Page 72 of Our Blood, Our Pain

“Yeah.”

“Lev and Dima. Unusual but memorable names. I had a buddy at the station talk about these Russian guys who run a drug business in that area. Apparently they own the cops too.”

“Is that so?”

“Jenny would lose her mind if she knew where you’d taken her son. I assume given your background you plan on revenge? Because if you are, I’d advise against it. I’ll bring you in.”

Fuck this arrogant prick. Standing from my seat, I grab him by the collar and force him back into the opposite wall. His breathing heavy, his eyes wide with panic.

“Pretty brave of you running your mouth, making threats.”

“You’re just a thug that’ll bring nothing but danger to that boy’s life,” he hisses at me.

“What’s going on?” Lev says, approaching from behind me with Ivan.

“This cocksucker was telling me he knows all about you and D. Apparently we’re a danger,” I say as I laugh in his ugly face with no humor.

“Dangerous? Well that’s fucking boring. You threatening my men, Timmy?”

“It’s Officer Lovell,” he sneers as I push him harder into the wall.

“Whatever, Timmy. I think your little pea brain is tired, and you may need to rethink things. You could get hurt when you say the wrong thing to strangers,” Lev warns, moving closer to Tim.

“Threatening me now?”

“Nope. Don’t do those. Now why don’t you be a good boy, Timmy, and sit and wait for your girl to come back, otherwise you’ll be in the ER on your own.”

“I just don’t want you starting shit here. Let the police do their job,” Tim says.

“Because they’re so good at it. We’re fine with the police doing their job, Timmy.”

I push away from the asshole and walk over to Ivan to create some space.

“You’re a bunch of animals.”

“Really? That’s a compliment to me, dude. Fuck like them too,” Ivan says, grinning like a fun, likeable guy. It isn’t real. We’re all in a stand-off, which Tim is losing.

Jenny comes back and stops in her tracks, watching us in concern.

“You better not be fighting, Tim?”

“No. We’re just talking.”

I scoff at that and take a seat with the guys, a small distance away from Jenny and Tim. Tim’s a possible issue for another day, he just needs to keep away from me. There’s only one person on my mind.

Come on, Kai. I need to see you.

Hours pass, my ass and back hurt from the uncomfortable seats. I’m going mad. If we hear nothing in the next ten minutes, I swear I’ll barge into that operating room.

“Are you Kai’s family?” a female voice says, and we all jump up like our asses are on fire.

“Yes, I’m his mom. How is he?”

“Kai’s lost a lot of blood. We had to run a blood transfusion which is now working well. He had some internal bleeding from a ruptured spleen which thankfully we managed to fix. We need to keep a close eye on him for any post-surgery infections or complications, so we’ll be keeping him in the ICU. We’re keeping him under sedation for now and giving him plenty of fluids.”

“So he’ll be okay?” I ask.

“We’re optimistic. He was very lucky that the knife wasn’t bigger.”

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