Page 78 of Brooklyn Bratva

“You have to tell this to Ivan. You have to tell him everything you know.”

“Tell him what? He doesn’t want to listen to me. He thinks because I am Ukranian, I want all this to happen!”

“Then talk to Maxim! Please Katja. We have to help her.”

Katja’s voice dropped to a fierce whisper. “Maxim is as bad as your boyfriend. I should never have told him anything at all. You tell him. This is why I’m telling you. He needs to do something right now. Before it’s too late.”

I felt the panic rise up in me, and tried to hold onto it like a physical thing, willing it back down inside me. I couldn’t freak out. Not right now. The Ukranians wanted Ivan out. I knew that already, and now they were trying to get him to back down with whatever leverage they had. If Mama paid the price because I hadn’t told Ivan how tangled up with them she was, I was never going to forgive myself.

Ivan might never forgive me either.

“Katja… Do you know where Mrs. K is? Please, you’ve got to tell me.”

“No. I don’t know. Becca, I’m sorry. I have to go now.”

“Katja, please! Ivan will do everything he can to protect you. But we need to get them first, Katja.”

I thought she’d hung up, but then the silence broke again with her raspy exhale. “When I find out, I’ll send someone to find Ivan. He won’t have long. He’ll have to act fast.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much! He’ll protect you, I promise.”

Katja let out a breath. “I wish I could believe you, that’s not your promise to make.”

CHAPTER 38

Ivan

In the morning Mama went out just like she said she would, first thing. She’d been bustling around the house all night instead of sleeping, but she was just as determined as I was to ignore the bags under her eyes and carry on.

Becca and I were going to be fine. There was no point obsessing over the ways her father was going to try to keep us apart.

To kick myself into gear, I went back to my apartment to grab a shower and a change of clothes. I ended up bench-pressing some of my frustrations away. Albany was too far away, and I felt my anger bubble up all over again at the thought of how Joe had dragged her away.

She’d only gone because we’d scared her. And that was the worst part. I never wanted to see that look in her eyes again.

Max had made himself scarce since I’d thrown him out for holding a gun to Becca’s father’s head. The man I hoped was going to be my father-in-law should never have been threatened by anyone other than me and it was going to take some smoothing over.

My car was gone. As long as I got it back, I didn’t care. With Becca gone because of his stunt, I wasn’t in the mood to see him and it was good he had sense enough to keep his distance.

I assume the Brit got the message loud and clear. I’d be happy if he sorted himself out for the rest of his stay, just as long as I knew where to send the money he’d supposedly come over here for. The sooner I saw the back of him, the better.

We still had Grigori to deal with, but my head wasn’t in the game. All I could think about was Becca and how to win Joe over without using my fists. It wasn’t something that came naturally to me these days. Not when it came to Becca. She turned me into a neanderthal, or some kind of King Kong, only capable of beating my chest and destroying any threat to her with my bare hands.

Sweaty, but a little calmer. I headed through to the bathroom to wash up.

I wasn’t expecting a knock on the door. Halfway through shaving, I looked through the peephole. My frown darkened when I recognized the phone thief, Jerome, standing in the corridor with his hood pulled mostly up over his head.

Wiping the foam off my face with a towel, I snatched up my gun and pulled the door open.

“What are you doing here? I thought I locked you up.”

“Oh shit, it’s you.” Jerome’s eyes bugged out at the sight of the muzzle of my gun pointed directly at him. “Don’t shoot, man, I’m out on bail, just like you said.”

“Who the fuck bailed your sorry ass? And who the hell were you expecting?” The last thing I wanted was this kid coming around asking for a job right now. I had nothing for him, and too much on my plate that needed handling.

“Shit man, that’s cold. I got people. My girlfriend, okay? I don’t know. She – Katja – shit, you didn’t hear me call her that – said some Russian gangster dude lived here. Wasn’t expecting no dirty cop.”

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