NaomiI couldn’t think. I could barely breathe. In an instant, the entire situation had turned upside down, and now I was dealing with the love of my life bleeding out all over the carpet. “Gavril,” I tried again, swallowing the emotion that was built up in my throat. “Please. Tell me what to do.” His face was so unbelievably pale, pain etched into his gorgeous eyes, and I was worried.No, I was more than worried. I was terrified that he was going to die right here. I had watched him fight the bad guy in my life, my heart in my throat, as I knew that Gavril would come out on top. He was stronger, faster, smarter than Jon could ever be, and the glacier look in his eyes told me that Jon was a dead man even if I hadn’t shot him.Oh God, I had killed someone! The thought caused my throat to close up before I forced the feeling aside. Jon had deserved it. He had deserved everything he had coming for all the pain, all the hurt, all the killing he had done in his lifetime. When the knife had
GavrilI opened my eyes to a dull sun shining down at me, my body feeling sluggish. Lifting my hand, I saw that there was no blood on it and when I looked down, I realized I wasn’t bleeding out on the floor of Naomi’s bedroom any longer.Instead my clothing, my suit, was pristine, no sign of the trauma that I had just tried to endure.Fuck. Was I dead? Was I in hell?Pushing up off the floor, I saw that there was a haze to everything no matter where I looked, just a cloudy, empty void that stretched as far as I could see.I had to be in hell. There was no way I had done enough good deeds to make it to the man upstairs. He would bar the pearly gates if I even attempted to approach them.Another thought crossed my mind, and I felt the fear rise up in my throat. I had died. I had left Naomi alone when I had promised not to.Life had a cruel, cruel way of shitting on me, it seemed.A cool rush of air brushed over me, and when I turned, I stumbled back a few steps.“Hello, Gavril.”My mouth
NaomiI ran my fingers over the ivory keys, keeping my touch light so I wouldn’t press them down. Had it really been just yesterday that Gavril had sat here, playing his songs for me?It seemed like a lifetime ago, and now I wasn’t even sure I would ever hear him play again.A shudder sliced through me and I rose from the stool, unable to sit still for a long period of time. The basement was the safest place for me, Oleg had stated. After all, bodies littered the mansion and its grounds, now being cleared away by the Bratva that was left.It was a pitiful crew, no more than ten or twelve men, but they had come running the moment Oleg had let them know that their Pakhan was on death’s door. Even from my vantage point, I could hear them moving things upstairs and didn’t want to think about what would be left.Vera was gone. I wouldn’t see her pinched face anymore or have her give me strength when it was least expected. I thought about our last conversation and how she had begged me not
GavrilI woke to darkness, and for a moment, I wondered if I had finally died in transition.Gradually, however, the room came into view, and I drew in a breath, swearing when it hurt like hell to do so.“So you are finally awake. Welcome back.”Fuck. Now I really was in hell if Roman Marchetti was sitting at my bedside. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked hotly, fighting through the pain that was coursing through my body.He chuckled, snapping on the lamp before stretching his legs out before him. “I’m giving your wife and mine a break. Trust me. I would rather be anywhere but here.”Naomi. I tried to sit up, but Roman placed a hand on my shoulder. “Now don’t go undoing all the doctor’s hard work. I believe you are going to have to pay him double what you normally do.”“Where’s my wife?” I rasped.Roman reached over and pulled a glass from the bedside table, one that had a straw dangling from it. “She’s sleeping, and I would suggest that you let her do that just a little bit l
GarvrilThe doctor reached out and shook my hand. “It was a pleasure to do so.”Naomi entered just as Dr. Carter exited and sat on the bed, looking a bit better than she had the previous night. “Bad news,” I told her, reaching for her hand. “No sex.”She looked startled before rolling her eyes. “You did not ask Dr. Carter if we could have sex.”“I didn’t have to,” I stated before tugging on her hand until she was moving onto the bed. I had asked Carter to help me move over so that my wife could at least lie beside me, and he had obliged, even though it had been far too fucking painful to move. “Come here.”Naomi did as I asked, and when she was situated next to me, I pulled her hand up to my lips, pressing a kiss to her palm. “Marchetti still babysitting?” I asked lightly, not sure how I felt about having my enemy in my household.It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful that he had come for Naomi’s sake, but fuck, it was an odd feeling.“He and Ilsa left this morning,” Naomi said, resting our
Naomi“Here, put this on.”I winced as I took the black plastic apron from the burly brigadier, my stomach in knots. I wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to disposing of Jon’s body, but I also knew that if I didn’t see it firsthand, he would still occupy my thoughts.I would still look over my shoulder for years to come, expecting him to have cheated death somehow and return to life. I didn’t want him to have this hold over me any longer.Tugging the apron over my clothing, I tied it across my waist. Oleg wordlessly handed me a pair of gloves next and some goggles. “In case there is a mess,” he muttered as he outfitted himself in the same getup.Finally, he looked at me. “Are you ready?”I appreciated the tinge of concern in his eyes, knowing that my request wasn’t quite what he would have expected. He had taken me from the mansion to an abandoned set of buildings not far from the docks where I had witnessed the women trafficking, and he had been quiet throughout the drive there.
NaomiTo block out the noise of his bones cracking. I scrambled to get them, and the moment I slid them on, piano music filled the air, much like the type that Gavril would play. The sound soothed my nerves somewhat, knowing that when I was finished here, we could move on with our future. He could play this melody for our child and me, do the things that he loved to do without fear that I was going to reject him.We had a bright future ahead of us, one that was going to be filled with love, laughter, and a bit of violence, but knowing that Gavril wasn’t going to do the trafficking anymore filled me with contentment so I could handle the rest. My husband wasn’t perfect, but neither was I.Wordlessly, with the music playing in my ears, I watched Oleg remove the tips of Jon’s fingers with his cutter, not bothering to wipe up the blood that dripped from the open wounds before he added the tips into the cup with the teeth. I couldn’t hear any of the noise that he was creating, but watching
GavrilTwo Months LaterSt. Petersburg, RussiaI held onto Naomi’s hand tightly as we followed the dirt path through the headstones, the blustery wind tearing at our winter coats. It was brutally cold, snow threatening in the air, but Naomi had refused to put this off just because of the weather. “We have to do it today,” she’d demanded this morning when I had tried to coax her back to bed. “You have put it off long enough, Gavril.”She was right. I had put it off for years, and since Naomi had her closure with Jon Hampton, it was time for me to have mine so we could move forward.I hadn’t told Naomi about my dream that night, how I had carried on a conversation with my former love. I didn’t know why. I knew she would believe me, but there was something that made me want to keep it close to myself for now. Maybe one day I would tell her.Right now, though, I was going to have my closure another way with Katya.Finally, we reached the hill where my mother had told me she had been buried