Stolen from the Hitman: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (29 page)

T
he old neighborhood
.

The dingy docks, no longer as bustling as they once were, lining the shorefront. The buildings mostly old and peculiar. But there’s a simple sort of humble homecoming feeling to it. Even if I never called Bayonne home, it was a home that always awaited me, if I wanted it.

“Are we nearly there?” Alicia asks, and I nod.

“Yes, this is the area. The club will look out for you,” I say, knowing it to be true. Part of me wishes I had long ago taken the invitation to join this crew. But a bigger part of me knows it was never my destiny. I had too much of a man’s ego back then, and now? Now I’m too bloodied.

There’s no getting out of the Bratva, not now. I know too much. I’m too valuable to them, and they might have me killed if they ever found out I was even toying with the idea of leaving. Hell, Gregorovich would have me killed for a lot less than that if he thought he could get away with it. He just needs an excuse, and my leaving a witness alive?

That’s one hell of an excuse.

“Smells like burning rubber or something,” Alicia says, turning up her nose, but I can see her looking around with renewed interest. Her hand hasn’t left mine the entire drive, and her touch is driving me fucking crazy, but I can’t show her how much she’s getting in under my skin. I’m afraid I showed her too much already, letting down my guard with her last night.

“Some might find it a dingy place, but it’s old and fiercely independent,” I say to her, realizing my fondness for the place goes a little deeper than I realize. I take us down a road, heading towards
The Glass
, a club where I’m to meet Leon.

She looks at me, and I get the feeling she can see right through me to the core, to the truths I hide away from everyone.

“How is it you know this place so well?” she asks, perceptive as I feared.

I lick my lips, hesitating a moment. I’m not a very personable guy. You share too much with people, it gets used against you. I’ve seen it a thousand times, over and over again. If it’s not a fellow gunman in the bratva, it’s a man’s wife ratting him out, or his best friend. His brother.

But I can’t help myself with her.

“It was where I first arrived in America. Hidden in one of those shipping containers back there,” I say, hooking a thumb over my shoulder. “The
bratva
arranged it all with the Union Club, and from there…I went on to New York to really sink my teeth into business.”

“Oh,” she says, accepting it all as if that were the normal way to come to America. Her brows furrow in thought, and I can’t help but wonder what’s racing through her mind. She’d been clever, locked in her little cell. I had to keep a close eye on her the entire time, making sure she stayed put, but someone like her can’t be locked up forever. A keen mind and a youthful exuberance for life...

At least here she’d have some entertainment, some other people to talk to who can keep her out of trouble. It’s for the best.

“How long ago was that?”

“Very long ago,” I say, not wanting to go into any more detail than that. I am a few years her senior after all, and I don’t care much for reflecting on the passage of time my own self.

It’s a nice little town, all in all, and I decide to change the subject with some info on the place. “This is a quiet place, the club keeps things like that. Keeps the violence and drugs out.”

I see it up ahead, the club we’re headed towards. The Glass sounds fancier than it really is, and that much becomes apparent by the rows of motorcycles lined up outside.

“Yea, I read about it in the news, a biker gang that helps 12 year old girls stand up to their abusive parents. I guess they can add helping out damsels in distress to their list too,” she says, her saucy mouth curling into a wicked smile that makes me instantly want to crush her lips against mine.

Her emerald eyes twinkle as she looks at me, and I think she’s even daring me to.

And just about as my resolve is about to crumple, a knock at the window cockblocks me.

It’s Leon.

I push open the door immediately and stand up to the guy. He’s a big man himself now, but I do my best to loom as ominously over him as I can.

“
The Lone Wolf
,” he says darkly to me. “You’ve got some fucking nerve coming back into this town.”

T
he entire drive
, Mikhail seemed different. But for those few seconds, I really thought he’d return some affection, or at least acknowledge it. It’s not that he’s been distant, not really, because he chatted more casually the entire trip. It took longer than expected, since when we first arrived Mikhail took one look at the bar and somehow instantly knew the guy he wanted wasn’t there. He plays coy, but I’m guessing it’s just because the guy’s motorcycle wasn’t out front. We drove around, and he treated me to a meal before we returned at night.

I just don’t know where we stand, and it’s super awkward to not know if it was a one-night stand, and if I’m just blowing things out of proportion. For all my partying, I’ve never done what I did with Mikhail last night, and I can still smell his skin on mine.

But now he’s standing toe-to-toe with some guy who looks built like a brick wall, same as him. I feel like I’m going to finally see what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, and I shrink back in my seat.

The two men have an ominous stare-off, both huge and looking ready for a fight. This new guy is wearing leather, and has the appearance of a more traditional thug though, some motorcycle gangers. I have no idea what to expect, so I just hold my breath and hope for the best as I get out of the car. Mikhail wouldn’t take me to someplace we were
both
in danger, would he? Maybe he assumed the wrong things about these people...

This new guy cracks his knuckles, drawing my eye to the many rings on his fingers. Mikhail moves a hand towards his hip where a gun is hid, and then, in a flash everything is going down! The new thug moves his elbow up to smack Mikhail in the nose, and Mikhail jabs right for the kidneys.

I shriek!

Both guys are frozen though, stopping just short of impact on one another before they wrap their arms about the other and embrace. Meanwhile, my heart is racing like mad.
Great first impression, Allie
.

“Leon! You’re quicker than ever,” Mikhail says with a smile.

“Quick enough to put a fright into your Old Woman,” Leon says, shooting a half-smirk over towards me before breaking the embrace with Mikhail. “My most sincere apologies, ma’am,” he says, sounding rather contrite for a gangster.

“I was just the audience,” I spit back, embarrassed by my own fear. This whole situation has me more on edge than I want to admit.

“Sorry, my timid
kotika
,” Mikhail says, releasing the other guy and stepping around the car to extend his hand to me. “Come, meet Leon—he is a brother to me. Leon, this is Alicia,” he says, putting his arm around me, holding me close.

“Ahh, she is indeed a pussycat,” Leon says, taking my hand, and despite his gruff appearance, lifting it up and kissing my knuckles like a prince. “Welcome to Bayonne, Alicia,” he says so dashingly.

I’d probably have a schoolgirl crush on him if it weren’t for the fact that Mikhail is finally showing some affection back. All I can think about is the sensation of his arm draped around me, and I can feel the flush rising to my cheeks.

“Thanks,” I say to Leon before smiling up at Mikhail. “I’m excited to meet some friends of Mikhail, let alone a brother.”

“Now hands off of her,” Mikhail says in a lower voice, pushing away Leon’s arm, though the two clearly are being playful with one another. My guardian leads me inside as the other bikers clamor around while we head on into the club. A few of them grin and cheer excitedly for Mikhail’s return, others look on as if watching a very important person arrive for a political stop.

The energy in the room is strange. It’s similar to when I was working for Mr. Gallego in some ways, but with him, I never felt people were truly happy to see him. It was more like they needed to see him but wished they didn’t have to.

With Mikhail, these people want him to be here, even if they are being respectful. He’s being treated like an important person, and I have to admit... I like it. It makes me feel proud to be on his arm.

“Some people you know?” A pretty but somewhat unkempt woman asks, stepping close to Leon’s side, draping an arm over his shoulder. But hey, I’ve not had a chance for a good sprucing up in a while either, so who am I to talk?

“Yeah,” Leon chuckles, “it’s been a hell of a long time, but I like to think I know him. He’s the walking, talking reminder of my past, in more ways than one, but dammit, he’s family. You two, meet my gal, Cherry.”

She looks like a Cherry, all fiery red mane and soft features.

“You mean…” Cherry murmurs.

“Yeah,” Leon replies, stepping forward to give Mikhail a tight hug. “This towering giant is my brother, both by blood and by the Bratva,” he says, looking back at Cherry with a rugged smile.

“She’s a beauty, I can see why you want to keep her safe, brother. We both have excellent taste,” Leon says, slapping Mikhail’s shoulder and smiling pleasantly over at me.

“You should see me when I haven’t been locked up for an eternity without a lick of makeup or a decent shampoo,” I say with a grin, though I feel far more flattered than I’m letting on. Leon’s definitely a ladies’ man.

But the warmth coming from Mikhail is what’s really driving me wild.

We head to the bar, with Mikhail stopping to give passing greetings now and then until drinks are brought over and poured.

“Uh, let’s go in the back and discuss this, eh?” Leon says with his arm around Cherry’s waist. He has little hint of an accent, just a harsh voice and way of talking.

“I need you to help me hide Alicia,
bratishka,
” Mikhail says as we enter the enclosed back room, just the four of us. “A few months should do the trick. Then I’ll come back and see she’s sent along safely,” he says, and my heart stops.

“You’ll come back?” I ask without thinking, my head turned towards him and my brow raised. I can feel the anger start to boil within me, and even the weight of his arm wrapped around me can’t stop this sick feeling from rolling around in my stomach.

But he ignores me.

“Mikhail, I don’t know if we can do that right now,” Leon says sadly, shaking his head. I can tell it pains him greatly to disappoint his brother. “The FBI is on our backs, brother, and there’s not a single place in this town we could hide her without them sniffing her out. It just isn’t safe here in Bayonne. It’s not like it used to be when we were boys.”

“
Pozhaluysta
. I beg of you,” Mikhail answers, a pleading edge to his tone.

“What happened to the usual safe houses?” Leon asks, frowning.

Mikhail looks aside as though embarrassed. “They’ve been…compromised.”

“What? How did that—” Leon bites his tongue, and I wonder if he doesn’t want to know. If what Mikhail does, if who he is, is so unpalatable, then it’s just better not knowing. I’m on the brink of tears, but I hold it back. I’m not going to be a blubbering mess.

“I need to get her somewhere. She won’t last in the city.”

“You’re going to leave me for a few months? Just like that?” I ask, and even though I’m holding back tears, I don’t bother trying to contain the hurt in my voice. The anxiety I’ve felt since this morning is just rising up within me, and I can’t hold it back it anymore.

“It’s what has to be done. If I’m missing from the city for a long time, then it’ll raise suspicions, which endangers you further,” Mikhail says to me in his deep, husky voice. He’s frustrated with me, I can tell. His brow furrows, and he looks about to say something harsh. All the same, his hand and arm squeezes tighter.

“I am no good for you,
kotika
,” he says to me in a low, gravelly voice. “You slept with a killer. That was a huge mistake. Do you really want to compound it by sticking around him and risking it becoming more?” he pushes, those dark eyes of his wide, taunting me with the truth. “You are a good girl. And when this all blows over, you can go back to living a good girl’s life. Not hanging out with thugs in a bar, hanging off the arm of a contract killer.”

He steals the words from my mouth, the thoughts from my mind. Part of me knows he’s right. That he’s giving me a chance to move on, to find something else in my life.

But everything I know has been tossed upside-down. I have no job, and I can’t talk to any of my old colleagues, and I’m supposed to sit here for a few months with these people I don’t know...

And the thing that’s bothering me the most is that I don’t want him to leave. What does that say about me, after what he just said? Why didn’t that repulse me like it should? It does, partly, but it also fills me with a lustful heat that I don’t want to acknowledge. But my hand moves to his jaw, and I stroke it tenderly, because I don’t know what to say but I don’t want him to go.

“I need your help, too. I think… maybe we can work out a deal,” Leon says, intruding on our private moment.

“I will help you in any way I can. Whatever you need,” Mikhail says, and his tone sends a chill down my spine. He sounds so serious. So dire.

“I need you to eliminate someone for me.”

“Leon, what’s going on? What do you mean, ‘eliminate’ someone?” Cherry’s voice sounds far away, shrill and distant, and then all sound is lost to me. I move to a chair, placing myself down carefully. I can’t hear, I can’t think. It’s all too much to bear.

All that I can see and think of is a flash of a memory that I couldn’t remember, the man looking at me in the room of red, a gun pointed in my direction. Mikhail. Right before he decided to spare me.

Is this what having a breakdown feels like? I never thought a person could be aware of so much and nothing all at once. It’s like my life has come to razor focus, and it has to cut out all the noise for me to process what this all means. Who Mikhail really is.

He’s the guy that people hire to kill. He’s everything he warned me he is.

The sound of my name pulls me from my spell, and I look up at the three of them. I have no idea how much time has passed, but based on how concerned Mikhail looks, I must be pale as a sheet.

“I promise to find a safe place to hide Alicia in the meantime. I have friends and connections all over town. Don’t worry,
moy brat
.”

“
Spasibo
, Leon,” Mikhail says, but his eyes don’t leave mine.

I’m a fool who’s fallen for a bad man, just like that. And I’ve fallen hard. I don’t know how to pull myself from this. Blonde hair tickles my burning cheeks, and my heart thumps heavily in my chest. I should let him go, forget what we did last night, the passion I feel for him. Just walk away from it all.

“Don’t worry about Alicia,” Leon tells Mikhail as if I’m not right here. I feel like a child being led around by my teachers, unable to speak up for myself or even put a voice to the jumbled thoughts rumbling through my mind. “I know a club up in Jersey City that owes me a favor and has a safe house where I’ve personally lain low a few times. She’ll be safe and comfortable. My vice-prez will take her there. Eva? Got anything going on tomorrow?”

“Nah, I can tell my techs to handle things ‘till the afternoon.”

“Good. Do that—I’ve gotta call in a favor from someone I know I can trust. My brother here has a lady he needs taken to the safe house the boys up in Jersey City run. Some of them will still be awake at this hour. If not, here’s some cash for a motel overnight. Get her in there first thing in the morning. Tell them things are even between us if they get this taken care of, alright?”

“Been a long time since I’ve been uptown... So am I following you, big guy?” Eva says to Mikhail.

“I appreciate it,” Mikhail says to Eva before turning to his brother. “Leon, you should know of all people that I act swiftly and quietly. Once I’m off to handle this situation, it won’t be long before it is done.”

“I know. Tomorrow night, I’m guessing?”

Mikhail nods.

“Alright. I can work with that. It’s been good to see you again, Mikhail.”

“
Da svidaniya, Leon.
”

“
Fsyevo harosheva, moy brat.
”

The night air gives me a hint of life again, but as Mikhail helps me into the car, I don’t feel at all like myself. Since he’s held me captive, I’ve felt a gamut of emotions for him. Hatred, anger, annoyance...but underpinning it all has been something that I haven’t been ready to grapple with.

I’m alive because of him. Because he couldn’t bring himself to kill me. Because he wanted me to live, even if it meant taking away my life and my freedom. And some part of me knows that it wasn’t an easy decision for him.

Did he feel something for me from the very start?

I glance over at him as he drives, his expression serious and lost in thought. The lights cast deep shadows along him, but it only makes him look more rugged.

I relax in my seat, exhausted from the long day and too worn-down to even fret about the fact that he wants to abandon me. I know he thinks it’s for my own safety, but now, I can’t help but want to be near him. In a weird way, I feel safer with him nearby.

What a laugh that is. He’s my captor, right? I should be wanting him to leave me so I can make an escape and check in on my mom, but instead, I feel connected to him in a way I’ve never felt before.

The drive feels short, but I know it’s only because I keep dozing off. When we pull up to the place we’re staying, though, I look over at him.

“Will you at least stay with me a night?” I finally ask, my voice sounding so faint as I reach over and touch his muscular arm.

He stares over at me in the dim light of the streetlamp, determination written upon his gorgeously rugged face. Determination that is quickly becoming wavering resolve.