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I can only stare at him, flabbergasted. “You can’t be serious. You’d really give up our Bratva?”
“Your son, my nephew… Family must always come first, Dimitri.”
While I’m obviously grateful and moved by his words, we both know what kind of predicament giving up our territory would put us in. The second we relinquish power, we’ll no doubt have targets on our backs.
“Maybe you can get in touch with the other leaders,” Natalya suggests. “Organize an ambush? Something?”
“That’s definitely an option. They all have a stake in this, as well. Given how bloodthirsty Levitsky is, they’ll want him out of the picture as soon as possible. If we agree to meet him somewhere in exchange for Simon, maybe we could…”
I shake my head. “If we do that, there’s a good chance my boy will be caught in the crossfire. What if Levitsky sees the ambush coming and is ready for a counterattack? We’re walking into a trap here.”
“We don’t have any other choice, little brother.” Mikhail looks at Natalya. “I’m going to make a few calls. Why don’t the two of you go take a break?”
I exhale sharply. “There’s got to be something I can do. I have to help.”
“Dimitri, there’s nothing.”
“So I just have to sit and wait?”
“I know it’s frustrating—”
“You can say that again!”
“—but until our twenty-four hours runs out, or Luka finds a match, there’s literally nothing else to be done.”
I hate this. I hate all of it. It would be easy to lash out, to be upset, but we’re all in the same boat here.
Natalya gives my hand a tug. I’m too exhausted to fight her. She guides me out of the office and takes me downstairs. We find a quiet corner in Mikhail’s kitchen, standing next to a window overlooking Aurora’s little garden full of flowers and vegetables.
Natalya doesn’t say anything. What’s there to say? Words are useless at this point, wasted energy. Instead, she does something far more effective. She carefully reaches out and cups my face, gently pulling me toward her so our foreheads touch. I breathe her in, savor the silence, deliberately drowning myself in the scent of rose petals. Just when I think I’m about to break into a thousand tiny shards, she keeps me steady. Grounds me. Her presence is a soothing balm over my frayed nerves.
“Let me treat your burns,” she whispers.
To be perfectly honest, I totally forgot about them. I was so concerned about making sure Simon wasn’t there and getting Boris out alive that the pain was an afterthought. It’s only now that she’s drawn my attention to my injuries—my forearms are covered in heat blisters, my skin smeared with black ash—that they suddenly throb and ache.
Natalya turns on the sink and lets the water run cold. She guides my arm under the spray. “Hold that there for a few minutes. I’ll ask Aurora if she has a first aid kit.”
I nod numbly. What an absolutely miserable day. She disappears for a few minutes, returning with a first aid kit, as promised. Natalya is a diligent worker, her touch tender but sure. She cleanses my burns, applies some ointment, and wraps the area with clean bandages to prevent infection.
“You’re good at that,” I murmur tiredly. “You should be a doctor.”
Natalya laughs softly. “I’ll definitely take that into consideration.” Once she’s finished dressing my wounds, she combs her fingers through my hair, her fingernails scraping gently over my scalp.
She doesn’t waste her breath with empty comforts. There’s no point in telling me everything’s going to be alright, that we’re going to get Simon back safe and sound. I think she knows I’m too angry, too distraught to listen. I don’t need flowery language to make myself feel better. All I care about are the actions we take to set things right.
She peers deep into my eyes, a silent conversation passing between us. Like she understands my rage, my thirst for revenge. Levitsky has messed with the wrong people. When it comes time to make him pay, Natalya and I are going to make him regret the day he was born.
“Have you checked on Boris?” I ask, voice hoarse and barely audible in my own ear.
Natalya nods slowly. “He’ll be out of commission for a long time, but he’ll live. Thanks to you.”
I sigh heavily, opening my mouth to stretch my jaw. The joints pop. I’ve been grinding my teeth so hard my jaw must finally be breaking down.
“Angel?”
“Yes, Dima?”
“When this is all over… Let’s go on vacation.”
