Page 78 of Preacher

“I’m sure we will.”

I watched as he and Riley got into the truck and waved as they started to back out of the driveway. As soon as they were gone, Harlan came up next to me and asked, “You good?”

“I don’t know what I am,” I admitted. “Right now, I’m just going through the motions.”

“You need to go tell your boys what happened.”

“I know. I was just about to head to the house and…”

Before I could finish my thought, my cell phone started to ring. I grabbed it from my pocket and answered it as soon as I saw that it was Hudson. I barely had a chance to say hello before he ordered, “Get to the house. Go to Sergei’s office and lock the door. Don’t come out until I get there.”

“But…”

“Just do it, Tabitha.”

I didn’t ask questions. I’d heard the urgency in Hudson’s voice, and I could tell he was concerned. I started towards the house as I told Harlan, “Watch the barn.”

He gave me a quick nod, then rushed back to the barn, closing the doors behind him. I rushed up to the house. My nerves were already frayed, but when I saw the extra guards out front, it lit a fire of fresh panic in my chest.

There were two Fury brothers at the door I didn’t recognize. They had their arms crossed, and they were scanning the front gate like something was about to come barreling through. I’d barely made it up to the porch when I spotted two men in blue polos.

One was on a ladder near the front door camera, and the other had the panel to the side door ripped open and was rewiring something. It looked like they were doing a security upgrade, and it didn’t take much to guess why.

I wanted to ask one of them what the hell was going on, but I kept hearing Hudson’s voice in my head and headed straight inside. I closed the door behind me and hurried down the hallway to Sergei’s office. I slipped in and locked it behind me, just like Hudson had told me to do.

My hands were shaking as I paced back and forth. It had to be Vasili. He would be the only reason why the boys were going to such an extreme. I just prayed that they didn’t know something I didn’t.

My adrenaline was about to get the best of me when there was a knock at the door. “Mom, open up. It’s me.”

“Just a second.”

I rushed over and unlatched the lock, and Sergei opened the door and stepped inside. Panic marked his face as he asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I think so.” I motioned my hand toward the security camera overhead. “Does all this mean you know he was here?”

“Uncle Vasili?”

“Yes.”

“He’s here?”

“He was… He showed up at the barn just before my buyers arrived,” I started. “I was going to tell you, but Preacher called and…”

“Dammit.” Sergei ran his hand through his hair. “What did he do? Did hurt you?”

“I’m fine.”

“So, that’s a yes.” He clenched his jaw. “Son of a bitch.”

“We knew this was a possibility, Sergei. We always knew they wouldn’t be happy about us turning our backs on the family.”

“Well, too fucking bad.”

Before I could respond, the office door flew open with a bang. Hudson stormed in, and his eyes landed on me. Like he knew, they dropped to my neck, and he froze. The whole room shifted with his silence.

“Who did that to you?” he growled, his voice low and dangerous.

“It was…” I brought my hand up to my neck, realizing too late that the bruises must’ve already started to show. “It was Vasili… Dimitri’s brother.”

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