Page 28 of Trapped by the Bratva (The Valkov Bratva #5)

HANNAH

I tucked the pharmacy bag further into my purse as I opened the door to the apartment I’d paid for before Dmitri offered me a new start on life. The pregnancy test that I picked up on the walk here felt so heavy. The significance of it weighed on me immensely.

No one was here. It was quiet, and as I stepped in further, I raised my brows at the mess of it all.

Things had been taken out. Furniture was missing or piled up like it was going to be moved and transported.

The carpet was stained with who knew what, and too many funky odors wafted from the nasty hell hole I used to call my home.

It was never this bad. Of course, Melissa never cleaned.

I had to, on top of my jobs. It seemed that since I’d left almost two months ago, she’d let it all go.

Not my problem.

“Hello?” I called out as I walked in further. Red flags were raised. Alarms rang in my mind. Something felt off about all of this, and I regretted not thinking about asking a guard to come with me.

All the brothers were in that meeting, and I was sure if one of them saw me exiting the mansion without a security detail, they would’ve stopped me and had someone come along.

I should have. So many soldiers and guards worked there, and I bet any one of them would’ve come with me.

Dammit.

I felt anxious and nervous. The further I walked into this crummy place, I felt certain that I was walking into a bad situation. Coming to deal with my sister was already a shitty thing to face, but I was on edge.

“Melissa?”

I stepped toward her bedroom, feeling like a moron to ever consider giving in and helping her out with money. Again. She was too good at taking advantage of me, and I needed Dmitri’s help to stop that pattern.

As I came near the door, I registered a blur in my peripheral vision.

Working in the ER had trained me to always be on guard in iffy situations.

I’d dealt with my fair share of neurotic or unhinged patients trying to get physical with me when they were brought in.

Psych patients off their meds. Irate or emotional family members.

It was a zoo some days, and it was with that training and practice that I knew to deflect this man rushing at me to capture me.

I slammed my elbow into his face as he ran at me, but by the time I finished the self-defense-modeled spin away from him, I was caught again by another man.

“This is her?” an older man demanded from the other side of the room. He lifted a gun and pointed it at me.

Melissa stared at me, her eyes wide with fear. Another man stood next to her with his gun pressed to her temple. The beefy guard behind her kept her trapped in a chokehold.

“Is this your sister?” the man asked her.

She nodded, and both men eyed me up and down.

I trembled as my body took over with the flood of adrenaline buzzing in me.

Fight or flight kicked in, and I doubted I could pull off the latter.

I was held back. Thick, grimy fingers manacled my upper arms. I didn’t think I could fight back, either.

Not with the chance of getting hurt. If I was pregnant, I had to protect my baby.

Six men stood in this tiny room, and I knew my odds were terrible.

Please. Please find my note, Dmitri. Please be on your way.

I should’ve called him. Texted him. Hell, I should’ve just opened that damn door to their meeting and interrupted to tell them that my sister was contacting the Avilov men. That was who they’d been after, anyway.

Now, I was screwed. I had to stall and wait for Dmitri to come—him and his brothers. They always worked as a unit.

Unlike me and Melissa. As my heart raced and my mind blurred with fear, I knew that she’d set me up.

“You’re the woman with Dmitri?” the tall one asked.

“I’ll handle her,” the older man argued, stepping forward.

“I don’t fucking think so, Sergei.” One of the taller man’s guards approached Sergei.

Sergei… Kastava? The names sounded familiar. I’d heard so many foreign names since being with Dmitri that I couldn’t remember the significance of who this man was.

“This was the deal. We get her to come. You handle the others, and I get their women.” Sergei snarled at me. “That motherfucking bastard took my daughter and made a mockery of me, so I’ll?—”

The window behind them crashed in. A body dropped in, and the man dressed in SWAT gear rolled to an efficient kneel, aiming his weapon at the man with Melissa. More men filed in. They came so quickly, everything merged as a too-fast change of action.

Officers came in through the windows, dropping into the basement level apartment. Behind me, Alek hurried in with Valkov guards. One shot from Alek’s gun landed a bullet between Sergei’s eyes. More men grappled with the tall man and his guards.

The second that a pair of hands took hold of my upper arms, I sucked in a hard breath and prepared to attack. Was this a sting? A rescue?

As I whirled around, my fist ready to punch, I saw Dmitri crouching and urging me to leave with him.

“Dmitri!” I lowered my arm and hurried toward him. As I ducked and exited the room, praying that no bullet reached us, I ended up helping him hobble out. He’d dropped his cane, but once we got out of the bedroom and through the nasty living room, he slowed with a steadier, though limping, gait.

“Are you okay?” He pulled me into his arms in the hallway as more and more men rushed into the apartment. Bratva guards. Agents and officers.

“I’m—yes.” I framed his face and checked that he wasn’t hurt.

As gunfire popped off from within, we turned in unison, frowning. “What about Alek?” I asked.

“He’s—” Dmitri lifted his head in a nod of acknowledgment. “He’s right there.”

Alek walked up, his face as stern and serious as ever. “You’re all right?” he checked.

I nodded, shaky but unharmed.

“We got here just in time,” Dmitri said, holding me close and watching the men rush in. “Good thing Igor noticed you leaving when he did.” He arched a brow at me.

“Didn’t you see my note?” I asked. “I didn’t want to bother you at your meeting when you shot me that look of annoyance.” I swatted his chest gently. “But I should have anyway.”

“Yes, you should have,” he scolded. “Igor followed you and called for reinforcements.”

I sighed, relieved. “So that’s why I felt that sixth sense of being watched on the way here.”

“Get used to it,” Alek advised wryly. “You never leave without security.”

“But what…” I rubbed my brow. “What just happened? I think Melissa set me up to come here, but…” I paused, watching with them as the tall man was dragged out.

“That’s Erik Avilov.” Dmitri pointed at him, glaring with lethal ferocity.

And you’re not rushing after him to kill him. He’d made such a big deal about getting revenge, for paying back that asshole for all the torture he’d inflicted on him.

Yet, he stood here, with me, rubbing my arms as he held me close, comforting me.

He leaned back against the hallway wall, likely to stay out of the way of the men coming in and out of the apartment.

I bet he was slanting like that for support too.

He’d overexerted himself coming to pull me to safety.

It hit me.

He hadn’t gone after his nemesis, his target. He’d come to get me.

He chose me , not his revenge.

I closed the distance between us and hugged him tight.

I did matter. And he was proving it whole-heartedly with his actions.

“It also helped that Agent Freeman was already nearby,” Alek added. “He’s been after Avilov longer than we have.”

“FBI and CIA,” Dmitri clarified for me with a note of annoyance in his tone.

“He’s arrested, then?” I was amazed that Dmitri could give him up like that. He was a ruthless killer and a hard man, but it seemed that he’d changed his mind about going for his target.

“Yes. The Feds can have him,” he said, staring at me.

“They have more to deal with than getting one man killed,” Alek added. “Avilov and his associates will be in prison for a very long time.”

“What about…” I swallowed, glancing between the brothers. Dmitri hugged me closer. “What about the man you…” I winced at Alek.

“Sergei Kastava.” He tipped his chin up higher. “My father-in-law will never threaten my wife again.”

I blinked, stunned at how their violence just played out like this. Like this sort of stuff happened every day and life would just go on around it all.

“And no one is…” I looked around. “No one’s going to arrest you for murder?” I whispered it. All these cops and agents standing around. They witnessed him shoot that older man.

Alek winked. “Let’s say that Agent Freeman and I worked out a deal. He wanted to bring down Avilov, and I was invested in stopping my father-in-law from ever being a threat to my family again.”

“Wow.” I blinked, stunned and still reeling from the roller coaster of action. From nervousness to fear. Then relief to confusion. Maybe it was because I had a ways to go in adapting from a “normal” and civilian life to this world of crime.

“Let’s go,” Dmitri said as Melissa was brought out of the apartment.

She walked on her own two feet, fighting and resisting the cops who tried to cuff her and lead her away.

“I’ve never done any drugs in my life,” she protested.

“Never!” Flinging her head from side to side, she sought me out.

“Hannah! Help! They planted drugs in there and are trying to—Stop. You can’t arrest me! ”

“Yeah, let’s go,” I said as I walked with Dmitri, helping him move while putting his weight on me.

“I’m going to stick around and supervise,” Alek said. Three Valkov guards remained with him, and I knew that if his brother were alone, Dmitri wouldn’t have been in such a rush to go.

“Are you wounded? Did you overdo it coming here?” I asked.

“You are in a world of trouble,” he growled. “Leaving without security like that?”

I winced. “I didn’t intend to worry you. I thought I could come and pay her to leave, and that would be that.”

“No. You’re too damn good to ever see the bad in anyone. She wouldn’t ever stop trying to get what she can from you.”

I glanced over my shoulder as she was taken away by the cops.

“No. I think I’m finally done with her. For good.

” She deserved to be arrested and charged for all her wrongdoings.

I’d never recoup the damages from how she’d treated me and abused me for so long, but I didn’t need closure with her.

Simply knowing I wouldn’t have to see her ever again was plenty.

Dmitri struggled once we were outside, though. He continued to glance at the car where Avilov was pushed into the backseat. He seemed to need that sense of closure, and I wondered if he would resent not being able to kill the man.

Another Valkov soldier led the way to a car, and I stayed plastered to Dmitri’s side all the way there. He was bitter, so quiet and angry, and I didn’t know what to say.

Sorry that I made you worry and rush after me?

I figured he’d bring backup when he did.

It’s not my fault that my sister got the Avilovs involved.

She followed me and snooped. I never told her anything.

I have no clue what Sergei meant when he saw me arrive.

I guessed that he and Avilov had teamed up to get me away from the Valkovs, but those details weren’t anything that I had to know right now.

Don’t be mad that you can’t kill that man. He’s done. He’s gone.

I wanted him to be relieved and happy, free to just be with me.

But he remained gloomy and annoyed the whole drive back to the house. With every minute that passed, I grew more worried about telling him that I was pregnant. It weighed on me, more so in this car ride because the guard driving wore a cologne that nauseated me.

He’d already said he wanted to wait to have kids, while I didn’t.

Now, we might be facing that sort of a future sooner rather than later.

And I can’t tell whether you’ll be mentally ready to actually accept me in your life now that your chance of seeking revenge is gone.