Page 20 of Forgotten Vows
“I’ll catch up with you at my father’s place later.” Backpedaling from me with a wide grin, he shrugged one shoulder, both hands in his pockets like this was just another ordinary day.
“What are you doing?”
“A little… detour to throw them off.”
I huffed a wry laugh, watching him go. I’d leave him to his detours and “fun”. No diversions or excitement like that would help drag me out of this misery of missing my love.
I focused on getting on the plane and flying back home to work. At this rate, that was all I’d ever have to live for again.
8
RAISA
Eliot was out cold. I watched to make sure both of the Rivera Italians were dead. Well and truly dead, not just lying there to pop back up and attack again. Neither had a pulse. I checked, pressing my fingers to their necks. Just touching a dead body sent shivers through me.
This wasn’t the first time I’d seen a corpse.
Somehow, despite my best efforts of cutting ties with my Mafia past, it wouldn’t be the last, either.
These two men who found me and targeted me as a weak link to the Dubinin Family had to be disposed of, but it wouldn’t be me trying to take care of that cleanup. I had no means to hide a body. I had no nefarious contacts to call for assistance. No friends or allies. Nothing and no one in terms of resources to rely on.
It was just me. And Lev.
He can’t see this.
He can’t even be near this.
Unlike me, he was softer and more innocent, not growing up in a crime family like I had. Sparing him the cruelties of being a participant in such a group was one of the biggest motivations tohave such a nomadic lifestyle and be on the move so much. If I could shelter him and prevent him from facing the worst of this life, then I would.
But that time was up.
With these two Italian mobsters showing up to get me like this, it was obvious my best efforts had failed. Wehadbeen found. Our safety and privacyhadbeen violated and compromised. From this moment on, since these two Riveras broke in here to be killed by my hands, nowhere would be safe again.
If it wasn’t another Rivera coming next, someone else would.
My aliases wouldn’t save me and my son. Moving around and working crummy jobs just to be paid in cash and stay off the radar wouldn’t get us near peace.
It broke my heart and pissed me off to the bottom of my soul, but it was time.
It was time to go home and insist on help from the one man who should’ve stuck with us all along.
Ivan Dubinin, ready or not, youwillhelp me keep our son safe.
He had the resources. He had the wealth, the power, the influence, and the authority. All because he was born into the Dubinin name, Ivan was skilled and had the means to protect Lev.
I doubted he cared about my life. Asking him to extend his protection to include me seemed like a long shot. He’d made it perfectly clear when he explained he had been cheating on me with Serena Rose, that actress who’d slept with everyone and anyone, that he didn’t love me. That he didn’t wantmein his life.
He could discard me and walk away from me, but with this new violence in my home, I’d be damned if he discarded our son and walked away from him.
I stepped back from the bodies once I’d dragged them to the kitchen. My prints would be everywhere, but there was no time to stress about that. Lev and I had lived here long enough that it would be impossible to remove all traces of us here. But that wasn’t an issue. Whenever these two men were found, Lev and I would be across the ocean, far from letting this danger touch us any longer.
“But first…” I winced as I looked at Eliot’s still relaxed body sprawled on the floor. He was breathing fine. His pulse was strong. I was no expert in concussions, but I was sure that he’d wake up any second now. And when he did, I had to spin the narrative such that he wouldn’t insist on calling for the police or trying to be a hero. Monica could help her husband with this hit on the head he’d taken.
I had to get him out of here. Letting him wake up here would pose too many questions too soon. Lingering here wasn’t something I could afford to do right now. I had to grab the emergency bags I always had packed for me and Lev. Then I had to hurry to pick him up from school and leave for New York. We had to hustle to escape this location to seek out the one man I swore I’d never have to see again after how he’d broken my heart.
Gritting my teeth, I grabbed hold of Eliot. Hoisting him up with my hands in his armpits was slow going. He weighed a lot, and it was dead weight as he slept on. But once I managed to pull him out of the house and across the lawn, miraculously without anyone in the neighborhood noticing, I knew it was doable. Fortunately, the trees offered adequate coverage to block me. And it was an additional fortune that his back door was unlocked. I struggled and grunted, straining to pull him inside his house. No one else was home, also a blessing. After I let him rest on the floor, I backed up to bolt. He began to stir just as Istepped away, calling sluggishly for his wife, and I took that last chance to run and avoid explaining anything.
Back in the house, I checked that the dead men were still dead. Of course, they were. I took their guns for the sake of being protected, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to fly with them. In a mad dash, I hurried through the house to grab anything Lev and I might need. We never collected an abundance of material things, but like any other child, he had several toys he’d insist upon always keeping with him. Gathering his things and sticking them into my bag didn’t take long. This deep sense of urgency pushed me to rush.
