Chapter 7
Ivan
I burstthrough the elevator doors as soon as they open to my penthouse to see all of my staff tied up with bags over their heads. I rush through the house before freeing them to check for any sign of Danielle.
She’s nowhere.
Lev is right behind me as he frees everyone and asks them questions. Of course, this was Nikolai’s handiwork.
He had to have known I was going to question Vlad, and he knew there was a chance I’d find out the truth before I returned. He had to act quickly.
“Where the fuck would they go?” I ask, feeling furious and frenzied in every movement.
Lev is already on the phone assembling a brigade to get back at Nikolai for this. The man dared touch Danielle, so I will rip his eyes from his face and make him pay for every moment of fear he’s instilled in her.
“Adrian thinks he knows where they are,” Lev says after he gets off the phone. “It’s the warehouse they wanted to launch the assault at earlier. Nikolai didn’t think you’d be going there after finding out about their plans. If we head there now, we can probably catch them.”
“Tell everyone to meet us there,” I rush to my office to open my safe, grabbing a handgun from inside.
“We need to wait for backup. There’s got to be at least six other guys there, and they’re all going to be strapped,” Lev says, trying to talk reason into me.
I can’t see it right now. The only thing on my mind is Danielle frightened and alone in this warehouse, not understanding what’s going on.
“You wait then. I’m going now to get Danielle.” Walking away, I hear Lev’s footsteps behind me and before the elevator door closes, he’s standing right beside me.
“I swear if you get me killed, I’m going to haunt you for all eternity,” Lev says with a sigh, furiously texting and organizing a full assault on the warehouse.
I’m seeing red as we get in the car and drive to the warehouse. Lev talks beside me, trying to calm me down and get me to see reason, to wait for our backup to show up, but I can’t. He understands that and eventually gives up.
I have some other weapons in the car that he assembles as I’m driving, making sure every clip is fully loaded and we’re prepared for whatever Nikolai launches at us.
It’s only a fifteen-minute drive to the warehouse, but that feels like hours. Knowing Danielle is frightened and alone, possibly even injured, makes my mind wander. My fury only grows with every passing moment.
It’s late by the time we pull up in the parking lot. No pedestrians are wandering around nearby, and when I see a tall man dressed in black patrolling the parking lot, I know he’s one of Nikolai’s men.
Lev and I move around carefully, not wanting him to notice us right away. I grab one of the guns Lev assembled in the car with a suppressor and point it at the man.
I pull the trigger, and a moment later, a bullet is launched between his eyes. He collapses to the ground with a low thud, and we make our way to the warehouse.
Before bursting through the door, we manage a look through the window to see eight other men all standing around with guns at their hips. Nikolai is in the center directing them, but they’re too far away for us to hear what they’re saying.
“We can take a few of them out from here,” Lev says, holding his gun between his hands and pointing.
“Let’s fucking do this.” Cocking my gun, I shatter the window before pulling the trigger.
In the blink of an eye, another man collapses to the ground, and everyone around him rushes to get their guns unhooked from their holsters. Lev shoots another in the chest, and he crashes to the ground.
I manage to take down two more before they have a chance to pull their guns free. Nikolai has a pistol in hand and points it at the window the gunfire is coming from. Both of us manage to drop to the ground to avoid being struck.
“Let’s sneak around back,” Lev says, knowing this is distraction enough for us to get the drop on them from a different angle.
As much as I want to rush in and tear Nikolai limb from limb, I need to make sure I’m not killed in the process. If I die right now, there won’t be anybody here to save Danielle.
We creep away from the window and run around the warehouse before the door bursts open to see where we are. I stop before we round the corner and shoot once again at the guard standing in the doorway. He falls to the ground with blood pooling around his head.
Lev and I run around the back of the warehouse, kicking down a door and facing off against two enforcers with their backs turned. It doesn’t take long before my gun goes off onthe back of their heads. Both of them fall to the ground before anyone else in the warehouse even notices.
I’m out of ammo, so I grab another clip from my waist, reload, and shoot it toward one of the last enforcers in the room. I miss the first time, and he uses that to retaliate against me. He shoots, and I barely manage to dodge a blow that would have been lethal to my chest. Instead, it grazes me on the arm.
