Page 77 of Brooklyn Bratva

“I want that too Ivan, and I love you so much. He’ll come around. I know he will. Once he sees how happy we are. But seriously, you have to promise me not to hurt him.”

I heard Ivan draw in a breath, and he huffed a small, dry laugh. “I promise. For you. And for him. Even though your father’s a bonehead, he’s still my friend when he’s using his brain.”

“Thank you.”

For a long moment I didn’t say anything else, just listened to Ivan breathing down the line. The rhythm was so familiar to me now, and I felt comforted just hearing him close to my ear.

“Are you in bed?”

My smile picked up sleepily. “Yes. Are you?”

“No. I couldn’t sleep. Mama was very upset that you left.”

“She was?”

“Yes. She thinks of you as a daughter already.”

I yawned. Relief was settling in to make my eyelids heavy and I let myself snuggle down into the blankets. “I like that. Is she okay?”

Ivan let out a soft hum. “She says she will go and talk to some people in the morning. I don’t know, maybe she thinks if she sends your dad a big enough cherry pie he’ll soften up.”

I sniggered softly into the phone. “She might be onto something. He’d be pretty impressed if she got it couriered all the way up here.”

“I don’t know. He’d probably decide it was full of Novichok.”

I breathed out against my pillow, and maybe it was the tiredness sweeping over me, but I laughed until my ribs hurt. It was either that or cry.

“God, I miss you already and it’s only been a few hours. How am I going to get to sleep without you in my bed?”

“Close your eyes. Listen to my voice. You see, I’m right here. And tomorrow I will come and get you. We’ll be together, and you will never have to leave my side again.”

“I like the sound of that.”

CHAPTER 37

Becca

The curtains in my bedroom didn’t quite meet in the middle, letting in a triangular slit of daylight that had been my nemesis right from when we first moved in.

I woke up with a puddle of sunlight in my eyes, far later than the light levels usually let me sleep. Sitting up, groggy and delirious from the emotional rollercoaster, I looked at the display on my radio alarm. 8:40. I realized with a cringe that it was already past the start time for my shift at the clinic.

“Shit. Where’s my phone?”

The charge cable was unplugged and I found my cell next to my pillow, jumbled up in the blankets.

Ivan must have hung up at some point during the night and I was slightly disappointed he had. I wanted to talk to him every moment that we were apart, but it was probably better for my work that he didn’t.

And now the phone was dead again.

With a groan, I plugged it in and hurried to the bathroom, hoping that by the time I got out of the shower, I’d be able to put through a call to reception.

Twenty minutes later I was tugging on my least favorite pair of jeans (I’d left them there for a reason), dialing the number for reception with one hand.

“Hello? This is Becca Michaels. I’m so sorry I missed the start of my shift. I’ve had a family emergency, I’m not going to be able to come in today.”

“Becca? Is that you? Are you okay?”

“Katja? Yeah, it’s me. I’m fine.”

“Where are you? Ruslan is looking for you. You need to be careful, okay?”

“Wait, what are you talking about? Who’s Ruslan?”

“The man who gives Mrs. Kovalenko the prescriptions for all the pills.”

I swallowed hard, feeling a chill come over me. “You know about that?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, Becca. I should have told you.”

“Wait a minute – you said it meant she must have been really ill, but the whole time you knew it was for other people?”

“I’m sorry. They told me to make sure you didn’t ask questions. I can’t tell you any more. And if I could I can’t talk about it here. Please, just keep your head down. They have taken Mrs. Kovalenko.”

“Oh my God. What? Why?”

“You know why Becca. This morning she came and said she wasn’t going to do what they wanted any more. That she didn’t have to. They didn’t like that. If she doesn’t believe their threats, they have no control over Ivan, so she is worthless to them.”

“Oh God.” I cringed. I could hear my own words in there, and I knew I was at least partially the reason she’d done something so rash. The sinking feeling in my stomach told me all I needed to know about what happened to someone when they didn’t have a value to people like Ruslan anymore. The man I’d met with Mama was a real piece of work, and the colors in the room dipped darker at the thought of what he might do to her. All because of me.

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