Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Mikhail

I’mout of the shower in seconds, my phone to my ear.

"Someone’s broken through the perimeter." It’s Viktor. "Lev got a notification that one of our security systems has been disabled. All-hands-on-deck, Mikhail. Keep her safe." There’s a shout behind them, the sound of shattering glass, and his phone goes dead.

Fuck.

I turn to see Aria standing in the doorway, stricken. Water streams down her body and pools on the floor while she stands wrapped clumsily in a towel.

"Get dressed. We’re taking you to the safe room."

My entire house is a fucking safe room. I designed it this way, and when my family retreated here, we were ready. It’s reinforced with bulletproof glass, extra surveillance systems, and my brothers have upped their weapons to automatic guns, stationed at various points throughout the house. Even the doors are reinforced steel. But we designed a room just for Aria.

"What’s going on? If someone breached security, Mikhail, I can help – "

"No. We need to get you to safety, now."

"At least let me bring my laptop!" I know she hates feeling helpless, but I don’t care about her helping right now. I want her safe.

"Leave the fucking laptop," I snap. I take her by the hand and yank her over to the dresser. "Put some clothes on. Now!”

She purses her lips, but doesn’t respond, just reaches in her dresser and grabs fistfuls of clothing. She yanks them on. I open the door of my bedroom, armed.

"I have a secure room on this floor, designed for this purpose."

"What purpose? I have no idea what you’re talking about."

"To keep you safe if the home is under attack."

This room is strategically located off the main hallway, in a discreet area of the house difficult for outsiders to locate. While the bedrooms are on the perimeter of the house, this room is in the dead center.

It was a large closet that I once used as an office, but I quickly had it converted. The walls, ceiling, and floor are constructed with thick bulletproof material that will not cave under gunfire or an explosion. The entrance is a heavy reinforced door, but the outside looks like it’s a large tapestry. Inside there are multiple locks and deadbolts. I pull up my phone, tap the app that Aleks and I designed, and when I slide my hand against the panel of the door, it opens.

"Wow," Aria says, obviously awed. "That is impressive."

Inside the room I have a secure internet connection, and more safety measures. There are closed-circuit television cameras with a live feed around the surrounding area, supplies such as food, water, basic amenities, and medical supplies. One bed, a television, a few comfortable chairs. And while it’s well ventilated, there’s no window in this room.

"I knew that you took security to the next level, Mikhail. But the security infrastructure here is really something else.” I half push her in and shut the door behind us.

According to Kolya, Volkov has lost his mind. This is no longer about a moratorium, or honoring the rules of our brotherhood. This is revenge, pure and simple. And while I will not hide for any length of time, and I will not cower under his threat, we need a minute to gather our resources.

She sits on the bed, lifts the remote control, and does a quick surveillance of the equipment I have in here.

"Really, this is incredible, but are you sure you’re not overreacting? What happened?"

“I’m not sure yet.”

I tap a button on my phone and call my brothers.

The conference call quickly picks up with Aleks, Viktor and Nikko, swiftly followed by Lev and Ollie.

“Jesus,” Viktor says, scowling at the camera with his arms crossed on his chest. "The fucking balls of these guys. "

"Tell me."

I’m pacing the small room while she looks over everything I have on the computer.

"We’ve detained one attacker,” Viktor says. "Kolya wouldn’t let me kill him."

"Of course you can’t fucking kill him," I tell him. "We need him to talk. Did you get any information out of him?"

Aria cringes on the bed and shakes her head. Maybe this is all a bit too much for her, but I don’t care. Her safety is more important than anything right now.

"Yes. He broke more easily than I thought he would. He says there are no further attacks, that Volkov wanted to warn us. He said that he’s gone mad, and even his own men don’t trust him anymore."

That corroborates with what Kolya told us. "I see."

“You don’t have to keep her in the safe room, Mikhail. We have everything stabilized out here."

"Do you know how they breached security?"

"Not yet."

Still, I don’t want to risk anything happening to her. But we can’t stay in this room forever. This is a temporary hold, and if it was a false alarm, she should be able to go see the rest of my family.

And even though she and our baby are the most important people to me right now, I have other responsibilities as well.

Jesus.

"Mikhail? I suspect based on what I’m looking at here that this is nothing new. They’ve been staging an attack on your home for a while. Since before I was here."

I turned to look at her. "How do you know that?"

"I’ve located several drones that may have been placed to gather intelligence on your home security measures, your routines, where you and I are…Looking for potential weak points."

Of course. Volkov knew that I would be getting married, and if he couldn’t prevent my marriage, he could definitely threaten the safety of my family.

“Looks like Nikko has shot down two drones. But there may be a third in place. With this particular strategy, it’s common to use three drones. The tripod, we call it."

"Are you telling me that Aleks fucked up again?”

She shakes her head. “No, not at all. It looks as if all of this was very covert and off the record, until Volkov just didn’t fucking care anymore.”

For once, I let her language slide. We have bigger things to deal with, like locating the one remaining drone and disabling it.

“They found someone, you said?"

I nod.

"Find out what you can from them, that’s the best strategy. It would also be best if I could deal with Aleks, the two of us, one on one, so we could put a more secure system in place."

She bites her lip for a moment, looking contemplative. "Mikhail," she says. "How long though? How long will your family hide here? You are not people that hide from danger, so I know you can’t be planning on doing so for very long."

"You’re right. We’re putting together a plan of offense in place of defense. We just need some time. "

I get a call, and my brother tells me that the coast is clear. I blow out a breath, reluctant to remove her from the safe room now that she’s here.

"We can’t stay here forever,” I tell her with a nod. "I know you’re right. Let’s go eat with my family."

She looks down at herself in rumpled sweats, her hair still damp from the shower.

"Can I at least freshen up first?"

"Fine."

We go back to our room and I’m preoccupied. She quickly puts on a pair of jeans and a sweater and does some kind of messy knot thing in her hair that looks adorable.

While she freshens up with a little bit of makeup, I lean toward her, catching her gaze in the mirror, and wrap my hand around the messy knot of a bun at the nape of her neck.

"Do you remember when we first met, and you walked in my office with your hair up? Do you remember what I told you?"

She snorts. "Remember? Of course I do. It was the first time in my life I had ever encountered someone that made me think they were a total asshole while also making me want to be pressed against the wall and kissed by them at the same time. I was so mad at you for making me all kinds of attracted to you."

I grin against her hair and give her a kiss on the back of her head. I love her.

"Are you hungry?"

"Starving, as usual, but you know how it goes. My appetite is a little weird right now."

"We’ll find you something you like."

Polina claps her hands together in glee when we make it to the dining room. My mother sits in the background, tapping on an iPad.

"Mikhail. Aria! It’s so good to see you. I wondered if you’d ever let her come down.”

They seem remarkably calm.

They haven’t been told of the attack. Why would they be? My brothers had it covered. Aria gives me a questioning look, and when I shake my head, she shrugs and sits next to my mother.

"How are you feeling?" my mother asks, reaching for Aria’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Much better. Still kind of yucky, like I have weird aversions, and cravings, and nausea comes and goes all the time. I can’t stop crying over everything.”

“Understandable. I got you something."

"Did you? "Aria says, her shining eyes looking at me in surprise. I knew she’d love my mother. I knew my mother would love her. But right now, I have more important things to worry about.

I call all my brothers down to the dining room so we can go over what just happened and fill my sister and mother in as well.

“Oh my goodness, I love these.” Aria unwraps a set of Matryoshka dolls, traditionally known as Russian nesting dolls here in America.

"You know each doll contains a smaller one, and I thought it would symbolize the stages of pregnancy, as you get further along.”

"Thank you!"

She pulls out a package of herbal teas designed for pregnant mothers, a little tin of pastilles you melt under the tongue for nausea, and a soft, thick woolen shawl.

"In Russian tradition, it’s exceptionally important for pregnant women to stay warm. While your body uses up all your resources to grow that child, you have to take care of yourself. Here, I made this myself." She arranges the shawl over Aria’s shoulders. I’m alarmed to see Aria wiping at her eyes.

"Thank you," she whispers, leaning in to give my mother a kiss on her cheek.

Aleks storms into the dining room, his eyes on Aria. ""Good. You’re here. We need to put our heads together. Goddamn drones."

“Oh my God, tell me about it." Aria rolls her eyes at me. "Drones are one of the hardest devices to track. It has to do with short range communication, the way they are so rapidly mobile, and how everything is encrypted."

"Right. The ones Volkov’s using have anti-jamming techniques. It means they’re built to resist any attempt to stop them from communicating."

"He’s been at this for some time, Aleks.”

I can’t blame Aleks for this. I’ve never made my private home part of his responsibility. And while he recently came in to help with surveillance and security, it’s still new to him.

Viktor storms into the room next, formidable and intimidating. He’s been working out in the home gym with Nikko, because when Nikko comes in, I notice they’re both wearing thin workout tanks and shorts, sweat still glistening on their skin.

Viktor takes a look at the large platter of bread on the table. "Are we eating lunch?”

"Of course we’re eating lunch, sweetheart,” my mother says as she rises to her feet. "I’m glad you’re hungry."

When Viktor came to us, he was severely malnourished and underfed. My mother took great delight in making his favorite meals and feeding him thoroughly until he put on weight. In high school, he started lifting and honing his body to where it is now.

Nikko sits at the table, bottle of water in his hand. "I interrogated him myself,” he says, obviously not caring that our mother is within earshot, Polina is somewhere nearby, and my wife is sitting right next to me. "He knows almost nothing. I don’t blame our questioning techniques. It seems like Volkov doesn’t have much of a plan. He’s flying by the seat of his pants, and from what information I’ve gathered, his own brothers don’t trust him anymore.”

“It makes sense,” Aleks says. “His reckless disregard for the rules we all agreed on. Dangerous risks, like drones and sending new inductees here to fulfill whatever it is he demands.” He shakes his head.

“And Kolya says Volkov is losing his mind. We can no longer reason with him.”

I lean back in my chair, thinking.

“If he’s unpredictable, we won’t sit waiting anymore. We’ll work as usual because he will strike when he thinks we’d least expect it. Tomorrow, we’re back to work and we stay vigilant and in constant communication.”

He reaches for my hand. “That includes you, little hacker.”