Page 32 of Pistols and Plush Toys

Max was lying next to them, looking as though he’d been stepped on. There was a dirty boot print on his light brown fur, and one of his glass eyes was cracked.

He yanked the sheets apart and found the giraffe, Apricot, twisted in the bedding.

Something went ice cold inside him. None of this looked like someone who’d gone willingly. Elliot might have left Max, but Nikolai knew without a doubt that he’d never leave Apricot behind.

If he’d had a choice in the matter.

“This look like a rescue to either of you?” Nikolai asked.

Alex and Pyotr looked at each other. “No, boss,” Alex said after a second.

There was a beat of silence.

Nikolai’s phone pinged and he pulled it out. “Gerard is at the gate with Viktor and Boris. Alex, you work with them to clear the rest of the house, make sure they didn’t leave any bugs. Pyotr, go get patched up properly.”

“Yes, Boss,” they both said before filing out of the room.

Nikolai took a deep breath and picked up Max and Apricot, setting them both on the messy bed.

Then he was turning to head down the hall, mind whirring.

He and Gerard needed to talk about the meeting with Vicki, and what they were going to do to take care of Vitale now that they had the family’s blessing.

Because Nikolai wanted that fucker taken care of.

He didn’t trust Vitale. Didn’t trust that he’d treat Elliot well now that he’d gotten him back. That Elliot wasn’t just a toy that Vitale might now break for misbehaving.

He hated the idea of a man like Vitale laying a hand on him.

And Nikolai was going to do something about it.

***

It took two agonizingly long days. Two days going back and forth with Gerard and Meredith to decide what to do. Nikolai felt every hour tick by, the way his mind kept getting distracted by the wondering .

The worrying.

Gerard, gracefully, didn’t point it out. He and Meredith just exchanged half a dozen looks, which Nikolai pretended not to see.

But at least now they had a plan.

There would be two teams. Gerard’s would lure Mattia away from his fortress of a home, and Nikolai would go in for the extraction.

On the third day, they let it leak that they were plotting a counterattack. That they were gathering supplies at a warehouse out on the edges of town. Gerard saw to it personally, talking it over with some of their men at the docks.

When Vitale left his apartment early the next morning, the trap was set. The tail reported that Vitale was picking up more cars, more men, and heading in the direction of the warehouse.

Nikolai got the checkmark from Gerard, and he hurried to move.

They exchanged their car for a minivan in a parking garage, in case Vitale was smart enough to have tails, and then he, Alex, and Pyotr headed into the city, toward the apartment, Meredith in his earpiece keeping up a running commentary on Gerard and his team.

They were in position at the warehouse, and Vitale was still heading in their direction. ETA five minutes.

“You’re clear,” Meredith said, as Alex parked the car.

Nikolai gestured to Alex and Pyotr and the three of them walked to Vitale’s building. A moment later, Katyana, dressed in a housekeeping uniform, opened the door.

“Security?” Nikolai asked.

“Maintenance closet, uninjured,” Katyana said. “Maintenance is busy with wiring issues in the gym.”

“No alarms yet,” Pyotr said.

Alex went to the elevator bank, pulling out a set of firefighter keys to override the security. Nikolai and Pyotr kept their guns trained on the lobby door, just in case.

Less than two minutes later, the four of them were in the elevator, heading up to the penthouse.

“The first car’s arriving,” Meredith said in his ear.

“Prioritize them,” Nikolai replied. He had no idea what the security would be like in Vitale’s apartment, but Vitale wasn’t expecting them. That gave him an advantage. “No updates now, unless is very bad.”

“Of course,” Meredith replied.

The elevator stopped at the top, and Alex switched the elevator to hold on the floor and went out first. He cleared the entryway, and the first room off to the right. Pyotr followed, then Nikolai, with Katyana bringing up the rear.

The penthouse was a double-level, open floor plan monstrosity. Everything was white and tile and cold. It echoed as they moved around, and Nikolai braced to encounter enemy fire. Even at their most quiet, this place wasn’t meant for stealth.

But they cleared all the rooms on the bottom floor. Did Vitale have no personal security here?

Alex signaled to the stairs. Nikolai gave him the go-ahead, and he and Pyotr took the stairs up and spread out to check the rooms. Nikolai and Katyana waited at the base, gun trained in the opposite direction just in case.

The house was deadly silent.

For a second Nikolai worried Elliot wasn’t even here. That all of this was for nothing–

“Clear,” Pyotr said aloud, jarring him back.

A moment later Alex said, “The kid is here. ”

Nikolai was up the stairs before he even realized he’d moved. He followed Alex’s voice to a door just cracked open at the end of a hallway. Alex stepped away.

“Wait at the elevator,” Nikolai said. “We’ll be quick.”

Alex nodded and retreated.

Nikolai barely heard him go as he opened the door all the way. There Elliot was, standing in the middle of the room, looking small and lost.

He had dark, vicious bruising around one eye, and his lip was swollen and scabbed. The beautiful hazel eyes of his were red, like he’d been crying.

And he had a ring of bruises around his throat.

“N-Nikolai?” Elliot said, staring at him like he wasn’t sure he was even real.

In that moment, Nikolai realized that even if he hadn’t gotten Vicki’s permission, he would see Mattia Vitale dead.

There was no other choice.