Now there’s just Sergei.
He sits on the floor and bends his head into the nose of the gun. When he pulls the trigger, nothing happens, and he slumps over in defeat.
“What just happened?” Cutter asks like he just watched a horror flick.
“I only put two in the chamber.”
“Purposely?”
“I knew that whoever remained alive was going to take the fall for killing the other two. If she had killed them both like I told her to it would have been Irina which was the ideal outcome. I’d made us a sweet deal for us to get a good chunk of her profits, and I thought she’d do anything to save her son. But plans change, so now we deal with who we’ve got left–Sergei.”
“Yo, Cam, you’re a diabolical motherfucker and I mean that in the most respectful way, brother.”
Cutter grabs me around the neck and kisses my head.
“The favor Joseph pulled with Ivan was only going to get us so far,” I explain further. “We needed insurance that we wouldn’t get any blowback from this. The Russians need to believe that they did this to each other and for that we needed a fall guy.”
“You think Rome will be okay with us allowing this one to still breathe?” Stone asks. “Isn’t this the one he’s got the hard-on for?”
“He won’t be breathing very long,” I assure them both. “This dude is low on the totem pole. One of the Russian families will take care of him to tie up loose ends and if we’re lucky, maybe even Ivan will do it.”
“Well, either way, one of us has to break the news to Rome.”
“And one of us has to deal with the bodies.”
“Ugh, I hate clean up. Can’t we hire someone?”
“You know we can’t. No one can link this back to the club or us. Even a cleaner.”
All three of us look at each other, waiting for the other to step up. None of us do, so Cutter comes up with an alternative solution.
“Rock, paper, scissors?”
“Fuck it, let’s do it.”
“One, two, three shoot!”
All three of us simultaneously place a hand forward.
All scissors.
Damn, this may take a while.
21
ROMAN
“Is it okay for us to come in?” I hear Juliette cautiously ask Jade at the door.
“Yeah, he’s awake. Come on in.”
Then suddenly I’m assaulted by a mound of curls and soft jasmine scented curves. The pain is agonizing as Elizabeth showers my face with kisses, paying special attention to the scar on my face, oblivious that she may be injuring the new ones.
It doesn’t matter though.
I’m happy as fuck to see her.
I tighten my eyes shut and thank whatever higher power is looking out for me and my family. Then I wrap the hand without tubes going into my veins into the base of her skull, gripping her hair as tightly as I can, considering the pain I’m in, and pull her in for a much-needed kiss.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she murmurs after we break. “I can’t even imagine if I had lost you. If we had lost you.”
Our foreheads touch as our eyes meld into each other. Everyone’s attention in the room is on us but it doesn’t matter because all I can feel is a sense of relief blanketing my bones. My girl and my son are safe and they are right here with me. I will never let them go again.
“What took you so long to get here, baby?”
“I came as fast as I could.”
Her eyes well up again as she beams at me.
“Thank God,” Jade interjects. “We were going to have to put him down like a grizzly bear if you two didn’t come soon.”
Juliette and Joseph saunter in with Knox in tow and then bring him over to my bedside. Joseph gives me a slight head nod and I know exactly what he’s saying with no words being said. He’s relieved to see I’m alive and well.
“Say hi to Daddy, peanut,” Elizabeth coaxes Knox as she takes him from Juliette’s arms. Tears streaming down her face.
Knox babbles several of his usual garbled words with great inflection at the end as to make his point. We both start laughing at what sounds like one of the most beautiful sounds I took for granted.
I kiss Knox on his forehead and run my hand down Elizabeth’s face.
“When did you become such a crybaby?” I ask her smiling.
“I’ve always been one.”
“Bitsy, give Knox to me. Joseph and I are going to go to the cafeteria for a second and we’ll take him with us. Jade, you want to join?”
Jade pops her head up from her phone and looks at Juliette like a deer caught in the headlights.
“You mean me?”
“Yes, dear. You want to grab some snacks? I know you’ve been here holding down the fort for a long time. You must be famished.”
I love my stepmother, but she’s as obvious as a heart attack.
“Um, okay. They usually serve crap in hospital cafeterias, but I guess I can scrape something together at the salad bar.”
“Alone at last,” I say when the door shuts behind them.
Elizabeth gently traces the scar on my face with her fingertips.
“At last.”
“Did you get the deal done with Cabot?”
“That doesn’t matter right now.”
“It does to me.”
Elizabeth stares at me in a way that she hasn’t in a long time. As if I’m the most amazing man on the planet.
“I was too terrified about condition to discuss any business after I heard about what happened to you, but if you must know, he emailed me when I was on the train. The legal department will be sending me something this week or the next.”
“Told you it was a done deal.”
“You were right.” She twinkles. “You’re always right.”
“Baby, until I’ve dealt with the people that did this to me I want you and Knox to go stay with Joseph and Juliette.”
“Uh-uh, I’m staying right here.”
“Why can’t you ever listen?” I wince from either my broken ribs or the two bullet holes in my body. I’m not sure which. “What happened to the girl who trusted that I’d always do what’s best for her? The woman who knows I’m always right.”
“Her fiancé got abducted and shot twice because of a favor he did for her friend, so now she’s going to follow wherever her heart leads her and right now that’s here in Mercy Hospital, Room 4708. They can set up a cot for me right here.”
“They’re not just going to let an eight-month-old baby sleep in here. That has to be breaking all sorts of safety protocol.”
“Knox can stay with Joseph and Juliette.”
“How’s that going to work?”
“Juliette is going to help me transition him to a gentle formula for supplemental feedings. She’s also going to give him a little more solid food midday. That should help reduce the frequency of the bottle feedings. He’ll be safe there with them, right?”
I’m fucking shook.
Elizabeth has done a complete one-eighty.
Maybe there is a silver lining to this whole debacle.
“Yes, Joseph will protect him with his life if it ever came to that.”