Chapter 156 Chapter 156
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Six
Dimitri
I stood in the center of the warehouse facing Pavel Sokolov. The man who had destroyed everything I cared about. He looked nothing like Katerina or Maria. Where they had been passionate and emotional, Pavel was cold and calculated. His eyes were dead. Empty of everything except hate.
"You came alone," Pavel said. "I am impressed."
"I keep my word," I replied. "Unlike you."
Pavel smiled. "I never gave you my word about anything."
"You killed Viktor," I said. "He was innocent. He had nothing to do with what my father did."
"No one in your organization is innocent," Pavel replied. "You are all guilty. All complicit in what your father built."
"Viktor was my cousin," I said. "He was family."
"So was my father," Pavel shot back. "But that did not stop your father from putting a bullet in his head."
I had no response to that. Because he was right.
"What do you want from me?" I asked. "You already took everything. What more is there?"
"Your life," Pavel said simply. "And then I will take your brother's life. And your wife's life. And that baby's life. I will erase every trace of the Volkov family from this earth."
"Nikolai is innocent," I said. "He is just a baby."
"I was just a child when your father killed mine," Pavel replied. "But that did not matter to him. So why should it matter to me?"
He pulled out a gun. Pointed it at my chest. "Any last words?" He asked.
"Yes," I said. "I am sorry for what my father did to you. To your family. You deserved better."
Pavel's hand wavered slightly. "Do not," he said. "Do not try to make me feel sorry for you."
"I am not," I replied. "I am trying to make you understand that killing me will not bring your father back. It will not heal your pain. It will just create more death."
"Good," Pavel said. "I want the world to suffer like I have suffered."
His finger tightened on the trigger.
Then I heard a voice from the shadows. "Pavel, stop." Maria stepped into the light. She looked terrible. Beaten and bloody.
"Maria?" Pavel said. "What are you doing here?"
"Stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life," she replied.
"You betrayed me," Pavel said. "You chose them over your own family."
"I chose to stop the cycle of violence," Maria corrected. "I chose to be better than our father. Better than his father."
"There is no peace," Pavel said. "Not while they live."
"Then you will have to kill me too," Maria said. "Because I will not let you hurt them."
She walked over and stood beside me. Putting herself between me and Pavel's gun.
"Move," Pavel ordered.
"No," Maria replied.
"I will shoot through you," Pavel threatened.
"Then do it," Maria challenged. "Kill your own sister. Add one more death to your conscience. One more person who loved you that you destroyed."
Pavel's hand shook. His face twisted with emotion. "I hate you," he whispered.
"I know," Maria said gently. "But I love you anyway. And I will not let you destroy yourself."
For a moment, I thought Pavel would lower the gun. But then his face hardened. "I am sorry, sister," he said. "But this is the only way."
He fired. The bullet hit Maria in the chest. She gasped and fell backward.
I caught her.
"No!" I shouted. Blood was spreading across her shirt.
"It is okay," Maria whispered. "I knew this might happen."
"Hold on," I said. "Help is coming."
"No," she replied. "It is too late for me. But not for you. Run. Get your family and run. Pavel has more planned. This was just the beginning."
"What do you mean?" I demanded. But Maria's eyes closed. Her breathing stopped. She was gone.
I looked up at Pavel. He was staring at his sister's body. His face was white. His hand holding the gun was shaking.
"What have you done!" I thundered.
"What I had to do," Pavel replied. But his voice was hollow.
Then suddenly, gunfire erupted from all around us. Irina, Alexei, Mikhail, and Elena had arrived. They were shooting at Pavel. He dove for cover behind a shipping container and returned fire.
I gently laid Maria's body down. Grabbed my own gun and joined the fight.
The warehouse became a war zone.
"We need to get out of here!" Alexei shouted.
"Not without Pavel!" I replied.
I moved forward. Determined to end this once and for all. But Pavel was already running. Heading for a back exit.
I chased after him. Through the warehouse. Out into the night. He was fast. But I was faster. I tackled him to the ground.
We fought. Punched and kicked. Rolled in the dirt.
Finally, I got on top of him. Pinned him down. "It is over," I said. "You lost."
"No," Pavel gasped. "You lost. You just do not know it yet."
"What are you talking about?" I demanded.
Pavel smiled. Blood on his teeth. "I am not the only one who wants you dead. There are others. Powerful people. People who make me look like a child playing games."
"Who?" I demanded.
"The Italians," Pavel replied. "The Romano family. They have been watching you. And when they move, nothing will save you."
My blood ran cold. The Romano family was one of the most powerful mafia organizations in the world. If they wanted us dead, we were already dead.
"Why would they come after us?" I asked.
"Because your father did not just betray my father," Pavel said. "He betrayed theirs too. And they do not forget. They do not forgive. And they are coming for you."
"You are lying," I said.
"Am I?" Pavel asked. "Then why did I get a message from them yesterday? Why did they tell me to hurry up and finish you? Why are they already in the city?"
I grabbed him by the collar. "Where are they?" I demanded.
But Pavel just smiled. "Everywhere," he said. "And you will never see them coming."
Then he laughed. A horrible, broken sound.
Police sirens wailed in the distance.
"Boss, we need to go!" Alexei shouted from behind me.
I was so shaken I could not think straight.
"Go," Pavel said. "Run while you still can. But know this. The Romanos will not stop. They will hunt you. They will find you. And they will kill everyone you love."
I wanted to kill him. Right there. But the sirens were too close. And I needed to get back to Nikolai.
I stood up, left Pavel lying there and rban back to the others. We piled into the car. Drove away just as the police arrived.
My mind was racing. The Romanos. If what Pavel said was true, we were in more danger than ever.
We got back to the hotel. I ran inside. Found the clerk with Nikolai. My son was safe. I took him in my arms amd held him close.
"We need to leave," I said to everyone. "Tonight. The city is not safe anymore."
"Where will we go?" Irina asked.
"I do not know," I admitted. "But we cannot stay here."
Alexei's phone buzzed. He looked at it. His face went pale.
"Dimitri," he said. "You need to see this."
He showed me his phone. It was a photo. Of all of us. Taken tonight. At the warehouse. And below it was a message in Italian. I could not read Italian. But Mikhail could.
"What does it say?" I asked him.
Mikhail looked at the message. Then at me. "It says 'Soon, we will come for what is ours. The Volkov bloodline ends with the child.'"
My heart stopped. "They are after Nikolai," I whispered.
"Not just after him," Mikhail replied. "They have already sent someone. Look at the next message."
Alexei scrolled down. Another message appeared. This one had a photo attached. It was the hotel clerk. The one I had paid to watch Nikolai. And in the photo, he was wearing a ring. A distinctive ring with a Romano family crest.
"He works for them," I said. I spun around. The clerk was gone. And so was the ten thousand dollars I had given him.
"Where did he go?" I demanded.
We searched the hotel. He was nowhere to be found. But in the room where he had been watching Nikolai, we found something. A listening device. Hidden under the table.
They had heard everything we said. Every plan we made. Every word we spoke.
"They know everything," Irina whispered.
"Not everything," I said. "They do not know where we are going next. Because I do not even know."
But even as I said it, I felt the walls closing in. The Romanos were coming. And they would not stop unti
l every Volkov was dead.
Especially Nikolai. The innocent baby who had done nothing wrong. But whose blood carried the Volkov name.
And that was enough to condemn him to death.