His face crumples for just a second, looking every bit like a spoiled child who’s just been told he’s not getting any Christmas presents this year.
I let the disappointment show on my face when I ask, “What the fuck were you thinking, Scott?”
The five other men with him take a step back, but there’s no distancing themselves from this situation. They showed up with him, they knew the plan, and they’re all going to pay for it. When I see Scott’s hand disappear behind his back, I raise my gun.
“Don’t fucking do it,” I tell him.
The words leave my mouth right as everything goes to shit. Scott raises his gun and says, “I know where Maddie is,” right as he fires a shot.
The bullet grazes my arm, and when I hear my brother’s grunt of surprise coming from right behind me, I shoot Scott in the shoulder, making him drop his weapon. I hear shots around me, but I don’t turn to look. I just yell, “Keep Scott alive!” and then drop to my knees beside my brother.
“Fuck,” I groan when I see the blood on his chest.
His green eyes are wide with shock and pain, and he’s already looking dangerously pale. Vasya’s next to me in seconds, ripping Valeri’s shirt so we can see how bad it is. Blood flows out of the bullet hole, and when I press the bunched-up shirt against it, Valeri grinds his teeth and grabs my arm. We gently roll him over to see the exit wound. The look on Vasya’s face says it all. It’s bad, and he needs to get to the fucking hospital right now.
I press my hand against Valeri’s cheek and lean close. “You will not fucking die,” I growl at him in Russian. “Do you fucking hear me?”
He nods and gives me a faint smile. “Don’t worry, brother. No way in fuck am I getting taken out by Scott. My pride won’t allow it.”
His words are strained, but I hear the determination in his voice, and it gives me some hope. I help get him in Vasily’s arms and then wave one of the guys over to keep pressure on the exit wound since it’s the bigger of the two.
“I’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as I can,” I tell them, and then watch my older brother run to his car carrying our younger brother, and the sight nearly destroys me. I’d been wrong thinking I could protect myself by not falling in love, because the truth is staring me right in the face. There’s always something that can be taken from us that will destroy us. Even if I’d never met Maddie, losing one of my brothers would be the end of me, just like losing her would be. You either choose to not let anyone in and live your life completely alone, or you accept the risk and try like hell to not let the fear of it overwhelm you.
I wait until I hear the rev of Vasily’s engine as he races to the hospital, When I turn back to Scott, he sees the look on my face and tries to back up, but my men are holding him, ignoring the groan of pain he gives when his wounded shoulder is jerked back.
Squatting down next to him, I ask, “What did you say about Maddie?”
His panicked eyes dart from me to my men, and he’s on the verge of hyperventilating. His wound isn’t as bad as Valeri’s because I hadn’t been trying to kill him. He’s bleeding and I’m sure it hurts like a son of a bitch, but he’s in no danger of dying right now.
“You can’t kill me. If you do, you’ll never find her,” he sputters out in a shaky voice.
I take my phone out and call Maddie, noticing the text she’d sent me earlier. When she doesn’t answer, I get my knife out as everything inside me goes cold. I point the blade at him.
“Start talking right fucking now.”
“You’ll kill me if I do.” He starts crying and the sound of it pisses me off so much that I punch him. The crunch of his broken nose makes me feel a little better, even though it just makes him cry harder.
“What were you planning tonight? Were you going to kill all of us? What about your dealer?”
His eyes jump to mine.
“I guess I should sayourdealer, since he works for us now.”
Some of the rage returns to Scott’s eyes at that tidbit. He sounds stuffed-up because of the broken nose when he says, “I wasn’t going to kill him. Just you guys.”
“I guess you thought that would make you look like the big man in front of Adam, maybe he’d give you a better deal, maybe introduce you to other people who could get you access to stronger drugs?”
When he doesn’t say anything, I know I’m right. “I don’t give a fuck about any of that right now. Tell me where Maddie is.”
“Promise me you’ll let me go,” he quickly says.
“Excuse me?”
“Give me your word that you’ll let me go, and I’ll tell you where she is.”
I look at my men and ask in Russian, “Is this guy fucking serious?”
We’re all too worried about Valeri to laugh, but none of us can quite believe what an idiot Scott is.
