7. ANDREY

Chapter 7

ANDREY

I know I’m gaping at Konstantin, but his words are echoing in my head, and I remember the look on Sergei’s face the day I took over a Pakhan. His eyes had filled with a dark emotion when he’d told me that Marco had sold Konstantin. Sergei had also said that Marco never did anything alone—implying that my father had been involved.

“Sergei seems to think that it was Marco who sold you.”

“He would say that, though, wouldn’t he?” Konstantin’s eyes flash dangerously. “I was always going to be a threat to Ivan and Marco’s plans for their new kingdom.”

“They would rather make it look like you were abducted when you ran from the car accident than have you killed,” I realize. “Jesus. You were fucking eleven years old, and they did that to you.”

“I was also a nosey kid who asked too many questions.” He shakes his head. “I believe your brother may be right about Marco and Ivan trying to get rid of him because of what they did to me.” He shakes his head. “While I was in Russia, they pretty much thought I was no longer a threat because Roman named me as the next Zhukov Bratva Pakhan.”

“But they need that alliance,” I remind him. “Because your history with Marco and Ivan would still make you a threat—an even bigger one than you were before.”

“I think they were also trying to kill me that night your brother got attacked,” Konstantin confesses. “I got a message from your mother asking me to get to your building as she was afraid your father was going to do something terrible to your brother.”

“I don’t see how that proves anything.”

“Your mother told me she never sent a message and her phone had been stolen two days before that night.” Konstantin’s words make me cold. “She’d only gotten her new phone the day after Lev was attacked.”

“So it was a setup.” My brows knit together.

“Or someone was trying to get rid of two birds with one message,” Konstantin tells me. “Only your mother and Lev knew I was in town. Which means whoever was behind your brother’s attack had access to your mother and was watching her.”

“Okay.”

“Something always bugged me about that attack.” Konstantin’s brow furrowed. “There seem to be two independent teams of attackers.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because of the way it all went down.” Konstantin glances out the window again and I can see he’s getting caught up in the memory. “Valentina was Temur’s younger sister and my second in command.”

“I was his first in command, and Pavel was his third,” Temur tells me, and before Konstantin can continue, he adds, “Konstantin and my sister were living together.”

“Oh!” I look at Konstantin in shock. “I didn’t know cyborgs could have relationships.”

“Funny!” Konstantin sneers but I see the pain at the back of his eyes and realize what Valentina meant to him. “She and I were going to get married.” He glances at his hands where he has a cold band studded with diamonds. “This was her engagement ring.”

“My sister was a warrior. She couldn’t have a flashy ring.” Timur’s voice is hoarse. “That’s the night I got demoted because I found out my sister was pregnant.”

Now I’m curious, so I’m looking at Konstantin. “Were you and Valentina already engaged?”

“NO!” Temur booms. “Sorry.”

“We were,” Konstantin assures me. “We just hadn’t told anyone yet as we’d also just found out we were pregnant.” A small smile lifts his mouth. “When we arrived at Belov Towers Pavel, Boris, and Valentina were going to take care of the goons we saw in the alley sitting waiting for Lev.”

“We were going to go to the front and warn you,” Temur takes over the story. “But as my sister jumped out of the car her pregnancy test fell out of her pocket.”

“Temur is a traditional prick.” Konstantin’s eyes narrow angrily. “He took after his sister demanding to know if it was hers.”

“Jesus!”

“My sister told me no she’d never seen it before,” Temur tells me. “But I was furious at that point because I knew there was something going on between the two of them that they weren’t telling me.”

“Temur basically raised Boris and Valentina,” Konstantin explains.

“Ah!” I nod in understanding. “But that’s still no reason to fly off the handle in the middle of a mission.”

“I thought it was nothing more than a babysitting mission,” Temur admits. “I didn’t think it was going to erupt into what it did.”

“Pavel tells me that the man who stabbed Valentina in the neck looked like he was actually targeting her,” Konstantin tells me. “I saw her fall and left my post keeping an eye on you two to get to her.”

“Someone tried to shoot Konstantin,” Temur tells me. “Not just someone…” he corrects himself, “a sniper.”

“And he was only targeting myself and Valentina,” Konstantin tells me. “I could’ve gotten her to the hospital and saved her but before Pavel could get to the roof to get the fucker he put a bullet through her head.”

“Fuck!” Now I’m feeling bad for the iceman. “Did Pavel get him?”

“Yes,” Temur tells me. “But before he could ask the fucker anything the man bit down on a cyanide pill.”

“What the fuck!” That’s like old school shit.

“We found out that he was ex-military and very much indebted to the Velvet Cigar Lounge,” Konstantin tells me and my blood chills.

“The commander was in pain and furious when he heard a shout coming from the front of your building,” Temur says. “By the time we’d plowed through three of the men that had been sent to attack you and Lev, we didn’t see the second hit.”

“Second hit?”

“Yeah,” Konstantin nods. “We’d just thinned the alarming number of men sent to attack you, Lev, and Stacy when two masked men appeared from nowhere. One grabbed Lev as Stacy arrived and she accidentally sprayed you in the face with NeuroVeil.”

“That bitch sprayed me in the face!”

“She saved your life,” Temur snaps. “The men thought you were dead and turned their attention to her and kicked her brutally.”

“While Temur was trying to get to Stacy, I couldn’t get to Lev in time as the man who grabbed him shoved a knife into his side and the second man kicked him in the spine.” Konstantin tells me. “I managed to kill the man who held and stabbed him but the other one took off and disappeared.”

“That’s a lot!” I tell him. “Fuck me. I’m still trying to get it through my brain that you actually performed a thoracostomy right there on the sidewalk.” I run a hand over my face and snort. “Fuck I nearly killed you for saving Lev.”

“People have tried to kill me for less,” he jokes.

Before I can reply, Temur tells us we’re landing. The helicopter touches down, and we wait for the blades to slow to a stop, before we climb out.

I look around feeling like I’ve stepped into the set of a post-apocalyptic movie near an old abandoned building. “What is this place?”

“An abandoned mall project,” Temur tells me. “It’s as close as I could get us to the lodge.”

“How far is the lodge?”

“Approximately five miles that way.” Temur points, pulling out a few backpacks and weapons, which he distributes between us.

“Are we hiking?”

“No.” Konstantin shakes his head, and we walk toward where a large dark green tarp has draped over an object. “A contact of ours close by dropped a vehicle off for us.”

Temur pulls the cover off to reveal an old fashioned green Military Jeep

“Oh, nice!” Temur grins.

I settle in the back with Temur behind the wheel and Konstantin in the front. We’re about to pull off when Konstantin swears. “Fuck!”

“What is it?” Temur and I look at him.

“It seems my dear sister has gone on the run once again,” Konstantin informs us, making my stomach knot.

“Jesus!” I hiss. “What the fuck is wrong with her?”

“She doesn’t like to be caged and forced to do things against her will?” Temur looks at both of us accusingly. “And Isabella is tired of being a puppet with other people pulling her strings.” We glare at him and he shrugs. “That’s what she told Pavel.”

“Just get going!” Konstantin shakes his head and starts to direct Temur north, about ten miles outside Grafton.

“Where is she going?”

“Canadian border,” Konstantin and Temur say in unison.

“Great!” I throw my hands up. “She’s running to your grandmother.”

“No.” Konstantin shakes his head. “Isabella doesn’t know where to get hold of our grandmother. But she does have some other rather interesting friends in Canada that do.”

We drive in silence, the hum of the engine the only noise as we head toward where Isabella seems to have stopped. Evening is descending fast and I know Konstantin is probably hoping what I am—that Isabella has stopped for the night.

“This doesn’t seem right.” I frown looking around as we get closer to the signal. We are on the road out of Grafton and there’s nothing for miles as the road cuts through a forest. “It’s a road with no stops anywhere.”

“That is perfect for dumping a car,” Konstantin says as we pull to a stop behind a Land Cruiser. “Fuck!” He’s out the Jeep before any of us and checking out the vehicle.

I catch up to him and try the doors but they’re all locked and the vehicle looks like it hit something at the front. My heart starts hammering because now all sorts of scenarios are running through my mind like what if she’s hurt?

The vehicle tweets making me jump as it pulls me from my thoughts. I turn to see Konstantin has found the remote for it.

“Isabella hid it by the wheel.” Konstantin’s eyes are hooded as he climbs in. “Good news is I don’t see any blood.”

I climb in beside him and open the glove compartment. “Is this the watch you gave her?”

“Clever girl.” Konstantins eyes light with a flash of pride. “And a very frustrating woman!” He hits the steering. “Fuck!”

“Nice,” Temur says, walking toward us with Konstantin’s phone in his hand. “It’s armored.” He looks at Konstantin. “I wish we could keep it.”

“Check the GPS,” Konstantin orders Temur. “Get it disabled and we’ll take it with us. I think it will come in handy at the lodge.”

“It’s been damaged at the front,” Temur notes. “Like it went through a wall or something metal.” He hands Konstantin his phone. “There’s a message on there from Judy.”

“Judy?” His brows knit. “Canadian Judy?”

“I think so.” Temur shrugs.

Konstantin looks at the message while Temur and I search the cars for more clues. Konstantin gets out and goes to make a call.

“Judy, his woman?” I ask Temur.

“No,” is all Temur says before changing the subject. “I think Isabella went back into town.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because she dumped a perfectly safe vehicle here.” Temur stands beside the road. “Isabella ensured it was facing north.” He points to the ground. “There are tracks. Two sets of footsteps walking a distance north and they stop at the side of the road.”

“So they walked, hiked, and got a ride,” I point out.

“Do you see any cars?” Temur asks. “This isn’t a major road.” He points across the road. “I’m betting if I go to the other side of the road I’ll find two pairs of footprints heading into the woods that will lead them to the center of Grafton.”

“Let’s check it out.”

Before we can go Konstantin is back. “No need. Temur is correct. Isabella went into Grafton to wait for a money transfer from a secret account she has in Canada.”

“What are we waiting for?”

“Temur, check out the GPS on the Land Cruiser,” Konstantin orders.

“Already did.” Temur tells him.

“Let’s get into town and find my sister.”

“How can we be sure Isabella will still be there?”

“The transfer only went through late this afternoon and there are no trains or buses from Grafton until the morning,” Konstantin tells me. “And no one’s rented a car.”

“How do you know?”

“A good friend of the Zhukov’s owns the company,“ Temur explains.

Once we’re in Grafton we find out where Isabella and a friend are checked into. Steam has started to build up inside me as I wonder who the friend is. My mind automatically goes to a male friend as they are in one room with one queen sized bed in it.

I want to go storming in and barge through the door, full anger blazing. But Konstantin assures me that would only anger Isabella and we don’t know who the friend is. The room is on the second floor.

Temur books the room next to Isabella’s and I can imagine what it must’ve looked like to the clerk as three large men booked one room with one bed in it. I’d find it amusing if I wasn’t fucking furious with Isabella for being at the hotel with a friend, not telling me she’s pregnant, running away from me… the list just grows as my head gathers more steam.

As we get ready to find out who Isabella’s in the room next door with, my mind’s ticking over with bucket loads of suitable punishment for her for all her crimes.