Chapter 64

Nikolai

Fear sat in my gut like a cannonball, and I felt angry enough to unload an entire armory’s worth of bullets into my father’s psychotic fucking face, light him on fire, then piss on his ashes.
As we got closer to Katya’s house, it became very apparent that Drago’s interest in Katya went far beyond the label of concerned bystander. He was gripping the steering wheel with such force I was surprised it was still attached to the steering column. His ferocious frown was only periodically broken up by what looked like a grimace of pain.
“What’s with you and Katya?” I asked casually.
Drago’s head jerked in my direction and he pinned me with cold gray eyes. “Nothing. I’d protected her while on the job, so I am worried about her.”
I arched my brow at him. “You’re hardly acting like just a bodyguard, Drago.”
“Drop it, Nikolai,” Drago growled, either unwilling or incapable of discussing his feelings for Katya. I couldn’t say I didn’t understand. All women do is fuck up your emotions. It was nice to distract myself with Drago for a few seconds so I could briefly disengage from the anxiety and fury gnawing away at my insides when I thought of Hannah, or her sister, in the hands of my deranged and conscienceless father.
We rode in tense silence, only breathing when Katya’s house came into sight. What we saw as we barreled up the driveway was hardly cause for relaxation.
My father was holding Emmy with his arm around her throat and a gun pressed against her temple. In the middle of the walkway stood Katya, frozen with either fear or worry that Yuri would pull the trigger on Emmy. Or both. I was relieved to see Hannah nowhere in sight, so I could only assume she was still inside the house.
When we screeched to a halt behind my father’s car, we saw Piter’s dead body on the ground, but I wasn’t sure who shot him. Knowing Drago’s car was bullet-proof, we carefully got out of the car, reaching for our guns and using the doors as shields.
Our presence derailed my father’s attention long enough for Emmy to pull away from him as Ivan hollered at her to run. Yuri raised his gun to her, but Ivan, Drago, and I pulled our guns, stopping him in his tracks. Ivan got the girls in the house, so it was just Drago, my father, and me.
“Put the gun down, dad,” I hollered mockingly. Drago was still standing in the driver’s side door, aiming over the roof of the car at my father, while I stood in the open passenger doorway doing the same thing. My father stood next to the open back door, chuckling softly.
“What’s so fucking funny, Pakhan?” Drago asked mockingly. “As I see it not only are you going to die, you’re going to die without dignity. Trying to steal a couple of schoolgirls? Pathetic,” Drago spit out.
“You fools!” Yuri raged. “You think you can get rid of me? Replace me? Keep me from my property? I’m sure Sergei told you that Katerina belongs to me,” he asserted manically. “And soon you will learn this organization will only be run by one person—me. You are both sickening traitors and will be dealt with accordingly. I will contact Mikhail in Moscow. He will send me new men, and you will all die in the manner of all traitors and rats. Painfully,” Yuri hissed.
Drago shook his head and laughed. “You think Mikhail doesn’t know what I am doing? You think he is okay with how you are running the operation? You are sorely mistaken, Yuri. You’re a fuck-up, a drug addict and, apparently, a pedophile, and you’re running the operation into the ground. To be honest, I don’t think Mikhail even cares about most of your flaws except the one about being a fuck-up. He isn’t going to tolerate you wiping out our whole organization due to your whims and your ego. You’re out, Yuri. The only reason I haven’t pumped you full of bullets yet is because Mikhail wants to debrief you himself. And you know how Mikhail gets information,” Drago finished ominously.
“You lie!” Yuri screamed at Drago. “I am in charge. I will always be in charge!”
Yuri raised his gun and started shooting wildly at me and Drago. We quickly ducked into the car for protection, but I heard Drago’s gasp of pain. He grabbed his left arm and grimaced. “I can’t believe he got that lucky shot.”
Before either of us could get out of the car, Yuri jumped in the backseat of the car.
The vehicle in front of us suddenly darted forward, squealing down the driveway and careening into the street. Drago and I looked at each other in shock, not realizing there was another man with my father.
“What the fuck,” shouted Drago. “Was there another motherfucker in there? Did you get a look at him, Nik?” Drago gritted out.
“Fuck no. Fuck! I can’t believe that asshole got away.” I punched the dashboard in frustration.
Drago was shaking his head in angry disbelief. “Don’t worry. He has one man and no more lives left. He won’t last long, especially with Mikhail after him, too.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I agreed half-heartedly. I was exhausted and frustrated beyond belief that he had slipped through our fingers.
Katya’s front door was thrown open and Hannah ran out and jumped into my arms. I felt my whole body relax the minute I breathed in her scent and felt her soft body against mine. Immediately, the frustration of my father getting away and the aggravation of having to search for him again floated away, and there was just us. My father blows her life apart and she comforts me. My grip on her tightened as I buried my face in her neck, grateful to have her here, to have her at all.