Chapter 26 - Aleksandr

Time seemed to stand still as I waited with the phone pressed to my ear. Lev stared at me, then at the dead man at our feet. He had no further arguments or reassurances that this was random, or just some form of escalation of the ongoing battles with our enemies.

They had somehow found out that Katie's lunch box business was under my protection, and now, after torturing her delivery man to death, I feared the worst. That they knew she was my wife.

My everything.

And I couldn't find the courage to tell her the truth, or even apologize for acting like a complete ass. As the phone seemed to ring endlessly on her end of the line, I truly believed I might have been having a heart attack. I wouldn't be able to breathe again until I heard her voice.

"Aleks?" She finally answered, and I staggered back to lean against the convenience store wall.

I nodded once to Lev, who also seemed to be frozen as he waited to see if our hunch was right. When I couldn't find words for a moment, Katie repeated my name, asking if I was there. Her voice was tentative, maybe a bit annoyed with me still. She had every right to be mad as hell. She could have been screaming expletives at me, and I still would have been overjoyed to listen.

"Are you okay? Where are you?" I barked. All thoughts of apologizing flew from my mind since I was consumed with her safety.

"I'm on my way to deliver the lunches, remember?" she asked warily. "You talked to Sergei earlier about it."

"Yes, I remember," I said, closing my eyes in frustration. That was before I'd seen what the Armenians had done to the poor soul in the alley with us.

I had her put Sergei on the line, and he informed me they were taking a short detour but could turn around if I didn't like that plan. I didn't like it at all. Katie must have wrestled the phone from him because she came back on.

"We're pulling in right now," she said, as if trying to tell me I better not order her to turn around and go home.

Could I do that? I hated that she was outside the safety of our home. Even though I'd ordered the extra guards to keep out of sight as best they could, they were still there and on high alert. But she was with Sergei, who was one of my best men. Someone I trusted with my own life. Ultimately, I didn't want to scare her again.

"Stay close to Sergei," I told her. "And go home as soon as you drop off the meals."

"Oh, about that," she said, pausing tentatively. "I thought—"

"Straight home," I ordered. There was no arguing with the command, and I could hear her quiet sigh.

"All right, fine," she agreed, easily enough. But then she remained silent, and I ended the call.

Lev began pacing and wringing his hands. The man who he had sent inside with the shop worker came out, making a motion with his hand that we wind things up. The shop owner was friendly with us since Dimitry had helped him out with some nasty loan sharks in the past, but he was a straight arrow and had probably caved and called the police by now. We still had to verify it had been the Armenians who had done this, but we'd have to leave it up to the authorities to deal with his body and inform his family.

The owner pushed his way out, his gray hair standing on end. His lined face held the quintessential look of being way too old for this shit. I could relate.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Fokin. The cops have been trying to pin something on us since those guys broke our windows," he said, referring to the loan sharks. "Protect and serve, my ass." He spat on the ground, looking horrified that he'd done so in the presence of the corpse, and crossed himself. "Anyway, I gotta be on the up and up about this."

"I understand," I said. "Let them be useful for once and get this man some justice."

We both shared a bitter laugh, and the man said, "So, was he one of yours?"

I nodded. "I hope we can find the culprits before the police do, but I don't mind them getting a little extra heat until then."

Lev got a call and broke into our conversation after answering it. "We better make ourselves scarce. We were never here, right?" he asked the old man.

He nodded, looking as weary as I felt. I clapped him on the shoulder and thanked him for calling us first. I'd taken the bit of sticker that helped identify us, and was confident enough in all my sources within the Los Angeles County police department that any other evidence that might identify we were at the scene would be lost.

I assigned Lev to find the people who'd had their actual hands-on in the attack. He promised he'd call me as soon as he had anything, wanting to know if we should go straight to the Armenian leader.

"Let's get his people first, to have something to bargain with."

"We should get dirty first if that's what they're planning," he said, blood lust gleaming in his eyes.

Thinking of Katie almost made me agree. "Pump the brakes a bit," I said. "We'll talk later."

"So, that's not a no," he said.

"It's not a no," I agreed. "But it is a calm the fuck down until we have the guys who did this, got it?"

"Got it." He left with a tense look.

I was ready to settle this too, just as angry as he was, but first, I had to ensure Katie was safe. See her with my own eyes, and hold her in my arms.

I left the scene before it was swarming with cops, and pulled into a parking lot to bring up Katie's location on my phone. The closest people to her location were still almost half an hour away, but since I was all the way out by the beach, I was even further. I ordered two separate teams to get to her location, get eyes on her, and then follow her home. All without letting her know anything was wrong.

It was a dauntless task, but my men were well-trained in discretion. They were also fast and lethal if the slightest thing seemed out of place.

I watched the little dot that signified my wife for a moment. If traffic was reasonable for both of us, we might arrive at home at the same time. If I hurried, I could get there before her and set up something nice out by the pool, where I'd try to make amends.

I hoped she'd forgive me, and tried not to take her easygoing, trusting nature for granted. She deserved a real apology, and she was going to get it. It would make things a lot easier in the coming days if she was happy, but either way, she was staying at home. No amount of tears or arguments would change my mind about that.

I had to keep her safe, for as long as it took to squash this uprising that threatened everything I cared about. They'd crossed the line by coming for Katie, and as soon as she was where I knew they could never touch her, I meant to put them back on their own side of that line. By any means necessary.