Chapter 175 175

Chapter 175 175
Her voice cracks, and I think it’s real. Piper said Noelle didn’t regret anything, but I see the hint of it now. I repeat her own words back to her. “It’s too late for regrets.”

She clears her throat and gathers herself. “I tried to get away. I know you think I’m some monster, but I had doubts about what I was doing. I wanted to bring Benjamin back to you, but Kreshnik was watching the safehouse. The moment I left, he tracked me down. He—he ripped Benjamin from my arms.”

My hands are shaking with the desire to clench into fists. I let go of Noelle’s throat so I don’t accidentally strangle her. “Why didn’t he kill you?”

“I told him it was a misunderstanding. I told him I wasn’t trying to escape. And he believed me.”

I arch a brow. “I don’t know if you’ve looked in a mirror, but it doesn’t look like he believed you. He broke your face.”

She brings a hand to the bridge of her nose and touches it gingerly. “Yeah. Well, he wanted to make sure I understood what would happen if I did ever betray him. The black eyes and broken nose were just a taste, apparently.”

I shake my head. “Again, why not kill you?”

“I didn’t feel the need to question my good fortune. I was just happy to be alive.”

“Did he tell you what he was going to do with Benjamin?”

“No. And I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to know.”

“But you think he’s dead?” I ask.

She looks up at me with wide eyes. “Don’t you?”

I do. Or, I did.

Suddenly, I’m not sure.

Kreshnik should have killed Noelle. That’s what I would have expected. But he kept her alive.

Why?

I seriously consider the question for a few seconds before the answer slaps me in the face.

“You’re the distraction.” I pound my fist on the floor next to Noelle’s head. She shrinks away from my fury. “He left you alive to distract me. To divide my focus. Fucking—Fuck!”

“Let me live, and I won’t be a distraction anymore,” she blurts. “Let me live, and I’ll… I’ll tell you what I know!”

I narrow my eyes. “We just played that game. Were you telling me the truth or—?”

“I was! I was telling the truth, but I know more. While I was at the safehouse, I met one of the guards. He and I—well, we became close. I wanted a second source of information, so I—”

“You fucked him.” I circle my hand in the air to encourage her to spit it out already. “I get it. What about him?”

Her face is flushed with embarrassment. “Well, he told me that Kreshnik was going to embarrass you in every way imaginable. The airport was one stunt, but he wants you to be left with nothing. No heir, no Bratva, and no company. He said Kreshnik was planning to crash a party you were throwing with your—”

“The gala.”

I grab the gun from the floor and stand up. Noelle scrambles into a seated position. “Are you going to kill me?”

The gun is in my hand. It would be simple. One shot and she’d be done.

But when I look down at Noelle, all I see is Piper.

I curse under my breath and jab a finger in her direction. “I don’t want to see you again. Ever. Don’t darken my doorstep, don’t speak to Piper. I don’t even want to hear your name for as long as I live. You disappear and you stay the fuck away from my family. Do you understand?”

She nods frantically. “I understand. I’ll never—”

I don’t stay to listen. There isn’t time.

My son needs me.

47

PIPER

I’m so shocked that I can’t actually process what I’m seeing. My tongue is three times its usual size, and I can’t form the words.

Sergey fills the silence. “Were you really talking about me or were you expecting someone else?” He smiles mischievously. His eyes roam over me, taking in my mostly bare legs peeking out from under Timofey’s t-shirt. “Did the don leave you all alone?”

“What are you doing here?” I finally manage.

“Can’t a father visit his son at home?”

“Timofey will kill you if he finds you here. You should leave before he gets back.”

I’m shaking all over, but I do my best to put power behind my words. One day, maybe, I’ll be a Bratva wife. I’ll have to learn how to command a room the way Timofey does.

Clearly, I’m not there yet. Sergey doesn’t flinch at all. In fact, he takes a step closer to the bed.

“I appreciate your concern, but Timofey won’t find me here. I designed it that way. He’s all the way on the other side of town right now.”

I could scream. But the only person who might hear is one of the maids. Sergey will kill them dead before they can do anything useful.

I could fight, but I’m pregnant. And nearly naked. Sergey is old, but I don’t think that’s enough of an advantage.

Then I glance at my phone laying on the dresser at the end of the bed. I haven’t even looked at it since Timofey brought me home from the hospital yesterday. It might even be dead.

But it also might be my only hope of escape.

“Do you have someone following him?” I ask, tucking my legs underneath me and sitting on my heels. It will be easier to lunge forward from this position.

“A good magician never reveals his secrets,” Sergey says with a grin.

He wants me to think he has Timofey held hostage or something. It’s a possibility, I know. But I dismiss it. Timofey would never go quietly. Besides, I’d feel it if he wasn’t okay. I’d sense it in the marrow of my bones.

“Do good magicians reveal why the fuck they’re in my bedroom? Because that’s what I want to know.”

“Oh my, someone has a mouth on her. Does my son like that about you or are you a work in progress?”

I frown. “Timofey likes me for who I am. I don’t need to change for him.”

He rolls his eyes. “Of course. I spent the last fifteen years molding Timofey into an alpha, and one good pussy is going to undo it all. Now, he’s a weak beta, handing over his crown for the likes of you. That’s the way it works, isn’t it? Smart men wither to idiots over love. It’s why I never bothered with love at all. Too much hassle.”

“I doubt you’re even capable of it. You have to have a heart to experience love.”

“You think I’m heartless? I should be offended, but oddly, I feel nothing.” He chuckles. “Maybe you’re right after all.”

“You have to be heartless. Or stupid. It’s the only way you could be so blind to the fact that your ‘son’ is the most amazing man I’ve ever met. He is a better leader than you could ever be. But all you want is for him to be your foot soldier.”

“Now,” he tuts, “that is just not true. Timofey has always been obstinate, but he had a natural eye for business and a talent for leadership. I fostered those abilities and helped them grow into the great don he became. I always supported him. But Timofey didn’t like everything I had to do to get there.”

“You killed his best friend!”

Sergey shrugs. “I don’t regret it. If that girl—”

“Emily,” I spit. “Her name was Emily.”

“If Emily really cared about Timofey, she never would have tried to tell Rodion who his father was. That girl was putting Timofey’s leadership at risk. I did what needed to be done to secure it.”

I scoot forward, hoping it looks like I’m shifting from the passion of the moment rather than with a destination in mind. If I get another foot or two closer, I’ll be able to lunge off the bed, grab the phone, and hopefully call Timofey before Sergey can wrest the phone away from me.

“That’s the difference between you and Timofey,” I say. “He doesn’t need to lie and cheat and murder to trick people into following him. He’s charismatic and bold. He earned the respect of his men. You’re probably just jealous of him.”

I toss out the accusation as more of a distraction than anything, but it lands harder than I expect.