Crooks & Kings: A Wild Bunch Novel Read online

  “Why didn’t you mention this before?” Alexey asked.

  “I didn’t know what she spoke of,” Akim said with a slight shrug of his shoulder. “The only thing I knew for sure was that she feared being with Feliks.”

  There was guilt in the man’s eyes as he drew his own conclusion at what they told him. Perhaps, he was regretting forcing her to be with a man he knew she hated—it wasn’t as though she had been particularly shy about that.

  “It seems,” Alexey finally said after a long stretch of silence, “you have saved my life this eve. Tell me, what do you want in return?”

  “Your word.”

  “That …”

  “You won’t retaliate for Feliks’ death.”

  Because he would die, and it would be fucking bloody.

  “You do this,” Alexey said with a shake of his head, “murder my men and make demands of me as though we are equal, for what?”

  “For her.”

  He nodded once, as though this was the answer he expected. “I’ve only wanted the best for her.”

  “Then tell me where to find him.”

  As Alexey rattled off an address, Christophe picked up his mask. “Just so we’re clear. There won’t be anything left of Feliks once I’m done with him—that’s what happens when someone hurts Mariya, and I find out about it. Interfere in her life again and I won’t hesitate to finish this with you either.”

  To that, Alexey smiled.

  Worry and fear swarmed inside Mariya as she waited for word from Christophe.

  They hadn’t spoken much since their conversation the night before with the exception of the kiss they had shared before he was out the door.

  “I’m not worried at all,” Winter said, contradicting her own words as she continuously checked her phone.

  But Mariya couldn’t fault her. She was doing the same nearly every minute as if looking at the screen would will it to ring.

  So much could go wrong, she knew. The vory weren’t trained assassins who only cared about taking out their target and leaving everyone else untouched. As long as the end resulted in Alexey’s death, they couldn’t care less who else was caught in the cross hairs.

  A small part of her worried about her grandfather because he was still her family, but she worried more for Christophe and the others. It wouldn’t end with both sides walking away peacefully. It never did.

  It only took one lucky shot to injure one of them or worse, kill them. They all might have worn vests, but she didn’t think their masks were bulletproof.

  She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if something happened to one of them.

  “You’ve seen them do this before?” Mariya asked, trying to get off that train of thought.

  “Not exactly. I usually work for the other side,” Winter responded with a dismissive wave of her hand. “That’s how Tăcut likes to think of the mercenaries. Us vs. them, but whatever. Not important. If The Wild Bunch is half as good as the Den, then this should be a piece of cake.”

  “The Den?” she asked, not remembering if Christophe had ever mentioned this. “What’s that?”

  “Shit, I forget you’re a newb. Okay, so you have Fang and the others who work for Nix, but Nix’s brother has his own organization called the Den. Oh, and the brother? Totally nice to look at.”

  She’d seen Nix, so she could only imagine.

  “You’ll probably meet them eventually if Fang gets his act together.”

  Maybe. “Tell me more about the Den,” she said, genuinely curious.

  But as Winter launched into her tale about the people she worked with and the jobs she helped them with, Mariya’s phone buzzed with her sister’s name displayed on the screen.

  She only spared it a second before she was swiping her finger across the screen, then put it up to her ear.

  “Klara? Is there—”

  “Hello, Mariya.”

  Her blood ran cold as the voice on the other end spoke, but it was renewed fear that consumed her as she looked back at the screen. “Where is my sister?”

  Feliks chuckled, sounding far too amused for a man who knew he would die soon. “Waiting for you, I’d imagine. She and lovely little Ana decided to pay me a visit today. They wanted to say their final goodbyes before I leave.”

  Winter seemed to realize something was wrong as she stood a little straighter, but Mariya quickly shook her head, pointing at the phone first, then at Winter.

  Confusion crossed her face for a split second before she was reaching into her pocket to grab her own phone.

  “What are you doing, Feliks?” she asked, needing to keep him on the phone so she could think.

  “I want to spend some time with my wife. That is every husband’s dream, no?”

  “Akim will—”

  “He will do nothing because if I see any sight of him, I will kill them without hesitating. You know this.”

  He still didn’t know that they knew what he was doing, and if the job had been successful, he would have already heard something by now. “What do you want?”

  “I’m willing to make a trade. Them for you. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what happens if you refuse.”

  He would kill them still. “How do I know you have them?”

  There was a bit of shuffling before she heard muffled yelling in the background before her sister came over the phone, loud and pissed, “Wait until my husband gets his fucking hands on you, ty sunkin syn—you son of a bitch!”

  “Does that appease you? Come alone, and I see any of your Romanians, I won’t hesitate to kill you both. Do not test me. You have one hour to get to my address. A minute after and this conversation will be moot.”

  The line went dead, and Mariya was left standing there, wishing it hadn’t.

  “Was that him?” Winter asked, her voice low and frightened.

  “He has my sister,” she whispered, too lost to explain more.

  “Then we’ll call Tăcut and the others.” Whatever she saw in Mariya’s face made her frown and shake her head hard. “Let me tell you, I’ve seen this movie, and every time, the girl who thinks it’s okay to run off to save the day, I always call her a fucking idiot.”

  But she didn’t have a choice.

  Mariya tuned her out, trying to think of how best to get out of the loft. It was obvious if Winter knew her plan, she would try to convince her not to go.

  She couldn’t risk being slowed down.

  “That kind of crazy doesn’t just stop.” Winter’s voice filtered back in. “As soon as he sees you, he might kill her anyway.”

  Feliks was crazy, but he wouldn’t want to kill her right away. He would want to hurt her first, terrorize her before he brought himself to take her life.

  But that gave her an advantage.

  “So we’ll wait for Tăcut and the others. They’ll know what to do.”

  That was all Mariya wanted to do, but Feliks had only given her an hour to make a decision, and while there was a chance he would kill Klara once she arrived, he would definitely kill her if she didn’t show at all.

  Despite what she knew would keep her the safest, she had to take a risk.

  Disappearing out of the room before Winter could give her any more warnings, Mariya changed into a pair of jeans and a hoodie, securing her hair back into a ponytail.

  The minutes were quickly ticking down, and if she didn’t make a decision soon, there wouldn’t be enough time to do anything but mourn.

  The choice was clear.

  Locking the bedroom door, she then went over to the window, using every bit of strength she possessed to shove it open.

  Cool air blew into the room as she gingerly climbed out onto the fire escape landing, trying to make the least amount of noise as possible. Easing the window back closed, she didn’t hesitate as she made her way down.

  By the time her feet were on the ground again, and she was looking up at the window she had just crawled out of, she didn’t give it a second thought before taking off, hailing a c
ab as soon as she was able.

  Rattling off the address, Mariya didn’t pay attention to where she was going. Instead, she pulled out her phone and dialed the number she had memorized. She had to do this now, but that didn’t mean she had to do it alone.

  “It’s done,” Christophe said the moment the call connected.

  He sounded pleased, and she might have smiled and felt relief had she not been driving toward the one place she swore she would never go back to.

  “His protection is gone,” Christophe went on.

  Feliks had to know that despite his bounty, Alexey wasn’t dead, and if he did know, then he also knew he’d been felled because of Christophe.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, knowing if nothing else, she needed to say that.

  In the month they’d known each other, he had given her everything she had ever wanted.

  In this time, she finally understood what it meant to love someone who wasn’t her family.

  Christophe scoffed. “You don’t have to thank me for this.”

  “I …” Mariya took a breath, watching the cars driving in the opposite direction down the road, wishing she was going that way. “I love you, Christophe.”

  He was quiet for so long she was afraid he hadn’t heard her, but when he did speak, she realized he heard more than what she’d said—he heard beyond them.

  “Where are you?” The question came out sharp and slightly angry.

  Yes, he knew, even if he didn’t know everything. “I have to go now,” she said, wishing things might have been different.

  Maybe if they’d met in a different life.

  His voice was muffled as he spoke to one of his brothers, but when he came back, his words were clear. “Tell me where you are.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Then tell me where the fuck you’re going.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the almost desperate edge to his voice. “I can’t. If you show up, he’ll kill her, and I can’t risk that.”

  “Don’t do this.”

  His voice was tight and low, a plea for her to do what he was asking. “I trust you, Christophe. I trust you.”

  She squeezed the phone so tightly she was sure it would crack, but it wasn’t much longer before she arrived at the mansion, a shadow of its former glory.

  Since she had been gone, the grass had overgrown and had she not seen Feliks waiting for her with a wolf’s grin on his face, she might not have thought he was there at all.

  He didn’t take his eyes from her as he sent the cab on its way, not caring that his gun was sticking out of his pants.

  “Give me your phone,” he said holding his palm out.

  It only stayed there a moment before he was throwing it to the ground and smashing it to pieces.

  It was just the pair of them now, standing in front of her old home.

  Feliks stroked her cheek, the action making her jerk her head back away from him, swinging before she even had a mind to. She’d only barely made contact before his hand cracked across her cheek. She didn’t even have a chance to stumble from the blow before he was grabbing her face, pressing the sensitive lining of her cheeks against her teeth.

  “You only ever had to do as you were told and keep your mouth shut.” He shook his head in disgust. “Stupid girl.”

  “You shouldn’t have killed my father.”

  Feliks shook his head at her, as though she were simple. “Maybe so, but I won’t regret taking your life.”

  Chapter 16

  July 31, 2017

  I trust you, she said with all the conviction in the world, as though he had never given her a reason not to.

  Christophe should have known, even before he stepped foot back in the loft to find Winter in a panic that Mariya had gone off to who the fuck knew where.

  The blood rushing through his veins was so loud it drowned out everything around him. Winter was trying to explain, Thanatos was already working on a plan of attack, but the only thing Christophe cared about was getting that fucking door open. Though once he did, it didn’t make him feel any better.

  Seeing the empty room and the implications behind it, the first stirrings of panic crawled over his skin.

  “Calm yourself,” Invictus said from behind him.

  That was the only thing he fucking wanted but trying to achieve that when Mariya was gone was impossible.

  “We’ll find her,” Invictus continued.

  That was what he was afraid of most.

  How would they find her? Would she be minutes from death and he arrived too late? Would he have to watch her die too?

  Think. He needed to think.

  Turning on his heel, he marched back out, finding Winter at her laptop with Tăcut standing at her back.

  He didn’t have to open his mouth before she was speaking. “I’ve already tried tracking her phone, but it’s probably destroyed because I can’t even turn it on from here.” Her expression was grave as she glanced up at him. “He took her sister.”

  And he’d used her to lure Mariya out.

  He knew she wouldn’t have willingly traded herself if it meant saving the only family she had left. Had their positions been reversed, he would have done the very same thing.

  “How long since she left?”

  “I’m assuming she called you. I’ll say around whatever time that was. I didn’t realize she was gone until she didn’t come back out after a while.”

  Christophe looked down at his phone, reading the time stamp next to her number.

  Twenty minutes then.

  “One other thing,” Winter kept going. “He said she had an hour to get there.”

  That gave him roughly forty minutes to find her. “How quickly can you find someone.”

  Winter didn’t even blink. “Give me a name.”

  “Akim. I don’t know his last name, but he’s part of the Bratva.”

  Another day, Christophe would be worried that Winter had only used the man’s first name to hunt through anything on record with the Kuznetsov Bratva. A minute at most might have passed before she found a registered phone number, and through it, she traced him to his current location.

  “Find him and bring him to me,” Christophe instructed, Invictus and Thanatos heading to the door.

  “It would be someplace familiar to him,” Christophe muttered to himself. “And no more than an hour from here.”

  The question was whether it was one of Feliks’ personal properties or one of the Bratva’s.

  Don’t worry, Tăcut said now, his face sympathetic.

  Christophe let out a bitter laugh as he raked his fingers through his hair. “I can’t help but fucking worry.”

  He didn’t think he would ever feel the same sort of fear he had when he’d first realized Aidra was missing. Even then, he had been sure they would get to her in time, and that there was nothing really to fear because even if he hadn’t been able to, Nix would have.

  He was so damn sure.

  But now, with that panicked emotion flaring, he wasn’t sure of anything, and that scared him the most.

  “We haven’t had enough time,” he said with a shake of his head, feeling those words in the pit of his stomach.

  There was still so much to fucking do—so much he needed to say.

  Christophe hadn’t thought he would love again, yet he loved her.

  Tăcut tapped his face to get his attention. The living aren’t done with her yet. We’ll get her back.

  He hoped so.

  Once had broken him, twice would be too much.

  “Oh shit,” Winter muttered, still staring at her screen. “I think I know where they are, and the answer is pretty obvious.”

  Mariya breathed a sigh of relief the moment she was through the doors of the dining room and found Klara in a corner. There was a bruise on her cheek, a mottled shade of red that told her it hurt, but she was alive, and that was all that mattered.

  Her hands and feet were also bound with some kind of wire that ma
de her skin whiten, but Klara didn’t seem too focused on this, but rather the sight of her.

  She had been screaming bloody murder behind the gag she wore, her face a mask of anger, but once Mariya had turned the corner, her shoulders had dropped, and her eyes glittered with tears.

  After so many months of not knowing if they would ever see each other again, the feeling was indescribable, but Mariya was ripped back to reality when Feliks snatched her arm and yanked her back before she could go to Klara.

  Shifting his hold, he grabbed her by the throat and slammed her down onto the heavy oak dining table, pain exploding up her back as she fought to catch her breath, but Feliks didn’t give her much of a choice.

  “How long did you wait before you were spreading your legs for him, suka?”

  His fingers tightened around her neck, her response lodged in her throat, and just as the stars winked behind her vision and she was sure she would pass out, he released her.

  She wouldn’t be cowed, not again.

  Even as she knew she had no way to win this, she still fought back with everything she had—punching, scratching, biting—but it seemed to have no effect on him.

  “I’m not going to kill you yet,” he hissed against her face. “I want you to watch your sister die first, and when I’m done, then it’ll be your turn.”

  Christophe’s sudden appearance in the doorway made Feliks freeze. They hadn’t even heard him before he was just there. “I don’t like you fucking Russians,” he said as he pushed off the wall, striding forward. “You talk too fucking much. You could’ve been done with it by now, yet you’re fucking talking.”

  Mariya didn’t have a chance to feel relief at the sight of him, not when Feliks yanked her off the table to use as a shield, as Christophe had once done. “Take a step closer, and I will kill her.”

  Christophe took a step closer. “That’s not going to happen.”

  It wasn’t the fearsome image Christophe made in all his gear—it was the taunts that got beneath Feliks’ skin. In a second, his gun was now pointed at Christophe. “I’m not afraid to kill you.”

  “Good. You should be more concerned with your own death.” Christophe strolled forward with all the arrogance in the world, but despite his demeanor, there was the unfiltered rage in his eyes. “You have two options here. You can let her go, and we can settle this like men.”