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I hit the voicemail button and listen to the message.
“Brat, you’ll call me after you get her safe and explain to me how you can be married for weeks and not tell me. I’ll take care of everything here. Jimmy is dead. If not by your hand, then my men’s. No one crosses the Morosov family and gets away with it. Scotch when you get back, or I’ll come see you as soon as I can. Be safe,byt' v bezopasnosti.” He hangs up. We very rarely tell each other that we love each other, but we always say be safe. He said it in English and then again in Russian. I hold the phone in my hand for a moment. I didn’t tell my brother because I didn’t want our father to know yet. They would give me issues for her leaving the way she did, but I also didn’t want to jinx her taking me back. But I’ll do whatever I have to. Like I toldBabushka, I’d kidnap her.
A couple of hours into the flight, my messenger chimes on my laptop I’m working on. I see a photo of my beautiful wife walking out of a building. The next photo is of the board showing that the building is a medical practice. There are several doctors listed she could have seen but only one causes my heart to stop.
If my little princess is pregnant, she’s definitely never getting rid of me. The next is a message from Ley saying she doesn’t know which doc she saw, but she’s keeping an eye on her.
By the time I land, it’s about seven in the evening. Ilya, who’s been here for three weeks, set up a car for me, and I move as fast as I can to get to it. I need to get my own eyes on my girl to make sure she’s okay. The private airport is only about twenty minutes from the tattoo parlor where Erika is working late. I watch her from the shadows.
“I knew you’d get here fast.”
“Is she pregnant?”
“I don’t know. That’s for you to find out. If so, could you not move away so I can be a part of their life?” That the first time I’ve heard regret in Ley’s voice over living so far from the rest of us.
I reach out for her, but she steps back. “Ley, you can always come home.”
She shakes her head and smirks. “That’s not my home anymore. Besides, it won’t be for you too soon either. If you want to keep her”—she waves toward Erika—“this is where she belongs. You can go back often for business, but you can live here too. Start a business here.”
I think about what she’s saying, and I smile at her. “You knew I already decided to stay here. I know Vegas isn’t meant for her. If she had never gotten in Jimmy’s sights, she’d be safe there.” I turn back to watch Erika. A man who looks like an older biker walks into the parlor and hugs her. I’m moving before Ley can stop me.
I open the door so hard the glass shudders. “Get your hands off my wife.” My voice cracks through the room. The music playing quietly doesn’t cover up what I said. Everyone turns to look at me, and Erika gasps. While a pretty girl at the counter claps slowly.
She leans forward. “It’s about time you got here,” she stage whispers, but everyone can hear her.
“Who’s your wife, asshole.” Leif steps over to me.
“Erika is my wife.” I swing my arm out to her. He looks between us both several times.
“The fuck you say. You didn’t ask my permission for her hand, so it’s not real. Plus, my sister would’ve had me give her away. Since that didn’t happen, I deny your statement.”
I lean into his space. I’m just as tall as him, but where he is lean, I’m stacked. “Deny all you want, but I have the certificate with her and my signature on it. She’s mine.” I turn back to the guy. “Get your hands off her.” Erika pulls away from the guy. “Come here, princess.” She starts to move toward me, but her brother steps between us. “Don’t make me hurt you. I have enough to explain to my wife. I don’t want to ask for forgiveness for beating her brother to a pulp.” The growl in my voice causes my chest to vibrate. The energy flowing through me at seeing her in person with my own eyes and not across some screen has me feeling like I’m some kind of mutant. I want her. I need her in my arms.
“Princess,” I say, and she moves again. But this time Leif holds her back. “Don’t you fucking hurt her; she’s carrying my baby.” I drop the bomb.
I watch her eyes flare wide and don’t see the fist flying toward me until it’s too late. Leif hits me with enough force to send me backward. The door bursts open, and my sister is standing between us. I try to get up, but Erika has now put herself in front of her brother too, who is beyond angry. He’s going to hurt her if he doesn’t calm down. I get up and try to get to her as I watch him slam into her as he tries to get to me. I grab her before she hits the floor, spinning her in my embrace so if he hits me, it’s my back and not her. But all of a sudden, I hear another noise. I turn to see my sister has Leif pinned to the floor. Her body holding him down. She’s got his arm pulled up and twisted as she leans over him with her fist in his throat. Erika sees it too and starts yelling.
“Ridley, let him go.”
“Ley, I got her.” I try to calm my sister, who isn’t focused on him. Her eyes are lost to a memory, and she is focused on that. “Ley, come back,” I bark louder, and she shakes her head. She lets him go and steps back.
“I’m sorry, but I was stopping you from hurting your sister further. Or attacking my brother.” She points at me.
“He’s your brother?” both Leif and the girl at the counter, who I think is Jas, say at the same time.
“Yes.”
“I wouldn’t hurt my sister.” Leif defends himself.
“You pushed her. If she falls just right, she’ll lose the baby. I didn’t want that to happen,” Ridley explains as her eyes take on a faraway look. “Now are you calm, or do I need to take you down again?” She smirks at him.
“That was good. You should train my sister.”
“Why when she has not only my brother, but Ilya?”
“Ilya really is here?” Erika asks and smacks me on the chest. “You didn’t trust me?”
“Yes, I trusted you. I don’t trust other people. Now can we go talk?”
