Page 34 of The Bratva’s Arranged Virgin Bride (Fokin Bratva #8)

Once I got to my house in the hills, what I hoped to be Nat’s and my future home together, I became so engrossed with her surprise that it was long past midnight when I finally looked up from my work.

Damn it, that was way more than a couple of hours. She was really going to be pissed. I didn’t bother calling her and waking her up; I just flew out of there and headed back toward the beach house, thinking of some explanation that wouldn’t give away what I’d really been doing.

Turned out I had one handed to me on a silver platter. As I was racing home, I got a message from Mat.

Now’s your chance to prove yourself.

Curious and annoyed at how cryptic he was being, I immediately called him.

“One of our places was raided a few hours ago,” he said. “We tracked them down and are heading that way now.”

As he filled me in on what he knew from surveillance footage at the warehouse that was ransacked, I was pretty sure it was the same crew that had given me trouble at the club earlier that night.

Or last night, since it was heading into morning.

I swore under my breath, regretting going easy on them.

“You know something about this?” he accused.

“Calm down. I know who they are. They’ve been giving me headaches, too.”

“So, you didn’t send them our way to alleviate that pain?” he asked.

I didn’t dignify that with a response. “Where should I meet you?” I asked instead. “And how many men should I bring?”

Mat gave me the address where they believed they’d find the gang. “Come alone,” he said before ending the call.

That was hilarious. As much as they didn’t trust me, I trusted them even less. This might have been an ambush, a way to get me out of the picture and get Nat away from me. They’d have to kill me in order to do that, and since I wasn’t born yesterday, that wasn’t going to happen.

Calling my best men to meet me at the location Mat had given, I told them to hang back and wait for further instructions.

If I didn’t give them any at all within a half an hour, come in shooting.

Hopefully, this wasn’t the kind of ambush where they shot me through the skull as soon as I walked through the door, but the Fokins weren’t normally so efficient.

They were like cats, and liked to toy with their prey before devouring it.

When I arrived at the seedy apartment building, Mat and Nik were waiting outside, preparing to raid the place.

They were both spitting mad and ready to end this paltry organization once and for all.

Supposedly, the top guy was in there, and they surmised that by cutting off the head of the snake, the body would wither.

I’d found some of my most loyal men by taking their bosses out of the equation, so I agreed with them.

They both looked at me like they couldn’t believe it.

“What?” I said, shrugging. “It’s a good plan.”

I pulled out my sidearm and made sure it was fully loaded and ready to go. I was pleased this wasn’t a ruse to kill me, hide my body, and make Nat a merry widow after all, and I told them I was ready to help however I could.

Nik scoffed, while Mat barely hid an eye roll. “Stay behind us, watch, and learn,” Nik said.

Smug bastards. But they were the ones who had intel on this place, and if they thought they could take down the leaders by themselves, then who was I to interfere? Just kidding. As we snuck up the stairs, I messaged my team to get over there and be ready if I gave them the word.

We finally got to the top floor and made our way down the dingy, poorly lit hallway toward what must pass for the penthouse of this building. The door wasn’t guarded, and Nik turned to give me a know-it-all expression.

“Should I go in first?” I asked to show I was willing to be a team player.

“So you get to have all the fun?” Mat pulled his gun, grinned at me, and shoved ahead, kicking open the door.

Instantly, there was a harsh crack, followed by a painful grunting noise. Nik and I followed, expecting to see whoever Mat had knocked out on the ground, and him with his gun on the head guy. Instead, mayhem greeted us.

There might have been no one outside or in the hall, but that was because they were all in the dumpy little apartment. The place was teeming with men, all of them armed. Mat was laid out on the chipped linoleum, groaning and trying to regain his feet after getting hit in the head.

Nik started firing, and a few fell, but the ones he missed returned fire.

I ducked back out of the apartment, sent the signal to my guys, and then jumped back into the fray.

I spotted Nik crouching behind a couch, rising to get off another couple rounds before ducking back down.

Bullets sprayed into the sofa, sending chunks of foam padding flying.

A spot of blood bloomed on Nik’s forearm, and he motioned for me to hurry up and get down as I felt a bullet zing past my ear.

I was more concerned about Mat, who was still trying to get back up.

For the moment, he was being ignored, so I crouched low and grabbed the back of his shirt collar, dragging him behind the bar in the tiny kitchen off the entry.

By my count, Nik had taken down half a dozen of them, but we were still outnumbered.

When I rose to look over the top of the counter, I spotted two men trying to get out the window and onto the fire escape. I shot in that direction, hitting one of them. The other one didn’t look back and jumped over the railing, sliding down the rickety metal ladder to save his own skin.

I hollered into my phone for someone to cover the fire escape. “And get your asses up here, now!”

Mat shook off the daze of being clobbered and hoisted himself up to try to be helpful, nearly taking a bullet right between the eyes.

I hauled him behind the counter and motioned for him to wait.

After a few more seconds, my guys burst in, taking out everyone who was left.

Since Mat was clearly fine, I hurried over to make sure Nik’s injury wasn’t worse than it seemed.

He had a flesh wound in his forearm, but was already stanching the bleeding with his jacket sleeve by the time I made it over to his spot behind the couch.

“You can get up now; these are my guys.”

They were both too stunned to be properly grateful, but begrudgingly told me I could decide what happened to the erstwhile gang’s leader, who was caught on the fire escape.

“Quick or drawn out,” Mat said, finally realizing they might be dead if it wasn’t for me. “Your choice.”

The not-so-fearless leader whimpered in my guy’s grasp, but I barely spared him a glance. I did, however, give my in-laws each a long look before answering.

“As enjoyable as this was, I’d much rather get home to my wife. I trust you two to take care of it from here, now that there’s only one left.”

Yeah, I twisted the knife a little by bringing up Nat, and I’d put a bit too much emphasis on the word trust. I had just saved their sorry butts, and it was clear they still didn’t have much for me. Still, it wasn’t the most pressing thing on my mind.

That was Nat. It would always be her.

I gave my guys their orders to help with cleaning up, and not to report back to me because I was going to be busy with other things for the coming day.

At least, I hoped so. I couldn’t wait to show Nat what I’d been working on, as excited as Christmas morning, and wanting to drag her out of bed to show her right away.

As I tiptoed into the beach house and all was quiet and still, I decided to wait a little bit and pretend nothing was different. If her cousin or uncle mentioned anything to her about our joint battle, it might go a long way towards winning her heart.

My surprise could wait. The next gallery show was just a few days away, and we’d both be riding high after that. When she was giddy with success, I’d take her to her new house and show her who and what was the most important thing in my life.

Nat. Always Nat.

But even though the surprise could wait, I couldn’t wait to see her. It was nearing dawn, and if nothing else, I could slip into bed beside her and tuck her under my arm until she woke up. Except, when I got upstairs to our room, she wasn’t in bed. It hadn’t been slept in at all.

Did she work herself up into a bad enough mood to go back to the guest room?

No, she wasn’t there, either. She wasn’t anywhere in the house or on the beach.

She must have gone to the gallery early, though that didn’t explain the beds that hadn’t been slept in.

Before heading over there, I gave her a call.

There was no answer, so I sent a text message, just a casual question if she was there.

Surely, she wasn’t mad enough to go back to her father’s house, was she?

The wait was interminable, but after only a few minutes, I got a reply. It was as cold and distant as the one she sent me the night before.

I need some time. Please respect me enough to give it to me.

I stared at the message, willing the words to form into something different. Every fiber in my being wanted to search her out and pull her close, but I knew her. That would only drive her further from me. She could have until the end of the day, then I was bringing my wife home where she belonged.