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Now, I have no one.
I fall to my knees and place my head in my hands. Where do I go from here? My father prepared me for every situation, except this. How do I live without them? How do I run this business with no help whatsoever? Why did Declan have to find me when I was kidnapped? Why couldn’t I have just been killed back then? At least I wouldn’t be hurting right now. I haven’t cried this much since Dmitri died, and now I can’t seem to stop. Giving myself a few more moments to mourn, I stand up and wipe the tears from my face.This bastard is going to pay.
I make my way down to the basement and grab more ammo for my gun since I was running low, and then I run back out to the car and head to Rian’s house.
When I arrive, I take out the guard at the front gate before letting myself in using his keycard. I barely wait for my car to come to a stop at the steps before putting it in park and jumping out.
“No guards outside, Rian? How brave,” I mutter to myself. I know that since he is no longer the head of his Empire, his security details have decreased significantly. I remember Declan saying he only had a team of about six men.
Coming around the corner, I come face to face with two of them. One has his back to me, and I drop him before he even has a chance to turn around. The other charges toward me and we grapple, before a blow to his groin sends him to his knees and I put a bullet between his eyes.
“Three down, three to go,” I smirk as I make my way further into the house. The other three are spread out and I take each one down almost effortlessly. Except the last one gets a shot off and it grazes my hip. Judging by the location of the wound, I know he didn’t hit anything important, so I grab a towel from the bathroom and wrap it tightly around my hips. The compression of my pants will be able to keep enough pressure on it to keep the bleeding to a minimum. Continuing through the house I see no sign of Rian.
I finally found him inside the basement, ready and waiting for me.
“Coming here without backup is a bold move, Natalia.” Rian has his weapon pointed straight at me, and a smirk plastered on his face. I have never really taken a chance to study his face. I notice now, Declan has most of his mom's features, but the two men still share the same jaw line. Rian’s green eyes are dark and hard, making him look truly evil.
“Why?” I ask him, my own gun aimed at him. “Why Dmitri? Why my parents?” My voice is surprisingly steady, even though inside my chest my heart is hammering against my chest. The progress I had made since Dmitri’s death slowly chips away with each beat.
“Your family cutting ties with mine caused a major drop in my revenue. Half of my buyers didn’t want to do business with anyone that the great Ivan Belov didn’t associate with,” he sneers. He looks like a rabid animal, growling out at me.
“Then why not go after him first?” I ask, although, I know the answer.
“I wanted Ivan to watch, helplessly, as I took everything from him. First his son. Then the plan was his daughter, but when that dumbass left you alone long enough for you to get the message out to Declan, that plan went out the window.” He waves his gun dismissively. “So, I waited. When you left on your trip, I sent that bomb to get you back to the states. I left a breadcrumb for Finn to find so that you’d go after Jared. I gave Jared instructions to make sure he mentioned Declan’s name when asked about Siorc’s identity.
“It’s unfortunate that my son’s interest in you wasn’t just puppy love. I don’t want to kill my own son. Who else will carry on the O’Connor name?” he asks as he takes a step closer to me. “So, here’s what’s going to happen. As the only remaining Belov, you’re going to hand over the weapons trade to me. Then you’re going to annul the marriage and leave. I don’t care where you go.”
“And if I don’t?” I raise my eyebrows.
“Simple. I kill Declan.” He shrugs, the look on his face indifferent.
My breath catches in my throat, and a knot forms in the pit of my stomach. Even though I am monumentally pissed and feeling betrayed by Declan… I know I won’t survive his death. I’ve already lost my brother and my parents. Living with the guilt of knowing I played a part in Declan's death will kill me.
“I’ll do it,” I whisper, “but if I find out that you so much as harm a single hair on Declan’s head… I will obliterate your entire operation. Do you understand?”
“We have a deal.” He nods, just as Finn and Declan bust through the door.
Chapter thirty-six
Declan
A Few Hours Earlier
I listen to Natalia storm up the stairs and lean my head back against the wall. The sound of feet shuffling down the steps fills the silence moments later. I don’t even need to look at the doorway to know who it is.
“What the fuck happened?” Finn asks as he looks from Jared to me.
“This dumbass told her I knew who Siorc was.” I gesture to his lifeless body and run my hand through my hair. “What did she say to you?”
“Well, she asked if I knew.” He slides his hands into his pockets and looks down at the ground. “I don’t know how you’re going to fix this one, man. She has passed the point of being pissed. She even left her wedding ring on her way out the door.”
His last sentence makes my breath catch, and I absentmindedly run my thumb across the underside of my own ring. I have fucked up majorly.
“You know she is going to go after him, right?” Finn says after a beat of silence. His words hang between us. I can’t stop her, but my father is a well-known man. He still has his own security team and a few men on his own payroll. She will be walking into her own funeral if she isn’t careful.
“We need to find her first,” I stand from the wall. “If we don’t, he’s going to finish what he started.”
Making our way up the steps, I put more pressure on my leg than I should, and I immediately regret it. I grip the handle of my cane tightly and grit my teeth as I follow Finn out to my car. Once inside, I pull up Natalia’s location.
