Page 28 of Nobody Wants Me (Volkov Bratva #5)

V ictor

I slam the knife into the back of the neck, twisting it, and wait until any last sign of life leaves his body. Pulling the knife out, cleaning it on his clothes, and then I call Ivan to let him know what just happened.

We’d been traveling four months. That was what I liked to call it, but the truth was, we were on the run.

This was not the first man that had gotten close to us.

This was the sixth man, and I was aware of The Beast and The Butcher taking care of trouble as well.

It was rare for me to even see any of them, but here we were. Another dead body.

“Yes?” Ivan asked.

“We’ve got another one.”

“I’ll deal with it.”

“Ivan, they’re becoming more frequent,” I said. “You want to tell me what is going on?”

This was the hard part about moving constantly, Ivan didn’t like to do a lot of talking over the phone. With the threat of The Grid still very much in place, he preferred to give us updates face-to-face. I hadn’t seen him in approximately three weeks. This was always a bad sign.

“I’ll update you soon,” Ivan said.

“Don’t you fucking dare hang up on me.” I could almost sense him wanting to terminate the phone call. “Four months with no resolve. Four fucking months, moving through each territory, never settling down. She’s going crazy, Ivan. We need to figure this out, and we need to do it fast.”

“We will.”

And before I could demand an update, he hung up the fucking phone, and that just served to piss me the fuck off. I gritted my teeth, then kicked the body of the man I had just killed. Another member of The Grid.

The last update we had gotten from Ivan was, he suspected he knew Harris’s location. Instead, there had been more people who had come after us. They seemed to know exactly where we would be.

Searching the body, I found his cell phone, several other documents, and I took them, heading back up to my and Freya’s hotel room.

We were actually booked in under Slavik and Aurora’s name.

They came to this hotel regularly when they wanted to be alone.

It should have been easy, instead we had that guy following us.

I told Freya to head upstairs, while I took care of it.

Now, I made my way back upstairs and went straight to our room. Freya was there, pacing back and forth. The moment I entered, she looked at me and then ran, throwing herself into my arms.

“Thank God,” she said.

I wrapped my arms around her and pressed my face against her neck.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, pulling away to cup my face.

“It’s as good as can be expected.”

I didn’t want her to worry.”

But from the look on her face, she was already worried.

“They’re getting closer.”

“Yeah,” I said. “The longer we’re on the run, the easier at times it can be to find us. We tend to leave ... tracks.”

Freya sighed and then pulled away. “You could have died.”

“No, I couldn’t. This guy was sloppy.”

She spun in a circle, looking around at the hotel room. “We can’t even go to a hotel under different names. It’s impossible.”

“No, nothing is impossible. You’ve just got to give us time, Freya.”

“Time?”

“Yes, time, and we’ll get all of this figured out. Trust me.” I went to her and cupped her face.

“What if next time they succeed in killing you? What then?” she asked.

“You run like hell.”

“Victor, please, this is not ... this isn’t funny. This isn’t even fair to you.”

I didn’t care if it was funny or fair. What I did care about was making sure she was safe. That was all I wanted to do. Nothing could happen to her. It had come close several times.

I pressed a kiss to her lips. “We’ll make it work.”

“What if we stop running?” Freya asked.

“What?”

“Look at us. Running is not working. I’m going crazy and you hate it. This is not working and they’re still coming. So, what if we just go back home and live our lives?”

“No.”

“Damn it, Victor. There is no way you’re enjoying this life.” She threw her arms up in the air. “Look around you. We’re not safe. It doesn’t matter where we go or what we do, it’s never going to be safe.”

I wanted to tell her it was going to be okay, but I couldn’t even tell her that.

“We’re not going back home.”

“Please,” she said. “Consider it.”

I took a moment. “No.”

She pressed her hands together and I was pretty sure she was doing some kind of prayer.

“This isn’t funny,” she said.

“I’m not laughing.”

“Then why won’t you consider it?” she asked. “What do we have to lose?”

“Your life!” This time, I was not quiet.

I didn’t hold back, but yelled at her. “You think it has been hard while we’re on the road, and people keep coming?

It’s not even close. We’ve been lucky, and sure, there are people attempting to kill us, but that is going to happen no matter what.

We go home, we’re sitting ducks. They will know exactly where we are, what we’re doing.

There is no chance for us to make it if we go back home.

Here, right now, this is where we stand a chance. ”

I hated that I had to argue this point. Glancing down at my hands, I saw the dried blood on them. I checked Freya’s face to see if I had accidentally put blood on her, but she was clear.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” I said, and with that I left her to deal with it.

Freya was being infuriating. Sure, it was hard. I got it. Moving around was not something I fucking enjoyed. I loved my territory. I loved my role. Being a Brigadier was in my blood. Serving Ivan was better than I could have ever imagined.

I wasn’t trying to be a pain in the ass. I was attempting to keep her safe. What was so hard to figure out? We had this argument quite regularly. Freya missed home. She missed her sewing room and Umberto’s cooking, as well as Rafael’s company. I missed them too.

I went to the bathroom, switched on the light, and grabbed the soap. Rubbing the soap onto my hands, I massaged it in. It was then, as I scrubbed my hands, that I realized I didn’t hear anything from the other room.

Turning off the tap, I grab the towel and step into the room, and I just knew she had already taken off.

“For fuck’s sake,” I said, yelling as I take off for the door.

Where there was one man I had killed, I knew there could be a second or a third. Anger rushed through me, and I made my way toward the elevator, seeing the last destination was the ground floor.

I pulled out my cell phone, dialed Ivan’s number, but it went straight to voicemail. I don’t know how I ended up with The Butcher’s number, but I did. I figured it was because my woman and The Butcher had become friends.

She did answer.

“What’s up?”

“Freya’s done a runner,” I said.

“What? You can’t even keep your wife in one fucking hotel room?” The Butcher asked.

“She’s going crazy. She doesn’t want to do this anymore, and I don’t want to keep making her do this.”

I made it to the ground floor, and yes, I was a little out of breath. Crashing into the main lobby, I ignored the curious looks and went straight for the main entrance. This was not safe. This was plain stupidity. She had to be safe. Nothing could happen to her.

My heart raced and I don’t think it was entirely because of the run, although that might have something to do with it. I hated the fear that chased down my back threatening to spill over. The sense of panic I had. I didn’t want anything to happen to my wife.

“Where would she go?”

“Anywhere. You’re just going to have to pick a direction and go with your gut. Think about your wife. Where she would go?”

And with that, The Butcher hung up.

This was not about dealing with your gut.

My wife was her own woman, and we were in Slavik’s territory.

She didn’t know the place all that fucking well, and neither did I.

Holding my cell phone within my tight grip, I looked left and right, and that was when I saw the sign that had the direction for the park, heading left.

I took off. There was only one place I felt my wife would go—the park. The one place she might feel ... normal. It was also a dangerous fucking place.

I followed the directions that would take me to the fucking park.

I was not in the best of moods right now.

In fact, I was pissed off. I got it more than she even realized.

My wife was scared. She was tired. She wanted to go home.

Her life had been turned upside down, and she had done nothing wrong.

There was nothing I could do to change it.

So far, even Ivan hadn’t been able to stop it.

I finally got to the park and stepped inside. It was dark, but they did have a path of lights that helped me to see. I had to rely on the fact that my wife wouldn’t be stupid and go into the dark. As I walked along the main path, I couldn’t help but tense up, waiting for an impending attack.

I’d been walking the path for a good ten minutes, when I found her sitting on the bench, near a light, her knees up to her chest. She looked so damn scared and vulnerable.

I checked the perimeter, and there was no one I was too concerned about. The Grid had an agenda, but they wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack her in a crowded place. Even if there were people waiting, they would do it at a less inconspicuous time. I made my way to the bench and sat down.

“I’m sorry,” Freya said.

“It’s fine.”

“I just ... I felt like I couldn’t breathe anymore. Do you know what that’s like?” she asked.

“Yeah, I do.”

She turned her head to look at me.

“My dad wanted to make sure his son wasn’t a weakling, and part of my training was having my head pushed under water and held there. I learned to hold my breath.”

“Wow,” Freya said. “My brothers did that to me. Not because they were making me strong, but because it entertained them.”

“Yeah, just so you know, they’re dead,” I said. “If they weren’t dead, I would hunt them the fuck down and kill them myself.”

Freya looked at me and nodded. “Is it bad that I don’t care?”

“No.” I shook my head. “You have a right to not care.”