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Once again, he lifts his gun. But unlike Rodion, I dodge.
The bullet buries itself in the wall behind me. Gunpowder clouds the air in front of my face. Still, I drive my shoulder into Sergey’s stomach and tackle him backward.
He huffs as I knock the wind out of him and huffs again when he hits the floor. His head smacks against the tile, and his hands go limp from the impact.
I scramble to grab the gun off the ground and stand up, towering over my prone father.
“You’re the one who taught me not to waste time monologuing,” I say, cocking the weapon. “You were distracted. Now, I’m going to kill you.”
His eyes are glassy from a probable concussion, but he smiles. “No, you won’t. Without me, you have nothing.”
“With you, I have nothing,” I grit out. “You’ve never been a father to me. You’ve never taken care of me the way you should have.”
The way I take care of Benjamin, I think.
“I saved you from dying in a gutter somewhere,” he spits. “With me alive, you might hold onto the throne. But if you kill me, you will be the illegitimate son of a don you murdered when he was unarmed on the ground. You’ll look weak. The men will turn on you.”
I don’t want to believe him, but what he’s saying isn’t unfounded. There have been mutinies within Bratva ranks before. And for a lot less.
I hesitate. And it’s just long enough for Akim to sprint into the room.
“Benjamin is gone!” He looks from Rodion’s body, to me, to Sergey on the ground. A thousand questions flicker across his face, but he doesn’t ask any of them. None of them are as important as what he is telling me right now. “Benjamin isn’t in his room. He isn’t—he’s gone.”
My mind rejects what he’s saying. It’s impossible. “I laid him in his crib. I put him to bed. He’s—”
“Gone,” Akim repeats, his eyes pleading with me.
“Where did he go? When did you check on him?”
“I heard the gunshot,” Akim says. “I went to the nursery to get Benjamin into the safe room, but he wasn’t there.”
“A nurse grabbed him.”Please let one of the nurses have grabbed him.
“None of them are on duty, Timofey. And no one else would go in his room.”
The answer is immediately obvious.
Noelle.
Noelle was here.
Distantly, I hear movement. But I’m too focused on the next steps. On whom to call and where to turn. I don’t even look up until the front door is slamming closed.
“Sergey is getting away!” Akim cries out, scrambling after him.
I shove him hard in the chest, forcing him away from the door. “Fuck him. Find Benjamin. Now.”
Akim calls down to the security department to check the cameras and see who could have taken Benjamin. But I already know.
I head down the hall to his room. I need to see it for myself. I need to kill the small speck of hope that exists in my chest if I’m going to be able to do what has to happen next.
Over the last few weeks, I thought I could have it all. The Bratva and a family. Duty and love.
And in a matter of minutes, it has all come crashing down.
Sergey lied to me—has been lying to me—for my entire life. I gave him my obedience, my time, my energy; all he gave me in return were hollow lies and a paper throne.
Piper made me believe there could be more to life. It only served to make me weak.
