Chapter 13
Artem
Irina was fine.
The relief in my veins was instantaneous and I drew in a breath, knowing that I was in the fight of my life right now. When I had gotten the call, my entire fucking world had stopped. To go from having Emma tell me she loved me to finding out that my sister was in the hands of my enemy was like flipping a fucking switch, and for the last twelve hours I had done nothing but rage internally.
Declan was going to fucking die if I got my hands on him. Screw my promise to my wife. He had taken this between us one step too far, and I wasn’t going to let him get away with this. I was going to destroy him. And when I was done, he wouldn’t even whimper.
And Emma. I didn’t want to think about the way she had pleaded with me not to leave her, not to turn myself back into the man I had been before she had come into my life.
She didn’t understand what was going on and I couldn’t explain it to her. This was the part of myself I hadn’t allowed her to see, and now she was going to feel it.
If she could love Artem, she would have to also love the monster. It didn’t make me feel any better about what I was doing to her. I had shut her out. I had pushed her away because she made me question everything about myself whenever she was around.
This was the boss she didn’t want to see. This was the monster that she had caught a glimpse of that night with Yuri.
This was the man who would protect her at all costs, and I was doing my best to protect her right now.
I followed Emma down the stairs, keeping my own gun in my hand as I did so. My guards, including my cousin, were placed strategically along the runway, in case Declan tried to pull one over on me, but I had told him not to react unless Emma was in danger. Right now, I didn’t know what the hell her father would do. He looked completely unhinged. His grip on my sister’s arm was tight, the gun pressed up against her side—a sight I didn’t know how I was going to deal with if it stayed there much longer. There were two goons with him, both with their hands on the guns in their waistbands but still not drawn.
I wouldn’t hesitate to take them down. Declan had crossed a line by thinking it was a good idea to poke the bear. He was about to find out why people didn’t cross me very often and why they ended up fucking dead in a ditch somewhere.
And if he touched Emma? I didn’t want to think about the rage I would feel on that one.
I would fucking lose myself.
I nodded at my sister and she nodded back, letting me know that she was fine. If Declan weren’t holding a gun to her side, I imagined she would have let him have it. I was going to fucking kill him for what he had done to my family, including Emma. Irina was tough, and while she would still be frightened at the sight of the gun pressed to her side, if I let her, she would find a way out of this situation.
I was going to get us all out.
Emma stood at my side and I feigned annoyance while keeping a close eye on my wife. I wanted her nowhere near her father, away from danger. She might not speak to me after this day, and hell, I wouldn’t blame her. To her I was Artem Krylov, the boss to the Russian bratva. The Artem she knew did not exist.
“Krylov,” Declan called out, pulling my sister closer to him. “You made it with plenty of time to spare. Didn’t peg you for a man who was punctual, but hell, it’s not every day your sister gets kidnapped, right?” He then noticed his daughter standing beside me. “Em, honey, I’m glad to see you are unharmed.”
“What are you doing, Daddy?” Emma asked, her voice full of concern for my sister. I felt a spurt of pride as I knew she cared about Irina, about me, and that I hadn’t broken her. I just hoped she could hold onto whatever shred of hope she had found and not let go. “Let her go. This is ridiculous. She’s an innocent just like I was, and I know you are nothing like this. This isn’t you.”
Declan shook his head. “I can’t do that, baby girl. You see, things have changed. When this asshole took you, that was one thing. But to have him try to destroy me? I can’t allow that to happen.” He grinned, making a great show of pressing the gun into Irina’s side. “And now I have the most important thing in his life right here.”
My sister was very important to me, but the woman standing next to me, well, she was a hell of a lot more, and on so many different levels.
Right now, though, I imagined she wanted my head on a platter, and hell, I didn’t blame her. I had put her through some shit over the last couple of hours and I would be lucky if she ever spoke to me again.
“She’s an innocent,” Emma tried again, her voice teary now. “Let her go, Daddy. I will come home. That’s what you want, isn’t it? We can get Mom to come home and then we will all be together again, like the old days.”
Declan chuckled, though it lacked any warmth. “Home. We don’t have a fucking home anymore, Emma. Your brother has gone off to fuck knows where, and your mother, she’s left me. I don’t have anything left that even resembles a home because of him.” He pointed at me with his free hand. “You are just like your fucking father, Krylov, you know that? He had weaknesses too. Neither of you deserve to be a boss.”
Emma gasped, and I fought the urge to pull the gun out and just end it now. “You shot them in cold blood. What does that make you?”
Declan just shook his head. “You are the only one that missed them, boy. Just like you are going to be the only one that misses your sister unless you give me my fucking daughter.”
I hated that Emma was having to see her father for who he truly was, but right now, I couldn’t make it better for her.
Emma took a step forward and I growled, unable to help it. With a gun in Declan’s hand, I didn’t trust anything. Emma would be dead before I could kill the bastard. “You’ve got me,” she said softly, holding out her hand. “Give me Irina and then we can leave, Daddy. You can tell me what’s going on and we will find a way to fix it. I promise, I will help you.”
Before Declan could provide his daughter an answer, a car pulled up and I rolled my shoulders, watching as my trump card exited the car, propelled forward by one of my guards. “What is this?” Declan said instead, eyeing the hooded figure, his mouth pulled into a frown.
“Did you really think I was not going to have another plan?” I stated softly, tapping my gun against my thigh. “I’m a fucking boss. I deal with shits like you for breakfast.”
His gaze narrowed and Irina winced as he pressed the gun harder. “You better tell me what the fuck this is, Krylov, or I will be killing your sister shortly.”
His words were hollow to me. “I am willing to make you a deal, Declan.”
Emma was now looking at me, confusion displayed on her face to match the fear in her eyes. “What is this, Artem? What have you done?”