Forced to Marry the Russian (Nikolai Bratva Brides #2)

Chapter 24 - Zia

“Get down!”

Before Zia could make sense of what was happening and why Konstantin just yelled at her, the sound of gunshots reverberated in the car. The window next to her shattered, sending pieces of glass everywhere.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins. She held her stomach and inhaled deeply to calm herself. It was hard to think when she was tense and anxious. Someone shot a gun at their car. Someone was trying to kill them.

Her pulse raced as she sat up to look back and see if they were still being followed. They were. Two motorbikes raced toward them. There were other cars behind theirs, too, but she couldn’t tell if they were following them or just driving in the same direction. “What the hell is happening?”

“We’re being tailed,” Konstantin answered, his usually calm voice panicked. “Sit tight and don’t raise your head until I tell you to.”

“Was that Lev on the line?”

Konstantin nodded. “Call him back and tell him where we are. I’ll try to get us out of here.”

Zia picked up the phone. One of the motorbikes caught up with them. She froze as he pointed his gun at her.

Konstantin quickly wheeled the car between two other cars between them. The sudden movement made her lose her balance, and she fell to the side.

“Call him now!” Konstantin ordered.

Zia tapped Lev’s number. It rang once, and he answered.

“Holy crap! Kostya, where are you?” Lev asked. He was breathing heavily, and she could tell he was nervous from his voice.

“Lev.” She clenched her fingers around the phone to keep it in place despite her shaky hands.

“Zia, baby. I need you to turn on the phone location and hide it away just in case something happens, okay?”

“Okay.” Her eyes burned and tears streamed down her face. “Lev, please find us. I don’t want our baby to get hurt. I don’t want to die.”

They’d only found each other months ago. They’d only confessed their love to each other last night. She couldn’t die yet, not without meeting their baby or living the happy life she’d always wanted with Lev. She had to stay alive. They both had to stay alive.

“Just stay tight, baby. I’ll find you, I promise,” Lev assured her, his voice calmer than it had been when he first answered her call.

She believed him. She knew he wouldn’t give up or abandon her, and that comforted her in a way. She hung up and turned on the phone location. Putting the phone in silence, she buried it under her bra, pressing the screen against her skin so it wouldn’t light up if someone called.

The two cars hiding theirs suddenly stopped, exposing them to the assassins on bikes. Konstantin rolled down the windows, aiming his own gun at one of them. He pulled the trigger once, and the bike to their right drove into an upcoming trailer.

The second guy shot at him, and he ducked just in time to evade the bullet. He shot back and took the guy down.

“Are you okay?” Konstantin asked, turning his head away from the road to look at her.

Her stomach churned, and bile rose up her throat. She was not okay. How could she be okay when they had some bad guys chasing after them with no idea if they would even make it out alive?

“I’m fine.” She clutched the passenger seat. “Are you injured?”

“Just a scratch. Listen, I need to get us out of here, but in case I can’t, run and don’t look back.”

“As if I would leave you if something happened.” This man hated her the first time he met her, yet he’d protected her and was even willing to risk his life for her. She wasn’t going to be the coward who ran away. They were going to make it out together.

“Fuck!”

Zia looked into the rearview mirror. There were more bikes behind them tailing behind them. Her heart thumped against her rib cage. It fought for space in his chest with the air frozen in his lungs. “What do we do?”

Konstantin didn’t answer. He navigated the car through an underground tunnel.

She held her breath, praying and hoping they could escape. She thought of Lev. He would be devastated if anything happened to her. She thought of the child in her stomach who would never get to be born if she died.

For a moment, it seemed like there was hope radiating at the end of the tunnel. All they had to do was make it through, and they could blend in with the other cars.

And then air stalled in her lungs. More cars and bikes were stationed at the end of the tunnel. Their headlights were on, making it hard to see anything, but she could see the guns pointing toward them.

Konstantin brought the car to a halt in front of the bad guys. He took out his own gun and pointed it back at them, then he turned around to look at her. “You should run. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”

“I’m not leaving you here. I—” She trailed off as more cars and bikes came up behind them.

Someone stepped forward from the light in front of them. She tensed as his silhouette slowly came into her view.

It was Owen, her ex-boyfriend. How was he here? What the hell was he doing here? Her throat dried up and her blood turned cold.

“Drop the gun,” Owen ordered.

Konstantin didn’t. He climbed out of the car and kept his gun pointed at Owen. “I should have killed you then.”

A pang of guilt rushed through Zia. It was all her fault; she should have let them kill Owen then. She shouldn’t have saved him.

“You should have,” Owen agreed, grinning like a monster. Then he looked past Konstantin and peered directly at her. “But you didn’t, thanks to the woman who was still in love with me.”

Konstantin’s finger lingered on the trigger. “It’s not too late. How about we go down together?”

Owen chuckled darkly. “You shoot me, she dies.”

The tension in the air was palpable, and the whooshing of blood in her ears did nothing to distract her from the present. She wished she could hide somewhere deep in her mind, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t be weak, and she couldn’t let a clown like Owen make her afraid.

Cupping her stomach, she muttered. “We’re going to be brave, you and I. Your daddy will find us.”

She pushed the car door open and got down, then cautiously, she walked to Konstantin’s side and held his hand. “It’s okay,” she whispered to him. “Drop the gun.”

A mixture of different emotions flashed in Konstantin’s eyes—rage and self-loathing. Men in the Bratva were prideful, and his pride had taken a hit because he’d not only failed to protect her, but he’d also failed Lev, too.

Zia didn’t want him to think that. He was human—there was only so much he could do, and the night had been a series of chaos upon the other.

Finally, Konstantin dropped the gun to his feet and held his hands up. “Let her go. Take me instead.”

Owen snorted. “You’re overestimating yourself, Big Guy. She’s the most important piece in the puzzle, not you.”

Suddenly, someone hit Konstantin from behind. He passed out immediately, thudding to the ground as if he wasn’t a giant man capable of killing like a ruthless animal.

Her eyes widened with horror as she snapped her head to Owen.

He looked right back at her, his eyes dark with twisted amusement. “We meet again, love.”

Fear coursed through Zia’s vein as realization dawned on her. They weren’t making it out of here alive.

***

“You’re just as beautiful as I thought you would be,” the tall man with the Irish accent said, his cold fingers cupping Zia’s face.

Zia moved away from his touch and gritted her teeth. It was the only thing keeping her from kicking him in the crotch. She had to hold back for her sake and Konstantin’s.

The moment they arrived in Long Grove. The mansion they’d brought her was hidden away in a street that was very lonely and underdeveloped.

She felt the cold screen of the phone clinging to her chest, and she hoped Lev could find them.

“Who the hell are you?” she asked, not bothering to keep her tone pleasant. She was afraid of him, but she’d been through enough in one night and couldn’t give a shit. At least she wouldn’t if it weren’t for her baby. Amy had been poisoned, and she had no fucking idea if her friend was still alive.

“Pardon my rudeness,” the man said. “I am Cillian Moore. I believe you’ve heard of me.”

She had, and she despised him before she even had a chance to meet him. She scoffed, pretending she hadn’t. “Cillian Moore. Doesn’t ring a bell.”

Cillian cocked a brow and he smirked. “Maybe I thought too much of myself.”

“Maybe you did,” she inclined with a bob of her head. “You kidnap women; I don’t think you’re a man to be feared or respected.”

“But you’re not just any woman. You’re Zia Nikolai, Lev Nikolai’s wife. You’re more of an asset than you realize.”

Zia threw a hand over her mouth and yawned. “Well, this asset is bored and would like to go back home to her husband. Think it’s something you can pull?”

“You have a smart mouth. I like that.” He held his hands behind him and rounded her. “How about I make this a little more interesting for you? Have you heard the name James Kincaid?”

Her mouth slacked and her brows quirked. That was her father’s name. How did he know her father’s name? She tried to steady her breath. “You knew my father?”

He nodded. “He wasn’t a friend or an ally, but he was a good cop. Unfortunately, he went around sticking his nose where it didn’t belong, and he had to die for it.”

Her chest tightened as tears sprung to her eyes. “You…” She paused and swallowed. “Did you kill my father?”

Cillian came to a stop in front of her and smiled. “I did.”

Vomit crept up her throat, and her legs almost buckled from what she’d just found out. The man in front of her had taken her father from her, and he didn’t show any remorse for it. He had the guts to smile at her while he said it. “Monster!”

“There are two types of people in this world, girl. The monsters and the prey.” He grabbed her jaw so hard that his nails dug into her flesh. “It’s better to be the monster because the world won’t be kind to you.”

Zia’s jaw trembled with rage. “Even monsters like you can easily become prey. I wish you a miserable death and pain way more than you can bear in a lifetime.”

Cillian shrugged her off like she was a mere fly disturbing him. “After you and your husband. I’ll kill him first, then I’ll let Owen have his way with you before I kill you.”

She wanted so badly to retort, but she couldn’t give him a hint that Lev knew where she was. “Rot in hell.”

Cillian gestured for one of his men to drag her away. “Next time we meet, I’ll be breaking news of your husband’s death to you. I hope it’s soon enough.”

“Don’t be too sure. Next time we meet, it may be me staring right into your eyes as you die.”

The bodyguard grabbed her arm and dragged her to a basement on the ground floor. He kicked the door open and threw her in.

Konstantin was there, lying on the cold floor. Blood dripped from the injury on the back of his head, forming a small puddle. He was tied up and still unconscious.

The bodyguard tied her up next to him. “Try anything stupid and you’re dead.”

Zia waited for the bodyguard to leave, then she moved closer to Konstantin. “Kostya, can you hear me?”

No response.

She struggled to turn around and began to kick his leg. “Wake up. We need to find a way out of here,” she whispered. “Please, wake up.”

He didn’t wake up or even move.

Zia didn’t give up. Minutes passed and she was getting exhausted, yet she didn’t give up. She couldn’t give up.

Finally, his eyelid fluttered, and his eyes opened. He groaned and tried to raise himself up. “Where are we?”

She heaved a relieved sigh that he was alive. “We’re in Long Grove. In a mansion in a secluded area.”

“How long have I been out?” he asked, looking around. “Three hours.”

“Fuck! We need to find a way out of here.” He pushed himself up. “Can you try to get this off me?”

She nodded. Twisting her body, she moved closer to Konstantin and started to tug at his rope. It took several minutes, and she was sweaty by the time the rope finally came off.

The door opened suddenly; Owen walked inside with his usual annoying grin. “Well, if it isn’t the princess and the grizzly bear.”

“What do you want?” Zia fired at him. She’d been friends with this man, and she’d loved him for years, yet she’d never hated him as much as she did right now. He seemed like a different person, not the Owen she fell in love with.

“To see your faces.” He pushed her hair behind her ear. “I’m going to make you pay for every pain your husband inflicted on me, Zia, and it won’t be pretty when I do it.”

“Is that why you’re working for Cillian? Were you working for him all along?”

He shook his head. “He found me after I left that day. He offered me a chance for revenge, and I took it.”

“There’s no time for this bullcrap,” Konstantin said with a sigh.

Owen turned his attention to him. “What did you say, Big Guy?”

“You heard me. Nobody’s got time for your sob story.” In the blink of an eye, Konstantin got to his feet, strode to Owen, and held his face. “See you in hell.”

Zia heard the cracking of bones as Konstantin snapped Owen’s neck.

Owen’s lifeless body fell to the ground. His blue eyes were wide, glaring at her, but they were lifeless.

She didn’t have time to react when Konstantin knelt beside her, loosened her rope, and dragged them both to their feet. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re wounded.”

Konstantin rubbed the back of his head. The blood had clotted already. “I’m not that easy to kill, lady.”

“Wait.” She pulled the phone from her breast. It was warm and sweaty from the heat of her body. The battery had almost drained, but the location was still turned on.

She read a text Lev sent. “I’ll find you soon. I’m close to you.”

“They’ll notice this asshole is dead. We should find a place to hide for now.” Konstantin held out his hand to her.

She took it and followed as he led her out of the basement, knocking down other bodyguards as they went. They were making it out of here alive, both of them.