I picked up Alexei’s suit jacket from the back of the chair where I had left it earlier and helped him slide his arms through it. Behind me, Shannon finished her quick meal and put on the hoodie I had given her. Stas handed me the jacket I had brought down for myself.
Ten minutes later, we were driving to a private airport I hadn’t even known existed. I sat in the middle row of the SUV next to Shannon and held her hand as we made a drive that was going to forever change our lives. Alexei remained tight-lipped so I had no idea what was going to happen to Shannon once we reached the airport. Who was taking her? Would they treat her well? Was she going somewhere even more dangerous?
When we arrived at the airport, Alexei’s burner phone rang. He gave Stas directions in Russian. The SUV pulled into an open hangar. Boychenko followed close behind in his car. The doors closed behind our vehicles. I could see two men standing near a private jet. One of them I recognized as Besian. The other was a stranger to me.
Alexei turned in his seat. “Shay, stay here. I’ll come get you when it’s time to say goodbye. You,” he pointed at Shannon, “get out of the car and come with me.”
Shannon nodded and gave my hand a squeeze. My heart hammered in my chest as I watched my sister climb out of the SUV and follow Alexei. Stas trailed them with a duffel bag stuffed with cash and the jewelry.
Face taut with fear, Shannon glanced back at the SUV. In that moment, our entire life together flashed before my eyes. For better or worse and despite all her mistakes, she was my sister, and I loved her. Tears burned my eyes as I began to accept that I might never see her again.
To save her life and mine, she had to make a choice. She could disappear—or die.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Keep your mouth shut,” Alexei warned as he came around the SUV to escort Shannon. His arm throbbed incessantly, and it left him feeling irritated and short-tempered. “Don’t say a word unless you’re specifically asked something.”
Shannon’s face contorted with distaste. “Are you always this controlling and rude with my sister?”
He scowled at the woman who would one day be his sister-in-law. “I love Shay, and I’ll do anything for her—but you have pushed me right to the fucking edge tonight, Shannon. You need to remember that I’m the only thing standing between you and a bullet.”
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I really didn’t mean to shoot you. I was mad and my hands are shaky. I haven’t been eating, and I was using a little bump here and there to stay awake. It was an accident. I mean it.”
He didn’t doubt that it had been an accident, but he wasn’t about to cut her any slack. “You could have killed me or Shay tonight. We’re family, Shannon, but that doesn’t mean I have to like you.”
“Since when are we family? And that goes both ways. I don’t have to like you either.”
“I’m going to marry your sister. That makes you my family.”
“Does she know that?”
Alexei glanced at the SUV where she waited. “She will soon.”
“You better treat her right, Alexei.”
“Does she look unhappy to you? She’s living in a beautiful home. She has her pick of a fleet of luxury vehicles. She doesn’t have to worry about money anymore and can focus on her handbags.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Shannon argued. “I mean that you better love her right. She’s soft inside and good. She needs someone who appreciates that. She needs a man who will make her feel special. She needs a man who can be her rock.”
“I do love her. She means more to me than you can ever imagine or understand.” Alexei couldn’t believe he was talking about his relationship with Shay with her sister. This night was getting crazier and weirder by the minute. “I’ll make sure that Shay never wants for anything.”
“All she’s ever wanted is to be part of a family.”
“I’ll build a family with her,” he promised.
“Are we going to make this deal or what?” Zec called out in Albanian. “Some of us have schedules we’re trying to keep.”
“Remember what I said,” Alexei warned. “These men are a different breed, especially Zec. He’s the most dangerous man you’ll ever meet.”
Shannon nodded to assure him she understood. He led her across the hangar to where the two Albanians waited. Besian she was probably familiar with because of Ruben’s involvement in the underworld, but he noticed the way she stiffened at the sight of Zec. He didn’t blame her for that reaction. Even after all these years of doing business with the smuggler, Alexei still felt uneasy around him.
Wealthy and powerful, Zec had built a legitimate import and export business based out of the Balkans. He used it to hide his illicit activities. There were few things he wouldn’t smuggle from country to another. As far as Alexei knew, Zec drew his only line at human trafficking. Everything else was fair game.
Intensely private and secretive, he was a difficult man to pin down, and other than Besian, Alexei didn’t know if he had any true friends. The scar across his throat from the razor that had slashed him open served as a reminder that this was a man who had cheated death and feared nothing. In the past, he had done some huge deals with Zec. He liked to think they had a good working relationship, but he never took it for granted. Zec was the kind of man who would think nothing of cutting his throat over a perceived slight.
“Let’s see it,” Zec rasped in that destroyed voice of his.
Shannon held out the small jewelry box filled with flash drives. Nervously, she admitted, “I don’t have the decryption key. Edgar was the only one who had it, and he’s dead.”
“That’s what happens to people who try to double cross me.” Zec showed little emotion as he admitted to having ordered the hacker’s death.
“You were the buyer all along.” Alexei had suspected as much, especially after Besian was so helpful. Pinning Besian in place with a look, he said, “And that’s why you were so happy to run interference for Shay.”
Besian smiled and shrugged carelessly. “It’s easier to ask Nikolai for forgiveness than permission. He’ll be angry tomorrow when he realizes that we caused this mess. He might even thank me for helping solve the Lalo Contreras problem without any of us having to lift a finger. He’ll get over it when he gets his cut. He’s going to be a father soon. That son of his needs a college fund.”
“Speaking of sons,” Alexei said, “I want to talk to you about Zel’s debt.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Besian replied. “He fights on Saturday night. If he wins, the debt is settled. If he loses, he still owes me.”
“Send me that bill.”
“You’re the second person to ask me that today.”
Alexei assumed Ivan was the other one. “Zel’s had enough, Besian.”
“As touching as your concern is,” Zec interrupted, “I don’t have time to stand here and listen to you two negotiate an old debt. I’m here to finish my deal.”
He stared at Shannon, and she shrank back as if struck. “I’m not paying you a single penny for those. You and your boyfriend and that scam artist hacker tried to fuck me with this deal. First, you agreed to sell this information exclusively to me. Second, you tried to sell another copy to Lalo. Third, you found out that you had something Mueller wanted and gave him the chance to buy the information back.”
Alexei struggled with the shock that tore at him as Zec described Shannon’s brazen double and triple dealing. Was she stupid or just that greedy?
Zec’s lip curled as he slashed his hand through the air. “This should have been a clean transaction. No blood. No deaths. You three set the city on fire with your greed and your lies, and you’ve forced my man here,” he gestured to Besian, “and this man,” he gestured to Alexei, “and all the other bosses to put out the flames. So you don’t get shit.”
“That’s not fair!” Shannon snapped. “I worked hard to get these!”
“Fair?” Zec laughed right in her face. “Do you know what fair is where
we come from? Fair is killing you and your sister and your sister’s friend and Alexei for your betrayal. So—I’ll give you a choice. I can treat you fairly.” He pulled aside his jacket to reveal two holstered weapons. “Or I can teach you a hard lesson about liars and thieves.”
Shannon gulped and licked her lips. “I’ll take the hard lesson.”
“Good choice.” Zec let his jacket fall closed. Glancing at Alexei, he said, “You know the terms.”
Relieved that Shannon hadn’t stupidly called his bluff, Alexei nodded. “It’s all in the bag.”
“It will be three to five days before she’ll contact you. You know the rules about phone and internet use.” Zec paused. “Do you have any location requests?”
“It needs to be some place that Shay can visit easily.” He remembered what Shannon had said in his office about running away with Ruben to Thailand. That dream had died with her lover, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still give her some part of it. “Some place warm,” he added. “With beaches and low living costs.”
Shannon glanced at him in surprise. He wasn’t an ogre. Yes, she’d shot him and put Shay in danger again and again, but he wasn’t going to punish her for the rest of her life by asking Zec to drop her in some shithole.
“Beaches and low cost of living?” Zec repeated. “I can make that happen.”
Alexei signaled Stas to hand over the duffel bag. “Get Shay.”
After giving one of Zec’s men the bag, Stas lumbered away, and Alexei turned to Shannon. He reached into his jacket and produced four thick envelopes of cash. “These are for you. It’s all you’re going to get for a while so make it count.”
Seemingly surprised by his generosity, Shannon accepted the money from him. “Thank you, Alexei. For everything,” she added sincerely. “I know you didn’t have to help me, but you did and I’m grateful for that.”
“Be careful, Shannon. Be smart. This has to be the last time you get in trouble like this. I won’t allow Shay to be put in danger again.”
“I understand,” she promised. Then, sheepishly, she added, “I’m really sorry about your arm.”
Besian frowned. “What happened to your arm?”
Unhappily, he grumbled, “She shot me.”
Besian’s eyes widened fractionally. “When? Tonight?”
“Yes.” Alexei motioned toward his injured arm.
Besian chuckled darkly. “Hell, you and Ivan really know to pick sisters, huh?”
Alexei grunted in agreement, all the while thinking of Ivan’s advice about the dangers of dating sisters. He’d have to remember to buy Ivan a beer the next time they were out and ask him for advice. He hoped that Shannon would learn from this experience and go straight, but he was a realistic man. He had to prepare for either outcome.
Shay approached their small group. When Besian spotted her bandaged hand, he asked, “Did your sister shoot you, too?”
Shay frowned at him. “No, I burned myself.”
Besian glanced at Alexei. “All this time and all those women and you still haven’t found one who can cook?”
Shay rolled her eyes. “I burned myself on a pyrography pen. I’m fully capable of cooking a meal without setting a kitchen on fire.”
“You’ll have to prove that by cooking dinner for me,” Besian teased.
“Fat chance,” Shay shot back rudely.
Alexei watched Besian to see how he would respond to Shay. The loan shark surprised him by offering an olive branch.
“And would my chances improve if I arranged a sit-down with your friend and made things right for her?”
Shay hesitated. “I’m not sure that’s possible. She’s carrying around a lot of hurt and anger over the way that all went down. It isn’t just taking her horse and humiliating her father that she holds against you. Her mom died in that awful homeless shelter. Kylee couldn’t even scrape together the money for her mother to have a proper burial. They forced her to cremate her mom and put her in that terrible pauper’s field. She doesn’t even have a real grave or a place to mourn her mother.”
Besian’s face darkened. “That wasn’t all my fault.”
“I know that. Deep down inside, I’m sure Kylee knows it. You’re just an easier target to hate than the banks and the SEC and everyone else who ruined her life.”
Looking at Besian, Alexei wondered if this was the first time he had ever considered what really happened to the families connected to the debts he collected. Or maybe it was the first time someone had ever laid it out so plainly to him. Judging by the change in his demeanor, Besian was troubled by the facts that had been presented to him. Alexei was left to wonder what his friend would do about it.
Standing back, he gave Shay and her sister some space as they hugged and cried. He hated to see Shay so upset, but there was no other way to help her sister. Hector wouldn’t be able to keep the local boys from going after Shannon now that the body in the morgue had been identified as Lalo’s. Mueller would want revenge once Zec used that information he had just obtained to blackmail him.
With his trademark coldness, Zec rasped, “It’s time to go.”
Shay and Shannon reluctantly separated. They whispered and smiled one last time before Shannon turned her back and headed straight for the stairs leading up into the jet.
Zec eyed Shay with some interest. “So you’re the girl who stood up to Lalo and then killed him, huh?”
Shay didn’t correct him, and Alexei was glad for it. Sometimes it was better to be the star of an underworld legend.
Nodding with approval, Zec addressed him in Russian, “This one will do, Lyosha.”
Confused, Shay looked to him for an explanation but he simply shook his head. Later, if she asked again, he would tell her. Taking her hand, he tugged gently and coaxed her to follow him back to the SUV.
Besian fell into step beside him. “Are you headed home?”
Home sounded so good right now. He wanted to drop into bed with Shay and sleep for the next twenty-four hours—but it had finally occurred to him that he and Shay needed to have a real discussion about their future. Tonight had changed everything. “I need to make a stop first. Why?”
“I can send my doctor to visit you. He can get you patched up if you need it.”
“I do.” Alexei could feel the bandage on his arm growing wet. “Send him in an hour?”
“Sure.” Besian broke away toward his own idling car.
Alexei wiped the tears off Shay’s cheeks and kissed her before helping her into the SUV. The heartache of sending her sister away wouldn’t leave her anytime soon. She needed time to grieve, and he needed to remember that. He’d promised Shannon that he would be good to Shay. He was determined to keep that vow.
“Where are we going?” Stas asked after sliding behind the wheel.
He rattled off the address as he buckled his seatbelt. Shay kept her gaze glued to her window as they backed out of the hangar and then twisted to look out the rear window. She seemed unable to tear her gaze away from the plane that would carry her sister away.
“She’ll be fine, Shay.” He didn’t want her worrying unnecessarily.
“Are you sure?” She bit her lower lip with concern. “That guy with the scar on his throat looked really dangerous.”
“He is dangerous,” Alexei confirmed. “But he won’t hurt your sister. We made a deal. He is duty bound to honor it. In a few days, Shannon will call you and you’ll see that everything is fine.”
“I hope so,” she answered softly.
The drive across the sleepy city was quiet and uneventful. They rode in silence, each of them mired in their own thoughts. Alexei suspected Stas was thinking of all the ways he could get out of bodyguard duty as quickly as possible. In the last week, Stas had been through a baptism by fire. He’d gained a better understanding of the city’s underbelly and the players and the loyalties and grudges that would always complicate things.
Alexei smiled ruefully as it finally dawned on him that Nikolai had planned this fr
om the beginning. He now suspected Nikolai had known all along that Besian and Zec were scheming to pull off that massive identity theft. Assigning Stas to Shay had been the boss’s way of ensuring he had an inside man to report back with information and that Stas got a much-needed introduction to the city. Before he could turn Stas loose on the streets, Nikolai had to test him and be sure that he was trustworthy and loyal. If this week with Shay hadn’t proved that, nothing would.
Nikolai truly was a master when it came to the game of surviving in the underworld…
“Pull in there,” Alexei instructed when they reached the half-completed retail center. Stas stopped in the parking space Alexei had indicated. He glanced at the hulking enforcer. “Wait here. We won’t be long.”
Alexei grabbed the envelope holding the legal paperwork before getting out of the SUV and walking around to Shay’s door. She eyed him with confusion as he took her hand and led her to the dark and unfinished building. He hadn’t been to the building in a few weeks, but the lockbox combination on the sealed door was the same. He punched in the code, retrieved the keys and opened the door.
“What are we doing here?” Shay followed close behind him and latched onto the back of his jacket so she wouldn’t get lost in the dark.
“We’re going to talk about our future.” He found a light switch. Only one side of the room was illuminated but it was enough for them to see each other.
“Our future? Here?” She glanced around the unfinished building. “In this abandoned place?”
“It doesn’t look like much right now, but it will. Give me some time.”
“And what will it look like when you’re done?”
“Read this.” He handed her the envelope. “You’ll understand.”
Gawking at him as if he were crazy, she took the envelope. “You realize it’s almost two in the morning, right?”
“Humor me, ptichka.”
“All right.” Shay opened the envelope and removed the papers inside. She scanned the first document, and her eyes widened. She glanced up at him as if unsure that she was actually understanding them and then started reading each one. “Alexei, what is this?”