22. ANDREY

Chapter 22

ANDREY

“Are you sure this is the place?” I ask Sasha, looking around as we near the front gates of an address, we found where my brother has been hiding in the North Pole, Alaska.

“It’s the address.” Sasha’s sharp eyes scan the premises. “I’m telling you, there’s no one here.”

He pushes the gate, and it falls open. “Well, this doesn’t seem like a trap at all.”

“Let’s find out.” Sasha shrugs.

With our hands near our weapons, we slowly walk inside.

“Don’t you think whoever is in that very glassy house is wondering why we’re walking up their driveway without a vehicle?”

Sasha shrugs. “Maybe they think we parked the sleigh and reindeer outside?”

“How long have you been wanting to say that?”

“Since I knew we were going to the North Pole.” Sasha grins.

“You do realize Santa’s North Pole is about one hundred and twenty-five miles south of here?”

His brows raise. “Tell that to the very festive people of the town.”

Rolling my eyes, we stay cautious as we walk up to the large glass-fronted house. Sasha frowns and glances around. “You’re right, there’s no one here.”

“Let’s go around the back,” Sasha suggests leading the way. “It’s like the entire compound has just been abandoned.”

“You know, Sasha, nothing makes sense to me right now.”

“There.” Sasha and I see an open cellar door and rush toward it.

Weapons drawn, we inch our way down into the dark, dank depths of it. Sasha finds a light switch that gives some dim light.

“Who’s there?” a familiar voice calls.

We follow the sound and stop dead when we see Konstantin chained like a star with his highly scarred back to us. It’s been freshly whipped and dripping blood. He tenses.

“Sasha?” He tries to turn his head and cocks it to one side. “Oh, and YOU!” Konstantin shakes his head. “Why did you bring a Belov with you?”

“How did you know it was me?”

“Your smell.”

“We could always leave you here.”

“Wait, where are Hannah, Urie, and my father?” Konstantin asks.

My brows shoot up. “Your father?” I notice the cell door isn’t closed, so I stepped in. “Jesus, what happened to you?” I look around for the keys.

“Things got kinky,” Konstantin retorts.

“I can’t find the keys.”

“Just shoot the fucking chains,” Konstantin growls. “You do know how to do that without blowing my arm or head off, don’t you?”

“I may just blow an arm or leg off for fun.”

“Here.” Sasha catches my attention. “The keys. When you’re done, you’d better get to the end cell.”

“Marco, Hannah, and Urie!” Konstantin growls, yanking at his chains. “Fuck, get me out of these damn things.”

“Then stop fucking moving about.”

I unlock him, and Konstantin rushes past me so fast I almost spin. I follow him, and he grabs his shirt, shoving it over his head as he heads to where Sasha is.

We get to the last cell, where Marco is cradling a limp Hannah in his arms, and Urie is lying unconscious next to them. His face is battered and blue.

“Dad!” Konstantin yells and hurries forward, kneeling beside Marco. “Your bullet wound’s open.” He looks around for something to stop the blood.

“No.” Marco pulls away, his eyes transfixed on Hannah. “I was supposed to keep her safe. I promised her I’d keep her safe.”

I lean in to feel for a pulse on Hannah. My eyes widen. “She’s still alive.”

“What?” Marco’s feverish eyes look up at me. “Really?” His head swivels to Urie. “And what about Urie?”

Sasha uses his foot to shake the huge guy. “Hey! Dumbass. Wake up.”

Urie groans and turns onto his back, wincing. His eyes slowly open and then widen when he sees us looking down at him. “Am I dead?”

“Sure!” Sasha nods. “This is hell. Now get the fuck up. You’re tougher than this. If not, then I’ll kill you myself for getting my daughter pregnant before you’re married.”

“Oh!” Urie’s eyes widen with fear, and he stays on the hay-strewn cement floor. “Then I think I’ll just lie here and let the wolves come eat me.”

“Get up, Urie,” I tell him. “There’s no time to clown around. Olga’s here with us.”

“What?” Urie shoots up, sways, and reaches out to Sasha, who steps back.

“Don’t fall on me,” Sasha growls.

Urie glares at Sasha and then at me. “You brought my fucking wife with you?”

“Wife?” Sasha’s brows furrow, and I see Urie realize his mistake.

“Enough!” I bark. “We need to get you four medical attention.” My eyes land on Urie’s sister and one of my oldest friends, Hannah. “Your sister especially.”

“Let me take her, Dad.” Konstantin bends down and gently lifts Hannah.

“We need a car to get Marco and Hannah to the hospital.”

“On it.” Sasha spins and rushes off.

I help Marco up, and as we walk out of the cellar, Konstantin looks at me suspiciously. “Who’s side are you on here, Belov?”

“Well, I haven’t murdered your father yet.” I point out, holding Marco up.

“Why would you want to murder my father?”

“Because he thinks I beat up Ivan,” Marco answers and looks at me. “I didn’t.” His eyes darken with anger. “But believe me, if I had, I would have been justified.”

“Where is my sister?” Konstantin looks around.

Shit! How do I answer that without the iceman going berserk? “She’s been taken.”

“What?” Konstantin barks and Marco’s face falls, going more ashen than it already is.

“Lev?” Marco’s eyes fill with fear.

“Temur thinks so,” I tell him.

“Temur?” Konstantin’s eyes flash dangerously. “Was he with her?”

“He got ambushed and trapped by your best friend!”

“Your brother you mean!” Konstantin reminds me. “Don’t you blame that fucker’s behavior on me! When I find him, and I will, he’s going to die at the very hands that saved him from…”

“Me!” Urie pipes up.

“You?” My brow furrows, but I’m distracted as an engine roars in the distance and an SUV skids around the front of the house, stopping near us.

“Get in,” Sasha says from behind the wheel. “The hospital is not far.”

Marco, Urie, and Konstantin squash into the back with Hannah cradled over their laps.

I climb into the front passenger seat. “What? Couldn’t find a sleigh?”

“Didn’t have time to chase reindeer.” Sasha spins the car around and races toward the hospital.

At the hospital, Konstantin, Sasha, and I wait impatiently for the doctor to return.

“What did your father mean he’d be justified if he had killed my father?” I stop my line of questioning. “Hold that thought.” My brow furrows. “You’re suddenly calling Marco your father now?”

“We’ve worked out our issues.” Konstantin’s cool eyes meet mine. “To answer your other question, your father, Sergei, and Lev killed my mother along with my uncle and aunt.”

“What?” My eyes widen. “That can’t be true.”

“It is,” Urie says from the door as he walks back into the waiting room having been checked out. “I found out the day Konstantin drugged us all at your wedding.”

“That’s why you were acting like a fucking traitor?”

“Yeah, that was part of the reason,” Urie tells me. “When my father and Ivan realized Konstantin was back, they were shitting themselves. I heard them conversing in secret. Later my father admitted that if Lev was alive, he was afraid that Konstantin knew the truth about what happened to his mother. Konstantin already hated Sergei for putting him in the container.”

“Sergei didn’t just put me in the container!” Konstantin’s voice is low and dangerous as his eyes bore in Urie. “He stripped me bare and whipped me first, then left me with two scared teenage girls to be shipped to another psycho and tortured for information on what my mother did with the missing recording and formulas.”

“Jesus!” I hiss. “Sergei did that?”

“He hated Konstantin,” Urie admits, and he glances at the ice man.

“Why?”

“Because he thought Konstantin had raped Hannah when she was eleven!” Urie’s answer makes me go cold.

I turn to the ice man. “And did you?”

Konstantin’s eyes narrow. “I don’t need to rape a woman in order to make myself feel better about being fucking dead inside. I was also eleven, and Hannah was one of my best friends and if you must know, she was also my first love.”

“It wasn’t Konstantin,” Urie tells me. “Just before we thought Lev died, my sister came home and tried hard to hide the side of her face. When I saw she’d been beaten, I was furious and ready to kill whatever fucker did it to her.” He looks at me. “I actually thought it was you at first, Andrey.”

“What?” I splutter. Oh fuck he must know about me and Hannah being lovers since I was a teenager . “You know about Hannah and I?” My brow knits tighter together and anger hits me at the thought Urie would even entertain the notion I’d beat Hannah up. “What do you fucking mean you thought it was me?”

“As far as I knew, you were the only person Hannah was screwing around with,” Urie answers. “But when I managed to get her to talk, Hannah broke down and admitted everything to me. Including that Lev used her whenever he was feeling like a rough good time and it had started when they were eleven.”

“Lev?” I feel myself go a little colder. “Lev raped Hannah when she was eleven and then continued to abuse her all this time?”

“Apparently,” Konstantin adds, “he knew she was in love with your bartender, Helen, is it?” I nod in confirmation. “Lev used it against her to do what the fuck he wanted with her holding the fact that your father wouldn’t be pleased about her sexual orientation. Lev also told her that my father wouldn’t be happy when he learned that she lied about me being the one that raped her when she was younger.”

“Shit! Sergei is old school. I’d see why Hannah would be scared of the information,” Sasha says, and he looks at Urie. “Do you want me to have words with your father while he’s still alive?”

Urie balks at Sasha’s words. “My father was avenging his daughter,” Urie says, “acting on Ivan’s orders.”

“He killed my mother, and that’s not your father’s only crime, though, is it?” Konstantin glares at Urie. “Why don’t you tell Andrey the other reason you’ve been so cagey.”

Urie nods and turns to me. “It was me that broke your brother’s spine and Igor who stabbed him.”

“What?” I shake my head. “Is that because he raped Hannah?”

“He raped her repeatedly,” Konstantin reminded me, backing up Urie. “And blamed me when he’d attacked her the first time. He used my mother’s NeuroVeil to knock me out and put me in a compromising position.”

“Lev was also the one who broke into Karina’s lab looking for her formulas. He was convinced that if he made her drug into a fancy street drug, Roman would choose him as Pakhan,” Urie tells me.

“He was eleven.” I know I’m backing a dying horse here, but someone needs to defend Lev. Even if I’m beginning to see reason in what I know his fate is going to be. “I’m sure it was just a—I want to be a firefighter thing and he’d never really meant that. I’m sure he wouldn’t have really stolen Karina’s formula.”

“Being a firefighter is a far cry from being a drug dealer,” Konstantin points out and eyes me suspiciously, his voice filled with warning. “Are you with us or Lev, Belov?”

“I’m trying to figure this out!” I say between gritted teeth. “I’ve had a lot of information thrown at me, and I just need it streamlined so it all makes sense.”

“It’s simple,” Sasha tells me. “Your brother found out that Roman was to choose the Belov Pakhan. He wasn’t happy when you were chosen and needed to find an edge to outdo you, his genius brother.”