NaomiMy heart was in my throat when the door opened and Gavril stood there, his face streaked with God knows what and a look on his face that immediately told me something was wrong. I was up and out of the chair before he could take another foot inside the room, flying into his arms heedless of what was on him. “You’re all right,” I sobbed into his bare chest.His arms locked around me, and for a moment we stood there, his face buried in my hair and my tears wetting his skin. When I had first heard the gunshots, I’d realized that all our planning could be the end of his Bratva.We could actually lose the fight. As much as I wanted to go outside the house and protect the man I loved, I had stayed in the room like he had asked. Gavril would have been distracted if I had shown up, and what was I going to do anyway?Get myself killed or him killed? I couldn’t let that happen.When the gunfire faded, I’d never felt helplessness and worry as I had then. I didn’t know if it was going to be
GavrilI had fucked up big time.Pulling the truck into the driveway, I shut off the engine and allowed myself a moment to breathe. My relationship with Naomi was fragile enough, and after the conversation we’d just had, it was far more important to me to keep her safe and secure while I tried to figure this shit out.The Belaya Bratva was decimated. I barely had enough men to send to the mansion, much less wage a war against the FBI, which was why it was far more important for me to get to that apartment now. If I could destroy whatever evidence the fucker had on me, then I could at least ensure that the FBI wouldn’t be breathing down my neck.This shit had gotten complicated quickly.“Gavril?”I heard the question in Naomi’s voice but opened the door instead, noting Ivan was hovering nearby. “I want you to tell me who I have on premises,” I said to him in a low voice. “I want everyone gone in ten minutes except the guards that are left. That includes you and Vera. Do you understand
NaomiI felt the moment that Gavril’s control slipped and he realized that he needed this too. There was too much emotion wrapped up between us, and now I had to worry about him not coming back.It was a real thing. He was going to Jon’s apartment, and it could be a trap. Knowing Jon, it was a trap, and at the end of this day, I could be mourning Gavril’s death.I couldn’t fathom not having Gavril walk back through that door.His cock sprang eagerly into my hand and Gavril hissed against my lips as I traced the length of him, my own hands shaking. I needed this just as badly as he did, but when Gavril stopped my assault on his body, I cried out in frustration.“Relax,” he murmured against my lips, moving my hand up to his chest and placing it over his rapidly beating heart. “Let me take care of you.”I knew he was in a time crunch, and it broke my heart that what could be our final time together was going to have to be rushed like this. I needed to feel his skin against mine. I needed
GavrilI pulled up across the street from the shitty apartment studio that Konstantin’s phone led me to, frowning as I did so. For an FBI agent, the place was subpar at best.I mean, come on, surely Hampton made enough money to afford a decent place to live.No wonder he felt the need to stalk my wife. No one would ever fuck him in this shithole.Cutting off the motorcycle, I climbed over the tank and tucked the keys into my leather jacket, feeling the small revolver I had tucked away in the pocket. I also had the knives I took from Naomi in my boots, and if all else failed, well, good ole fists were going to have to do it.I had to get to the evidence before Hampton could.The street was quiet as I approached the studio, seeing the light filtering from the window. If Hampton was there already, I wasn’t going to let him leave alive. It would be my chance to rid this world of him once and for all.If someone else was up there, well, I would have to take matters into my own hands.Tuckin
Naomi.The screen lit up a moment later and I shook my head, a wry smile on my face. It really couldn’t be that easy, could it?It didn’t take me long to locate a cache of pictures in a folder, and it was as I suspected. He had taken numerous photos of that day, some with my face fully visible.Fuck me.I let out a slow breath as I dragged the entire folder over to the recycling bin and permanently deleted it. The pictures were still on the hard drive, but I was going to make quick work of that in short order as well. I should just take it with me, but I wanted the fucker to know what I had done.To know he didn’t have a chance in hell of beating me or getting my wife.After I finished with the photos, I turned the laptop over and unscrewed the back, finding the hard drive. A few well-placed stabs to the fragile board destroyed it, but I wasn’t done. I carried the laptop over to the kitchen sink and threw it in, pulling out the revolver that was stashed in my jacket and extracting one
NaomiA Few Minutes EarlierI stared at the gun on the nightstand before glancing at the clock beside it. Gavril had been gone for nearly two hours, and I was starting to grow concerned that he had found some sort of trouble out there.Had Jon been home when he had gotten there, and now Gavril was lying in a pool of blood?I didn’t want to think like that at all, but because of what was going on around us, I had to.After all, Gavril wasn’t going to just walk away from a chance to kill Jon, and I couldn’t blame him.Sighing, I reached over and picked up the gun, turning it over in my hands. I didn’t really like the feel of the cold steel in my hand. The gun implied violence, violence that I wasn’t sure I had in me to kill someone.Years ago, when Jon had snuck up on me at a club and scared me, I had attempted to take some gun safety courses in hopes of getting my concealed weapons permit. I had vowed it would be the last time he would have the opportunity and have me not be armed.Even
NaomiFlipping the locks, I opened it cautiously, holding the gun out before me as Ilsa had shown me.“Naomi! Where the fuck are you?”I flinched, Jon’s angry voice echoing off the walls. Based on the trajectory of his voice, he was still downstairs, which meant that I had to keep him from coming up the stairs.“Naomi! Get your ass out here now, before I kill this bitch!”Vera. Oh God, he had Vera!My knees shook as I walked out of the room, looking over the railing. It wasn’t even an option for me to think about staying in that room now, knowing that he had one of our own.She hadn’t asked for this. Jon was my issue, my baggage that I had brought to this family, and it was mine to try and eliminate from my life.Sure enough, Jon was standing in the middle of the foyer with his beefy arm around Vera’s neck and a gun in his free hand. I gasped as I saw Ivan’s body behind him, a puddle of rapidly spreading blood under his body.Was that the shot I heard earlier? Did Jon really feel like
NaomiI grabbed the gun off the floor and fired quickly, not caring if my bullet killed him as long as it struck him.“Naomi,” Jon growled. “I thought that your bastard of a husband would have taught you how to properly handle a gun.”A small chunk of the wall exploded near my face, and I realized that Jon was shooting back at me.He was shooting at me.With a cry, I ran down the hall, knowing that I was trapped either way I went unless I was going to take him head on. It was clear to me that he wasn’t just looking to take me now.He wanted to injure me, perhaps even kill me.I couldn’t let that happen. I had to protect the child inside me from this madman.“Come on, Naomi,” he called out as he turned the corner. “This is futile, and you know it. There’s nowhere for you to run or hide for long.”I just had to buy some time before Gavril showed up. He was coming. I had no doubt that he was coming to kill Jon if I didn’t kill him first.When I reached the end of the hall, I turned back a