Page 97 of Forbidden Vows

“Trust me,” he replies with a reassuring smile.

I have no choice but to settle into the back of the ambulance, clutching Ciara’s hand for a modicum of comfort, while Anton is roughly shoved into the backseat of Johnson’s squad car.

“This is beyond sickening,” I mutter.

“Hey, we survived,” Ciara whispers. “Everything else we can handle, okay? The truth is still on our side. As for Paul Mattis, I’m going to make sure he…” she pauses as soon as she realizes that Detective Contreras is still within earshot. She gives him a nervous look, then smiles at me. “Stay here, I need you.”

“I’m here, Ciara. I’m not leaving you again.”

“I’m the one who left, Eileen, and I’m going to make it up to you.”

I could tell her that that’s not the case, but I would be lying. It was Ciara’s pride and stubbornness that got in the way of common sense and reason. Had she not been so blind, she probably would’ve spotted at least some of the red flags.

But there’s no point in going down that road now.

Chapter 34

Anton

The days that follow seem like a dream.

The cops aren’t listening. My lawyers are intent on building a plea deal for the charges that the DA is already rushing to throw at me. It’s not until I see Andrei—three days after the shootout—that the world starts making sense again.

“Where the hell have you been?” I hiss.

We’re in my jail cell, guarded by a uniformed police officer who makes it a point to stare at me and eavesdrop on every conversation. Except for meetings with my lawyer, those are still protected. I know that I am quite vulnerable in this place, and it causes me to be on edge all the time.

“Orange is not a good color for you, brother,” Andrei sighs as he takes a seat in front of me.

“Yeah, well, ending up in here in an orange jumpsuit wasn’t exactly part of the plan,” I mutter. “What’s going on? Talk to me.”

“It’s a bit messy, but I think I have a solution,” he says. “First, I need to fully explain the problem we’re dealing with.”

“Okay, Andrei, explain the problem. Fully.”

“The council meeting went about as well as you could expect. We were able to get some of the families back on board, but we still have some major holdouts. Paul has been lobbying against us, pulling the rest of the Kuznetsovs under his umbrella. The Abramovic, the Sokolov, and the Popov crews are still siding with the Kuznetsovs. And they’re still asking for you to step down. This time, however, with Sergei obviously rotting, they want Paul at the head of the table.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I wish. Tommy Benedetto slipped out when he saw the cops coming that night, and I’ve yet to reach him. Declan is recovering, but he’s under arrest, too. Legally, it’s not looking good for us, brother. For you, in particular. Paul covered many of Sergei’s tracks, so it’s hard for our side to prove that you weren’t going in there to assassinate him. They’re trying to make it look like a failed mob war, and they want to take the Karpovs down,” Andrei says.

“What about Eileen and Ciara’s testimonies?”

“Considered and recorded, but they won’t do much against that mountain of bodies that you fellas dropped.”

“It’s not like we had a choice.”

“I know that. Had we been the ones to call the cops first, we would’ve had better control over the narrative. It still would’ve sucked, and it would’ve been a pain to clean up, but—”

“I’m still looking at a trial and prison time.”

“Yeah, afraid so.”

“You said you had a possible solution.”

Andrei gives me a strained smile. “You’re not going to like it.”

“Try me, because all I want is to get out of here so I can be with my wife and my family.”

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