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CHAPTER 42
Angel
The amount of controlI had to exert to keep myself from chasing Nikolai down after finding his location was something I didn’t think was possible for me. My husband was out there, being held in some warehouse a half-hour drive away. It would have been simple to throw together a rescue team and charge in, and I wanted to do that, but Stepan advised against it.
If it weren’t for Benjamin’s assurance that Nikolai would be safe for the time being, then I would have disregarded Stepan’s advice to stay put. The event was too close, and we’d put in too much preparation and planning into it for it to be half assed. Stepan was confident Nikolai's kidnapping and my attempted kidnapping were connected to the event. So, the fact one of us got away meant I needed to ensure the plan was carried out successfully.
I still wanted to shove it all back into Stepan’s face because I wouldn’t let my husband sit in limbo. Who knows what’s happening to him there. Being kidnapped and held at a mafia owned warehouse was never a good thing; you either left there dead, in pieces, or broken.
Benjamin assured me Nikolai’s life was safe because Ivan had no plans on killing off his future son-in-law. Ivan refused to divulge further when Benjamin pressed about his plans, only ever assuring Nikolai’s life, for now. I also didn’t want Benjamin pushing too much and risk being made. We never planned for Benjamin to be our mole with Ivan, but when Benjamin came to Nikolai about how Ivan offered him a job, we decided to take the opportunity to plant our own man who we knew would remain completely loyal to us.
Breathing deeply, I rubbed my temples to ease away the headache that squeezed at my brain.
Please be fine, please be alive out there.
The blinking red dot on the map did nothing to ease my worries. It didn’t matter that we had a location; the little chip in his ring could only give us a location, not proof of life. He could be dead in a body bag or six-feet underground for all I knew. This stupid red dot could be pinpointing his last known location too if they figured out his ring had a locator chip in it and tossed it.
Yes, I chipped my husband, but he chipped me. So, it was a fair exchange. Besides, not like I cared for him tracking my location, I’ve nothing to hide from him. The only thing he’d see were my trips to and from work and me around the house ninety-percent of the time. On the other hand, in cases like this where one of us gets yanked randomly off the street, at least the other could locate them. I really didn’t give a shit, and neither did Nikolai when I told him I wanted to track his ass too.
“Ange.” I sucked in a deep breath when I felt a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll get him back.” Hanna assured me with a soft smile and squeeze. “Nikolai’s tough, he’s not going to let himself get killed that easily.”
“Well, not much he can do if he’s incapacitated.” I was being pessimistic, but it was easier to think of the bad than to give myself false hope by thinking of the positives. Last thing I wanted was to believe he was alive and be crushed when I’d find his lifeless body.
Sighing, Hanna reached over, locked my phone, and pocketed it. “Stop, you can’t be distracted right now. We’ll save Nikolai, let Benjamin and Timothy handle it, they’re more than capable. You need to focus on the mission tonight. You need to show the others that you are capable of stepping up to run the business in Nikolai’s absence.”
“Fucking hell. How did I get roped into this shit. Is it so hard to ask for a perfect man with no strings attached?” I joked with a dry chuckle. “Fuck man.” I sighed frustratedly.
His brothers and men trusted me because I was Nikolai’s wife, but it was clear they respected his authority more than they did me. They respected—more like tolerated—me because of Nikolai. Granted, some of the men, like Benjamin and Timothy, have come to respect me as my own person. Still, a lot of them were partial towards Nikolai.
I could see the reluctance amongst the men when they showed up for the mission at the estate and it was announced I was in charge during Nikolai’s absence. No one complained or spoke out, but I could see their wariness.
“You got this, I believe in you. I know you hate being in charge, but you got this in the bag. Just think of it as another shitty ED shift.” At least Hanna’s attempts at easing me started to work from the smile I cracked. “You’ve had a rough day and a half, so worry about one less thing.”
Saying it’s been rough was a very gross understatement. I couldn’t sleep at all last night because I became too worried about Nikolai. Alexei had to sedate me, much against my wishes. I’ve been basically kept prisoner inside the estate for everyone’s sake because I’ve been trying to make a break for Nikolai the moment I woke.
Then, I got a little cherry on top of this fucked up sundae. The heavy, clunky, extravagant, jade dragon ring served as a suffocating reminder around my left index finger—even though it was a few sizes too big.
Sighing, I asked for an update, “How’s everyone taking the news?” There would be push back, a lot of push back.
“Well, the last report I got from our men is that those who didn’t default are being rounded up, no deaths yet.” Hanna reported after checking her phone.
“Good. And I’m assuming everyone knows of the change at this point?” It’s been a few hours since news of my role had been made, and shit spread like wildfire in triad territory.
Fuck. I can’t believe it’s been a few hours since I signed my father’s life away.
