Page 24 of Forced Bratva Hostage (Dubrov Bratva #15)

I have to fight the urge to smile.

I can’t let on that I know what I know, and the moment Boris gets even the slightest hint that I’m happy about something, he’ll beat the truth out of me.

So, I get ready for the party in silence.

Olivia does my hair for me, curling it and pinning it up into a messy, but beautiful, high bun. She leaves a few strands hanging loose around my face.

When no one is looking, I take Andrei’s phone and slide it into the elastic at the top of my stockings. He said he doesn’t know when he will see me again, but I’m hoping it will be tonight.

If it isn’t, I will wait, though. And at least now I am filled with hope that everything is going to be okay.

I trust him with my life.

I trust him with my heart.

Olivia walks back in carrying a bottle of perfume.

“Here, he said you have to wear this.” I tilt my neck to the side, and she sprays a little onto my skin.

“Olivia, it’s going to be okay,” I whisper.

She pulls her mouth to the side and bites at the inside of her cheek.

I reach out and take her hand. “Hey, look at me.”

Her eyes are tearful as she looks into mine.

“It’s going to be okay. I promise. I have a plan.”

She shakes her head. “He’ll kill everyone,” she whispers, filled with panic.

I sigh, still smiling gently at her. “It might not be tonight, I don’t know when it will be, but I’m going to get everyone out of here.”

Olivia lets out a little sob and nods. “Okay, Miss Tia. I hope you can.”

I pull her into a tight hug and hold her close for a moment before letting her go.

A loud knock at the door makes both of us jump.

“It’s time to go, get downstairs now,” Van shouts from the other side of the door.

I roll my eyes at the closed door.

“You look beautiful,” Olivia says, with a sad smile.

“Thank you,” I whisper, then turn away from her.

I have a party to get to.

***

We’re at some over-the-top venue inside one of the city’s most expensive hotels. Whoever is throwing this party has booked out the entire hotel, and the place is packed with people dressed in designer clothes, floating around like they own the planet.

My stomach is knotted with anxiety. I wish that I could check Andrei’s phone to see if he messaged me or not. I’m dying inside, nervous and on edge. I keep looking around the room, searching for him in the crowd, and Boris is getting annoyed with me.

“Hey, I told you to pay attention. Stop getting distracted. This is important.” He drags me by the arm, his fingers digging into my skin, but his smile is friendly and polite as we walk past people.

He tugs me towards a group of older men, all in identical black suits, tailored to perfection for each of them.

“Fredrick, Bernard, it’s great to see you,” Boris gushes, fake and friendly. The men greet him, lifting their whisky glasses towards him.

He pushes me forward a bit. “This is my sister, Tatiana,” he says. “She’s my only family, and I love her dearly.” He laughs. “Just yesterday though, she told me she wanted to start looking for a husband. Can you believe it?” he says, jokingly, but not joking at all.

“Mm. She’s gorgeous,” one of the men remarks, his eyes dragging up and down over my body while he speaks about me like I’m not even in the room. I smile as sweetly as I can, biting my tongue to stop myself from saying anything that will do damage.

Patience, Tia. You have to trust that Andrei will come.

“I assume you’re willing to make a deal?” a man says. He looks like he’s in his late fifties, and I swallow hard as his eyes meet mine, and I see a coldness in him.

“I’m sure there are going to be competitive offers this evening; whatever you come up with has to be worth my while,” Boris says, as negotiations begin.

“You do your rounds tonight, and at the end of the evening, you tell me who your highest bidder is. I assure you—I will double whatever they’re offering.”

My heart sinks. This man is hell-bent on winning me, as though the entire thing is a game of poker and I’m a prize.

“We’ll talk later. Gentleman, enjoy the party.” Boris smiles, satisfied with the interaction. He pulls me away, and I turn to look at him with a strained expression.

“Please, not him, Boris,” I whisper.

“Shut up,” he hisses. “I will make the decision based purely on what value they give me. I will get the most out of you.” He snaps under his breath.

Looking around, I’m searching for Andrei again, terrified that Boris will sell me off tonight, and I won’t even get to go home.

Please come.

Just as I think the words, Andrei steps out in front of us with a dark smile on his lips.

“Boris, what a surprise,” he muses.

“How the fuck—” Boris snarls, reaching for his gun. “You weren’t invited,” he shouts, loud enough to draw everyone’s attention.

A murmur moves through the crowd, and the music dies down as all eyes turn towards Boris and Andrei.

“This man is not welcome here,” Boris says loudly.

Behind Andrei, three men appear; they glare at Boris, and his eyes go wide.

“Nico Andreev? Arkady? Radmir Kuznetsov—" he stammers in disbelief. “What the fuck is going on?”

Nico lifts his chin and speaks to the crowd with confidence.

“This man is not who you think he is. Boris has been playing all of you.”

“Fuck off. He’s lying. Don’t listen to him.”

“We have proof,” Andrei says. “He’s been syphoning money from every single deal he’s running. The profits are double what he says they are. He’s playing every single one of you.”

As the crowd gets more agitated, my half-brother begins to panic.

More men start to surround Boris, all of Nico’s brothers, and the Kuznetsov brothers. I don’t know them by name, but they are wearing the family crest embroidered into their jackets. I can’t believe he did it. He brought an army.

I try to step forward, to move towards Andrei.

Boris grips my arms so tight I cry out in pain and wince, falling against him as he pulls me backwards. Van arrives behind Boris, his gun in his hand, lifted as he points from one person to the other. “Back off,” he shouts.

“Put the gun down, Van,” Andrei warns him. “You’re outnumbered.”

Boris is furious. “You’re the one who’s outnumbered, Andrei. You and your friends have walked into an entire event packed with my allies. You don’t stand a chance.”

Boris searches the crowd, shouting orders. “Do something. Get rid of them.” But no one moves.

“Have you been stealing from us, Boris?” a tall man asks.

“No, no, come on—I’ll give the money back. I was investing it on your behalf,” he stammers.

Van lets out a low, savage growl and takes stronger aim at Andrei. His finger squeezes against the trigger, but before he has a chance to take a shot, someone shoots him in the head.

Blood erupts like a fountain from the back of his skull, and suddenly, all the women are screaming, people are running, and everyone is threatening to shoot.

Boris grabs me closer and uses my body as a shield as he tries to shove his way through the crowd, using the panic to hide and make an escape.

“Andrei,” I scream his name and search in panic for him.

“Let her go, Boris.” His voice is commanding.

Boris spins towards Andrei and grabs me around the throat. “Let me go or she dies,” he snarls, pressing a gun into my skull.

“The problem is Boris—I believe you, and I can’t let that happen,” Andrei speaks calmly as Boris shifts and aims the gun at him instead.

The bullet explodes from Andrei’s gun and moves in slow motion towards my brother’s head.

There is a wet thud; his body jolts and his fingers spasm against my neck before he collapses to the ground.

Warm blood splatters against my cheek, and I squeeze my eyes shut in shock.

Boris’s body hits the floor next to me with a soft thud.

Andrei is right at my side.

“Tia, are you okay?” he asks. “Tia, look at me, are you ok?” His voice is wild with care and panic.

I force my eyes open and stare directly at Andrei, refusing to look down at my half-brother’s dead body. My breathing is heavy, and my chest is tight.

Andrei wipes his sleeve over my face to try and get rid of the blood, but I can smell it. Iron, metallic and raw.

He pulls me into his arms and holds me against him while I fight tears. I’m in shock. I wrap my arms tightly around him, hugging him as though I will never let go.

Andrei sways, his arms around me loosen.

I lean back and look at him. “What’s wrong?” I squeal, only now noticing the sticky feeling on my arms.

I look down and see blood coating my arms and the front of my dress.

“Andrei?” I scream his name as his legs collapse beneath him.

“Andrei, can you hear me?” I drop to the ground, kneeling next to him to push my hands over the gunshot wound in his stomach.

Men surround me, pushing me out of the way to get to him. They lift him, shoving people aside as they run, carrying him towards a car outside.

Nico grabs my hand and yells at me to stay close.

No one tries to stop us from leaving; no one cares that Boris is dead.

They lift Andrei into the car, and Nico drags me towards his car. “I want to drive with him,” I say, flooded with anxiety.

“There’s no room, Tia. I’ll take you to the hospital, we’ll follow right behind them, I promise. The men who are with him are all trained to deal with this. They are his best chance of surviving until we get to a doctor. Do you understand me?”

I nod, tears streaming down my face.

He pushes me towards his car, and I pull the door open to climb inside.

The car ahead of us drives fast, not stopping for anything as we race behind it to keep up.

“Where are they taking him?” I ask Nico as he swerves around a corner.

“There is a private hospital. The doctors there are on our payroll. He’ll get the best treatment in their care. They are the best of the best.”

My body is tightly knotted, anxiety spiking at every nerve ending.

We arrive at the hospital and Andrei has already been carried inside and put onto a gurney. The doctors have already wheeled him into surgery, and I didn’t even have a chance to see him.

Nico sits in the waiting room with me. I can’t sit still. I can’t stop pacing up and down, even though my feet are aching in these heels.

So much happened tonight.

Boris is dead. Van is dead. Andrei might be dying, and I can’t get to him.

“Hey, Tia, this is going to take a while, you really need to try and relax,” Nico says, gesturing towards the seat next to him.

“I don’t know how to do that. I’m scared,” I mutter, fresh tears spilling down my cheeks.

“Okay, well, how about this: Go and wash your face, there is a bathroom over there—I’ll get you something to drink. Hot chocolate, or would you prefer a Pepsi?”

“I, um,” I stammer.

“I’ll get both.” He stands up. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up. You’ll feel better after you’ve splashed cold water on your face.” He guides me towards the bathroom and pushes the door open for me.

I step inside. Nico disappears, and I’m alone.

Staring at the mirror, I don’t recognize myself.

My face is splattered with blood, but there are clean lines running down my cheek where the tears washed it away.

In disgust, I turn the tap on full and start scrubbing at my skin with the hospital soap.

I scrub until my cheeks are raw and there isn’t a spot of blood on my face.

A knock at the door draws my attention, and Nico opens it, stepping inside. He hands me a pair of doctors’ scrubs. “Here, these will fit,” he says.

I’m so desperate to get any trace of blood as far away from me as possible that I don’t hesitate to pull my dress from my shoulders and let it fall to the floor around my feet.

Nico very quickly turns his back on me.

“Sorry,” I murmur, realizing that I should have waited for him to leave.

“It’s okay. Here.” He passes me the scrubs with his eyes closed.

I get into them, kicking the dress away from me.

Nico picks it up and shoves it into a dustbin in the corner.

I do feel better. But my heart is still heavy with worry.

“Come on, we can wait together,” he says gently, holding out his arm. He wraps it around my shoulders, and we go back to the waiting room where he’s got hot chocolate and a cool drink for both of us.

The surgery takes three hours.

Three hours of absolute torture for my mind.

When the doctor steps into the waiting room, both Nico and I stand up right away, eager to hear the news.

“He’s alive. He’s in very bad shape, but he’s going to pull through,” he says, and we both let out a sharp breath.

“Can we see him?” I ask.

“Give me a moment to clean him up and take him to recovery. And please understand that he doesn’t look good. The bullet was very close to taking his life, and he’s lost a ton of blood. It’s going to take time, okay?”

I nod. I don’t care how he looks. I just want to see him.

Half an hour later, a nurse comes to take us to Andrei.

Nico smiles and tells me to go ahead while he waits outside.

I rush to his bedside and take his hand gently in mine.

My heart breaks looking at him.

His eyes are sunken, with dark shadows beneath them. His skin is pale, and his breathing is labored.

“Andrei,” I whisper. “I’m here.”

His eyes flicker open for a moment, then close again. I squeeze his hand. “It’s okay. You can rest. I promise I won’t leave you.” I’m crying again. Relief that he’s alive and heartache for what he has to go through are both swimming through me.

I pull a chair close to the side of his bed and sit with him as he drifts in and out of consciousness. The steady beep of his heart monitor is soothing to me because it tells me he’s alive, that his heart is strong, and he’ll pull through.