Page 42 of The Bratva's Auctioned Bride

Just as the last few bins were being loaded on, I glanced over at the sound of an engine nearby, and without warning, a speedboat pulled up to the dock.

My eyes widened as those first shots were fired in our direction, causing us and our guys to take cover so we could regain our bearings. Instinctively, I pulled Damien back and out of the line of fire, forcing him behind one of the SUVs. The supplier shouted, and as gunfire rang out, his employees stopped to hide. At the same time, our security pulled themselves together and aimed, returning bullets.

Quickly, I looked Damien over, making sure there weren’t any bullet holes in him or blood seeping through his shirt. He heaved in a breath, startled by it all, but quickly got to his feet and crouched beside me as he drew his gun.

“Damn Gromovs,” I grunted, aiming over the front of the SUV as I fired my shots at the flurry of men while they ran toward the flatbed truck, shooting at our guys.

Despite picking a few off, they seemed to keep coming, able to land several hits on our security. One in front of us went to shoot, only for his body to whip back as they riddled his upper half with bullets before he hit the ground.

I gritted my teeth and kept shooting, pushing back the slight fluster from how they had the upper hand in the situation.

“Push them back!” I called, moving away from the SUV to close around them, firing still.

As more of them were taken out, our guys continued to press forward, not giving in despite how several of our own went down.

Two men dressed in black from head to toe bolted for the truck, aiming for the driver’s seat. But before either of themcould get in, I shot the first, knocking one down in front of the other. A bullet from Damien took out the second just as his foot reached the step.

Soon shouting came from the speedboat before the engine roared and they pulled away. Several of our guys still fired after them, bullets ricocheting off the frame, but not managing to get any more kills as they left.

Once everything fell silent with the Gromovs gone, I panted and tried to collect myself as I glanced around, taking in the scene completely.

There were numerous bodies strewn about on the pavement by the docks—split half and half of ours and theirs. More of our guys than I was willing to lose in one shot.

Forcing out a breath, I scrubbed a hand down my face and looked over at Damien to find him just as rattled despite how he tried to hide it.

“I’ve had it with those bastards,” I muttered, shaking my head.

Damien sighed and tucked his pistol away before he looked the truck over while our guys regrouped. “At the very least, the payload is still here…we’ll get it back to the warehouse as soon as we can and figure out what to do about the Gromovs.”

Pulling in a breath, I nodded, giving the instructions to our men as they picked up the pieces and got to it.

Before long, the truck was ready and sent out on the road while I made amends with the supplier, adding in some additional cash for the trouble. Thankfully, it was enough to keep them in our back pocket.

While Damien was right and the important part was secured, it was a close call, and I couldn’t help but feel the heat from it. If things went any differently, the Gromovs likelywould’ve made off with our supply, and it would’ve given them a much bigger advantage than I was willing to hand over.

With a few security guards left behind, Damien and I were getting ready to head out when my phone rang, and I leaned against the SUV as I pulled it out of my pocket and found Ari’s caller ID on the screen.

My jaw clenched immediately, and I forced out a breath. Damien glanced at me before I waved him off, and he got into the vehicle while he waited.

Steeling myself against my curiosity, I answered the call and pressed the phone to my ear.

“Levov.”

“You’ve had an eventful afternoon, Novikov,” he said with a knowing tone. “It’s fortunate you pulled through.”

I gritted my teeth at that, reminding myself to watch my mouth. If it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have received such a subdued response from me. “We took care of it. How did you know, anyway?”

He chuckled. “We have connections to virtually all surveillance in the city. If something happens, we see it. We just so happened to watch as the whole thing unfolded.”

“So it definitely wasn’t your guys?”

Ari snickered coldly. “Of course not. We wouldn’t stoop that low—hijacking is beneath us.”

Forcing out a breath, I tried to push my irritation back, murmuring sarcastically, “What a relief, then.”

After a moment, his voice returned to me. “That being said, you may have fended those greasy bastards off for now, but that was too close for your liking, wasn’t it? I bet that gave you a bit of a fright, or put some hair on your chest, at least.”

When I didn’t answer, gritting my teeth still, Ari chuckled and continued, tone shifting to a more serious one, “Tell me,Novikov, if you can’t manage to keep your operations secure, what kind of leader does that make you?”

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