Chapter 69 I’m here
Maria's POV
I was so tired as if the events from the past few days were finally coming to collect their pound of flesh. I was in and out of it, but the one thing I heard Henry say was, "He's coming, Maria." That alone settled the ache of anxiety deep down in my chest.
Footsteps pounded down the corridor, the sound of men sweeping in all directions. My eyes opened, and I struggled to push myself up off of Henry. Seeing me struggling, he pushed me into an independent sitting position, placing his hand on my lower back to support me. The exhaustion was still clouding my vision, but the urge to see him overrode all other instincts.
Then, as if he were a ghost, he appeared out of nowhere like an angry russian god of war. His gun was gripped tightly in his right hand as he swept the room looking for anyone that shouldn't be there, as if he was ready to take the devil on himself. For a minute, I didn't think he noticed me, but who am I kidding? As soon as he realized there was no visible threat, his eyes locked on mine.
In two long strides, he made it to my side. Grabbing Henry's hand like a man possessed, he yanked it off my back, giving Henry a look that was full of murderous rage.
Wrapping me in his arms, I inhaled; his scent of cedar and spice was mixed with sweat, enveloping me as if it were a protective bubble. Ignoring everyone else, he pushed me back, holding me by my elbows so he could stare at me.
"Are you ok? I got the call from him," he aggressively pointed at Henry, "and I thought the world was crumbling down. I told you to stay in the room!"
"I had to get out of the room, I was getting claustrophobic!" I pointed my finger at his chest, "but that's besides the fucking point, Alek. We know who the mole is!"
His face was unreadable as if it were made of stone; the only sign of life was the slight twitch under his left eye. Letting go of my arms, he guided me over and sat me down on one of the cushioned chairs near the staircase.
Turning to Henry, any mask that he had been wearing dropped. The Pakhan of the South made his prescence known, "Henry, what the fuck is going on? Where's my father and Dimitri?"
Henry stood up to his full height, not letting Aleksander intimidate him, "Aleksander, look, you know as much as I do right now. I found Maria exhausted at the bottom of the stairs, and she told me that Dimitri and your father went the opposite way, trying to find you."
Aleksander huffed, obviously not liking what he heard, but before he could say another word, Maxim and Dimitri showed up hobbling down the hallway in their direction.
"Alek, there you are. Where the fuck have you been?" Maxim growled while still supporting most of Dimitri's weight, "Dimitri has important information that he has refused to share with anyone, much to my disdain, until you hear it first."
Dimitri looked like shit, worse than when we were upstairs. His bruises were more pronounced, and the swelling was twice the size it had been; his ass really needed to be lying down somewhere, doped up on pain meds.
Finally reaching Aleksander's side, Maxim placed him on the bottom step of the staircase for him to be stable enough to speak to Aleksander.
Aleksander moved over to sit next to Dimitri and grasped his hand, "Brother, tell me."
Sighing like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, Dimitri looked Aleksander straight in the eyes, "The mole is Adam."
The room's quiet was broken by audible gasps from everyone except Aleksander.
He was stunned.
Too quiet.
He stood up quickly, making all of us take a cautionary step back, turning towards Dimitri, his eyes showing a rage I've yet seen in him, even during the attack on the compound.
"Did you just tell me, one of the men I trusted for years, that I took under my wing, and someone I considered family, betrayed me? Betrayed us?"
"Yes,' Dimitri whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.
He didn't ask how or why, he just flipped the fuck out.
Henry ran over to me, "You might not want to see this," he said, trying to shield my body as Aleksander started throwing things, cursing in what I assumed was Russian, and then he started punching holes in the wall over and over until his hands were bleeding.
Pushing myself up, I did my best to shove Henry to the side. "Stoppppp it right now, Aleksander, you're hurting yourself."
Turning towards me, he looked as if he was possessed by a demon; he didn't resemble anything of the man I had fallen in love with.
Maxim began to move in between us, but one look from Alek halted him. In a low, authoritative voice that sent a chill down my spine, "Get her the fuck out of here right now!"
"Wait, what?" I screamed. I didn't want to leave him like this, but it was obvious that dragging me out of there was probably for my own safety.
Henry didn't waste any time; he literally scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder like he was a fireman.
"I'm sorry about this, but this is for your safety; you don't need to see this," he whispered.
He took two stairs at a time to reach my room. I had shut my eyes as tears had begun to fall down my face, making my eyes burn. All I wanted to do was to comfort him, but as I head screaming, yelling, things being thrown, and I'm pretty sure somewhere down there, a fight was breaking out.
Henry literally dropped me in my bed and, without a word, walked out the door. A clicking noise came from the door, and I knew that meant one thing: he locked the door from the outside.
Tears kept rolling as I tried to bury myself under the covers; it seemed the screaming and bangs from downstairs went on for hours, or it could have just been minutes. But as I faded away, all I could see was the look he gave me as he told me to leave.