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I nod as I bring up the tracker again. “They’re maybe nine minutes out now.”
My phone rings. It’s David. He can’t know I know. Swallowing my anger, I strive to answer the way I normally would after he annoyed me. “What?”
“Do you want to say goodbye to your wife? I am willing to give you that.” His words are thankfully in Russian. Does Phoenix understand what’s going on at all?
“What the hell are you talking about?” I demand as I see he’s at a light only a few minutes away. Shit, he’s speeding.
“I am talking about saying goodbye to your wife. I gave you everything. My whole life is for you. Then you go and marry this fat, ugly bitch. She doesn’t deserve you.” Fuck, he’s tearful. It doesn’t matter he’s still speaking Russian. I don’t doubt it’s scaring Phoenix.
“I never asked you to. If I’d known you would become this way I would have killed you myself the day you told me,” I retort as I watch the SUV carrying him and Phoenix appear only twenty feet from me.
Around the front door is a framing of thick one-sided mirrors that are also bulletproof, allowing us to see who was outside but they couldn’t see us. He slams on the brakes with a force that rocks the vehicle. I watch as he beats the steering wheel in anger.
“I wish you had!” he screams in Russian.
Opening his door, he tries to grab Phoenix and pull her through to his side. She fights him, I can’t see what she does but he falls out of the vehicle. He’s trying to roll onto his feet when I hear the shot at the same time I watch David’s body jerk from the force of the bullet.
Seconds are all it takes before I tear the front door open and get to Phoenix. Her eyes wide, she’s shaking as she clings to me. I hug her too fucking tight. She squeaks in pain as I jostle her broken arm. Fuck.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter as I pull back to look down at her. “Did he hurt you?”
“No, but what the hell was all that? He told me he was bringing me to you. Then less than five minutes after I’m in the car, he started cursing me out in Russian. The only thing he said in English was I didn’t deserve you.”
I urge her into the SUV. “I will tell you everything, baby. Right now, I need to get you home and someone to take care of the mess.”
Milos shakes his head. “Go on. Get her home. I will handle this.”
“Thank you,” I mutter as I close her door.
“I get it.” He nods. “We’ll discuss the threat Valdez warned us about for her when you’re ready later today. Boris, go ahead and drive them and remain with them.”
Christ, I hadn’t even thought of it. Going around to the other side, I get in beside her.
“How did you find us?” she whispers.
I consider lying, no, there are enough lies. “You have a tracker. It was put in you during those first few days while you were out.”
Her face swings from the window to me. “Are you serious?”
“Your safety is not a joke.”
Blue eyes widen. “That’s how you’ll always follow me.”
I nod. “There is nowhere you could go I would not follow.”
She turns back to the window. “Good.”
One word. It’s almost a whisper, but it feels like a scream to my tight chest. I reach for her hand, she takes mine and grips it tight.
“If Milos had us at his side, instead of Valdez’s men, no one would have ever been allowed within five feet of Celia. The same as your woman.” Boris shakes his head as he turns onto the street.
I wasn’t aware our men resented Valdez’s men when it came to protecting Celia. Something to consider when it comes to the unknown threat to Phoenix. “Milos did what he thought was best for his woman’s safety. It was not that he did not think you could protect her, he simply wanted someone we didn’t know willing to take a bullet if needed.”
“Daddy, what’s the matter?” Phoenix’s hand tightens around mine.
It takes a moment to realize Boris and I are speaking Russian. I switch to English. “From now on, always speak English around my wife unless I tell you to speak Russian.”
Before I can tell Boris to shut the fuck up, he tells Phoenix, “A man out to kill Milos was killed with his own gun. The man used the old secret passage into the building. He held Celia to use her against Milos. What a woman ourpakhanhas. She killed the man herself by stabbing him, taking his gun from him, and blowing out his brains.”
