Page 42 of The Bratva’s Stalked Pregnant Bride

After Rand attempted to intimidate Laurel, I had sprinkled in some of my own guys among the construction crew, and let it be known that if the others wanted to arm themselves, I was fine with it. Between my men and the rowdy builders I had working for me, two of the gunmen were already down by the time I got to the main dining room: one shot in the leg and crying for his mommy, the other had a huge hole in his chest.

“Where’s the third?” I bellowed.

“Ran,” one of my men said. “Long gone.”

The squeal of tires out back told me the others decided to cut their losses, and I swore as I pointed to the one with the leg wound. “Take him to Aleks’s,” I ordered, then noticed the terrified kitchen workers huddling in the hall, surveying the scene.

“I’ll call the police,” I said with a sour taste in my mouth. What I’d really do was call one of my cousins who had people on the inside of LAPD to get someone suitable to write up this report. “It’s clear that guy doesn’t need an ambulance.”

One of the hearty construction guys who was wielding a pistol gave a small, nervous laugh. “What the fuck?” he asked.

“Welcome to LA,” Todd said bitterly. Someone sobbed, and I left them to deal with the aftermath, only needing to get eyes on Laurel.

She hadn’t been lying in the hallway, so I knew she wasn’t shot, but I couldn’t breathe properly until I found her huddling in my office. As soon as she saw me, she snapped out of her shock, pulling out her phone as she threw herself at me. “Is everyone all right? I couldn’t think. Oh God, let me call the cops.”

I covered her hand with mine. “It’s all taken care of. Nobody’s hurt but the bad guys. One’s on the way to… the hospital. The others took off.”

Hopefully one of my guys had the wherewithal to cover the guy with the massive hole in his chest before she saw him. “I have a feeling I’m going to get some workers’ comp claims for psychological damage after this,” I said. “But like Todd just said, ‘welcome to LA,’ I guess.”

She began shaking in my arms, and I didn’t want to be here when the dirty cop showed up to file a fake report. There was something bothering me about the guy I sent off to Aleks’s for interrogation, and I wanted to get a better look at him. Really, what I wanted to do was help Aleks and his guys smash his face in while trying to get answers.

Did these assholes really just shoot at my wife?

“Come on,” I said, supporting her as her legs started to give out.

“I’m fine,” she said, covering her eyes with a fluttering hand.

“You’re the color of snow. We’re going home.”

“But I’m a witness.”

“Laurel,” I said a bit too harshly, holding her tight. I could have just as easily been holding her bullet-riddled corpse right now. “We have security cameras. Ten other people saw what happened inside.”

She didn’t have enough energy to argue with me and barely made it out to the car. “I’m sorry,” she said, tears flowing down her cheeks. “I’m useless.”

“No, you’re not. You saved my life with all that screaming.”

Her weak laughter let me know she’d be all right, but I was still fuming by the time she was tucked into her bed. I sat beside her, holding her hand while she pretended like she was fine a little bit more before finally falling asleep.

The whole time I watched over her with a pasted-on smile, I wracked my brain for where I’d seen that one shooter before. It was right there, someone I’d seen a dozen times or more, but where?

Laurel muttered something in her sleep, bringing me back to the day I watched over her after Rand’s attack. That’s when it hit me. Of course. I’d been looking at the surveillance footage from Canyon Vines for so long without seeing anything interesting, I’d put it out of my mind. But I would have bet everything I owned that the guy currently being interrogated by my cousin was from Canyon Vines.

As soon as Laurel was deep in slumber, I left her room to call Aleks.

“Tell me you saved some for me,” I told him. I wanted to get at least one crack at the guy who put Laurel in her current state. It twisted my guts again to recall the way she’d fallen to the ground when I pushed her to safety. How close the bullets spraying off the bricks had come to taking her from me.

“He’s dead,” Aleks answered. “Not from us. He bled out before they got him here.”

“Can’t say I’m sorry, but it would have been nice if you could have gotten some info from him.”

I already knew he worked for Canyon Vines, and it was only a matter of time before CJ was able to tell me in what capacity once I had her identify him from the surveillance footage.

“We do know he was involved with the Collective,” Aleks said. “Gavril recognized him as someone who quit after he took power. He’s pissed off that he let him go so easily.”

“Me too, but it’s not his fault the guy tried to kill my wife and me.”

“It’s fucked up,” Aleks agreed. “I’m glad everyone’s okay. Let me know if you need more security.”