“I’m kind of curious about that, too,” Reggie says. “If you let him walk, we’d appreciate a heads up. That kind of loose end could bite us in the ass later.”
“It’s a loose end we can take care of, if you don’t for some reason,” Eddie adds.
“I was just saying that to help speed along the process,” I tell them. “Giving him hope is a cruel and very effective torture.Right now, he’s realizing Irina is his only chance at escaping the gentle affections my men will show him. By the time I get home tonight, he’ll be begging me to call her.”
“Dumb little bastard should never have stepped on your toes,” Eddie observes. “Anyhow, I’ll clean up the room,” he tells Reggie. “You want to see everyone out?”
“Yeah, I’ll walk you out,” Reggie says to me and Constance. “I’m assuming you’re riding separate from those boys who took Jacob?”
“Yes. I left two more of my men down at the bar, Trenton and Joey.”
“Trenton is here?” Reggie laughs. “I’m sure Vanessa was glad to see him.”
“You better get down there quick and save him,” Eddie remarks with a chuckle along with his vice-president.
“Come on.” I take Constance by the hand as we follow Reggie back down the hall towards the elevators. “Text Melissa and see if she has any idea when they might release her.”
“If she’s going to be at the hospital a bit longer, can we ride over there and see her?” she asks me.
“That was always the plan. Hopefully, she’ll be on her way home. If so, we can go there and drop in on her, maybe take her something to eat if she’s up for it. Either way, visiting with Melissa will be a good way to pass some time while they get our new friend Jacob home and expose him to some of our hospitality.”
13
Constance
“Melissa saidthey might let her go home this evening if her dizziness has resolved. She was having trouble getting from the bed to the bathroom yesterday and last night due to some lingering issues,” I tell Maximo after reading Melissa’s text. We’ve just climbed into the back seat of the SUV while Joey and Trenton get comfortable up front.
“You hear that, Joey? Go ahead and take us over to the hospital,” Maximo says. “If she’s still having symptoms like that, it might be best if they keep her another day,” Maximo remarks as he turns to me. “She must have had one hell of a concussion. Poor woman. I hope you’re not blaming yourself for what she’s going through,” he adds after seeing whatever expression is on my face.
“I know rationally that all of this is on the Volkovs. I know it. They threw the first rock down the mountain that started this avalanche. But that doesn’t absolve me of guilt for how I’vereacted, Maximo. If I hadn’t shown up at your house demanding revenge…”
“If you really want to go down that road, follow it all the way to the end,” Maximo interrupts me as he reaches over and takes my hand. “If you hadn’t shown up at my house demanding revenge, you’d be back at the restaurant, overseeing the rebuild and trying to put the fragments of your life back together. We wouldn’t have had a chance to be together.”
“That’s the thought that keeps me going,” I admit as I give his hand a squeeze. “I feel guilty because I don’t regret anything I’ve done. I mean it, Maximo. I would do it all again, every bit of it. I love you, and I’m glad I came to you. Not just because you allowed me to get revenge for my father, but because of who you are.”
“Melissa doesn’t blame you, and I think she’s happy for you,” Maximo tries to reassure me. “I mean certainly she would rather not have gotten her face cracked…”
“Maximo!” I try to pull my hand away, but he tightens his grip. “That’s an awful way to phrase things,” I say as I glare at him.
“What I’m saying is that it could have been worse,” he clarifies with a smirk. “Look at what you’ve endured. You and I have both been shot and have had multiple attempts on our lives. I’ve lost family members in this war. You and I, though, have come through everything only a little bit worse for wear. Melissa loves you, Constance. She’s your best friend. She wanted to be by your side to help you through your grief. She doesn’t blame you for being injured any more than I do.”
“I know all that. You’re right, of course. That’s what I mean when I say, rationally, I know that I’m doing, and have done, the right thing. You’ve lost so much more than I have pursuing justice for my father. It just doesn’t make it any easier to see a friend get hurt,” I explain.
“No, it doesn’t,” Maximo agrees as he sets my hand in my lap and lets it go, before patting it gently. “It never does. If I had any advice to offer, Constance, it would just be this: Cherish the guilt. It means you still have a conscience. It means you haven’t become the monster that you’re trying to fight. I can guarantee you Irina Volkov hasn’t shed any tears for the people around her she’s gotten hurt or killed while coming after us.”
“I bet you’re right,” I agree after thinking it over. “We’ve got to see this through, for all that we’ve both lost so that we can start looking toward our future together.”
“You know that’s everything I want,” Maximo agrees. “One second,” he adds, holding up a finger to me as his phone buzzes in his pocket. He pulls it out and says, “It’s Sergei. He’s sent me a photo of Irina he says was taken in the last year, as well as the last phone number he has for her.”
Maximo holds the phone where I can see it so that I can study the picture. The photo is of a blonde woman who has just a hint of gray hair at her temples, clearly visible with her hair swept back in a ponytail. She has a long face and an unpleasant smile that doesn’t reach her narrow eyes. Her arm is thrown around a man in a suit that I recognize as her dead son, Kirill. At my nod, Maximo passes the phone up front to Trenton.
“You and Joey get a good look at this woman. That’s supposedly Irina Volkov,” he tells them.
“Supposedly?” Trenton snorts. “You think Sergei might send you the wrong picture just to fuck with you?”
“I wouldn’t trust the Bratva to tell me it was day or night without looking outside myself,” Maximo retorts. “But I’ll admit, given that Kirill is in the photo, it’s probably her. Unless that boy just had a thing for hanging out with older women.”
“I mean, I’ve got a thing for that,” Trenton says as we pause at a stoplight and he holds the phone up for Joey to see thephoto. Once Joey grunts in acknowledgement, he passes it back to Maximo.
