5. ANDREY

Chapter 5

ANDREY

Ren has offered to take the teenage hackers and Tessa to a safe house. He’s going to pick up his wife and daughters, then disappear until he hears from me.

My phone rings as I rush toward Belov Towers. It’s my mother. My heart jolts.

“Hey, Mom,” I answer. “Is everything okay?”

“Hi, sweetheart,” Grace’s voice is shaky and a little flat. “I need to go home for a while. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve asked Sergei to sit with your father for a while.”

“Of course, Mom,” I tell her. “You need your rest, too. I’ll pop in to relieve Sergei as soon as I can.”

“Okay, sweetheart. I love you,” my mother says and hangs up before I can reply.

Taking a breath, I walk into my apartment and go toward my office.

Walking into the room, I see that Urie has Konstantin restrained to the chair with his hands handcuffed behind his back. Two of my men are standing on the other side of my desk with their weapons at the ready.

I sigh and shake my head.

“Andrey,” Urie greets me. “Any news on your father?”

“No!” My eyes meet Konstantin’s.

For someone restrained to a chair and guarded by two highly trained assassins, he seems pretty comfortable. But then again, I’m guessing if he wanted to, he’d be able to get out of his restraints and take all three men down with ease. From what I’ve managed to find out about the man, he’s not just the head of the Zhukov special forces because he’s Roman Zhukov’s nephew—Konstantin earned that position.

He’s like the John Wick of The Bratva or The Beekeeper, which was a surprisingly good movie. It’s a movie I watched on one of the many sleepless nights I’ve had since Isabella ran off on our wedding day. I haven’t watched television in years. I shake the thoughts from my head and concentrate on why the fuck Konstantin is in my office, and suppress the urge to grab one of my men’s guns to shoot the fucker in the head.

“Konstantin,” I greet him. “Want to tell me why you’re here?”

“We need to talk!” Konstantin replies, holding my gaze. “And before you think about trying anything, rest assured that before you can even reach for that gun, I’ll have Urie in a choke hold, using him as a human shield before killing both your men and knocking you out.”

“You’re handcuffed to a chair, asshole.” Urie snorts but takes a few steps away from the man.

Konstantin sighs. He pulls his hands in front of him and drops the handcuffs on the floor. “I haven’t been handcuffed since a few minutes after you put them on me.” He shakes his head, scoffing, “Amateurs.”

“Fuck you!” Urie sneers at him and pulls out his gun, pointing at Konstantin. “If you so much as blink, I swear I’ll shoot you in the head.”

“That’s a pity,” Konstantin says, shaking his head. “I came here in peace to have a discussion with Andrey.” His head turns towards Urie. “And now you’re being rude by pointing a gun at me.” His eyes flash coldly as he looks at Urie, and I get a feeling he really doesn’t like my second-in-command.

I also see the slight shift in Konstantin’s posture, and I know he’s getting ready to pounce, but Urie will not see it coming.

“Stand down, Urie,” I command.

“Andrey, I don’t trust him,” Urie says, his eyes narrowing on Konstantin.

“Feeling’s mutual, buddy,” Konstantin assures him.

“Urie!” I bark. “Nicky, Hein, leave us.”

“But Andrey…” Urie starts to argue while Nicky and Hein nod and leave, giving Konstantin a wide berth. “I can’t leave you here alone with him.”

“I can assure you, if I wanted any of you dead, you wouldn’t have seen me coming,” Konstantin points out.

“Go!”

“I won’t be far,” Urie says reluctantly, giving Konstantin a warning glare.

“Close the door on your way out.”

Urie nods and leaves, pulling the door closed behind him. I see Konstantin cock his head slightly before turning toward me.

“Did you enjoy that?”

“While I don’t like or trust your man Urie, because he has secrets,” Konstantin tells me, “the other two are completely loyal to you, and they seemed more comfortable thinking I was secured to the chair.”

“That’s nice of you.” My voice drips with sarcasm before my brows draw together. “Why don’t you trust Urie?” I have no idea why I asked that other than I’ve been feeling uncertain about my best friend for a while now.

“I remember Urie from when you were kids,” Konstantin tells me. “He’s always been completely loyal to you. But now there’s reason to doubt him.” His brow knits together.

“Well, I guess everyone’s entitled to their opinion.” I shrug, keeping my features neutral, but I know I will mull over this later. Because as much as I hate to admit it, Konstantin is right. I push the thoughts from my mind. “Tell me what you’re doing here and where my wife and child are.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Konstantin tells me. “I need your help finding them.”

My heart jolts. “What the fuck do you mean you need my help finding them?” My eyes widen. “You’ve lost Isabella?”

“ I didn’t lose anyone,“ Konstantin says. “If I weren’t busy trying to find out who leaked our location, this would never have happened.” He looks at me accusingly.

“Are you blaming me for that?” I look at him in disbelief. “What makes you think they were taken?” My brows raise. “You should know by now that Isabella is an ingenious escape artist.”

“You and Marco are the only people my sister runs from,” Konstantin points out. “She was abducted along with Stacy and …” He pauses. “And a good friend of mine.”

“What?” My heartbeat picks up speed once again. “Isabella was abducted?” Anger bubbles up inside me. “I thought they were supposed to be safe with you?”

“I wasn’t with them, was I?” Konstantin raises his brows, his cold hazel eyes looking at me accusingly. “I was busy taking care of you and James. Then trying to find the leaky faucet in my house.”

“I can assure you, only James and I knew about your location,” I tell him. “We kept it quiet.”

“Are you sure about that?” He looks at me as if he knows something I don’t.

“Yes!” My brow furrows as I remember that man I bumped into at the hospital. “Although after James gave me the location he had written on a piece of paper, I bumped into a man with expensive Italian shoes, but I’m pretty sure he was one of your men.”

Konstantin’s eyes watch me questioningly. “Can you describe him?”

“He was one of the men you had guarding Marco’s house when you drugged us on my wedding day.”

“Do you have a picture of him?” Konstantin grills me.

I nod and pull the folder from Marco’s security cameras. Go through the photos and show him. “That one.”

“Fuck!” Konstantin hissed. “ That is not one of my men.”

“Well, he’s patrolling with your guards in one of your guard’s uniforms,” I point out.

“No.” Konstantin grabs more pictures and shows me the difference. “There is no number on his flak jacket.”

“Then let’s find him and find out who the fuck sent him,” I suggest.

His jaw clenches. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” He looks at me. “That’s a douchebag named Donald Whitman, and he’s dead.”

“By your hand I take it?”

“He rubbed his cock on my sister after trying to rape Stacy in the barn.” Konstantin’s words hit the red rage button in the middle of my chest.

“How did he even get into your super secure compound?”

“I’m investigating that,” Konstantin tells me coolly. “But if it makes you feel any better, Isabella sent a few volts of electricity through his balls with a jumper cable.”

“Jesus!” I spit. “What the fuck? You have her torturing men now?”

“Not me.” Konstantin holds up his hands. “I was called away to help out family.”

“Who?” I look at him curiously. “Your uncle in town?”

“I have family that is not blood.” That’s all he says. “Now, are you going to help me find my sister or not? Every minute we sit hashing out bullshit, I fear is a minute of her life.”

“Do you have a lead on her location?”

He nods. “I was taking them to a safer location after someone gave away the location of our compound.“ Again, his accusing eyes bore into me. “How would Donald know to have gone to the hospital to find you, or that you knew about Isabella’s location?” His eyes narrow some more. “You have a leak in your organization.”

“You could have a leak in yours.”

“Doubtful.” The prick is so full of confidence I want to smash him in the face. “Only you and James were privy to that information.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Do you think you found our compound by chance?” Konstantin laughs.

My eyes narrow, and my anger intensifies. This guy needs to be taken down or rather thrown off a fucking cliff.

“Are you trying to tell me you set us up?”

“Not set you up,” Konstantin tells me. “I needed you and James to find us on your own accord. There are a few things the two of you need to know now that you’re the heads of your organizations.”

“Which is?” I look at him quizzically.

“We can get to that after we’ve got Isabella, Stacy, and my friend back,” Konstantin tells me. “Now, are you going to help me or not?”

“Why do you need my help?” My mind is reeling with questions like is he fucking kidding me? Can I trust he’s telling me the truth about Isabella being abducted, or is he trying to lure me into some sort of trap? “I thought Zhukov special forces were the best in the world.”

“I’d rather they don’t get involved in this,” Konstantin informs me. “As far as my men are concerned, three of my men, Isabella, Stacy, and my friend, have gone to another safe house because the one they were going to was compromised.”

“Where are your three men…” Suddenly there’s a commotion in the hallway. “What the fuck?”

I’m about to get up to see what’s happening when there’s a knock at my office door. I look at Konstantin, and he shrugs before standing and opens the office door.

“Right on time,” I hear Konstantin say in Russian, and the hair at the back of my neck stands on end as I see three huge Russian Zhukov special forces men at my office door.

“I thought you didn’t want the Zhukov special forces involved?” My hand slides beneath my desk and lands on the butt of my gun that’s positioned there.

“Andrey, this is Pavel, my second in command, who should be in the hospital.” He scowls at his man who doesn’t look as healthy as the last time I saw the man. “This is Boris, my operations specialist, and Temur, our driver and scout.”

“Great! Just what I needed: an office full of Zhukov Special forces.” I nod and look past them as they pile into my office. “Where are my men?”

“Sleeping,” Boris tells me and holds up a bottle. “NeuroVeil.”

“Shit!” I spit. “That stuff is starting to piss me the fuck off.”

“It’s better than killing them.” Pavel shrugs.

“You’re bleeding.” I nod toward the stain seeping through Pavel’s shirt.

“Just a scratch,” Pavel assures me.

“That’s some scratch.” The man looks pasty and stands his ground.

“Did you tell him?” Temur asks Konstantin.

“Why are you even here?” Boris glares at Temur and then looks at Konstantin. “It was probably him that gave Isabella and Pavel’s position away.”

“That’s enough, Boris.” Konstantin’s eyes harden and Boris doesn’t look happy, but he backs down. “You will take Pavel back to the hospital and ensure he stays there this time.”

“No!” Pavel and Boris say in unison. “We’re coming with you.”

Konstantin’s shoulders stiffen, and his voice dips, giving it a deadly ring while the gold in his eyes seems to illuminate with warning. Fuck even I feel a cold sliver of fear run through my veins.

“I don’t think you understand. That wasn’t a request. It was a direct order.” A muscle in his jaw ticks.

“Yes, sir!” Pavel and Boris salute.

“With all due respect and for the record,” Boris states, “I don’t think you should be trusting him .“ He nods toward Temur.

“That’s the reason I’m keeping Temur with me, so I can keep an eye on him,” Konstantin tells Boris. “And the reason I’m trusting Pavel’s care and health to you, Boris.”

Boris nods.

“With no disrespect, Konstantin,” Pavel speaks, “I have to agree with Boris, and I’m well enough to help. I’ve had much worse.”

“I appreciate the enthusiasm,” Konstantin tells them. “I need the two of you to complete the main mission. And you are in no condition to do that at the moment, Pavel.“ His eyes turn to Boris. “And you are too important to be caught in the middle of this road bump in the plan.”

“Of course.” Boris nods and glares at Temur. “Know this, Temur, one wrong move, and I’ll kill you myself this time.”

Now I’m wondering what the fuck Temur has done to deserve such hatred from Boris and Pavel. Before I can ask, Boris turns to me.

“I am sorry, Pakhan Belov,” Pavel says to me, bowing slightly. “I’ve let you down and failed in my duty to protect your loved ones. I’m sorry I can’t continue the mission to retrieve them. But the Commander is right. I would only slow you all down at the moment.”

“It’s not true about Pavel failing anyone,” Boris disagrees with the man and looks at me. “Sorry, Pakan Belov, I mean no disrespect. But Pavel nearly gave his life to save…” he stops and looks at Konstantin before looking back at me, “our commander’s friend, Mrs. Belov, and your unborn child.”

Well, fuck me! I’m staring at those two men in disbelief. Not just by the fact that I’ve had an apology but also by the fact that they’ve acknowledged my position and are showing me respect. I was not expecting that, and now I’m confused as well. Just what the fuck is going on here? My eyes move to Pavel’s stomach, where his shirt is now soaked in blood.

“Were you stabbed or shot?”

“He was shot,” Boris answers.

Before I can ask more questions, Pavel starts to sway. “Go. Now!” Konstantin barks. “Get Pavel back to the hospital.”

The two men leave, and I glance at Temur, who is standing with his fists clenched at his side, and his jaw is stiff as he’s obviously controlling his anger. Well, this is fucking just great. I have the iceman and a smoking volcano in my office.

Konstantin turns back toward me. “Are you coming?”

“You haven’t told me where we’re going?”

“Vermont,” Konstantin replies.

My brow furrows. “Vermont?”

“Yes.” Konstantin nods. “We’re going hunting.”

“Hunting?” Now I’m confused and getting irritated as I want to know what we’re going to do to find my wife.

“For the fucker that took my sister, Stacy, and your brother! “ Konstantin calmly drops another bombshell in my lap.

“What?” I shake my head, wondering if I heard him right. “My brother?” My eyes dart from Konstantin to Temur, who has stiffened even more. “For fuck sake, can you sit down?”

“No time,” Konstantin tells me. “We need to move before my sister decides to do something stupid like escape and complicate matters even more. I’ll explain as much as I can on the way to Vermont.”

“Which part? The part about my brother being alive, or why you’re here in America, or why you hate your father—“

“You’re wasting time.” Konstantin cuts me off.

I nod, stand, and reach for my phone, scrolling through it. “Let me call James. I’m sure he’ll want to come too.”

“No!” Konstantin and Temur say in unison. Konstantin sends Temur a warning look before turning to me.

“It’s best you leave as many people out of this as possible,” Konstantin advises. “While we want to trust our men, we can’t be too sure of a leak at the moment. Especially after my compound was found and breached, then my sister’s whereabouts were found.”

“You think I don’t know my men?” My eyes narrow, but I’m pretty sure who the leak is, and it’s killing me that I think it’s Urie.

“If you got over your fucking ego, you’d admit that you have your doubts about one of them,” Konstantin says knowingly. “Again, we’re wasting time.”

As we leave the office, I glance at Temur. “Your men don’t trust him yet, but here he is.”

“Temur’s circumstances are different,” Konstantin tells me as we walk through my living room, and I notice my men passed out on the sofa. “Besides, we need his skill set.”

I walk to the elevator, but Konstantin indicates toward the stairwell. “We’re going to the roof. My helicopter is there.”

“Sure it is.” I nod and follow them.

On the roof is an AgustaWestland AW109 helicopter. Konstantin and I climb in the back, and Temur hops in the pilot seat.

We put headgear on as we take off. I ask, “Where in Vermont are we going?”

“To The Grand Hunting Lodge in Grafton,” Konstantin’s reply surprises me.

“What?” My brow furrows. “That place closed down years ago.”

“Making it the perfect place to take hostages,” Konstantin points out. “You also know it better than anyone else.”

“Ah!” Now it makes sense why Konstantin came to me. “You needed me because you don’t have time to scope the place out, which means you’re confident that Isabella is there.”

He pulls out his phone and shows me a map with a red dot flashing on it which he zooms in so I can see the location. “That’s the tracker I put in Isabella’s watch.”

My brows shoot up, and I look at him in disbelief. “You’re rushing headlong into a trap?”

“Yup!” He nods. “Most likely.”

“Or whoever abducted Isabella, Stacy, and Lev isn’t a pro,” Temur adds. But a trap is much more exciting, he says with glee. “They could’ve not checked her for any tracking devices. But I’m hoping it is a trap.”

“Fuck, you’re a lunatic.” I turn to Konstantin as realization dawns on me. “That’s why you don’t want yours or my men involved. This is a trap.”

“See, I knew you were intelligent.” Konstantin grins. “Now you’re getting it.”

“You don’t mistrust any of mine or your men, do you?”

“He doesn’t trust your man, Urie, or me,” Temur informs me. “Or not entirely.”

I look at Konstantin questioningly. “Is that true, and if so, why the fuck do you have him with us?”

“Temur is loyal. He can just be unreliable.” He glances at Temur. “Urie, on the other hand, I do not trust at all. You need to unravel his dark secrets.” His brow furrows. “Now, James. He is solid and loyal to whomever he’s pledged his loyalty to, but don’t stab the man in the back, or you’ll make a bad enemy.” He raises a brow. “A bad enemy with the entire Zhukov Special Forces and Bratva behind him.”

“Noted.” I nod. “Instead of giving me a run down on my men, can you tell me why we are running into a trap with no safety net?”

“We have a safety net.” Konstantin looks at Temur. “Temur.”

“Okay, now I’m confused.” I shake my head. “He just admitted he’s unreliable.”

“Temur can be reckless and lets his emotions get in his way of following orders,” Konstantin explains. “But he’ll have our backs and ensure that he gets Isabella, Stacy, and Lev out.” He glances at Temur. “Isn’t that so, Temur?”

“Yes, commander.” Temur salutes.

“What about us?”

“Don’t worry, I can assure you we’ll get out of there with the fucker who’s behind this,” Konstantin assures me. “Temur is with us as he has a myriad of skill sets we will need.”

“Why do I get the feeling you know who is behind this?”

“I have an idea,” Konstantin tells me. “This person has a lot of dark secrets.” He looks at me again. “Like Urie. Only this person’s secrets are under threat of being exposed very soon now that Isabella is twenty-one, married, and pregnant with the first Belov, Moretti, Zhukov, and Andreev heir.”

“That’s what’s worrying me. My wife and child are in danger.” My jaw clenches. “And so help me God, if she’s hurt…”

“Trust me, whoever it is won’t hurt her,” Konstantin tells me. “They need her alive, or the messenger won’t deliver whatever it is that my mother’s sending her along with the formulae to her perfected NeuroNerve drug.” He glances out the window. “Besides, Isabella and your child are also great bargaining tools, being the heirs of three legacy crime families and a large transport company.”

“And what about the NeuroVeil and the rest of the drug formulas?” Temur adds. “Isabella should be inheriting those soon.”

“Jesus Christ!” I shove my hand through my hair. “So whoever has Isabella basically gets the mother load of information that could potentially sink large crime families, she’s carrying the super baby, she has three empires as a dowry, and the formulas to a new and improved NeuroNet and NeuroVeil.”

“That’s it in a nutshell.” Konstantin nods in confirmation. “See why she’s the key?”

“Who is the messenger?”

“For eighteen years, Marco, your parents, and a lot of other crime families that don’t want this alliance to go through, have tried to find who it is.” Konstantin purses his lips. “For eighteen years, no one has been able to find this person, and those rumored to have found out have never been heard from again.”

“I’m sure you just described the Boogeyman.”

“When Isabella was a baby, she was terrified of monsters.” He laughs. “I used to have to go through her room every night before she’d get into bed.”

My eyes widen in shock. Is that emotion I see on the iceman’s face?

“What?” Konstantin looks at me as if I’ve just offended him. “I can have nostalgic moments.”

“Yeah!’ I nod. “But it’s somehow very disturbing on you. I think it’s because to me, you’re a cyborg that’s only about one-quarter human.”

“Thanks!” Konstantin sighs and rolls his eyes.

“What happened to my brother the night I thought he’d been killed?” My brow furrows, and anger surges through me again. “How come you say my brother’s alive, but I saw you stab him? I recognize that tattoo on your risk and dagger. I think I was hit with that NeuroVeil shit, but as I was passing out, I saw you stab my brother.”

“Konstantin wasn’t stabbing your brother,” Temur tells me. “He was saving Lev’s life. Lev’s lung had been punctured.”

“What?” I blink, trying to process this.

“Konstantin performed an emergency procedure,” Temur explains. “He had to insert a chest tube to prevent Lev’s lung from collapsing completely. It looked like a stab, but it was the only way to save him on the spot.”

“You mean you did a thoracostomy?” I ask incredulously. “To save him?”

“Yes,” Temur nods. “It was a risky move, but it worked. Konstantin knew what he was doing.”

“Are you medically trained?”

“Field medic.” Konstantin does his favorite shrug movement.

Konstantin’s eyes darken as he glances at Temur. “Temur. Do you want to tell Andrey why you owe his brother your life?”

“What?”

“It was my fault Lev nearly died that night two years ago,” Temur admits. “Like the commander said, I let my emotions get in my way, left my post, distracted the commander, and …” He pauses. “Got someone very dear to us both killed.”

“No more fucking riddles,” I seethe. “What the fuck happened?”

“Lev had just finished telling your father that he’d eloped,” Konstantin explains.

“Wait!” My eyes widen in shock. “What? Eloped?”

“With Stacy Thompson!” Temur adds, making me choke on my own spit.

“No fucking way,” I say between coughs.