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Bash glances up at him. “Please tell me they fired the other fellow.”
The waiter looks confused. “I’m sorry…is there anything else that I can get you?”
“We’re fine, thank you,” I say, feeling sorry for the poor guy. My gaze drifts back over to where agent Mitchel is standing. Obviously, she’s still not convinced I’m out of the woods yet. Or is she finally beginning to suspect that Bash and I orchestrated this whole charade? When I ran out to her with the dress so that she could sew in the wire, I’d put on quite the act about how anxious I was about the whole thing. That they needed to stay close because if Bash ever found out I’d betrayed him, I was a dead woman for sure.
I’d refused their request to plant listening devices in our home but had reluctantly agreed to wear the wire. I realized this was another major turning point, my chance to cut Bash lose and take my chances. I could always claim that I’d operated on his brother Nick and his best friend Stieg under duress and throw myself at the mercy of the medical board. Bash would go to jail for murder, I’d be free of Bash and all his underworld ties.
The only problem is – I’d lose Bash...and heaven help me, I’m not ready for that. There are two things in the world that make me feel alive…holding someone’s life in my hands in the OR and loving Sebastian Petrosky. If I can figure out a way to have them both, I’ll risk anything to do it.
Chapter 28 – Orders from the Motherland
TheDEAmanagedtofind Sergei’s remains in the barrel Stieg’s men had stuffed him into deep within Victor’s main warehouse. The clever sniffer dogs also managed to find a very large stash of Pakistani cocaine. Suffice to say, Victor will be too busy trying to stay out of prison to give me any serious competition or for that matter, any more shit about not marrying his daughter.
I don’t know if I’m completely off the hook with Agent Roberts, but at least he has his big fish to fry.
And after Victor put that hit out on me, he’s lucky all he’ll get is prison time. Thank goodness, in the form of Madison, Stieg will make a full recovery.
As I sit in my office, I check my watch for the third time this hour. Today is the day Madison will receive her infamous residency match letter that she’s been obsessing over this pass few weeks. I know she’ll nail the surgery rotation, and fairly certain she’ll land the cardiothoracic spot. But until she opens the envelope, she’ll be on pins and needles.
For all her positive traits, Mads is a worrier. That’s part of what makes her such a brilliant surgeon, she overanalyzes, checks and rechecks every detail, studies the topic ad nauseum.
I chuckle to myself. Knowing this about her, makes her falling for me all the more…astonishing, not to mention flattering. I think for the first time in her life, Madison didn’t overthink it, she acted purely on instinct – she just jumped into the unknown, somehow confident that I’d catch her and never let her fall.
Even when the DEA tried to strong arm her into wearing the wire, she immediately ran to me and told me everything, once again, confident that I’d know precisely how to handle it. Her intrinsic trust in me was oddly moving and endearing her to me more than I thought possible. It makes me feel like I never want to let her down, like I want to be a better man…someone worthy of her.
So lost in thought, I nearly jumped out of my seat when my cell buzzed on the desktop. I grabbed it quickly assuming it was Madison.
But the fluent Russian voice quickly disabused me of that notion.
"Nam nuzhno pogovorit', Sebastian Petrosky. Ochen' skoro."
It’s Victor Volkov, aka, the Wolf, head of one of the largest crime syndicates in Moscow. I knew this call was coming but hoped it wouldn’t be this soon.
He’s just told me that we need to talk. Very soon.
"Privet, Victor. Rad slyshat' tvoi golos. Da, ya soglasen." I reply in Russian, telling him that it’s good to hear from him and that I agree.
“Good,” he replies in English. “Then I extend to you an invitation to visit me at my home.”
“I am honored, sir. Your call is excellent timing. I was planning to be in Moscow in two weeks. May I come visit you then?”
There is only silence on the phone for a moment. He was expecting me to drop everything and come running. Offending him is the last thing I wish to do here.
“With your permission, I’d like to bring someone with me to meet you. She won’t be free to travel until then, otherwise I would come sooner.”
“Ah…” Victor says coolly. “Your surgeon-fiancée.”
“Yes, sir.” I’m grateful that he knows that much, and I won’t have to waste much time explaining her value to the organization. “This is the only time that her rigorous work schedule permits, you see.”
“Then I will make an allowance. Be here intwoweeks. You and your girl. Until then, Sebastian.”
“Until then, sir.” The call ends but my sense of dread begins. It could all go so incredibly well or so horribly wrong. They’ll either see Mads as a valuable asset to bring in, or a burdensome liability to eliminate.
Either way, I must be prepared to act swiftly and strategically. Growing anxious, I rise from behind my desk and walk over to the windows to gaze out. Madison is already feeling apprehensive about going to Moscow with me and that’s when we weren’t planning to go until after her graduation in May. Now I’ll have to convince her to take some overdue vacation time to accompany me before her break. If she senses my unease, she’ll try to back out altogether.
Bringing her into the wolf’s den is unavoidable. If we ever stand a chance of receiving their blessings, this is it. To avoid this path would spell our doom. This will also serve as the official anointing of me to the role as the regional head of the family which should minimize internal wars in the current power vacuum. Nonetheless, I will take the necessary precautions to ensure Madison makes it out of there alive.
My God, I’d give my life to ensure Madison’s safety. But if there is even the smallest chance that we can live a happy life together, I will take it.
