Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Radimir put his hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me back. “Why are you apologizing?” He glared down at the boss. “This was only one person’s fault, and it isn’t you.” The words were iron-certain, and I felt the tension in my chest unwind a notch. He hugged me again, furiously tight, so tight I could barely breathe, but I didn’t want it to end because it felt so good.
Shouts from outside. Running footsteps. Radimir cursed in Russian and reluctantly released me. “We need to go.”
I beckoned to my friends, but they hung back, staring at Radimir in horror. “It’s okay,” I promised. “Please.” They looked at each other, and then Jen walked over and Sadie and Luna nervously followed.
We peeked out into the hallway. There must have been security cameras in the VIP room because four men in suits were running up the stairs and even in the dim light, I could see some of them had guns. They took up position in the hallway, waiting for us to come out. Shit. We were trapped.
“Stay behind me,” Radimir warned, and moved towards the door.
I grabbed his arm. “There’s four of them! There’s only one of you! You’re not getting killed saving me!”
He looked right into my eyes. “If I need to, I will give my life to protect you. But not tonight...because there isn’t just one of me.”
The man furthest from us suddenly disappeared, snatched away into the shadows. Then a figure in a long black coat emerged from the darkness. Valentin! He started creeping towards the next man, who was still oblivious. Valentin slipped an arm around his neck, gentle as a lover, and then there was a sudden, violent motion, and that man was dead, too. My stomach flipped. But he was doing it to save us, and when I thought about what the Armenians had been going to do to me…
As Valentin dealt with the third man, the last man suddenly realized what was happening behind him and spun around...only to get Radimir’s knife in his back. Radimir and Valentin embraced, then led us down the stairs. But as we stepped into the main bar, there were loud cracks from the far end of the room, like fireworks going off, and the glass bar shattered. People started screaming and running and Radimir pushed me to the floor. Oh fuck: that was gunfire!
All I could see were feet as everyone ran for the exits. Then, as the crowd thinned, I glimpsed men with guns, moving towards us. And we were right out in the open...
There was a grunt and a crash. I looked around to see Gennadiy: he’d upended one of the big metal tables and he waved us all behind it. We scrambled into its shelter and my heart jumped into my throat when I heard a bullet ricochet off the metal surface, only a few inches from my head.
“Stay with them,” Radimir ordered. “We’ll clear an exit.”
Gennadiy nodded grimly. Radimir and Valentin hurried away and Gennadiy pulled out a gun and started firing over the top of the table, holding the Armenians back. The shots were deafening, so close, and I threw my arms around Jen, Sadie and Luna as hot bullet casings fell around us. I was shaking. Jesus Christ, people are shooting at us! All I wanted was to go back to my safe little bookstore.
Then I saw blood running down Gennadiy’s calf. He’d taken a hit, either from a bullet or flying glass, running in here to save us, and he was bleeding a lot. I let go of my friends, ripped one of the dangling straps from my dress and tied it tight around the wound. “Weren’t you ready to kill me, just a few weeks ago?” I muttered.
He glanced down at me and I thought I saw a flash of guilt. “I do what I have to, to protect my family. You’re part of it, now.”
I felt an unfamiliar warmth spread through my chest.
Radimir waved to us from a fire exit across the room. We ran, scuttling across the open space while Gennadiy fired again and again. As we burst into the cold night air, we saw a big, black Mercedes holding up traffic in the middle of the street with Mikhail at the wheel. We all piled in and the car roared off before we’d even got the doors closed.
I’d wound up sitting on Radimir’s knee, in the passenger seat. I craned around. “Everyone okay?”
With five people in the back, it was a cramped tangle of limbs, but they all nodded. I let out a long breath. We’re okay.
“Bronwyn?” Jen’s voice was so small and shaky, I barely recognized it. “What’s going on?”
37
BRONWYN
Back at the penthouse, the men went into Radimir's office and dressed Gennadiy’s wound while passing around a bottle of vodka. And I sat down with my friends and laid it all out for them. I told them about being a witness, without saying who Radimir had killed. I explained why I had to marry him and why it was the least worst option. Straightaway, they wanted to call the FBI and I had to talk them out of it, explaining just how powerful the Bratva were.