Smart men didn’t make their weapons well known.
“Rurik did this?” I asked. If he did, it’d be harder to take him out, but it could be done. A man like me stopped at absolutely nothing to get what they wanted.
Maksim sighed, the sound weighted. “I don’t know, but I don’t think so. Rurik isn’t one to go out of his way to help someone just to put a bullet in them. If he wanted me dead, he’d have shot me while I was still in bed, unaware of what was happening. He’s cold like that.” Something akin to fear bloomed inside my chest, a feeling I was wholly unfamiliar with considering how little I ever felt it. The thought that Maksim could have fucking died and I’d have never known until it was way too late left me feeling cold and horrifyinglyempty.
“He gave me a burner phone. Dropped me at a motel away from the family and told me he had a flight to get me out of the country scheduled for this morning—or well, yesterday morning now. He told me he’d call me on the burner once he got everything sorted back home. Right as he left, I got shot.”
“So, if you don’t think it’s him, then someone followed the two of you.”
Maksim nodded. “That’s what I’m gathering, too. Had to be a sniper. And the motel was practically in the middle of nowhere. So, I’m guessing if they do know they only caught me in the shoulder, they left me there still alive because they thought I wouldn’t survive—not when I know Anatoly is after me and there wasn’t a hospital for quite a few miles.”
“It’s definitely an inside job,” I growled. Maksim nodded, his shoulders drooping even more. Sighing, I stood and wrapped my arms around him from behind. I fucking hated the Bratva with every fiber of my being—apart from him, that was—but I understood the meaning of family. If I lost this one, I’d struggle coping with it. Rico was all I’d known foryears, and it was because of him that I was alive and standing here today.
He’d found me sleeping at a bus station while he’d been on his way here to Washington. He bought me a sandwich from the vending machine and a bottle of water, then bought me a ticket to come with him. We’d been glued together ever since. It was the only reason I’d gotten away with bringing my target into our home to be fixed rather than killed.
Our bond ran deeper than brotherhood. I’d helped him build his empire from the ground up.
“Since we know it’s an inside job, I’ll get with Niran and have him start digging. We’ll find who did this to you, mouse, and when we do, I’ll rip them to fucking shreds for touching you, you got me?” When he nodded, I pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “Let’s get you rinsed and dried off. Then, I’m going to need that burner phone, if you still have it.”
He nodded. “It’s in the bag I brought with me.” When I frowned, not remembering a bag, he sighed. “If I didn’t have it, I probably dropped it in your driveway. But I remember getting out of the taxi with it.”
“Alright, mouse. We’ll find it.” And when we did, I was calling Rurik and demanding a meeting. If he truly was on my man’s side, then he’d help me. And if not… well, I’d take him out, too.
Anyone standing in my way of revenge was a dead man walking.
Chapter Sixteen
Alfonzo
After eating leftover lasagna the chef had made earlier that day and drinking a bottle of water with his pain pills, Maksim was passed out in my bed, his lips parted and light snores escaping his mouth. It had taken only about thirty minutes for his pain pills to kick in fully and knock him out. I was pretty sure if a war broke out right over his head, he’d sleep right through it. He was dead to the world.
Pulling my phone from the charger, I called Niran. He answered on the second ring, sounding out of breath. “What the fuck are you calling me for?”
I smirked. “Balls deep inside Bento?” I asked just as Niran choked on a moan, trying to hide it.
“Fuck you,” he hissed. “I’m about to hang up.”
Bento gagged in the background, and I snickered. “This is important, but I’ll let you get your nut in first. Call me when you’re done.”
I hung up, then set my phone on my desk. I gripped the back of my neck, then rolled my head around, then my shoulders, trying to work out the tension there. Despite my cheerful, easy-going demeanor, my muscles were coiled tight with tension, and bloodlust was running hotly through my veins.
I needed that fucking backpack, and I needed that damn meeting with Rurik. I knew without a doubt Rurik would meet me, if for nothing more than to sate his curiosity. But if he chose not to help me, I’d take him out, too. I liked playing games, but not games that toyed with my man’s life.
A few minutes later, my phone vibrated, Niran’s name on my screen. I quickly swiped my thumb across the screen to answer, then lifted the device to my ear. “What?” he grunted.
“Was there a backpack on the driveway?” I’d looked at all the cameras but hadn’t seen one. If Maksim truly brought it with him, Niran had to have grabbed it.
“Yeah. Just had some clothes in it. You need it?”
“It’s Maksim’s,” I told him. “There’s a phone in it I need.”
“Didn’t see a phone,” Niran told me, “but I’ll bring it up. Give me a few to get it from my office.”
He hung up. I put my phone back on the charger, then sat on the edge of my bed, staring at Maksim’s face. In sleep, he looked so peaceful. Like he didn’t have anything to worry about. When he was sleeping, it was easy for me to see all the worry and expectations he carried with him when he was awake.
I planned to change that. With me, I’d make sure he had nothing to fret about or concern himself with. I was about to spoil him as much as, if not more than, Rico spoiled his husband,Anurak. Maksim wasn’t meant for field work. He just didn’t have the mentality for it. He was soft, and even after everything I’d put him through, he was still just… soft for me. Sweet and submissive andperfect.
If he wanted to work, I’d get with Rico and put him behind a desk. Maybe he could take over my administrative bullshit tasks. But I didn’t want him in the field unless he was with me, so I could take care of him and know he was safe.
