

Fuck, I need something to take away this headache.

"You're not going to get to sleep for a while. The doc is going to come see you and make sure you don't have a concussion or internal bleeding or some shit. You really are a fucking moron, going into that territory alone."

Oleg drives me to one of our safehouses, and between my three brothers, they carry me inside, slumped over their shoulders, barely able to stand.

I drop down onto the sofa with a cry of pain.

The doctor is already on his way to see me—I'm fine with that. He has some good meds and will inject the pain away. Then I can sleep. I want to sleep. I want to sleep, lying in Tia's arms, listening to her sweet voice, but I fucked that up for now, so I guess I just want to sleep.

The sooner I sleep, the sooner I start to heal and the sooner I can see Tia again.

I am pissed off with myself. I don't let Oleg know that, but I am.

I'm pissed off because now I have to stay away from Tia for a while, and it's the last thing on earth that I want to be doing.

***

Over the next two days I get a few messages from Tia. She's upset that I had to leave so suddenly for a business trip, but I can tell she is trying to be understanding.

I want to tell her I'm still in the same city. That I miss her. That I want to see her. But I can't. I have to play it cool so that she doesn't come looking for me.

I spend pretty much the entire time sleeping.

On the third day, I'm in bed upstairs, my body actually starting to feel a little better, when I'm woken by a sound, but I'm not sure what it is.

I roll over in bed, listening, but don't hear anything else. Maybe I dreamed it.

Luckily, I didn't break any ribs, but they are very bruised. And I do have a neat row of stitches on the back of my head. My eyes aren't so swollen anymore that I can't open them, and my mouth is feeling more normal. Maybe in another week and I can think about going home to Tia. I heal fast, and the beating felt worse than it was.

I roll over again with a heavy sigh. One of my brothers has left lunch on the table next to my bed. They've been taking turns to stop by every day and look out for me. That's what family is for, and I have an amazing one.

Snuggling my face into the pillow, I close my eyes.

But then a very angry, very snappy voice comes from the bedroom doorway.

"Are you actually kidding me? Did you honestly think you could hide this from me?"

My eyes shoot open and I stare at Tia, her hands on her hips as she glares down at me.

"Tia—how—where—"

"Your sister obviously told me where you were. She wasn't going to let me sit there at home, alone, wondering what the hell was going on."

I slowly sit up in bed, feeling every bruise, every strained muscle.

Tia watches me with horror on her face as the blankets fall from my body and reveal the dark bruises across my ribs and arms, matching the bruises around my eyes and jaw.

"Yefim, you look terrible," she sighs, rushing to the side of the bed, her anger replaced with tenderness.

"You should have seen me three days ago, I actually look pretty good now." I chuckle, then grab the side of my body, trying to ease the pain.

"It's not funny. It's not even a tiny, little bit funny. Anya told me what you did. The debt collector contacted me to threaten me again. How was this worth it? All that happened is that he got more pissed off."

"This wasn't about the money, Tia. This was going to happen regardless. I pissed them off when I attacked him outside the office. Whether I went there to pay the debt or not, they would have gotten their revenge. Now it's over and done with and I'm here, I'm okay. I'm fine. We will deal with the debt later. We'll go directly to his boss."

"Not you. He said if he ever sees you again he's going to kill you."

Her voice is tight, and her eyes are bright with the threat of tears.

"Tia, baby girl, I'm going to be fine. I'm okay."

She sits on the edge of the bed, leaning over me to brush her fingers across my cheek. "You're not okay, you big idiot." She leans down and softly kisses me, her lips pressed carefully against mine. It hurts, but it's the thing I've needed more than I could have imagined. Her kiss. Her touch.

"I'm sorry," I whisper against her mouth, my hand wrapped around the back of her neck.

She runs her hand over my chest and sighs heavily. "You should never have hidden from me either, Yefim. It was bad enough you went behind my back to try and fix it, but then to hide it from me afterwards—don't ever do that again. Don't keep things from me. I'm not weak. I don't need protection from things like that. Especially not when I should have been here to take care of you."

I nod. "You're right. I should have told you. I was scared of pushing you away with my stupid choices."

She sighs heavily, again, closing her eyes for a moment. "All that matters right now is that you're okay. You're definitely a bit broken, but you're okay."

"My brothers will look after me until I'm back on my feet."

"Not a chance. I'm staying here with you. I've brought all my work files with me, I've got everything I need. I'm staying with you, Yefim."

I grin. She really is the most beautiful girl in the entire world.

She is perfect, and she's mine.