Page 19
Chapter
Nineteen
EVIE
M y first instinct is to slam the hotel room door shut. Abram dashes forward to stop me, but I put my entire body into the door and shut it. He bangs on the door, making me jump away.
“It’s Abram,” I whisper to Katya, running over to her. We stand side by side. Katya has her gun in her hands, pointed at the door.
“What the hell is Abram doing here? How did he find us?”
“Juno. She was with him.”
“Did he kidnap her?”
“I … have no idea.” A thought occurs to me; one I don’t want to give any attention to but have to. Did Juno bring Abram here of her own accord?
Abram continues to bang on the door.
“I’m gonna call for help.” I grab the hotel room’s phone and call down to the front desk. A perky woman named Amanda answers. “Yes. Hi. Uh, we need help. There’s a man at our room—room 114—banging to get inside. He’s trying to hurt us.”
“Ok. We’ll send a security guard right up to you. ”
“Thank you.”
“I have a gun!” Katya shouts. “So don’t even think about doing anything.”
I put the phone back down and hurry over to Katya. “They’re sending a security guard. Hopefully, that will make Abram leave.”
“I don’t want you dead,” Abram says through the door. “I just want Dimitri dead. I take it he’s not here.”
“No, he’s not,” Katya says. “So, you need to go.”
“All right. But you see, I’m still angry with him for kidnapping my daughter and killing my other daughter. So, I think I am going to kidnap both of you then murder you so Dimitri knows what my pain is like.”
“No,” Juno says. “You said you just wanted Dimitri. You never said you wanted Evie.”
So, that proves it. Juno brought Abram here to get to Dimitri but she only served to put Abram back on our path.
“I will shoot you!” Katya screams.
“Hey!” Another gruff man’s voice enters the fray. “You need to walk away from that door now.”
It’s the security guard. It has to be.
Everything goes silent.
And then I hear a gunshot.
Both Katya and I go very, very still.
“Please tell me that was Abram who got shot,” Katya whispers.
Somehow, I doubt it.
Someone bangs on the door again. “Let me in,” Abram threatens.
“Did you just shoot that security guard?” Katya asks.
“I did. And I won’t hesitate to shoot either of you. If you cooperate with me, you can make it out of this alive.”
“Like hell that’s going to happen.”
I nudge Katya. “We need to play nice. Juno is out there. Maybe she can help us.”
“Help us? Evie, she led Abram straight to us.”
“I know. But she’s still my stepmom. She doesn’t want us to get hurt. She only wants Dimitri dead. So, maybe we can lead Abram to Dimitri.”
Katya gives me a sharp look. “You want Dimitri dead?”
“Of course not. But we play along. We survive long enough to get an advantage.” I nod at the gun in her hands. “Unless, of course, you want to shoot Abram right now and do us all a favor.”
“Ok,” she whispers. “We let him inside. And then I shoot him. I’m a pretty good shot. My dad taught me.”
“You can do this?” I whisper back.
“What other choice do we have?”
“Ok.” I quickly squeeze her arm. “Be careful. And don’t accidently shoot me.” I walk over to the door and slowly open it a crack.
I come eye to eye with Abram. “You want Dimitri dead. We’ll take you to him. But if we’re dead, we can’t help you, and you know it.”
“Don’t kill her,” Juno says to him. “I didn’t agree to that.”
Abram sighs deeply. “Fine. Take me to Dimitri. And no fucking funny business.”
I fling open the door and dive to the side.
And Katya fires.
The bullet hits Abram in the arm, making him jerk back. Juno screams and backs away. Katya pauses for just long enough to give Abram the chance to lift his own gun.
I see the dead security guard just down the hallway. Soon, other people will show, including the police. They can help. Detective Johnson was no help with Dima, but this showdown is something no one can deny is happening.
Katya is about to pull her trigger when Abram says, “I wouldn’t do that. I’m a good shot. You fire at me, I fire right back at you. And I doubt a pretty girl like you would want to get a nasty scar from the bullet I put inside you.”
“You already gave me a scar, asshole,” Katya responds. She lowers her gun toward his leg and shoots.
The bullet hits Abram right in the thigh and he falls to the ground, his gun clattering to the floor. I kick it out of the way of his hand .
Katya comes to stand beside me, and we both stare down at Abram as he groans in pain. Blood seeps from his thigh. We exchange a look. We could do what we did with Tatiana and just let him bleed out.
Like daughter, like father.
Juno tentatively steps into the room and freezes at the sight of Abram on the ground. “Evie, come with me. We can get away now.”
“No. You just want to lock me up again. And you want to help kill Dimitri. I can never trust you again, Juno. We’re done. I meant it before when I said it, and I still mean it.”
“I didn’t want him to hurt you. I just wanted him to …”
“Kill my husband?” I ask flatly.
She flushes but doesn’t deny it.
“Shut the door,” Katya tells her. Juno doesn’t move, so Katya points her gun at her. “Shut the damn door.”
That makes Juno squeak, and she rushes to close the door.
Katya aims her gun back at Abram’s head. “You’re not going anywhere. Evie, call Dimitri. Tell him we have Abram and to get his ass here now.”
“Ok.” I grab Katya’s cell phone off the nightstand table and dial Dimitri’s number. My heart won’t stop racing. He picks up after two rings.
“Katya?”
“It’s Evie. Abram is in our hotel room. Katya shot him in the leg, but he’s still alive. You need to get here now.”
“I’m on it. And Evie, are you ok?”
“I’m ok.”
We hang up.
“If you’re going to kill me,” Abram groans, “then just kill me.”
It’s then I notice Katya’s hands are trembling. She’s never killed anyone before. Letting Tatiana die wasn’t exactly killing her, and I was the one who pushed her in the first place. Not Katya.
“Just ignore him,” I say. “Keep the gun on him, but you don’t have to do what he says. Dimitri will be here soon.”
“Ok.” I can tell she’s trying to sound brave, but she’s failing at it .
And Abram notices.
“You’re too weak to kill me,” he mutters. “You girls. It’s a miracle you’ve survived this long. You’re all so fucking weak with your soft ways. If you were like your brother, I’d be dead by now.”
“Then maybe it’s a good thing I’m not like my brother.”
“You’re a whore. Everyone in the Bratva knows it. The great Katya Ivanov. You have a reputation, you know.”
“I’m no whore. I’m saving myself for marriage. Unlike your daughter. She just couldn’t wait to fuck my brother.”
Abram’s face contorts into something so ugly I can barely look at him.
“Katya,” I say quietly. “Maybe don’t make him angrier. Let’s just ignore him.”
“It’s hard to ignore him when I have a gun pointed right at him.”
“You know what I mean. Don’t listen to him. Don’t talk to him. Let him say what he has to say. You and I both know he’s not long for this world.”
Her eyes flick to mine, and she visibly relaxes. “Ok. You’re right.”
In that one split second that Katya looked away, Abram dives toward his gun on the ground, but I run forward and stomp on his hand. I try to grab the gun, but he grabs my ankle and yanks me forward.
I fall straight onto my back. All the wind is knocked out of me.
“Evie!” Katya screams.
Abram grabs his gun and points it at me. “I wouldn’t do anything stupid,” he says to Katya.
She hesitates then nods.
“Don’t kill her!” Juno says, running toward us. Abram lifts his gun to Juno and fires.
The bullet hits her right in the stomach, knocking her against the wall. Her eyes are wide with shock. As she falls to the floor, she leaves a blood trail on the wall behind her.
“Juno,” I whisper. “Why would you shoot her?”
“Because she was getting in my way.”
Juno slumps to the ground, but she’s still alive as she extends her hand out to me. For some reason, I extend my own hand in return .
Our fingers just barely touch before all the life leaves Juno’s eyes.
It takes me a few moments to realize she’s really dead.
I didn’t love her even though I always tried to, but that doesn’t make this any less hard. Juno was the last person who had a connection to my dad, and now, that’s gone, too.
It’s only me who’s left with memories of him. That’s the thought that makes me begin to cry.
Abram scoffs. “Would you shut up? I should shoot you right now and do it.”
“Then why don’t you?” I ask. “You have a gun pointed at me. Just kill me.”
“Because your girlfriend has her gun pointed at me. And I’m not ready to die just yet.” He scoffs again. “What does Dimitri even see in you? My Tatiana was perfect. You are just …” He rakes his eyes over me with a disgusting expression. “You’re nothing special.”
Something flares to life within me. The desire to tell Abram the truth. That I’m the one who killed Tatiana.
“You want to know something funny?” I ask. “You think Dimitri killed your daughter. You think he’s responsible for everything. But, Abram, I killed your daughter.”
His eyes flash with anger. “What?”
“Evie, what are you saying?”
I ignore Katya and keep my eyes locked with Abram’s. “I killed Tatiana. It was an accident. She was attacking Katya and me, so I pushed her away. She then fell back onto the bathroom floor and bled out. Maybe it really is me you want to kill and not my husband.”
“Evie,” Katya hisses. “What are you doing?”
I’m doing whatever I can to possibly save Katya and Dimitri. With Abram’s attention solely on me, that gives Katya a chance to strike.
If she’ll take it, that is.
“You’re lying,” Abram says. “You’re just trying to stall until Dimitri gets here.”
“Look into my eyes and see if I’m really lying.”
He stares at me for a long moment before his own eyes widen. “ You . You really killed my Tatiana? ”
“She was horrible.” I don’t sugarcoat it. She was. “But she didn’t deserve to die despite her trying to kill me. But she did die, and I’m responsible.”
The last lingering guilt inside me disappears.
I’ve admitted the truth, and I feel free.
That is until Abram wraps his hands around my throat—and lets go of his gun to do it.
“Evie!” Katya doesn’t shoot him, and I don’t blame her. Taking a life is not an easy thing to do.
But she does hit him over the head with her gun, knocking him to the side. I cough and gasp and suck in shallow breaths. I try rolling to the side, but Abram grabs me again.
“Let her go,” Katya threatens. “Let her go.”
“You’re not going to shoot me.”
I feel his gun lodged under my back, but Abram has his hands on my arms, holding me down.
I know I’m not going to like this.
I use my head to bash it against Abram’s nose. He jerks back, and my arms are free. I reach under me to grab the gun. My fingers find it.
I lift it, but Abram is fast. Much faster than I expect.
He grabs the gun from me and fires.
Pain ricochets up my arm. When I look down at it, I see the bullet hole. I see the blood pouring from the wound.
Abram’s grin is savage as he points the gun at my face. I don’t squeeze my eyes shut. I don’t look away.
I’m not going to look away from his eyes as he kills me.
Then Katya shouts my name and shoots Abram in the chest. He grunts and flops back onto the ground. Quickly, I scramble away and move back to Katya.
“Is he dead?” she whispers.
Abram is on the floor, wheezing and trying to stand up. But he can’t.
“No, he’s not dead. Not yet.”
Katya is shaking so hard; I’m scared she might accidently shoot herself with her own gun. I hold my hand out for it. “Give it to me. You’ve saved me.”
“Your arm,” she gasps.
“It hurts, but it didn’t hit anything vital. I’m not dead. Give me the gun, Katya. Let me help you.”
She clings to it for a long moment before placing it in my hand. The gun is heavy. The power in it is immeasurable.
Abram manages to sit up as he clings to his chest. “You … bitch. You’re going to … burn in hell … for what you did to my … Tatiana.”
“No,” I say, looking him square in the eye. “I’m not the one going to hell.”
The hotel room door bangs open, and Dimitri is there. Looking strong and powerful and brave.
He takes in the scene before rushing to my side. “Evie?”
“Abram’s not dead yet.”
He opens his mouth to say something before he turns to Abram. “She’s right. You’re not dead yet.” He kneels next to Abram, who looks at Dimitri with fear in his eyes. Abram knows exactly what’s coming next. “If you just hadn’t pushed me to marry Tatiana, then none of this needed to happen.”
“If you hadn’t ruined her … then none of this needed to … happen.”
“True. I was an asshole. I took her virginity without thinking about the consequences. But god, Abram, you’re just such a little shithead.”
Dimitri stands up and puts a bullet in Abram’s brain. His blood splatters on the wall behind him.
Abram is officially dead.
I collapse onto the bed from the sudden wooziness that hits me.
“Evie,” Dimitri says, hurrying to my side. “You got shot. Come on. Let’s get you to Dr. Wilson.” He scoops me up into his arms.
“I can walk, you know.”
“I don’t care.” He turns to Katya. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” she whispers.
“Good. Then let’s go. ”
Dimitri steps over Juno’s body without giving her a second glance. But I watch her as we leave. My stepmom. The mom I could’ve had, but she was never able to give me that.
“Katya, call my cleanup crew,” he advises, eyeing the dead security guard in the hallway. “I don’t want the police coming here. I don’t want either of you to get into trouble.”
“On it.” She sends off a text. “I let them know.”
Dimitri takes the stairwell—fewer eyes than the elevators—and carries me out the back door of the hotel. The front lobby is too packed. Too many people, too many questions.
We make it to his car without any problems, and then Dimitri speeds right over to Dr. Wilson’s clinic. The receptionist doesn’t look surprised to see us and motions us on through to see the doctor.
“Back again, I see,” he comments as Dimitri places me on the exam table.
“Just fix her up,” Dimitri snaps.
It doesn’t take long for the doctor to stitch up my wound. Fortunately, the bullet went right through. “You’re going to have some lack of mobility in your arm for a while, but with physical therapy, it should return.”
“Thank you,” I tell him.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t worse,” Dimitri says. “I’m just glad Abram is dead and dealt with. But now, I still have to go deal with his followers.”
“So, this isn’t over yet?” I ask, feeling dread seep into my stomach.
Dimitri kisses the top of my head. “It will be. I promise.”
I believe him. Because when Dimitri says he’ll be there, he always is. He hasn’t let me down once.
Dimitri takes Katya and me to stay in a different hotel while he finishes cleaning up his mess.
I have the urge to tell him I love him, but he leaves before I get the chance to say anything .
Katya sinks onto the bed and begins to cry.
“Katya?”
“You almost died,” she says, covering her face. “You could have died, and it would have been my fault.”
“What? No!” I sit down next to her and wrap her in my arms. Katya clings to me. “Why would you even say that?”
“Because I had so many chances to shoot Abram, and I didn’t take it. I was afraid. I’ve never been that afraid in my life.”
“Not wanting to shoot someone to kill them doesn’t make you a bad person. It makes you human. I never wanted to kill Tatiana, but I accidently did. I never meant to kill Dima, but I had to. This world of the Bratva changes people. It’s changed me.”
“But I grew up in it. I should be the one not afraid of death, not you.”
“That’s because your life hasn’t changed. At least not yet. Whereas my life looks nothing like it used to be. I learned that my best friend was born into the Russian Mafia. I was hunted down by madmen. I found the love of my life. I had to change to survive. You didn’t.”
“What if I have to change someday? I don’t want that, Evie. I like my little sheltered life.”
“I thought you hated it.”
“That was before Abram kept trying to kill us. Now, all I want is to snuggle under the covers and watch The Bachelor .”
“I want that, too. But that’s one thing I learned. We don’t always get what we want, but we make the most out of it. I found love with Dimitri when I didn’t think I ever could. You don’t want a sheltered life, Katya. Not really.”
“How do you know? Can you read my mind?”
“Because I know you. And I know you’ll never be satisfied in life until you have your freedom. I’m here, and I always will be. But I want you to know you don’t have to feel bad about what we went through today. You saved my life. You found the courage to shoot Abram before he could kill me. Dimitri didn’t save me today. You did.”
Slowly, a smile appears on her face. “So, you’re saying I’m better than my brother? ”
“Always.”
That gets a laugh out of her, and she tugs me in closer to her. “Come on. Let’s watch more Bachelor . I just want to put Abram from my mind, and I want to do that with my best friend.”
“I want that, too.”
DIMITRI
Nik and Maxim join me at the warehouse of the emergency meeting we all called. All our closest followers are here, including Abram’s men.
They don’t know he’s dead yet. They don’t know that all their lives are about to change.
“What are we doing here?” Sergei, one of Abram’s most trusted advisers, asks.
The room is filled with at least fifty men. It stinks of sweat and body odor and really bad cologne. I know I don’t smell. My cologne game is always on point. I blame it on Abram’s men and none on mine.
“You’re all here so we can talk about the changes that are going to occur.” I can feel Nik and Maxim behind me. Supporting me. After how I treated them in the past, the fact they’re still helping me is a miracle. I need to learn to be less of an asshole toward them.
Only less, though. I can’t promise to never be an asshole again.
“What changes?” Sergei grumbles.
“Abram Sokolov is dead. Which means if any of his followers are thinking about an uprising, I would squash those ideas right now.”
Murmurs fills the room.
“Quiet,” Nik snaps, making them all fall silent. That’s the one nice thing about Nikolai. He’s a scary motherfucker.
“Abram believed in purity for Bratva daughters. Now, I’m not saying you can never have a virgin for a wife. You can. But if a Bratva daughter happens to not be a virgin, that shouldn’t stop anyone from marrying her. No wars will be fought over any woman’s virginity any longer. Is that understood? If your daughter fucks a man before marriage, then just get over it. No more in fighting. We need to present as a united front from any outsiders. I’m tired of fucking fighting. Aren’t all of you?”
A lot of the men nod.
“I know I am,” one man says. Many of them agree with him.
Except for Sergei, of course.
“I can’t just stand by and listen to you talk after you killed my boss.”
I walk through the crowd of men and stand before Sergei. “If you don’t get in line right now, I’m putting a bullet through your head.”
“Then put a bullet through my head.”
I shrug. “Fine by me.” I lift my gun and fire. His blood splatters on the man behind him, who shouts. Sergei falls to the floor, dead.
“Anyone else want to argue with me?” I ask, turning around in a circle. No one objects. “Good. Now, no more fucking wars, ok? At least not over Bratva woman. It’s cliché, isn’t it? And it only ends up hurting our women. None of us want that, so I say we all call it a day and move on. Abram is dead, and the war ended with him. Let’s leave it there.”
The rest of the men in the room agree with me.
“I’m impressed,” Nik murmurs to me once the group has disbanded. “I’ve never heard you give a speech in your life before. Crazy Dimitri Ivanov, asking for peace. Who knew this day would come?”
“I didn’t. But then I met Evie. Damn, Nik, I’m not ashamed to say I’m whipped.”
“Loving your wife doesn’t make you whipped.”
“I never said I love her.”
A knowing glint enters Nik’s eye. “You didn’t have to.”
“All right,” Maxim grumbles. “Enough talk about love. Let’s talk about our future as business partners. I’ve been getting word of someone blowing up gun shipments. Gun shipments that belong to us.”
“Anton,” Nikolai growls. Anton was the man who gave Nik his scar. The one who almost succeeded at killing him, which is not an easy feat. Trust me. I know.
I tried to kill Nik once myself .
“It has to be Anton,” Nik continues. “Blowing up gun shipments are his MO. He hasn’t made himself known in a year, but I don’t doubt he’ll come back. He always fucking comes back.”
“Then we’ll deal with him when we need to,” I say. “But until then, I just want to return to my wife.”
It’s time I tell Evie I love her.