Page 30 of Collapsed

Being back on the plane is the best feeling. I sit on the small couch next to Katia for the flight home. Per usual, Conrad and Stryker are hunched over a laptop, trying to make plans. Alexie is sitting near them, talking about taking over the Bratva and what his next steps are to ensure it happens.

The sight brings me joy. When I joined this team, I never could have imagined this as a possibility. Alexie was the reason I joined the team. I needed to find him and was going to use this team to do so. At first, I didn’t care if they got hurt, but the more time passed, the harder it got to leave. After all the horrible things I’ve done working for Andrei, I never believed I could have a happy ending; or that I even deserved one. People like me don’t get everything they want, but at this moment -with everything I could ever want in the palm of my hand- I feel a sense of peace.

But I can’t forget the fact that Ivan is still out there somewhere. He’s lying in wait for the perfect opportunity to pounce when we’re least expecting it. The time I have to relish in these moments is limited. My eyes start to feel heavy, so I rest my head on Katia’s lap, and she starts to stroke my hair. Sleep takes over me for the remainder of the flight.

My body feels like it's floating, and my eyes flutter open. King has me cradled in his arms, carrying me to the SUV. “Go back to sleep, Luci,” King says quietly. “We’re going home.” Listening, I close my eyes again, drifting back to sleep.

I wake up feeling warm and cozy. Scanning the room, I see I’m in King’s room at the safe house in Chicago. One way or another, when this shit is over, we’re staying here. One big happy family living out in the country.Maybe we’ll even get some chickens.The thought brings a big smile to my face. It starts to feel lonely in the bed, so I decide to get up and find the others.

Making my way out of the bedroom and down the stairs, I hear voices coming from the dining room. When I enter, I see the team assembled in what appears to be a pretty serious discussion.

“Look who finally woke up,” Marcela quips from the other side of the table. Everyone turns to look at me.

“How long have I been out?” I ask.

Stryker looks down at his watch. “It’s been about fourteen hours,” he answers. My mouth drops open because I can’t believe I’ve been knocked out for so long.

“That is my favorite image of you,Malyshka, mouth wide open,” Alexie comments.

BJ swats his arm and rises from her seat. She walks around the table and opens her arms in dramatic fashion as she takes her last few steps toward me. Her arms wrap around me as she says, “Oh, my beautiful friend, I have missed you so. We were all so worried about you. Seeing you here in one piece makes me so happy to have our family all together again.” She holds me a few moments longer before pulling back.

“Now that everyone is reunited, can we get on with our discussion?” Stryker says.

BJ’s head turns to Stryker. “Excuse me? Are you telling me to be quick with my bestie reunion? Not everyone got an entire night to ‘reunite’, if you will,” she chastises, putting air quotes around reunite.

Stryker drops the serious face and looks down, pretending to shuffle papers around in front of him. I love the way he still gets so flustered when someone challenges him. He is so used to everyone falling in line and not questioning anything he says. I can tell he wants to say something back, and it’s taking everything for him to take a few minutes before replying to her.

“Take all the time you need, BJ. I’m sure our plan to take down Ivan can wait,” he remarks in a sarcastic tone. BJ’s body tenses up because she wants to be a smart-ass right back to him, but Stryker is right. We need to work on taking down Ivan, and as much as I want to savor my reunions with everyone, a plan is needed first.

“Fine, but Nat is going to sit by me,” BJ says as she looks at King, who was sitting in the seat next to her. Without saying a word, King gets up from his seat, walks around the table, and sits on the opposite side. She grabs my hand and leads me over to a seat between her and Katia. As I sit, Conrad slides over a cup of coffee. I pick it up and take in the aroma.Perfect.

“Conrad,” Stryker says, “fill in everyone on what you found out.”

“I’ve been doing a lot of digging into everyone at the auction from Vegas,” Conrad start. Next to me, Katia is fidgeting with her hands in her lap. I reach my hand over and place it on hers. Her body starts to relax, but I know this topic will always be difficult for her. “Ivan is planning on continuing that line of business, and we may have found his new Billy Beckford. A man named Reid Daniels.” Conrad pauses, pulling up an image of a man on his screen. “He recently moved to Chicago, but his place is being financed by the Bratva. Our Vegas team turned us on to him as a potential key player, and now he happens to be in Chicago. That’s not a coincidence.”

These disgusting fuckers. We need to take them down as soon as possible. I would have never worked for Andrei if I knew what his true intentions were for the Bratva. The skin trade is something I will never support and will always fight against.

“What about Ivan?” Alexie asks. “He owes me a pound of flesh for what he did to our woman.” He pauses for a moment, then continues, “Well, more than a few pounds. I will remove every pound, ounce by ounce.” By the end of that statement, Alexie has a huge smile on his face. I know he’s imagining how he wants to torture Ivan.

“There is no movement on Ivan,” Conrad informs. “Stryker and I believe he is gathering forces to come here since he knows we are here and that we have Nat. With everything he’s done, we know Nat is his main focus. We’re not sure what havoc he’ll cause since he lost her.”

I didn’t even think about that when I left his house of terror. He most likely went on a killing spree when he realized I was gone. The sick bastard was killing innocent women and calling them my ‘stand-ins’. To think of the damage he’s done makes me feel sick. “Conrad, there was a woman that I freed from his house of horrors. I don’t know her name, but anyway, you could check to see if anyone walked into a hospital to be seen with their tongue missing and beaten to hell?”

“Yeah, babe, I can do that. I’ll get pictures of any Jane Does that were seen to see if you recognize any of them,” he tells me, and my heart nearly bursts at how he just easily accepted my request.

Stryker speaks up, thankfully tearing my attention away from all the innocents Ivan has killed. “This makes it crucial that we have a plan in place as of now. We don’t know where he is or when he’s coming.”

“He’s going to be angry I escaped,” I say. “Ivan is unhinged on a good day, but his obsession with me was apparent when I was stuck with him. He had torture chambers in his house of horrors. I was tied to a bed the entire time.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, Alexie starts to move in his seat. “He didn’t do anything to me… sexually, anyway. He was confident he could break me, and I would beg to be with him. There was a woman, and he must have had her for a while. I had to close my eyes while he raped her and finished her off. I couldn’t help her.” Now it’s Katia and BJ’s hands who are gripping mine in a show of support.

“That wasn’t your fault,” Katia tells me. She’s right, but it still feels like it is. If only I had done something about him sooner. Maybe if I stopped and seen how delusional he really was all those years, everything could have been avoided. The people at this table wouldn’t be in the danger they’re in now, if only…

“Get out of your head, Luci. Nothing that piece of shit does is on you,” King cuts in.

“I know you’re right, but he is so obsessed with me, and I don’t understand why,” I respond with a heavy sigh.

“You are special,Malyshka. You do not see that, but all of us at this table love you. Would I go out and murder a bunch of innocent people for you?” he asks, throwing out that ridiculous question before answering it himself. “Yes, if it meant helping or saving you, I would, but he is not killing them to help you. He is doing it for his sick needs. Ivan was always disturbed. I tried to tell Papa for years what I really thought of Ivan, but all he saw was a ruthless weapon he could wield however he saw fit.” Alexie chuckles to himself again before muttering the comment, “That did not work out so well for my Papa, did it?”

King can’t help himself and smiles a little. “You are one deranged dude, you know that, Alexie? I like you, but there is a screw loose somewhere in your brain.” King’s comment creates a few more laughs from around the table. Their dynamic is one of ridiculing each other as a way of showing their respect. I love watching their banter.

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