Page 31 of Scarlet Sins (Yegorov Bratva #2)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

ERIN

“So, dancing?” I ask Kara and Alina. “What outfit?”

Sasha’s napping and it’s the bachelorette night. Olga’s watching TV as Sasha is curled up, snuggled next to her, his goat’s tail sticking out from under his arm.

He now also has a big plush turtle Olga got conned into getting him.

I don’t want to leave him, but I spent the last part of the afternoon with him, splashing in the pool, and now he’s out for the count.

I hold up a dress.

“Not that one,” Kara says.

Alina digs through my case and pulls out a short one in gold I bought to tease Demyan with. It’s meant for private fun, not going out. It’s so not me, but they fling it at me.

“Perfect,” Alina says, laughing.

“Why would I wear that?”

“Maybe we’re not going dancing.” Kara looks at Alina, and they both snicker.

Oh. God. A stripper? “Did you Magic Mike me? I’ll kill you both. ”

“You’ll have to find out. You’re just lucky the penis tiara didn’t arrive in time.”

“Kara,” I say, “stop that.”

“Get dressed.” Alina holds up the gold shoes with high heels they made me get. They’re not super high, and they’re wedged, but they’re higher than I’ve worn in a long time.

But there’s no way out. These two aren’t going to let up.

I snatch the shoes and the dress and head to the bathroom, underwear of the skimpy sort thrown in after me. “If it is a stripper, I mean it, I’ll kill you. Actually, Demyan will beat me to it. He’s very jealous. And protective.”

“That’s my brother. Gross!”

I roll my eyes and close the door. I strip and shower, washing sand, sea, and pool off me. Alina is doing so well, that it’s only occasionally she sees something and a sadness comes over her, like she’s been reminded that Max isn’t here.

But I think she’s having fun, so for her, more than Kara, I tell myself to go have fun. And I do trust them. I don’t think there’s a stripper.

After I’m finished with the shower, I dress and put on makeup, something I almost never do. I might as well do it, because knowing Kara, she’ll attack me and paint me more than I like.

When I’m done, I head into the main room, hair down, and they both whistle.

“You know,” I say, “we don’t need to make a big deal of it tonight. Maybe we just have dinner somewhere, followed by quiet drinks, just the three of us. It would be perfect, don’t you think?”

“Nope,” Kara says.

Alina nods. “We’ve got other, better plans.” We head out and they both look fantastic. Heads turn as we make our way to a car, one of them booked. I breathe a sigh of relief as I spy the swimsuits in Kara’s bag and breathe a bigger one when we pull up at the nightclub they talked about.

Dancing I can do.

I have to admit the place is fun. It’s chill, too, indoors and in the back, there’s an outdoor area with places to dance under the stars or swim.

“This table is perfect,” Kara says, putting her bag down as Alina flags the cocktail waitress. “Dance floor there, bathrooms close for pregnant and drunk party members, and a nice breeze from the outside.”

“And no strippers.”

Alina orders two rounds, sodas for me, booze for them. “The night is young,” she says with a laugh.

Then she leans in and kisses my cheek. “What was that for?”

“Thank you. For making my brother grow in the ways he should. He’s a hard man.

I mean hard as in unyielding and driven, but you and Sasha have given him the room to open up his heart and now the parts of him I know exist are more obvious.

” She sucks in a breath. “And it’s thanks for being my friend.

I know how close you were to Max, and I feel him more with you around. Like… I don’t know… he approves.”

She squeezes my hand.

“I miss him, too,” I say.

“I wish… well, I wish a lot of things, but you, Kara, Sasha all make it better. Bearable. Demyan, too. But he’s my brother, it’s his job. It isn’t yours. And it isn’t Kara’s, I only just met her, but I love her, too.”

I reach out and squeeze Kara’s hand. And I want to cry. These hormones. Hell. But her words make me sad and happy at the same time. She has a long road, but she’s come so far and her genuine pleasure at being here warms me.

The drinks arrive and I let Kara know what Alina says.

“She’s so cool. I hate she lost Max, but she’s got us.” Then she raises her head and her glass. “To Erin. To her marriage. To her little family. But… to us, because we’re the greatest damn friends ever.”

Alina cheers. “I’ll drink to that.”

The booze definitely works its magic on them and they’re so much fun that I forget quickly I can’t drink. I think those hormones of mine that are so intense, so all over the place, give me that euphoria of drinking, that early tipsy feeling.

I look around at all the people dancing and drinking. It’s early enough that it isn’t overly crowded, but it seems it’s party time in Aruba at all hours, at least in here.

To our right is a table with Demyan’s men. One watches us, the others scan the room.

I don’t even mind they’re here. They make me feel safer, and I have to admit I like being able to see them as it elevates the safety. Not that I’ll ever tell Demyan that. He’ll never let me step outside alone again.

“Let’s dance, I love this song,” Kara says, dragging us up.

I don’t think I’ve been dancing in years. But it’s easy enough to jump about and get our groove on. And the song melts into another and then another.

Finally, I need to sit. I get a lime and soda and sit, drinking it, waving my friends off as they get their gin and tonics and vodkas.

Men try and dance with them, but the girls stay together, and their would-be suitors always drift off.

“Come back and dance,” Kara says with a laugh as she shimmies up to me.

I wave her back. “Pregnant and tired. Let me get my second wind.” Then, like I somehow brought it on, I’m hit with the pregnant bladder syndrome and the need to pee. I wave Alina over. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom. You two carry on dancing.”

They salute and I go to the bathroom. It’s early enough there’s no line. When I’m done, I fix my hair, reapply my lipstick, and step out into the shadowed hall that leads back to the dance floor and bar.

A big and burly man bumps into me. I go to step around him when something hard pokes me in the stomach and someone else comes up behind me. I glance down and fear grabs me tight.

A gun.

It’s a gun he’s poking into my belly.

“P-please…”

“Make sound,” the man says in broken English that’s heavily accented. He doesn’t sound or look like he’s from the island. He sounds and looks like he’s pure mafia hired scum. “Make sound and you dead. I kill you and baby. Pow.”

White-hot terror streaks through me. I don’t move, only nod.

“We walk. We leave. Okay?”

I nod once more.

Demyan’s men are here, I remind myself. I just need to get to the main part of the room.

But they push open a door farther back and we’re in an alley. They drag me with them, giving me no way to escape, even though the gun’s no longer pointed at my baby.

Panic dances through me and I pray that they’ll have to take me near others, even around the front. And I pray either Kara, Alina, or Demyan’s men see me as we go past the outdoor area.

I stumble deliberately, playing clumsy, and step into a pool of light. They grab me and drag me back to the shadows, then past people in the front as they force me toward a waiting car, the gun in the small of my back.

Shit, I can’t go with them.

There are plenty of people around and I struggle as a shout goes up .

“Hey, leave her alone!” It’s Alina. “Stop!”

The man with the gun turns, caught off guard. The other one has gone to the driver’s door, so I use the distraction, smacking the hand with the gun and bringing my knee up hard, landing it in his groin.

It’s enough to stumble free. I run, shouts and murmurs rising from the people outside the club. I head to the entrance where Alina and Kara are coming for me. “Watch out! They have a gun!”

Pandemonium sets in and screams echo all around as I run into my friend’s arms.

Demyan’s men appear, weapons drawn, and they rush the men, trying to disarm them.

Guns go off, and I gulp in air, seeing two of Demyan’s men fall dead as Kara and Alina drag me back in.

People are running everywhere but the guns keep shooting until they end abruptly, and Kara screams. “They’re coming.”

Alina grabs us, dragging us behind the bar and we rush, following the bartender out through an employee exit and into the night.

I can’t breathe, and tears are blurring my eyes, my ears ring with the shouts and shots.

Kara flags a taxi, and we bundle in Alina, shouting out our hotel’s name.

I should be helping, I know that, but my thoughts are everywhere. Who the hell were those men? And is my son safe?

“What if they know where we’re staying?”

But Alina’s on the phone to Olga. “Get Sasha, grab a bag, and meet us in front.”

“Is it safe?” I swing my head wildly from Alina to Kara, but Alina squeezes my arm as the taxi pulls up in front of the hotel and Olga, Sasha, and two bags squish in the back with us.

“Where to?” the driver asks.

Alina rattles off an address and hands him a pile of money. “More if you get us there unseen and as fast as you can.”

“Are we safe?” I ask as a crying Sasha scrambles over the others to me.

I hold him tight and try and breathe.

“We’re safe, we’re going to be safe.” Alina makes a call. “We used to holiday here all the time so I know people. More importantly, we’re going to a safe house and the staff there are waiting. We can trust them.”

And the driver, I want to ask, can we trust him? But I don’t because while she’s paying him a lot of money, I don’t want to know what’ll happen.

Instead, I reassure Sasha, who’s terrified.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, we’re going on an adventure.”

He hugs his turtle and goat and me, big eyes taking everything in. “Dino?”

“He’ll be here soon,” I whisper, “Daddy’ll be here soon.”

We turn onto a bumpy road, and the driver suddenly pulls over in the darkness.

That’s when I see two headlights flash. Two big men appear and one pays the driver more money, and they help us out of the car. We wait as the cab turns and drives out of view.

Then we’re piled into a big SUV.

“We’re heading to the safe house now. We had to do the transfer here because, even if they get to the driver, pay him more money, and he talks, he doesn’t know anything other than this spot and we could go in any direction from here.”

Kara stares at Alina. “You’re as bad-ass as your brother.”

“I’m not,” she says, “I just know the drill.” Then she sighs. “I’ve texted Ilya and Demyan.” She holds her phone to her ear, then leaves a message in Russian. She does this a few times.

“Has he picked up?” I ask as I try to keep the panic from my voice.

But Alina shakes her head. “Straight to voicemail, both of them, but they’ll get these and we’ll keep trying.”

I kiss Sasha’s head. And Kara meets my gaze.

Anyone else would be looking at me like I told you so or have a face full of recriminations.

Not Kara.

It’s just concern for me, and a brave smile.

Sasha hugs me tighter. “Daddy will keep us safe,” I say. “All of us. We’re going to be fine.”

I hope.