Nikolai: The Complete Collection

17. Justine

17

JUSTINE

“ T rey has arranged for a doctor, but you don’t need to worry about that right now, Maddox. I need you to focus on the documents Carmichael supplied us. If Nikolai is being held captive, he’s at one of those locations. Find which one it is.”

Maddox isn’t used to taking orders from his baby sister, but the command in my tone can’t be denied. We’ve been working on Nikolai’s disappearance for hours, meaning I’m not solely tired. I’m panicked out of my mind. Time is of the essence when it comes to matters like this.

Trey’s recollection of events was proven true during my conversation with Ryan. Dimitri and two-dozen deceased Russians were discovered at Rico’s apartment. No members of Nikolai’s crew were found. The Feds have kept the incident so under wraps it took Ryan over an hour just to find Dimitri’s location.

Although unheard of—and highly illegal—members of Nikolai’s crew are in the process of extracting Dimitri. Our covert operation will likely cost Nikolai’s entity a great sum of money, but Dimitri stepped up to the plate for Nikolai first, so it’s only fair we have his back too. Furthermore, I’d pledge allegiance to Satan himself if it guaranteed Nikolai’s safe return.

Unfortunately, Ryan’s discovery of Dimitri’s location came with a bitter blow. His inquiries unearthed the number of men killed while trying to protect Nikolai and me. Most were the standard foot soldiers Bratva clans use for protection, but a handful of names were recognizable. The most obvious: Dok. He died on the operating table. The three bullet wounds in his chest were too extensive for his trauma surgeons to repair.

Although devastated by the high list of casualties, I’m filled with gratitude that neither Nikolai’s nor Roman’s names were mentioned. I know deep down inside Nikolai is okay.

He has to be.

I crank my head to the side when the clank of a cell phone landing on a table sounds through my ears. “What did she say?”

A sigh parts Trey’s lips. “Not much. She hasn’t seen Maxsim in over a year. She rambled some shit about his wife leaving him when he impregnated his whore. I tuned out not long after that.”

My shoulders slump. Maxsim’s extramarital affairs aren’t any concern of mine, but if his mother is out of the loop on his whereabouts, how the hell will I ever track him down?

“Get Carmichael back on the phone. If Maxsim isn’t operating on behalf of his family, perhaps he is working with someone else.”

I refuse to say Vladimir’s name, but Trey doesn’t need me to verbalize it to hear it.

“Carmichael won’t talk to—” I hold my hand out palm side up, cutting off his accurate statement that Carmichael won’t converse with anyone but me.

After dumping his pre-dialed phone into my hand, Trey moves to assist Maddox in sorting the massive stockpile of land Alexei acquired before his death. I want to pretend he’s keeping himself busy, but in reality, he just keeps his snooping on the down-low. His work on Nikolai’s behalf doesn’t stop at Nikolai’s crew. It extends to any man threatening him or his relationship—Carmichael included.

“Any word?”

The fact Carmichael fails to issue a greeting shows he is as intrigued by Nikolai’s disappearance as I am. I’m just hoping his motives are noble.

“No.” I only say one word, but how it was delivered says so much more. “Trey talked to Maxsim’s mother. He’s not working with them.”

“I’m not surprised. The Vasilievs have barely operated since Alexei’s death.”

My back molars are nearly ground into stubs when I grind out, “How are you aware of that? Are you working with them?”

Carmichael huffs, disappointed at my distrust but also anticipating it. “I’ve never worked with them, Justine… but I haven’t represented them lately, either.You know the amount of legal work entities like theirs require each month. When things go quiet, you know it only means one thing.”

“Dissolution,” we say at the same time.

An agreeing noise vibrates Carmichael’s lips. “The Vasilievs were going under years before Alexei’s death. His death just steamrolled the process.”

“So you could say members of his entity are desperate?”

When Carmichael makes another agreeing gesture, I add, “Desperate enough to side with Satan?”

“What are you getting at, Justine?”

I should be shocked at his bluntness, but my short stint as his intern familiarized me with his forwardness. If Carmichael wants you to know something, he’ll tell you. Just as if he wants to keep it a secret, you’ll be left in the dark for eternity.

“ If Vladimir were alive, do you think Maxsim would be desperate enough to work with him?”

For the first time in history, Carmichael is stumped. “What…? You can’t be serious… Please tell me I misheard what you said.” Before I can repeat my inane comment, he says, “Things are tight for the Vasilievs, but I don’t see them ever being that desperate. Partnering with Vladimir would be as odd as the Popovs siding with the Petrettis.”

Ignoring the lump in my throat, I ask, “But it’s not entirely unthinkable. Right?”

“I guess.” The tapping of a keyboard almost drowns out what he says next. “But none of Vladimir’s accounts have been accessed in over a year. If he’s paying Maxsim, it’s not in money…”

His words trail off, replaced by a massive gasp.

“What is it?”

Carmichael sounds distant when he answers, “A parcel of land the Popov entity has held since the seventies is scheduled to be transferred next week.”

“To whom?” My voice is as high as my brows.

“Hold on.”

Stomping sounds down the line. I’m shocked I can hear it for how hard his lungs work. He sounds as if he is running.

I push Trey’s cell close to my ear when he sneers, “You did it again, didn’t you?”

A man replies, but I can’t hear what he’s saying.

“For fuck’s sake, Jeremy! Did the loss of your finger not teach you anything? They’ll kill you this time when they discover what you’ve done.”

My heart twists from the concern in his tone. He loves his brother, but he’s struggling not to strangle him right now.

“Where are they?”

A commotion sounds down the line before heavy breathing follows it.

“You won’t need to worry about him once I’m done with you. I nearly lost my license to practice because of you. I’m not risking it twice.”

Carmichael’s voice softens, as if he’s set his phone down.

My assumptions are proved right when a phone being scraped across wood sounds down the line seconds before I hear Carmichael’s dejected tone. “Send your crew to Centennial. There’s a dirt road hidden by bushes off Kyle Cannon. I don’t know if Nikolai is there, but you may find the answers you’re seeking.”

I don’t get a chance to offer my thanks before Carmichael disconnects our call.

“Kyle Cannon.” I leap to my feet before charging toward where Trey, Maddox, and a handful of Nikolai’s crew sit.

Trey’s finger circles the area I’m referencing on an aerial map. “Except for a few housing developments, there’s nothing out there.”

“Carmichael said there’s a dirt road hidden by bushes.”

Trey’s lips quirk. “I’m not seeing any roads.”

I snatch the map to my side of the desk. “Because most men can’t locate their nose. Give it to me.”

There are several clumps of shrubs on the map, but none show a clear road veering away from them. “What’s this?” I point to a shimmer on the map. If the map were old, the glimmer might be thinning paper, but these were recently printed.

“A dome?” Maddox suggests before raising his eyes to Trey. “What material was used to build Clarks?”

“Anything we could get our hands on, but a majority of our supplies came from a decommissioned airstrip on the outskirts of town. Others were shipped in.”

“Decommissioned?” Maddox’s finger stretches from the area I’m pointing at to a barren strip of land nestled at the back of it. “Or still in operation?”

All eyes in the room snap to me when I say, “Maxsim had to get me to Vegas somehow. What if he didn’t use a commercial airstrip?”

They remain quiet, unsure of what to say. What could they say? My theory is plausible. So much so that Trey barks at the men to be ready for combat before he’s even halfway out of his chair. His stomps only cease when he spots me on his tail.

“No, Justine. Just because I didn’t send you away with K doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have. You can’t come with us. It isn’t safe.”

Snubbing the fury radiating from my eyes, he rifles through the gun cabinet hidden behind paneled walls in Nikolai’s office. He does a good job of acting ignorant, but his next words reveal his worry about the repercussions of disrespecting me. “Talk some sense into her, please .” His words aren’t for me. They’re for Maddox.

Maddox takes up Trey’s plea in an instant. “J?—”

“No.”

He exhales deeply before trying again. “Mom has been through enough?—”

It is hard for me not to clutch my chest from the devastation in his voice. “I feel for her, truly I do, but her pain isn’t even half of what I’m being pelted with right now.”

I’m not lying. Hope is the only thing stopping me from folding in two right now.

“If you go, you could get killed.” Maddox’s lack of debate reveals he understands the level of hurt I’m experiencing. “Do you understand that, J?”

I nod, aware of what I’m up against. “At least I won’t die a coward. Col stripped the life from my veins years ago. He made me hate everything I was and everything I had once hoped to be.” Tears pool in my eyes as I force out words I never want to express again. “If I lose Nikolai, I will once again lose every part of who I am. I won’t survive going through that again, Maddox. I was barely living before Nikolai came into my life, so I refuse to live a life without him in it.”

“J…” Maddox stops, screws up his face as he struggles to remain passive like he has the past five years, then starts again. “Dad is going to kill me.”

Once again, I nod in agreement. This goes against everything our father instilled in his sons since the day they took their first breaths—but so does my focus. Our parents taught us to chase our dreams no matter the consequences. That’s what I’m trying to do.

Shaking his head, either admiring my stubbornness or in disbelief, Maddox returns his eyes to Trey. “I’ll keep her out of harm’s way.”

Trey chuckles. It’s not his happy-go-lucky laugh. “Do you truly believe you have what it takes to keep her safe? These men are like me. They don’t have morals.”

Maddox accepts Trey’s knock to his chin like a man, but it doesn’t sway his resolve. “Do you truly believe Justine would still be here if I couldn’t protect her from men like you?”

Maddox’s saying appears pompous, but it is one hundred percent authentic. He might look like a humble man, but he’s been my family’s keeper for years longer than that. Nothing can deter him when it comes to protecting the ones he loves. The five years he spent in prison proves this without a doubt.

“I took one night off, and look what happened. Men trained to keep my sister safe didn’t, yet you feel you have the right to judge me.”

Their pissing contest ends by Trey shoving a loaded gun into Maddox’s chest. “I don’t have time for this shit. If you want to walk into your death head-on, who am I to stop you?” He drops his eyes to the semi-automatic weapon Maddox is holding at an odd angle. “The safety is on the tang. If you don’t know what that is, you shouldn’t be carrying a gun.”

I inch back when his murderous eyes shift to me. He isn’t happy about my decision, but he’s aware he either follows my orders or loses his life. He’s going with the former. “If you so much as get a scratch on you, you’re going to take Maddox’s gun, aim it at my head, then fire. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I reply, comprehending his riddle.

By letting me go with him, it isn’t just his livelihood on the line. It’s also his life.

“But I won’t need to borrow Maddox’s gun to take you down. I’ll use mine.”

The low hang of Trey’s jaw grows when I swing open the bottom drawer of Nikolai’s desk to remove a Sig Sauer P365 Nitron. He stares at me in shock when I load the ten-round magazine with bullets. I don’t know why he’s stunned. The first thing Nikolai taught me after Alexei raided his compound was how to fire a weapon. We’ve had weekly target practice ever since.

Maddox thinks he’s keeping me far from the action, but I have news for him. A true queen doesn’t sit and watch the royalties roll in. She brings home the bacon as well.