Page 62 of Broken Promises
“I’m not letting you go anywhere. You’d probably call your boyfriend and ruin all my plans before they come to fruition.”
“Your plans? What plans could you possibly have?” I inquired, hoping she would tell me what this was all about.
There was a knock on the door, and she ignored me to respond, “Enter.”
I turned in my seat and saw it was Sergey entering the room, and when he saw me, his eyes narrowed and he rapidly approached the desk, separating me from her. His hard gaze almost made me wither in my seat, but I somehow found the strength to maintain my attitude as he looked at Kelly.
“What’s she doing here, Mother?” he asked, and she stood and softly placed her hand on his cheek.
“She’s deciding if she wants to be useful to us or if we need to handle her like we did Martina,” she remarked, and I felt sick when Sergey placed his hand over hers and his eyes softened.
I’m sure the look I gave them was crazy, but they were off their damn rockers. The way they were looking at each other, and the tender way they were touching, sent chills down my spine. I knew beyond a doubt that Sergey wasn’t Kelly’s child, and my gut was telling me something was extremely wrong with this situation.
“Can one of you explain all this to me?” I asked, and they turned from looking at each other to focus on me.
Sergey responded, and I watched Kelly beam proudly at him. “This is me, claiming my birthright. My rightful place wastaken from me, and Mother’s found a way for me to have what should’ve been mine all along.”
“And what is your birthright?” I cautiously asked, nearly falling from my chair at his response.
“As the second son of Sergey Lenkov, I have the right to claim his empire and rightful place in the Syndicate.” He turned back to look at Kelly. “And Mother was the one who made it all happen.”
My mouth dropped, and I was stunned silent for a minute until I asked, “The second son?”
“The eldest son was a pussy and disappeared when things got tough. Father was planning so much, but he was killed, so that left me as the head of the family. I wasn’t old enough by the rules of the family, but with the first-born walking away, he gave up his rightful place, so now, it’s my time to shine.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him he wasn’t the second son and his asinine plan was going to blow up in his face. Devlin was the second son, even though he didn’t want whatever throne these two assholes were trying to build. I was guessing from everything I’d learned that Sergey wrote Devlin off when he sold him away and probably never mentioned him to Kelly.
If my call earlier was effective, this stupid asshole and the bitch who birthed me were going to have to deal with more than they ever imagined.
They were in for a rude awakening when they discovered there were two Lenkov children who would have an issue with all this. And they, along with Rhys and whatever army they’d bring with them, were going to rip them limb from limb, and I was going to enjoy it.
If they found me in time.
Chapter 27
Rhys
We located the house where we believed Hannah was being held, but we needed to somehow verify she was there before we announced our arrival. The houses were on large, wooded lots, so Johnson and Booker took off on foot through the woods to see if they could get a visual. We all had throat coms and earpieces in place, so we could move on their word.
The SUVs were backed into the tree line, out of sight, and nervous energy was coursing through my veins. I wasn’t used to so many people being with me when I slipped into hunting mode, so I felt like I was teetering between the two halves of myself with no end in sight.
“Are you hanging in?” James asked, and I lifted my eyes to him to let him see the struggle I was experiencing.
Lucian and Devlin watched from the side, and I saw understanding in their gazes. They’d both been through something similar, but this was different. We’d been two steps behind on this for months, while some of the information was sitting right there in front of us. If I’d seen it sooner, maybe I could have pieced some of the story together and possibly stopped Hannah from being taken again.
I prayed to whatever benevolent being was supposedly up there to keep her safe until we got to her, but I feared he had stopped listening to me years ago. Hannah was strong, but a person could only experience that level of violence so muchbefore they started to shut parts of themselves down for self-preservation.
“She’s stronger than we give her credit for,” Lucian offered softly, but through the coms, we could all hear him crystal clear.
I closed my eyes and nodded, hoping she didn’t have to be strong or resilient but feared she was hurt and needing me. I wanted someone to say this was the right place, and the longer it took for an update, the higher my uneasiness became.
“We’ve got movement on the back lawn,” Booker said through the earpiece. “This is the right place. I just saw that shaggy-haired fucker walking a prissy little poodle.”
“We’re coming to you,” I stated, leading the line of armed men to the meet-up point where Booker and Johnson were.
They were crouched with weapons pointed toward the house as we approached from the rear, moving as quietly as possible through the thick, dense trees. Johnson stood first and took two steps back with his weapon still trained on the house, and Booker followed his movements until they were standing with us.
James pushed a small tablet into the middle of our group and showed us the blueprints of the house that the county stored online. “There are three entrances on the ground floor. Kitchen to the side yard,” he pointed to the tablet then to the side of the house. We looked and turned back to the tablet. “Front door to the driveway, and back door to the state park bordering this neighborhood.” His voice was barely audible standing next to him but was clear and distinct in our ears. “Four bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs, three bedrooms, office, banquet room, and three bathrooms downstairs, so keep your eyes moving.”
