Page 54 of Disgraced (Russian Sinners 3)

Sergei

Istood outside, the warm breeze light on my hot skin. Anastasia told me this pool was her favorite spot of the house. It was mine too. Not because I cared much about the pool, but it was the quietest spot. The surrounding hills glimmered under the moonlight making it seem like we were in another world. A more peaceful world.

I pressed the dial number. I needed to call Michail and check on the situation with Scarlett.

“Michail, I’m sending Sonia to St. Petersburg,” I told him. “Things are not safe here. We’ll have to move tomorrow.”

It was almost midnight but I knew he’d be awake. He functioned on barely any sleep. Scarlett had been on my mind all day. I worried about her after the last message from Michail. She slept too much and barely ate.

All this shit was getting out of hand. The events today promised a rather shitty next five months. They should have executed Boris already. Instead he slipped through their fingers and now he was on the loose.

The man that was lurking around, looking for Anastasia, was apprehended. The information we garnered from him after torturing him for hours was disturbing. It had my blood running cold through my veins. Boris wanted Anastasia. Not as a leverage to break free from prison, but to finish what he started fifteen years ago. I was no better than Boris, that fucking father of mine. He killed Anastasia’s mother and I almost cost Anja her life too. I still couldn’t believe what Manciatti had revealed. Anastasia and her mother were kidnapped fifteen years ago by Boris and he tortured her mother. Unknowingly, I helped my father get his hands on Anja.

It made me sick to my stomach to think what he would have done to her if he got her. That man was an abomination, a cruel lunatic walking this earth. My brothers would loath me if they knew that man was my father. Especially Dimitry, now that we learned what Boris had done to Anastasia and her mother.

And Anastasia… how could she ever get over the fact that my father had killed her mother? I kidnapped her. It made it look like I was working with my father when in fact I was trying to keep Scarlett safe.

“Do you need me there?” Michail asked. I knew ‘babysitting’ as he called it was hard for him. He was accustomed to coming and going as he pleased. But there was nobody else, aside from my brothers, I trusted more with Scarlett’s safety.

“No, not this time,” I commented. “I know this is not ideal for you. Hopefully, having Sonia there will help. I already told Sonia not to mention any names. Please make sure you remind her too. She’ll be there in about four days.”

He grunted something into the phone and I knew he wasn’t happy with the decision.

“Boris escaped,” I revealed to Michail. He was trustworthy and needed to be aware of potential dangers with Boris out in the world. “Keep the security tight. Don’t let any outsiders in, regardless of who they are. Keep it to men we absolutely trust.”

“Fuck, how did the old man get out?” he muttered.

“He had help from the outside,” I explained. “We are trying to narrow it down. But I am sure Russia will be his first stop.”

“This is not good. He’s a loose cannon,” he stated the obvious. “A full-blown war will break out if he tries to take back his old position.”

Anastasia, my brothers, and I would be his first targets, I was certain. You’d think being his biological son would potentially give us some leverage… but I was certain it wouldn’t. It would probably make me the first target on the list among my brothers. It was best for everyone, including Boris, if he didn’t know we were related. He was a loose cannon, as Michail put it. If he had no qualms about killing the woman he loved, he certainly wouldn’t have qualms about killing anyone else.

“If anything happens, Michail,” I started giving him instructions. “Make sure you grab Scarlett and take her to our safehouse. Then keep moving. Have vehicles on standby in case you need to leave in a hurry so you are prepared at all times. If something happens to me, get her back to the States, under her father’s protection.”

Several heartbeats of silence followed, the heavy meaning lingering in the air.

“Sergei, why aren’t you here?” His tone was almost accusatory. I have been waiting for this question from him. Michail and I went through a lot of things together. He has been by my side all along. “This is your woman. I’ll keep her safe for you, but she’ll never forgive you if you keep her caged up like this. She keeps asking me where you are.”

I knew he was right, but I couldn’t be in two places at once. No matter how badly I craved to be with Scarlett now, and ensure I was the one protecting her, I owed a debt to Anastasia. I had to make it up to her and get her to safety. I owed it to her and my brothers.

“Keep her safe for me,” I told him. “Once we get the woman that Boris is after to safety and the situation is stable, I’ll come. We’ll be moving locations tomorrow.”

Michail didn’t answer and I knew he disagreed. Damn it, I didn’t like it either but I couldn’t possibly explain the debt I owed without divulging all the details.

Just as I was about to try to explain, a loud explosion shook the ground under my feet.

“What the fuck was that, Sergei?” Michail spat through the headset.

“We’re under attack,” I cursed under my breath. “Call you later.”

The rage surged inside me like a volcano. The years of trying to control my fury unleashed, as gunshots sounded through the air. I pulled the gun from the holster and held it in my palm as I took in the scene around me. There was chaos already.

I could hear moans of pain and low curses. I blocked it all out as I zeroed in on the enemy. Because Boris and his men were exactly that. Gunmen hung out of a Mercedes SUV shooting with automatics, as they drove over my lawn.

Fucking barbarians.

I took aim and held my breath steady, just like Dimitry and Nikolai had taught me when we were kids. My hand never wavered. On an exhale, I pressed the trigger and it hit the driver right through the windshield. Blood splattered against the windshield and the vehicle crashed twenty feet away from me, ruining one of my statues Anastasia was admiring yesterday.

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