Shay must have seen the look because she reached out and touched Stas’s arm. “We’re fine. It was a misunderstanding. She’s a real estate agent.”
Stas grunted and looked down the street. “If you say so…”
Alexei didn’t blame Stas for being skeptical. Stroking Shay’s hair and her back, he thought about how damn lucky he was that she had listened to his explanation and trusted that he was telling her the truth about Marissa. She could have made him grovel and beg and buy her forgiveness but she had given it freely. He wouldn’t abuse her kindness by putting her in this position again.
When Boychenko arrived, Alexei helped Shay into the passenger seat. He offered to drive the two guards to the valet stand to retrieve Stas’s vehicle, but they both declined.
“Do you have a list of supplies she needs?” Stas asked. “We can stop at one of the drug stores and pick them up.”
He handed Stas the list he had scribbled down in the emergency room. “It’s mostly bandages. They called in her prescription to CVS. The one on Kirby. It’s on the way home.”
Stas pocketed the list. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank you.” Alexei slid behind the wheel and buckled his seatbelt. He touched Shay’s good hand. “Are you hungry? Do you want me to stop somewhere?”
“I really just want to go home.”
He brushed his knuckles along her cheek. She sagged in the seat, and he didn’t think she would make it home still awake.
He was right. Shay nodded off before they reached the house. When he pulled into the garage, she woke up and smiled sleepily. He parked and got out, walking around the vehicle to her side and opening her door. He reached in and unbuckled her belt. “I’ll help you get undressed when we get upstairs.”
“You would try to get me out of my clothes even with twenty yards of gauze wrapped around my hand,” she teased.
He laughed and kissed her. “I promise I won’t try anything. Come on. Let’s get you in the house.”
When they reached the door, he paused to turn off the alarm but noticed it hadn’t been set. “Did you or Stas turn on the alarm when you left?”
“I don’t remember,” she admitted. “Probably not. We were in a rush.”
“It’s fine. I just wanted to be sure that someone else hadn’t turned it off.” He unlocked the door and led her into the house. He turned on the lights in the kitchen. “Do you want me to make you something to eat? You need to stay up long enough to get your medicine from Stas. It might be easier on your stomach if you have something in it.”
“Nothing too heavy,” she said.
“Toast? Juice?”
“That works.” She settled into one of the seats at the smaller breakfast table. He made quick work of toasting bread and pouring juice. He scraped a thin layer of butter and another layer of blueberry preserves onto the toast before bringing it to her. Before she took the first bite, she said, “I kind of left a mess in your office. I’ll clean it up in the morning.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’ll handle it.” He gestured to her plate. “Eat.”
He left her in the kitchen and made his way across the house. He had just stepped into his office when he felt the unmistakable presence of another person. The hair on his arms stood on edge as he took a step back and then another.
But it was too late.
“Stop right there,” a shaky female voice ordered. “Or I’ll blow a hole right through you.”
Raising his hands, Alexei did as instructed. From the shadows of his office, Shannon stepped into view. Her face was a mess of bruises and scrapes. The men’s clothing she wore looked as if it had been stolen from a hobo. Looking at the stains and wear, he decided it probably had been. Her sunken eyes were bloodshot. The white residue around her nose was impossible to miss.
High as a kite and pushed to the edge, she held a piece of shit pistol in her trembling hand. The Lorcin .380 was a true Saturday Night Special and it made him nervous. This one even had athletic tape wrapped around the grip to prevent print transfer. Whoever had sold it to her had known that she wanted a cheap piece to use and toss. Having it pointed at his face with her shaky hand at the trigger didn’t sit well with him. One wrong move, and he was going to eat a bullet.
Hands in the air, he said, “Shannon, please put that gun down. It’s not safe.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” she snarled. “I’m fucking sick of men telling me what to do.”
“Shannon, I’m not trying to upset you. I just want to keep both of us safe. That gun is a throwaway piece for a reason. If it fires—”
“I know what I’m doing. Ruben taught me how to shoot.” She swallowed hard and then pointed the gun at his chest. “From this distance, I won’t miss.”
He gritted his teeth. “Shannon, Shay is in the kitchen right now. If you hurt me, you’ll hurt her.”
“Fuck Shay,” Shannon snapped. “She betrayed me. She told Lalo where to find me. He nearly killed me in that motel.”
“Nearly killed you? He nearly killed Shay and Kylee and me that night when we all ended up at that shithole where you were hiding. Shay didn’t betray you. She went there to save you. She was willing to let Lalo take her—to rape and abuse her—to save you and Kylee and me”
“Bullshit!” Shannon shouted angrily. “She was the only one who knew where I was hiding!”
“Really? What about Ruben? He knew where you were hiding.”
Shannon roughly wiped her nose, smearing fresh blood across her upper lip and cheek. “He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t betray me. He loves me.”
“Shay loves you.”
“Oh, yeah. She loves me so much that instead of coming to look for me she decided to shack up with you like some sugar baby.” Waving the gun at him, she said, “I always used to think that she was so stupid holding onto her virginity like that. Now I see why.” Gesturing around his office with the gun, she laughed. “Look at what she bought with her golden pussy.”
Alexei frowned with distaste at Shannon’s remark. “Your sister is not a whore.”
“You sure about that? What did she trade for all of this? For the cars? For the money? For the house? For your protection?”
“I’m not going to stand here and listen to you talk about your sister like that in her own fucking house.” Lowering his hands, he shook his head with disgust. “If you had come here for help and asked properly, respectfully, I would have given it to you with no questions asked. Breaking into our house? Putting a gun in my face? Talking shit about your sister? About the woman I plan to marry? You know what, Shannon? You can go fuck yourself.”
“Fuck me?” she screamed shrilly and gestured angrily with the gun. “Fuck you!”
Alexei saw the muzzle flash before he heard the crack of the gunshot. It echoed in the house like a thunderclap. Something hot and sharp burned through his arm. He stumbled back into a wall and tried to stay on his feet as Shay’s panicked voice rang through the house.
Ptichka, he thought with frustration. Run. Run.
But she was running toward him instead of to safety…
Chapter Twenty-Four
I had just bent down to put my plate and cup in the dishwasher when I heard Alexei yelling. It surprised me because we were the only people in the house.
The alarm!
The alarm hadn’t been set which meant anyone could have gotten into the house while we were away.
Oh no. No. No. No.
Thinking only of him, I ran out of the kitchen. I gasped with shock at the gunshot that blasted my eardrums. “Alexei!”
It was stupid. It was dangerous. But I ran toward across the house toward him, desperate to find him. He wouldn’t have left me behind to bleed to death. I wasn’t about to abandon him.
I rounded the corner of the arched doorway that led from the main living area. I spotted Alexei against the wall, crumpled forward, blood spilling down his arm and onto the floor.
He looked at me an
d mouthed one word, “Run.”
But a second later, Shannon stepped into the hallway. I almost didn’t recognize her at first. She looked like hell. Strung out and bruised, she was dressed in an outfit that had to have been stolen from a homeless shelter. When she noticed me, she raised the gun in my direction and I flinched, fully expecting her to shoot me
The bullet never came. I opened my eyes and found her staring at me. Just standing there with the gun pointed in my face as if wasn’t sure whether to shoot me or not.
“Shannon?” I said her name quietly. “Shannon, what are you doing?”
She lowered the gun by a few inches. “What are you doing?”
She seemed confused and scared. Trying to talk her down, I stated the obvious. “I’m standing here. I’m waiting for you to tell me what you need.”
“What I need?” she repeated angrily. “What I need is help, but everyone abandoned me. Ruben left me. You left me. I’m all alone and everyone is trying to kill me.”
“I’m not trying to kill you. I’m trying to save your life. Everything I’ve done since that night at the Arena has been to keep you safe.”
“Fucking this guy is supposed to keep me safe? Is that what you’re telling me? That you bartered your body for me?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. Everything Alexei has given me, everything he’s done for me and for you, was given freely.”
She wavered with uncertainty. Her lower lip wobbled as she asked, “Why didn’t you come for me at the motel?”
“I did come for you. Kylee and I both came for you. We had to get money first. I went to see Abby to get her to cash a check. I took the ten grand to the motel, but you were gone. Lalo was waiting. He was so angry. He tried to…” My voice drifted off, and I gulped. “I killed him, Shannon. He’s dead. He can’t touch you or me or anyone else we love anymore.”
Her face slackened. The gun drifted even lower. “You killed him?”
“We were fighting. He had a gun pointed at me. I shoved it toward his face, and Kylee hit him. The gun fired—and he died.”
“How are you still alive?”
“Alexei took care of it.” I stared back at her, and her eyes widened. She understood what that meant.
“Took care of you, you mean,” she corrected. “Something tells me that he and that mob boss friend of his pinned all this shit on me and Ruben.”
Not wanting her anger to turn on Alexei, I glanced at him. Still holding his bloody arm, he leaned against the wall and watched us with intense focus. I was afraid he would go for the gun and end up hurting Shannon or getting himself killed.
Desperate to save the man I loved and my sister, I started walking toward Shannon. “You are not safe here in Houston, Shannon. We have to get you out of the city. We have to get you some place safe.” I moved closer and closer to her, approaching her like a wounded animal that might lash out at any moment. “If you want my help, you have to give me the gun, Shannon. I love you, and I want to save you, but I can’t do that if you’re trying to kill me or Alexei.”
We were so close now that I could smell the cigarette smoke and something far worse clinging to the clothing she had borrowed or stolen. I could see the vein in her neck jumping as her heart raced. Whether it was from fear or adrenaline or the drugs in her system I couldn’t say. She was lost and afraid—and I had to save her.
The door alarm chimed. I knew it was only a matter of time before Stas and Boychenko found us. There was a risk they would overreact and hurt her. I couldn’t let that happen.
Bravely—and stupidly—I gripped the muzzle of the gun and slowly pushed it toward the ground. When she didn’t fight me, I took the pistol out of her hand, tugging gently until she let go. Alexei stepped forward and snatched it away from me. He removed the magazine and cleared the chamber all while scowling at my sister.
Still holding the gun and magazine, Alexei glanced down the hallway just as Stas came into view. My bodyguard skidded to a halt. His shocked expression was almost comical. He looked at me and then Alexei and then my sister. “What the fuck happened here?”
“Shay’s sister dropped her gun, and it went off accidentally,” Alexei lied without missing a beat.
Stas didn’t believe him for one second, but he didn’t question it. Glaring at Shannon, he said, “Sounds like she needs to be more careful with guns.”
“Stas, will you please get Alexei a towel?” I noticed Boychenko lingering behind Stas. He had a weapon in his hand and seemed uncertain about whether or not he should holster it. “Please put that away and help me get this mess cleaned up.” I glanced at Shannon. “Go sit in the office and wait for me.”
With trembling hands, I cupped Alexei’s face and gazed up at him. In that moment, my love for this man overwhelmed me. I could have lost him because of my sister’s carelessness. Choking back a sob, I asked, “Are you okay?”
He nodded stoically. “I think it was just a graze.”
That was just like him to minimize his injury. I pressed a lingering kiss to his mouth. “Let me look.”
Alexei nodded his permission. I managed to rip open his torn shirt sleeve and uncover the wound. It was a bloody, nasty mess, but it wasn’t as bad I had feared. It really was a graze, but the skin was torn open and needed suturing or strips. “You need to go to the hospital.”
“That’s not happening.” His hard expression reminded me of the night he had come to my rescue with that bat. This was the version of himself that he tried to keep hidden from me and everyone else. This was the cold-eyed man who could separate himself from pain and fear and do the terrible things that had helped him survive in prison and on the dangerous streets of Moscow and Houston. “If I go to the ER, they’ll report the gunshot. Eric will come sniffing around and then we’ll have a real problem.”
“Here.” Stas brought some of the medical supplies that he had picked up for me at the drug store. “I’ll bandage it for you, but you’ll need some antibiotics and butterfly closures. I’ll have to make a trip to see our doctor.”
“It can wait until I’ve dealt with Shannon.”
I wanted to be the one who treated Alexei’s wound, but with a bandaged hand of my own, it wasn’t possible. Stas, Alexei and I entered the office and found Shannon sitting in one of the chairs by the fireplace. She had her head in her hands and sobbed quietly. Torn between comforting my sister and the man I loved, I hesitated. Alexei made the decision for me when he walked away and dropped into his desk chair. I tried not to let his sudden change in demeanor upset me. He’d just been shot, after all.
Kneeling down in front of Shannon, I wrapped my arms around her. Despite my anger with her for shooting Alexei, I was relieved that she was alive. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. We’ll find a way to make it right.”
Alexei hissed as Stas cleaned his wound. He met my gaze across the room. “We have to get her out of the country.”
“How?” I didn’t know the first thing about something like that. “If she goes to Mexico, she’s walking right into cartel territory. There’s no way we can get her to Canada. I’m sure Eric has her ID and passport flagged.”
“I know someone who can help.” Alexei winced as Stas applied pressure to his wound. “Shay, go upstairs to our bedroom and open the bottom drawer in my dresser. There are some burner phones there. Grab one. Then go to the closet and open the drawer where I keep my ties. Lift the tray and pick up the leather jewelry case there. Bring them to me.”
I nodded dutifully and hurried upstairs to do as he instructed. Burner phones weren’t the only things I found in that bottom drawer. There were loaded weapons, extra boxes of ammunition, two knives and rolls of cash. When I went to his tie drawer, I found the jewelry case. It was stamped with the logo of a high-end jewelry store that I had only ever dreamed of visiting. I ignored the urge to open the case to see what was inside, grabbed a clean shirt for him and hurried back downstairs to the office.
Boychenko was wiping down the floor when I walked by him. ?
??I’ll come by in the morning to repair the drywall.”
I stopped and looked back at the wall and noticed the hole for the first time. Boychenko stood up and held out his hand. The round he had recovered rested on his palm. “Give this to Alexei.”
“What? Why would he—?”
“Trust me.” Boychenko pressed it into my good hand. “He’ll want it.”
I brought everything Alexei had requested to him and placed them on the desk. I started to walk back to Shannon, but Alexei grasped my hand and kept me from leaving. He rubbed his thumb in slow circles over the back of my hand. I understood this was his way of telling me that we were going to be okay. Leaning down, I kissed his forehead and whispered, “I know.”
“Open the jewelry case,” he ordered gently. “I need you to see it.”
I did as he asked and nearly fainted when I uncovered the incredible necklace and earrings. Brilliant diamonds, some white and others canary yellow, glimmered inside the case. “What is this?”
“I bought this for you. I bought it the morning after I saved you in that alley.” Alexei traced the stones with his finger. “I wanted you to have these. I wanted to use these to show you how much you mean to me.”
Not caring that my sister or two enforcers were watching us, I caressed his jaw. “I don’t need diamonds to know how much you care about me.”
Alexei turned his head and kissed my palm. He smiled sadly. “That’s a good thing because I’m going to have to use these to buy your sister’s safety. I don’t keep enough cash in my safe, and we can’t wait for the banks to open. We have to get her out of the city tonight.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, feeling so much guilt at the situation we were in now. “I’m so sorry.”
“Hush.” He kissed my palm again. “I’d spend every fucking penny I have to make you happy. Saving your sister will make you happy. That’s all that matters.”
“I have something that might help you spend a little less money,” Shannon interjected in a ragged voice. “Well—I mean, I did have something that might help. I’m not sure where it is now.”