It isn’t money that makes the world go round.
It’s knowledge.
And when it came to me?
He had all he needed to know.
Not just half of it.
All of it.
So near and yet so far. –Russian Proverb
I ACHED IN ALL THE RIGHT places. Did he have the same delicious afterglow I was experiencing? I reached across for his warm body, but my hands met the cool sheets. With a yawn I sat up, blinking against the light floating in from the hall.
He was gone.
I should have left with him, but I’d been so tired when he’d mentioned something about working at the clinic that he’d kissed me on the head and told me to go back to sleep, this time promising to allow me to do it the right way, the natural way, no finger snapping or trigger words. Was that hours ago? Minutes?
My feet touched the cold slate floor just as a throat cleared.
“I sure hope you have clothes on.”
With a scream I jerked back against the headboard, pulling the sheets up around my naked body.
One of the Italians, the scary one, the one with the bird name, peered at me over a ceramic mug, his face a mask of cool indifference.
My eyes darted to the door, already planning my escape, if I needed to escape that is.
He sighed. “If I was going to kill you, you’d already be dead.” He took a long sip out of his mug.
“How reassuring,” I grumbled.
“That’s me,” he said in a low voice. “Reassuring.”
My ass. “Why are you here? Standing in my room?”
“Guard duty.” He looked away. “Nikolai called me in hours ago. I hopped on a private jet, and here I am.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “To protect me while I sleep?”
His lips pressed together in what looked like a hint of a smile. “Sort of.” He ran a hand over his semi buzzed hair. “I’m Phoenix De Lange, you probably don’t remember much about meeting me since it was such a… traumatic—” He seemed to choke over the word. “—week, but I’m the boss to the Nicolasi family and…” His eyes shifted from me to the floor like he was uncomfortable. “You know what, why don’t you get dressed first, I’ll make you coffee, and we can chat…”
“Chat?” I repeated. “Why do we need to chat? Aren’t you just here to guard or whatever?”
He smirked. “Sure, I can do that, and while I’m at it, I’ll be sure to fill you in on who your father is, I mean, unless you don’t want to know?”
“What?” I clenched the sheet harder. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m good,” Phoenix whispered a veiled threat. “At killing. At making it look like an accident. I’m the best at hiding when I need to… but my specialty, at least the specialty that’s been passed on to me is that of secrets… it’s how I make deals, how I trade. It isn’t money that makes this world go around, Maya, it’s information. If you own someone’s past, you own their future.”
I swallowed the nausea building up in my chest. “Are you telling me you know more about my past?”
“I’m telling you, I know everything… and so does Nikolai. Look, my wife wouldn’t appreciate me talking to you while you have nothing but a damn sheet covering you, and I actually like staying alive. Wouldn’t put it past Nikolai to get crazy and shoot me or inject me with whatever the hell new medical invention he has and make me talk like a chicken for the rest of my life, either. Get dressed, then we talk, sis.”
“Sis?” I blurted out.
He nodded slowly. “Coffee’s getting cold.” And walked out.
Falling in love is like a mouse falling into a box, there is no way out. –Russian Proverb
TWO BLACK ESCALADES WAITED BY THE Pier, how irritatingly cliché. I kept the engine running and slowly stepped out of the car, my pace unhurried as I slammed the door behind me and leisurely made my way toward the two SUVs. Gravel crunched beneath my shoes with each step.
When I was around four feet away, the door opened, and Petrov stepped out. His stomach protruded beneath a long leather coat, the inside was lined with fur. Amazing that he still needed warmth, one would assume the fat choking his organs would be more than enough to do the trick.
His Sovietnik approached from the other SUV, along with a handful of his muscle or Byki.
I smiled and nodded my head toward the five men, each of them had their hands placed in front of their bodies as if to show me they had no weapons when we all knew they had enough ammo to take out the entire street. “Were they really necessary, Petrov?”
“You tell me.” His cold eyes never left mine.
I didn’t answer and refused to allow my brain to register that I was actually afraid, not for me, but for her, for what he would do to her if he knew the truth.
If I was dead I couldn’t save her.
Then again, if I was dead, Phoenix would know what to do. That had been part of the conversation we’d had right before his plane landed. I wouldn’t be able to welcome him to Seattle, but gave him strict instructions of who would pick him up from the airport and that he was supposed to guard Maya at all costs.
“How much does she know?” he asked in a calm voice that I knew took much control on his end.
“She knows about the girls, remembers me hurting her, but beyond that, I haven’t told her anything. I thought it best not to dump everything on her all at once.”
Phoenix sighed heavily on the other end. “So she doesn’t know about… .me?”
I cursed. “Those are not my secrets to tell. They are yours and only yours.”
“Damn it.” The sound of something breaking cut into our conversation and then Phoenix began talking again. “I wanted this behind me, it is my past. Talking about it is nearly as bad as re-living it, you know this.”
Yes, I did. Merely talking about a traumatic event was like experiencing it all over again, the human mind was incapable of logically telling the individual that it was just a memory being pulled. “Phoenix, I know. I wouldn’t ask you to do this, if I wasn’t desperate.”
“Right.” He hissed through his teeth, making the simple agreement sound menacing. “Anything else you need from me? You know other than helping you save the world?”
At that I laughed. “Screw the world. I’d kill every last person on this planet to save her, you know that, because you would do the same thing, to protect the woman you love.”
Phoenix was silent and then. “You love her?”
“I do.”
“Well.” He chuckled. “I guess that does change things…. people go to war over less…”
“There is no greater reason to stop someone’s heart.” I closed my eyes then opened them and glanced back at the bedroom door. “So that another may beat without interruption.” I loved her. The thought was the only thing bringing my chilled body warmth. “Protect her above all costs, while you are here. I need you to protect her like she is blood.”
I knew what I asked.
Italians cared for blood.
Anything outside of that was a gamble depending on their mood.
“You have my word,” Phoenix said quickly, surprising me, “that I will protect her like she is my own blood, because she is.”
I exhaled. “Thank you.”
“I should be at your apartment within the next two hours. If I don’t hear from you within twenty-four hours, I’m getting her to safety and calling in reinforcements.”
“I’d like to keep this within The Family.” I swallowed the indignation that I was referring to their Family and not my own.
“The Five Families are one,” Phoenix said. “We are separate when we need to be, but lately more united than usual. Apparently, Russians force us to keep needing family reunions,” he joked. “Go do what you need to do. Right now, Sergio’s working on hacking the entire Petrov empire. He doesn’t just mean to helps us discover the location of the two whorehouses. He means to drain all Petrov’s resources and make it look like the Feds.”
I let out a dark chuckle. “Wonderful, and I’m assuming the Feds will turn the other way when they realize our involvement?”
“But of course.” Phoenix answered. “Try not to die, Nik. Love has a way of making things seem less dark… I would hate for you to stop breathing before you get the chance to experience sunlight for the first time.”
My heart beat wildly in my chest—for the woman sleeping in the other room. I would live. I had to live. For her. I would find a way.
Petrov motioned for his men to step back as he reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigar and took his time lighting it, drawing a few puffs before addressing me again. “My daughter… she died.”
For a minute I panicked then remembered Maya wasn’t technically his, so he had to be referencing Andi.
“She died well.” I nodded. “We attended the funeral.”
“By we, am I to assume you took Maya with you?”
“She does work for me.” I said in a bored voice. “So unless you want me to lock her in a tower for the next year, travel will be necessary.”
“You touched her.” Petrov motioned for one of his men, a cell phone was tossed into the air, he grabbed it then pulled up two pictures of us getting on the plane.
Thankfully, my hand was on her lower back.
Even better?
She looked pissed.
“Apologies.” I fought to hide my grin. “By touching I thought you were referring to sex but were too polite to say so. Yes, I touched her, on the back, I’ve even touched her hand by accident while opening the door for her.” I snapped my fingers. “Damn it, I’ve even seen her bare feet, so if you mean to kill me over an infraction like that, or rip up the contract simply because we had different definitions of the word touch, then by all means, pull out your guns and blast my ass off, but know this.” I took a step forward. “I always have a failsafe. Always. Do you really want to take the chance that upon my death, I rain hell on your empire by releasing every piece of information I’ve collected on you over the years? Worse yet, do you really want to take the chance that I haven’t asked the Italians for help?”
“Even you wouldn’t go that far.” Petrov’s face turned a deep red. “Working with the Italians…” His eyes narrowed and then he broke out into a smile as he patted my shoulder. “Enough of business… I simply wanted to make sure that you understood the terms of our agreement. If you’ve touched her in a way that causes her to remember… well… I may not be able to kill you, but I could kill her.” I flinched. “And I do think that would be worse for you, would it not? Knowing it was your fault. Knowing that you failed twice?”
“She remembers nothing,” I lied. “I even placed the very same masks in her bedroom… nothing has triggered her… yet.”
“Yet?”
“I’m a doctor. Not God.” My fists clenched. “And I can’t read minds. I simply tell the weak ones what to do….” With a smirk I leaned forward and snapped my fingers twice. “Like this.”
“Stop it!” Petrov stumbled backward. He’d always been afraid of someone taking over his mind, afraid that his mind was not his own, especially after seeing what I could do, what I did do to his soldiers for him. He had a very real fear of seeing me snap my fingers ever since I helped make his last Sovietnik jump off a twelve story building.
I smiled. “I believe we are done?”
Petrov adjusted his coat then slowly heaved himself into the black SUV, I imagined the leather made a stretching noise as his weight settled against it. He slammed the door behind him. I was just getting ready to turn around and leave when the window rolled down.
Shit.
One gun shot rang out and then he yelled. “A reminder.”
The window slid up, and the car glided away with the menacing growl of its engine.
Never turn your back on a Russian.
I fell to the ground in a heap, grabbing my side, the bullet had gone in and out in one clean shot, but I needed to stitch myself up. I limped to the car then was hit in the back of the head with something hard.
Gravel crunched against shoes as my body fell to the ground. I looked up as five men descended.
I could kill. I could fight.
But not against five.
Not with a fresh gunshot wound.
I kicked away from them and stood, just as arms wrapped around me. Two of the men took turns hitting me in the stomach. I hissed out a curse as my wound tore open.
They laughed when my head fell back against the two men holding me. Nearly blacking out, I tried to flex, preparing myself for the hits, but they kept coming, and my vision was starting to fade.
A loud gunshot stopped the next man from hitting. At first I thought I’d been shot again, but with two of the men holding me, two hitting, and one watching, nobody had a gun.
They looked at one another in confusion, while I tried to think of a way to escape.
Someone whistled and then Tex Campisi stepped out of the shadows, giant grin on his face as he held a semiautomatic in one hand and a baseball bat in the other.
He shrugged and said. “What? I have a hard time choosing weapons.” His grin grew. “Who’s first?”
The men laughed, one stepped forward. “There are five of us. And two of you, one half dead.”
“Damn it.” Tex shook his head. “You know? For a Russian, you’re super smart, I bet you even went to high school while dip shit over there couldn’t make it past first grade. Here’s a tip. You point the gun at the target.”
One of the guys started charging him, just as another gunshot rang out, but Tex’s gun was pointed at the ground.
The guy fell over clutching his chest. He couldn’t have been shot by a semiautomatic, considering his body hadn’t been cut completely in half.
“You know how long it’s been since I’ve shot something that stupid?” Chase stepped out of the darkness.
“But you shot at Tex yesterday,” Nixon countered, joining the line where Tex and Chase stood.
“So I think,” Tex scratched his head and looked around. “That makes it, what? Three against four?”
“We will kill you.” The man holding me spat on the ground. “Italian bastards!”
“Hey, that’s offensive,” Chase piped up. “Some of us are bastards.”
The man holding my body pushed me to the ground. I coughed up more blood, great, and looked up in shock as Frank Alfero stepped in the middle of the guys then opened fire.
Two gunshots, three, four, five, and then six more.
“I think they’re dead.” Tex slapped Frank on the back.
“Yes,” Frank nodded, his face serious. “But, I have not had live targets in a while and I’m to be leaving for New York soon. Trace has been saying my vision is not what it used to be.” He turned to them and shrugged. “And I do not like doctors.”
“Great.” I muttered from a pool of my own blood. “Does that mean I get to be another target?”
“Hey, Nikolai, didn’t see you there.” Chase laughed.
I rolled my eyes. “I have no energy to respond with anything but get me the hell out of here. Now.”
Nixon moved ahead of the guys and leaned down. “Why didn’t you fight back?”
I rolled my eyes, trying to get to my knees. “Probably because I was shot in the side first, then sucker punched from behind before I had the chance.”
Nixon grunted as he helped me to my feet.
“Thank you.” I leaned against him more than I’d like to.
“Sick ride.” Chase opened the door. “I’ll drive us.”
“Us?” I repeated.
“Phoenix may have let it slip where he was going… and we like killing as a family… it’s more meaningful that way,” Tex said then called out shotgun while Frank kicked at a few of the bodies then pulled out his phone.
“Yes.” Frank nodded. “Five bodies… right next to the ocean, quite convenient… Thugs, an easy accident. Thank you, Chief.” He laughed. “I’ll let him know.”
My ears were playing tricks on me, weren’t they? “Cleanup crew?”
“Hell, no.” Nixon barked. “The cops.”
“You called the cops.” Even as I said it I couldn’t believe it. “Why in the hell would you call the cops? On the Russians? The cops can’t do shit to Petrov. It’s his town.”
“Hah.” Frank climbed in the car next to me. “As of one hour ago, it is mine. We’ve bought six of his ports, turned over evidence to the FBI. We do still have some lovely connections there, just lovely.” I had a suspicion the new head of the organized crime division in Chicago was a woman, a very attractive, woman. “And I’ve known Bart for years.”
“Who the hell is Bart?” I gave Nixon an apologetic look then ripped part of his shirt and started bandaging myself up.
He shrugged out of it then started helping without as much as a blink.
“Police Chief.” Frank answered. “Known that man twenty years.”
“They golf together,” Chase said in a bored tone. “Every labor day weekend in Florida.”
I bit out a curse as I touched my bruised face.
“Yeah, you look like shit.” Nixon said unapologetically. “Good thing they didn’t kill you, Phoenix would be pissed to have to protect another Russian.”
“Technically…” I panted. “She’s half Italian.”
All talking in the car ceased.
“Shit.” I was starting to black out. “Keep me awake.”
“So, Maya’s hot.” Chase winked at me in the rearview mirror just as I lunged for him, pumping too much of my blood all over the leather seats.
Nixon smacked him in the back of his head. “He said to keep him awake not make him want to shoot you.”
“I’m married. I was kidding, and look, his color’s already better,” Chase argued.
I groaned into my hands. “How did you buy out Petrov?”
“Sergio, snapped out of some of his… uh, funk, and got pissed, like real pissed,” said Chase.
Right. I knew Andi’s husband was an expert hacker who used to work for the FBI, but I also knew the guys were giving him time to grieve.