Page 89 of Sin and Redemption

I glared at the mangled remains of Adrik. We would drop them off in front of one of the Bratva establishments. Luca had been fond of the plan when I’d asked him on the phone. Would the current Pakhan retaliate? Maybe. Or maybe this was the final straw, and the puppet masters in Russia would finally put a new Pakhan in power, someone more reliable.

“Help me pack the body on my truck bed,” I told Primo.

Sara gave me a confused look from where she sat on the swing hammock on the porch. She’d refused to stay inside despite the carnage out here.

“We’ll send the Bratva a warning.”

She touched her belly, rubbing it slowly like she often did. Her eyes were forlorn when they met mine. “When will it be over?”

“Over?”

“Your quest for revenge?”

“I’ll get some rope to secure the freight,” Primo said and disappeared in the barn, obviously uncomfortable by our discussion. I gave Sara a blank look. I needed something to keep me going, and revenge was that. I lived for revenge. It was all I could think about when I didn’t think about her, about Sara and our baby.

“It has to be enough at some point. You have already killed so many. It won’t change the past, but it’ll stop you from moving on from it.”

I moved closer, and with Sara standing on the porch, we were at eye level. “Can you just move on?”

She frowned. “We have a future to look forward to.” She rubbed her belly again. “We have her and hopefully more children to live for.”

I nodded slowly. She set all her hopes on our child, and I too hoped it would be a new milestone for us, but I was also fucking worried that things would go wrong at some point. I hated feeling helpless like that. Sara had some semblance of control over how she took care of her body. She ate healthy, did pregnancy yoga, took supplements, and listened to calming music. She did everything she could to feel good about this pregnancy. All I could do was kill everyone who had ever worked with or was related to Jabba to make sure my family would be safe in the future. I knew fucking well that revenge was a slippery slope.

“It’ll be over soon. If the Pakhan doesn’t retaliate, we have no reason to attack,” I told her. The conflict with the Bratva was naturally far from over, but it had lain dormant in the past and it could again.

“So you’ll leave me alone?” she asked, the hint of reproach in her voice.

Ouch. I touched her cheek. “Your brother and father will take you home with them. I’ll go visit my father in the hospital once I’ve dropped off the body. Then I need to help out here, catch the dogs that are still on the run and help with the damage.”

She nodded slowly. “I could help too.”

“No,” I said firmly. “I want you to rest. You’ve had enough excitement.”

I gave her a quick kiss on the mouth, then headed toward my brother to help him with the rope. Primo came out of the barn with the rope and his phone in the other hand.

“Mom messaged me. Dad’s in surgery. They don’t know if they can save his calf.”

I gritted my teeth. “Dad’s tough as steel. He’ll pull through.”

“You’ve got a few cuts too, and the way you keep touching your ribs, you should have those checked as well,” Primo said.

I waved him off. That was the least of my worries. Once the body was safely stowed and I’d made sure that Sara was on her way to her parents, I drove off. Primo and a few men would stay and clean up.

After I’d dumped Adrik in front of the Bratva’s newest bar, I headed to the Famiglia hospital. When I stepped into the old abandoned factory building that harbored a fully functioning hospital unit that worked on demand, I saw Luca and Mom talking to a blood-covered doc. I hurried toward them.

The doc gave me a nod. Mom’s face was ashen but also full of resolution.

“They had to take off his leg up to the knee,” she said when I stopped beside them.

“Fuck,” I gritted out. Those Bratva bastards.

“The injuries he sustained were too great. This is the cleanest solution, and with the help of a good prosthesis, he’ll be up in no time.”

Mom nodded. I touched her shoulder, and when she leaned against me, I wrapped an arm around her. “Can we go see him now?” she asked.

“He should wake any moment, so yes.”

I led Mom behind the curtain of the patient cubicle. Dad lay in bed with his eyes closed. Mom immediately went over to him and sat down on the mattress. She took his hand, careful not to tug at the transfusion needle.

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