Page 35 of Angel's Forever

Aleksandr glanced at me in the rear-view mirror, a slight smile on his face. “I am aware of your unconventional living arrangements, if that is what you mean. I will not comment on something I do not understand, but if it makes you all happy, then that is all that matters. As for those men, Ivan is my younger brother, and Alexei, who is with him, is my cousin. Therefore, I would trust them with not only my life, but those of my wife and son. You will understand why I am also cautious about who I trust when you speak to Viktor. They can stay there as long as you feel is necessary or, as I said before, if Nico wants to replace them with some of his own men, that is fine.”

I felt a little relieved to know that the men watching over Nico and Gino were Aleksandr’s kin, and the fact that we had Viktor’s men to help us.

“Thank you, Aleksandr. That really means a lot to me, that you would give up your own family to look after mine. Nico said I could trust you, and given that he said that, I shouldn’t have been worried. However, I know there are always bad eggs in every basket, so to speak, and I just needed that reassurance.”

He looked again and smiled back at me. “That is perfectly understandable. I would feel the same if I was in your shoes. We all know how fond Viktor has grown of Gabriella. They both fill a gap for each other. Gabriella sees him as the father figure she sorely missed in her life. For Viktor…well, she is the daughter he never got to see grow into a woman. I’m sure one day he will tell you his story, and you will understand his feelings for his malyshka.”

I had always wondered why Viktor had wanted to grow so close to Gaby, and now I had my answer without Aleksandr telling me everything. I wouldn’t push either of them for that story. Nico may have already known, having known Viktor for a long while.

It wasn’t long before we were pulling up outside my office building. Aleksandr opened the door, and I held out my hand as a gesture of friendship, which he gladly took.

“Thank you for everything, Aleksandr.”

“You are welcome, Mr. Bryce-Stanton. I will park the car and wait if you wish me to take you back to the hospital. Or for Viktor to tell me what he would like me to do next.”

I smiled. “Please call me Hudson. I can get Luca to drive me back so you can get on with your job. I don’t want to keep you from anything.”

We said goodbye, and I headed into the office to meet Viktor. As soon as the elevator doors opened, I could see that Viktor had already made himself at home. The doors to the main office were open, along with my own office door, with a menacing Russian guy standing guard outside it. He gave me a nod of acknowledgment as I walked toward him and into my office.

I found Viktor sitting in one of my chairs with a glass of whiskey in his hand, and one waiting for me on the table. He looked up as he heard me walk into the room and raised the glass in his hand.

“I hope you didn’t mind me helping myself. I really needed a drink before I spoke to you.”

The fact that he needed a drink before telling me what he had to say made me thank him for pouring me one because from the look on his face, I was going to need it. I sat down in the chair and picked up the drink, downing it in one shot. I could usually savor the taste of a fine whiskey, but right now, all I needed was the courage to hear what Viktor had to say.

“I hope from that reaction it was fine. I also understand why you would need to down it in one go, because what I have to say…you really won’t like it.”

We both sat there for a moment in silence, almost anticipating the words that were going to come next.

“It was Vincent.” The words I had been expecting, but feared, came from Viktor’s mouth.

I got up from my seat and walked over to the bottles lined up on the cabinet, grabbing the whiskey and sitting back down to pour myself another glass. I gestured to Viktor to refill his, but he shook his head. This time, I just took a sip of the amber liquid from my glass.

“How are you sure it was him?”

He sighed. “I’ll be honest with you. As you know, I suspected that someone was helping Vincent within my own organization. Well, now I am sure of it. One of my men heard a colleague speaking to someone earlier this morning, mentioning that he would be at the clinic parking lot at a given time. I sent Aleksandr and his men to go and intercept them, but they were more scheming than we thought. They must have pre-arranged a code for the time, as when Aleksandr arrived, it was already too late.”

I could see the tears starting to form in Viktor’s eyes. I had only met him a few times, but never thought this brash hulk of a Russian mob boss could show any kind of emotion. He downed the last of his whiskey and looked down at the glass.

“I already let Anastasia and Katerina down. Now I have let Gabriella, my malyshka down. I should have had her under surveillance from the time I suspected one of my own men was helping Vincent. Now, because of me, Vincent has her. I will never forgive myself if…”

The tears were now flowing down his face, and there was more to this than just Vincent having Gaby, I suspected. This had something to do with other women he had lost in his life. I was about to speak when he continued.

“I couldn’t save my own wife and daughter from being killed. I swore to the Lord above that I would protect Gabriella with my life, that I would kill anyone who even touched her inappropriately. Now I have broken that promise and allowed her into the clutches of the devil himself.”

“Viktor, we all knew the risks. You warned us of that. We should have taken more precautions as well. We assumed that Gino would be enough of a deterrent to anyone, but we were wrong. Don’t take all the blame because we need to shoulder some of that as well.”

He looked up and smiled at me, tears still in his eyes. A look of determination came over his face.

“It’s kind of you to try to share the blame, but I will always say it was mine and mine alone. I have some of my men searching for the traitor in my ranks, and we have a good video of Vincent taking Gaby and carrying her to a car. We have the license plate, and I have passed that on to a contact who is trying to trace where the vehicle went. I can assure you, when I find either of them, they will be spending the rest of eternity in hell. There is one other thing.”

He paused as he reached down to the side, picking up a bag and bringing it up onto his lap. It took me a moment before the realization hit me. It was Gaby’s bag, one I had bought her not long after she arrived in New York. He reached into the bag and pulled out an envelope, passing it to me and placing the bag on the table. I opened the envelope and pulled out the contents inside. I stared for a few moments at the picture in front of me, not quite comprehending it. It wasn’t until Viktor spoke again that I instantly registered what I was seeing.

“I’m sorry that I have to be the one to tell you. Gabriella is pregnant.”

I was elated. One of us was going to be a father. Hell, what was I thinking? We were all going to be the child’s dads. I didn’t think it mattered to any of us who was the biological father; we would all be there for Gaby and our son or daughter.

However, it suddenly hit me. She was with Vincent. What he had done to her in the past. The anger started to build within me as the glass I held in my hand went flying across the room, smashing to smithereens.

---