16. ANDREY

Chapter 16

ANDREY

I wait outside the bathroom for Isabella, keeping a vigilant eye on our surroundings. Ottawa is a reasonably sized airport, and the trip from the train station to the bus station to retrieve the new go bag went smoothly.

We stopped for breakfast at a lovely cafe and acted like a regular couple while each keeping a vigilant watch on our surroundings. I scan the departure monitors and notice that our flight is flashing for us to go to the gate.

Should I go into the bathroom and see if Isabella is alright? She’s been in there for quite a while now. A flight attendant walks past, rolling her bag.

“Excuse me,” I stop her. “I’m sorry to trouble you. My wife went into the bathroom a while ago. She’s got bad morning sickness. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind checking on her for me.”

“Oh!” The woman looks at me and smiles. “Sure. What’s her name.”

“Is… Sam,” I correct myself, remembering our new names. Fuck this is getting confusing.

She nods and disappears inside the bathroom. A few minutes later, she emerges with Isabella. “Here she is, handsome.” The woman gives me a flirty smile before turning to Isabella. “Are you sure you’re okay, hon?”

“Thank you,” Isabella gives the woman a weak smile. “I’ll go to that kiosk you recommended to get that tea.”

“Trust me, you’ll be glad you did,” the woman tells Isabella. “It saved my life and a few flights through all four of my pregnancies.” She gives us a small wave. “Take care.”

“Thank you,” I call after her, and she turns to give me another big smile before disappearing into the crowd.

“Are you okay?”

“Do I look okay?” Isabella snaps. Her face is pale, and her eyes a little glassy. “I’ve just hurled my guts out, choked on some toothpaste, and have a God-awful headache, and I’m dying for a cup of coffee.”

“You can’t have coffee.” I remind her.

“Fuck! I DIDN’T know that!” She hisses, spins on her heel, and marches off in the opposite direction to our gate.

I stand staring after her for a few minutes, calming my rising anger at being snapped at like that by her and reminding myself Isabella is raging on hormones right now.

Taking a deep breath, I stride after her. “Hold up there.” I grab her arm. “I know you’re not feeling good. But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t bite my head off like that. Especially in public.”

“Oh dear, is your big bad Bratva ego having a bad time coping with it?” she sneers, her eyes flashing, and I frown.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“You!” Isabella pokes me with her index finger. “You’re what’s wrong with me.” Her eyes are blazing. “Before I met you, I had plans. After I met you, my life turned into a ball of shit!” Her eyes bore into mine. “You talk about giving me space, but you can’t even let me vomit in peace without sending some gorgeous woman in to come get me.” Her eyes narrow suspiciously. “What was that? Your way of reminding me how easily you can get a beautiful woman to do your bidding,” she snarls. “Or your way of making me feel fucking shit about myself because I’m popping out of my clothes and smell of vomit all the time?”

Isabella turns and stomps off into the kiosk. My jaw has dropped slightly staring after, and it hits me.

“She’s fucking jealous of a random woman I spoke to!” I seethe through gritted teeth.

Jesus Christ! Anger burns inside me. I will not tolerate that kind of behavior. I can talk to who the fuck I want, and I will not have my wife turn into a shrew just because I speak to a pretty woman.

I’m just about to march after her when my jacket pocket buzzes. Shit! I nearly forgot to turn my phone off after checking for messages from my mother. I pull it out and see an SOS message from my mother. My heart feels like it’s stopped for a few minutes, and I immediately think it’s about my father. Looking up to check where Isabella is, I see her speaking to the woman in the shop. I dial it, and after a few rings, a voice that’s haunted me for the past year answers.

“Andrey?” Lev’s voice is hushed. “Is that you, brother?”

“Lev?” I breathe. “Fuck, is that really you?” My heart starts to thump in my chest.

“Yeah. It’s me.” Lev answers. “It’s good to hear your voice again. I was hoping our reunion would be under better circumstances, but I didn’t realize what a shit show I was walking into.”

“Yes, this was not the time to come back from the dead.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t contact any of you,” Lev says. “I didn’t know who was trying to kill me. I still don’t. I thought it was Dad and his bestie, Marco, but now I’m not so certain.” His voice lowers even more. “I believe you and Isabella are married now and have twins on the way?”

“Yeah!” I nod, and my eyes narrow. “How do you know that?”

“Marco told me,” Lev answers. “Turns out Marco and Dad had us taken from Konstantin as he and his fucked up Uncle are trying to take over our organization.” His words send alarm bells ringing through me.

“What do you mean?” I ask. “Isabella and Stacy said the three of you were trapped and stuck in separate rooms under heavy guard.”

“For our own safety in case Konstantin and his Zhukov force come down on us,” Lev tells me. “Fuck I can’t believe I lived with them for a year without even noticing they were going to use me as leverage to get Mom to unlock the DNA-encrypted files on all her special clients.“ He pauses, and I hear a tinge of fear in his voice. “Fuck, Andrey, they want it all !”

“Are you telling me that Konstantin and Roman are behind all this?” My brow creases, and I look up to see Isabella at the counter with a whole lot of stuff. “I have to go.”

“Where are you?” Lev asks. “We need to talk. You and Isabella are in great danger if you’re following Konstantin’s plans to get her out of the country.”

Lev is my brother, and I know I should believe him, but something nags at the back of my mind and isn’t sitting right in my gut.

“How did you get Mom’s phone?”

“Dad had it, and Marco gave it to me,” Lev’s voice drops.

“When did Dad get Mom’s…” Shit, Isabella is paying for her goods. “I’ll call you later. It’s good to hear your voice again, brother.”

I hang up. My brain is reeling from what Lev has just told me. For a second, I wonder if Lev’s right and Isabella and I are being herded into a trap. Fuck I don’t even know where we’re supposed to be going. I’ve been so stuck on looking after Isabella and our babies that I’ve just been following her blindly on some vague statement Konstantin made about getting us to safety.

“Isabella,” I get to her as the shop assistant is piling a new toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, mints, tea, some makeup, deodorant, and a few other items into a shopping bag. “We have most of this stuff.”

“Well, I want more.” Isabella glares at me. She’s still steaming from her last rant. “I also bought this.” She holds up a purse with a long strap. “Now I can have the things I need on hand at all times.”

“Okay!” I nod and take the shopping bag. “We have to go. They’re boarding our flight soon.”

As we start to walk out of the shop, the woman who served Isabella says, “Remember what I told you about the tea.”

“Thank you, Jane.” Isabella’s eyes soften, and she smiles.

We rush to the gate and find the boarding has been delayed due to a problem with the gate. I breathe a sigh of relief because now I can call Lev back. After ensuring Isabella is seated near the gate, I put the duffel bag beside her.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” I lie.

Isabella nods, giving me a relaxed look, then pulls a magazine from the shopping bag and dismisses me. My eyes narrow, and I shake my head before turning on my heel and heading to a bathroom close to the gate.

After checking to ensure the stalls were empty, I pulled out the phone and call Lev back.

“Andrey,” Lev answers. “Look, I don’t have much time to talk. Marco is moving us out of the lodge as it’s been compromised, but we managed to escape just before Konstantin, and his fucking ruthless army barged through.” He pauses.

“As long as you’re okay,” I tell him. “Where are you headed? Did Marco say?”

“No,” Lev replies and pauses. “I’ll be able to talk more once we’re at our destination.”

“Okay.” My brow creases a bit tighter. “Have you heard anything about Dad? Was Marco able to tell you who beat him up so badly?”

“No,” Lev replies before moving the conversation back to mine and Isabella’s trip. “Look, about Isabella…” Lev’s voice is hesitant. “Marco tells me that you and her are on your way to meet the messenger.”

My brow creases. Is that what this trip is all about? Not just getting Isabella to safety but finding the messenger?

“How does Marco know about the trip?”

“That’s another reason he kidnapped us from Konstantin.” Lev’s voice has notes of urgency in it. “To stop Konstantin from taking Isabella to meet the messenger.”

“Why would Marco want to stop Isabella from getting to the messenger?”

“He’s afraid that once Konstantin has his hands on what Karina sent to Isabella, he’ll kill Isabella.” Lev’s words make me go cold, and I feel the blood drain from my face.

“But he needs our babies to get an alliance.”

“No, brother, he does not,“ Lev points out. “Konstantin already has the pedigree he needs and a strong alliance with Europe, Canada, and Alaska.”

Now the adrenaline from shock spurts through me. Fuck! “With our organization and Marco’s, he’ll be a fucking Titan.”

Now my mind’s reeling and thinking Konstantin was the one behind the containers and the hacking. Then it hits me. The hackers were looking for the bio key file of all my mother’s special Velvet Transport clients. That’s all he needs to close down my mother’s company for good.

I had heard rumors that Roman had bought the European half of Velvet Transport when my mother’s brother had died eighteen years ago. Jesus! It dawns on me. This hasn’t been about a twenty-nine-year-old feud. It’s about a cold heart fucker wanting his revenge on his father and mine while amassing a huge organization—complete with a lethal special forces team and super drug.

Of course, he doesn’t need my heirs. Konstantin is a Zhukov, Andreev, and Moretti, with Isabella just married to me, and none of my family left… Fuck! I run my hands through my hair as fury erupts within me. Konstantin has neatly herded us in the direction he wanted us to go. The twenty-nine-year-old feud and my father paying a debt to the Zhukovs and Andreevs was a smoke screen, and my marriage to Isabella was one of that fuckers backup plans.

“Andrey?” Lev’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

“I’m here,” I bark. “Look, Isabella and I will go back to Boston. We can all meet there and regroup to take Konstantin down.”

“NO!” Lev shouts with an urgency that makes me scowl. “No.” He says a little calmer. “You can’t. Everyone’s been trying without fail to find out who the fuck this messenger is. Only Isabella can lead us to him, and it might be the only way to stop Konstantin because whatever the messenger has for her is really important to him.”

“You’re right,” I agree with Lev. “We’ll continue on the journey.”

“Brother, when you get to the final town before the Alaskan border, you need to send me the address that is given to Isabella,” Lev tells me. “Once I… we have that, Marco will give the address of a safe house to get yourself and Isabella to so you can wait for us.”

“Okay, brother,” I say, and a nagging doubt starts to claw at me. “I must go before Isabella gets suspicious. Keep safe.”

“You too, brother,” Lev says. “And don’t trust anyone! ”

I hang up, and my mind reels. What the fuck? Going over the past weeks in mind, Lev is probably right.

Whoever’s behind this has always been one step ahead of us. That’s because they weren’t a step ahead of us—we were being maneuvered.

And who else could pull off such tactics with military precision than a highly trained Zhukov Special Forces leader?

I’m about to leave the bathroom when my phone rings. I look at it, and my eyes widen when I see the name— Mother New . I feel a renewed cold feeling of shock wash over me—I hadn’t even realized Lev had phoned me from my mother’s old phone.

The phone that was stolen from my mother a year ago. My father had gotten her a whole new number and phone—I can remember thinking that it was strange to replace everything at the time. Now, I think it was for more sinister reasons.