After I hung up, I texted Leandro to let him know I needed to shift our meeting about the club update.
When we pulled up at the bakery, Vasily asked, “Would you like me to get them, boss?”
“No. It might look like a slight, so I’ll do it.”
“Yes, sir.”
When I got inside, Michael was at the counter to greet me instead of Joyce. From his expression, I knew she’d told him. I gave him a tight smile. “I guess good news travels fast.”
He furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”
“About me and Sarah.”
“What about her?”
I frowned. “I thought you and Joyce were acting weird because we broke up.”
At that moment, the tinkle of the bell over the door sounded. When I whirled around, there stood Matvey and Kirill.
Cocking my brows at them, I said, “Well, this is unexpected. I would’ve expected your sons, rather than you.”
Kirill smiled cruelly. “Never trust somebody to do your own murder.”
As I pushed the panic button on my watch to alert Vasily and my brothers that I was in danger, I couldn’t help chuckling. “I guess that means you don’t trust them anymore than I did.”
“Shut your mouth.”
When I threw a glance at my waiting SUV, my heart sank at the sight of Vasily’s head slumped against the steering wheel. I had one gun on me, so I didn’t know how the fuck I was going to play this.
And then three other men poured out from the back of the bakery.
Fuck. I was a dead man walking. There was no way in hell anyone could get to me in time. After everything I’d been through in life, I was going to get taken out in a fucking Irish bakery in enemy territory by my own fucking blood.
Swallowing hard, I cocked my head at Krill and Matvey. “You two really want t-to take it this far? I mean, I get b-bombing the club, but what exactly d-do you plan to gain by assassinating me? Dima will still rule, and I have t-two other brothers to take his place if you end him as well.”
Jabbing a finger at him, I relaxed my jaw and slowed my speech to deliver my next statement without any stutters. “Our men will never, ever allow you two bastards to take over the Korolov Bratva. You might have the last name, but you sure as fuck don’t have the support.”
Kirill gave me a cruel smile. “This isn’t about taking over the Bratva. It’s retribution for you killing our brother.”
“While I wished it had been at my hands, he was taken out by a woman,” I spat back.
Matvey unsheathed a long dagger. “Oh, don’t worry. We’ll get to her as well.”
My chest clenched in agony at the thought of them hurting Mila. Tamping down my fear for her, I replied, “She’s going to be a Kavanaugh, so good luck with that.”
“Where there is a will, there will always be a way,” Matvey replied.
With a smirk, I spit in his face. As he swiped it off his face, I dropped into a fighter’s stance. “All right fuckers. Show me what you’ve got.”
And as the three men from the back descended on me, I only saw Sarah’s face before me. Dying with her beautiful face before me and her name on my lips was the way I wanted to go.
CHAPTER FORTY TWO: SARAH
As I sat at my desk writing patient notes, I fought the urge to text Mom or Sammy for the hundredth time. Since Dad had been catching up on sleep, Mom had insisted I go back to work. And even though I didn’t feel like it, I came back.
Since I still looked like death, it went well with my story about the flu. I even went so far as to wear a mask to keep up the lie.
I had so much paperwork to catch up that when a knock came at my door, I fought the urge to yell, “Fuck off!”
