Chapter 126 Fugitive
❄︎ Viktor ❄︎
Adrian’s text still burned behind my eyes.
I set the phone back on the table, flexing my fists until the tightness in my knuckles loosened.
Fuck.
One quiet morning. One. That’s all I wanted. I’d been enjoying the calm and Rosa’s laughter. Her messy little bites, the sound of her fork against the plate, and now it was gone. Just like that.
Duty just had a way of dragging me back.
When I looked up, she was watching me with big eyes full of worry.
I forced the muscles in my jaw to unclench, stood up, rounded the table, and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“I have to go handle something,” I said.
Her expression fell instantly, and damn if that didn’t make my heart twist. I liked that she didn’t want me to leave.
It meant she was feeling this same pull that I felt, the want, the peace that came with having her close.
“What happened?” she asked softly, her lips in a pout.
I sighed, dragging a hand over my face.
“I’ve been keeping tabs on Giancarlo and he was just spotted leaving the city. Probably thinks he can find refuge somewhere else since I’ve been dismantling his people one by one.”
Her brows knitted. “Do you think he knows about Orlov?”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “What matters is I take care of it before he grows teeth again. Giancarlo doesn’t give up. He’ll just run, regroup, and come back an even bigger pain in my ass.”
She nodded slowly, then stood and wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her back, unwilling to let the warmth escape.
“Be careful,” she murmured against my chest.
“I will.”
I leaned back and looked at her.
“Come with me. I’ll drop you at the house, you shouldn’t stay here alone.”
She shook her head stubbornly. “I need to finish a few things here first. You go. I’ll be fine.”
Of course she would say that. My fearless, brave wife.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the watch I’d had customized for her.
“Then wear this. Always. You can send a distress signal straight to me or Adrian if anything feels off. And don’t worry. I’ve got men stationed all over the property.”
Her gaze softened. “Thank you.”
I cupped her face, brushed my thumb along her lip, and kissed her. I didn’t want to stop.
But then my phone started ringing again, this time, Adrian’s name flashing angrily across the screen.
I groaned under my breath and pulled away, forcing my body to move when all it wanted was to stay right here with her.
“Stay safe,” I muttered, and stepped out the door, the call still buzzing in my hand.
At the compound, I gave the men one look. That was all it took. They straightened immediately, eyes alert. They knew what it meant. If anything happened to her while I was gone, anything at all, they’d pay with their lives. Simple.
I slipped into the car, slammed the door shut, and started the engine. Two of my teams followed behind in black sedans gliding out of the gate like shadows.
I checked their formation in the rearview, then I dialed Adrian.
He picked up before the first ring ended. “You want me to go in and intercept Giancarlo?”
“What’s going on?” I asked, my eyes narrowing as the city slid by.
“He’s been inside the Tibetan embassy for about an hour now,” Adrian said. “Just sitting there. His luggage’s in the cars outside.”
I snorted under my breath. Typical. “So the coward’s finally run out of cards.”
In my mind, I saw him clear as day, Giancarlo Conti, sweating under embassy air-conditioning, trying to look composed while his world crumbled around him.
The New York Trafficking Syndicate branch took a hit because of him, because he played God and lost. Now he wanted to slither off instead of owning the consequences.
Not on my watch.
“I’m a minute out,” I said.
Then I heard sirens. Not just through the line, but outside, growing louder and closer.
“What the fuck is that?”
Adrian cursed softly. “Looks like the cops are here.”
I swerved into the parking lot opposite the embassy, killed the engine, and got out just as Adrian appeared from the service street beside the building.
He was tense and armed. We didn’t need to talk.
We stood shoulder to shoulder, watching the drama ensue.
The flashing lights swiveled in blue and red.
Armed officers poured into the embassy like a flood, shouting commands. My jaw tightened.
Within a minute, they came out dragging him.
Giancarlo Conti. Shiny bald head gleaming under the noon sun, wrists cuffed, his expression mildly disdainful.
He didn’t even resist. His men were dragged out behind him, yelling, cursing, and getting shoved into cruisers like livestock.
Adrian exhaled through his nose. “Well. That’s… underwhelming.”
“Yeah,” I said flatly. “Because it’s a setup.”
He glanced at me. “You think so?”
“I know so. They’ll plant a decoy in his place and make it look neat while the real bastard slips out the back. Probably on a plane before sundown.”
Adrian straightened as the gears turned in his head. “Huh. Of course.”
I didn’t answer.
My gaze stayed locked on them, the sunlight burning against my shades.
For a moment, my mind drifted back to Rosa, her smile that morning, the warmth of her skin…
Bang
A gunshot split the air.
I turned just in time to see Giancarlo’s head snap backward, his skull bursting into a wet spray before he crumpled to the ground.
A sniper.