Текст книги "Rip"

Автор книги: Rachel Van Dyken

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Текущая страница: 17 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

The end is the crown of any work.—Russian Proverb

WE MADE IT DOWN TO THE lobby just in time to see Jac’s car speed away. I couldn’t exactly run down the street, I’d end up doing more damage to my body, and I suspected I’d need my strength for the upcoming battle.

Phoenix grabbed his cell and started barking orders into it while I reached for my own phone and stared down at it. If Jac really had snapped, there were only two places she would take Maya, two places where she could do her work.

The clinic.

Or her house.

The one I had bought and paid for.

Along with her operating room, where all the murders of the sick girls had taken place and now, I imagined, many more. I’d turned a blind eye because of the guilt, because of the love I still had for the woman who had helped raise me.

But she had just stolen my reason for living.

So I was going to rip her lungs out through her throat while she watched.

“Phoenix.” I snapped my fingers. “I’m texting you the directions to the clinic. If Maya’s there, make sure you call an ambulance after you bring down Jac, I don’t know what drugs she gave her. Typically, she gives the type that paralyzes your body, but if given too much Maya could die.”

“Where are you going?” Phoenix’s eyes were crazed.

“Her house. There’s only two safe locations where she has the right instruments to…” Torture. Kill. Maim. Destroy.  “Do what she does.”

“Be safe.” Phoenix slapped me on the shoulder then went running out the door while I went in the opposite direction, half stumbling toward the parking garage so I could grab my car.

Rage filled my line of vision, bloody rage, a rage I could barely control as I finally stumbled into my car, started it, and sped toward Jac’s house.

I would end her.

And I would do it slowly.

The clock on my dash blinked back at me, and I prayed, I prayed that Maya would be strong, that she would fight back, but most of all I prayed I’d have time to save her life, even if it meant sending her away so the reminder of whose blood pulsed through my body didn’t haunt her every breath.

One does not look for good, from good.—Russian Proverb

STAY ALIVE, STAY ALIVE, STAY ALIVE. I was singing the mantra in my head, actually singing it, hoping that if I just kept singing then it would be true and Jac wouldn’t use the knife she was currently holding over my head.

I closed my eyes and prayed just as the knife sliced across my hand. I screamed as loud as I could—which, thanks to the drugs, still wasn’t very loud.

“Just checking to see if the medication has worn off.” Jac gave me a freakish smile. “You know, I didn’t choose this life. It chose me.” She wiped my blood across her hand then lifted it to her mouth. “If it wasn’t for me, Nik wouldn’t have the career he does, nor the success. It is up to him to continue the family name, or birth a female who is stronger, who can do it for him.”

“You’re sick!” I yelled. “You’re going to get caught.”

Jac burst out laughing. “We haven’t been caught for over a century. Grandmother was married to a surgeon, she aided in all of his research. She was more brilliant than he any day of the week. We’ve always been a family of medicine, and those who practice medicine may as well be gods as we hold lives in the palms of our hands.” My blood dripped off her fingertips, she rubbed them together, examining it. “I grew tired of killing prostitutes… tired of killing the sick. Where’s the fun in killing those who are already knocking on death’s door?” Her gaze met mine. “But killing the pure? That’s a challenge. It takes finesse, finding the right people, snuffing their lives out at the very last moment.” She leaned over her breath fanned over my face. “You will scream. It will hurt, and then?” She shrugged. “You will be no more. I’m sorry it has to be this way, but I can’t afford to let him develop a conscience. I can’t afford to lose my grandson just because he thinks himself in love with you.”

“He’ll kill you,” I said, my voice filled with tremors.

“Hah!” Jac waved the knife over my body. “He adores me. I raised him to be what he is today… I’ve saved him, and you’ve done nothing but confuse him.” Her eyes narrowed. “And for that, you will die.”

Light flickered off the knife as she raised it above her head. “One cut, slightly to the left of the navel, and then, I’ll open you up, and remove every last female organ you have… I do this first, in honor of my family, in honor of my grandmother, and then. I kill you.”

The knife dove toward my skin and then hovered as she leaned over and sliced across my stomach. Unbearable pain washed over me. I wanted to thrash, instead I screamed until my voice was hoarse as the burning, tearing sensation got worse.

“Drop the knife.” Nik’s authoritative voice sounded from the door. “Now.”

Jac turned, bloody knife in hand. “Oh, good! You’re just in time. I needed an assistant, if you’ll just grab an apron so you don’t get blood on your clothes I’ll—”

Nik lunged for Jac shoving her against the gurney and pulling the knife from her hands then turning it on her.

Her expression was one of shock, disbelief. “You don’t mean to harm me, do you?”

“Not at all.” He said in an empty voice, confirming my worst fear, that he wanted me dead, that maybe he was just as bad as he’d said. He leaned in then ran the knife very slowly along her neck and said in a low voice. “I mean to kill you.”

Her eyes widened and then one slit to her neck, it was quick too quick for Jac to do anything but gurgle out a bloody. “Nik…” Before falling to the floor as she choked to death.

I couldn’t see, but I could hear, and those sounds would probably haunt my dreams for an eternity.

Nik stepped over her and turned his eyes to me.

“No!” I yelled. “Don’t hurt me please don’t hurt me!”

His face fell. “Maya, I love you, I would never hurt you.”

Panicked, my eyes filled with tears. “You said this morning….” I couldn’t get the words out. “You would kill me, you said!”

Nik cursed, cupping my face with both hands. “I said I was going to kill her—Jac—not you. I wouldn’t harm a hair on your head. I love you.”

Tears made it nearly impossible to make out his face. “But, you said her past and—”

“I imagine she told you enough about her past for you to know how crazy she was… how crazy my bloodline is.” He swallowed. “But that’s my burden, not yours. My father…” He licked his lips and slowly started undoing the straps around my body. “He was… sickened by what our family did, he joined the mafia in hopes that it would protect us when Jac went insane, when she went after us. We also needed protection from the feds, from the police if they ever discovered the truth. A trade was made, but my father, he knew too much, he was killed leaving me to pick up the pieces to make a deal with the devil in order to protect the woman who’d helped raise me. I never believed it, believed she would go crazy.”

My body was free from its restraints but I still couldn’t move anything. Nik lifted me into his arms and carried me out of the building, I was able to see more, see the large barn next to the house and Nik’s waiting Audi.

The minute I was safely laid across the back seat, he reached for my stomach, his hands came back bloody. “It’s not deep, superficial, probably hurt like hell.”

My teeth started to chatter. “Y-yes.”

“Shhhh.” He kissed my forehead. “You’re going into shock, just listen to my voice. I want to take you away from here, somewhere safe, it’s best I treat you… understand?”

I couldn’t nod but I managed a weak whimper.

He kissed my mouth. “Just stay awake, talk with me.”

Falling in love is like falling into a swimming pool.—Russian Proverb

I MADE HER TALK ABOUT FRIVOLOUS things like her favorite restaurants in Seattle, all the places she wished to visit—anything to keep her talking and coherent. I’d already sent a text to Phoenix that we were on our way back to the apartment. I kept emergency supplies, enough to be able to stitch her up without having to worry about her having scars or being in pain.

It took me a good fifteen minutes to finally get her into the apartment and over to the couch.

“No!” She gasped. “It’s white. Not the couch.”

Guilt slammed me in the chest, stealing my breath away. “Maya, it’s fine… I need to lay you down now.”

“You hate red on white.”

“I also hate butterflies.”

“What?” She gasped.

“It was a joke.” I smiled. “Now lie down.”

“But—”

“Don’t argue with your doctor.”

“Horrible bedside manner.” She shivered.

“Now, Maya.” I set her down carefully while Phoenix shared a look with me and left the room. “You know that’s not true.”

Her teeth wouldn’t stop chattering.

“Maya.” I grabbed a syringe of morphine. “I’m just going to give you a little bit to numb the pain while I stitch, it will also relax you.”

Without waiting for her answer, I injected her.

She went silent, her eyes boring holes into me as I slowly stitched up her stomach. Six stitches. Nothing huge, nothing life altering, but enough to pray that Jac rotted in hell for putting Maya through what she had.

“I can take it away,” I whispered, hating that the words were coming out of my mouth. “But I have to take it all away.”

“What are you talking about?” Maya blinked, tried to sit up then winced and lay back down as I knelt next to her on the couch.

“The memories.” I was an ass. “Just say the word, and I’ll make you think you’ve been in another car accident, I don’t know if it will work but I can try, I can take away the bad.”

“Oh, Nik.” Maya placed a hand over mine. “You can’t do that.”

“I can try.”

She smiled. “Life is hell.”

“Yes.”

“It sucks.”

“These aren’t exactly points in your favor.”

“My point…” Her lower lip trembled. “…is you can’t take away the bad, without taking away the good. The good is you. If I need to keep the bad memories in order to keep you. Then I choose the bad.”

“But—”

She pressed a finger to my lips. “Kiss me.”

“My grandmother almost killed you. I’m not just part of the Russian mafia but I’m guilty of turning a blind eye while my own flesh and blood went on a killing rampage, and what’s worse? I encouraged it, because I wanted no part of it. And you want me to kiss you? Still?”

“Not just still,” Maya whispered. “Always.”

“But—”

“Damn you’re argumentative. See? Horrible bedside manner.”

I rolled my eyes. “Maya, be serious. Our life… it will never be easy.”

“Who wants easy?” She shrugged. “Give me hard.” With a grin she slid her hand down to the button of my slacks.

“Very funny.”

Her hand inched further. “And true.”

I groaned. “What the hell am I going to do with you?”

“Love me.” She sighed. “Keep me safe.”

“With my life,” I vowed. “I’ll do both.”

Maya drifted off to sleep, not a drug-induced one, not one that was pushed upon her, but one of absolute exhaustion. Her body needed to heal, her mind even more so.

“How is she?” Sergio was the first to ask when I emerged from her room two hours later for something to eat. She was still sleeping, but I had forgotten to eat and knew that if I didn’t take care of myself there was no way I could take care of her.

The rest of the guys had gone to the hotel across the street, Sergio had stayed behind to make sure that the security at my apartment hadn’t been infiltrated from the outside. I assured him that I had the best of the best.

Which earned a smirk and a, “Clearly not, if it wasn’t me who did it for you.” I let the arrogant ass take a look, too exhausted to do anything except grunt and give him all of my passwords, reminding myself to change them later since the bastard would probably memorize them as I said them.

“Good.” I finally nodded, rummaging through the fridge for something to eat that wasn’t a fruit or vegetable.

I felt a pat on my back as Sergio handed me a hot Panini.

“Did this just appear out of thin air?” I asked taking the sandwich.

“Phoenix dropped off food.” He shrugged. “I kept yours wrapped in foil in the oven just in case you were going to be a while.”

“The same Phoenix who kills for fun and wears a permanent smile while pointing a gun at your head? That Phoenix?” I asked dryly.

“The very one.” Sergio managed a small smile. “Would you believe me if I told you he used to only eat the color green, freaked the shit out of him to eat anything with color, like he didn’t deserve color in his life. Therefore, he didn’t deserve it in his food.”

I pulled out a bar stool and sat. “I’ve heard worse.”

“Oh yeah?” Sergio sat next to me and continued typing on his laptop, the screen was black, his fingers were typing in code so fast that it was hard to keep up. “Let’s hear it.”

“I hate vodka.”

Sergio’s fingers froze in a hover position over the keyboard as he lifted his chin in my direction. “No shit?”

“I prefer wine.”

“Hell, Tex is right. You really are going Italian aren’t you?”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t insult me.”

“You should be so lucky, Russia,” Sergio said and then hung his head and whispered. “It slipped, calling you Russia. It was my nickname for Andi.” His voice cracked. “You know, for a psycho doctor you really do have a good point. Some days the memories hurt so bad that it’s hard to breathe.”

“Only real memories can do that,” I murmured. “The fake ones don’t hurt… the smoke screen rarely causes a physical reaction that you feel from your chin down to your feet. The more powerful the memory, the stronger the connection.”

“Good to know it’s normal that I want to puke all the time when I think of what I’m missing, when I wake up and she’s not taking up the space next to me, when my hands ache with the memory of hers.”

I couldn’t speak. I’d never understood love, not really. Not until Maya, that moment when I thought I was going to lose her, I couldn’t think of anything except what if, what if I don’t get there in time, what if she dies, what if I lose the only reason I have for breathing?

“I have to hope,” I finally answered with a sigh. “That it will get better and that a girl like Andi would be pissed as hell that you’re sitting here whining like a girl.”

Sergio burst out laughing. “Shit, she’d kill me if I ever shed a tear over her. I promised her I wouldn’t, and I’ve broken that promise more than I’d care to admit.” He typed a few more things into the computer then slowly shut the top, turned to face me and stood. “I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure but…”

I held out my hand. “But?”

“It’s been interesting… your fire walls are solid, big brother isn’t watching and I’ve deleted your family’s virtual thumbprint from the Internet. You can thank me later.” He heaved his bag over his shoulder. “I’m off to New York, text me if you need me.”

“New York?” I parroted. “Not Chicago?”

“Secrets.” Sergio nodded. “It seems a bit of our family has gotten… out of hand. Guess who was voted to go enforce the law?”

“Try not to leave too many bodies in your wake.”

“True or false, you told someone to walk into a fire and watched them burn alive? Calling the kettle, doc?”

I didn’t answer, instead shifted uncomfortably on one foot then the other.

“That’s what I thought.” He smirked then called back. “Stay out of prison… and Nik?”

“Yeah?”

Sergio took in the large apartment, his eyes flickering from one object to another. “She would have been proud to see you settle down… Domesticated.”

“Hah.” I nodded. “Andi would have laughed her ass off then asked who I hypnotized to be in a relationship with me, at worst she would have asked if I paid someone.”

“Sounds like her.” Sergio whispered, then gave me a middle finger salute—not that I expected anything different—and shut the door quietly behind him. I went over and locked it then finished eating my sandwich.

You will only understand your misfortune when you fall in love—Russian Proverb

THE ROOM WAS DARK, MAKING IT impossible to know what time it was or how long I’d been sleeping. Memories assaulted me like automatic gunfire: of my attack, of Jac, of Nikolai rescuing me. I shivered just as the door to the bedroom opened.

Light flooded through, casting a shadow of Nikolai’s lean sexy body. I let out a huff of air as he made his way toward me, his stance cautious, as if I was an animal that was about to attack.

He reached out his hand, caressing my cheek with his fingertips. “Are you okay?”

“Not yet,” I said truthfully. “But later… yeah.”

“I love you,” he whispered. “Forgive me?”

“Forgive you?”

With a deep sigh, he sat on the bed next to me. “Forgive me for not telling you the complete truth about my family? About Jac?”

Just hearing her name shot tremors of fear through my body. “You mean about her being….” I couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Jack the Ripper.” Nikolai licked his lips glancing at the wall, away from me, his body no longer touching mine. “She told you how it started? With jealousy?”

“Apparently it’s a powerful emotion.” My voice cracked. “Were all the women like this? In your family?”

“No,” Nikolai said quickly. “Jac was unable to have children after my father, leaving the job to him… he refused to carry on the tradition. By then Jac was still working, and he realized he wanted more for our family, but he was cut out of her will… he needed money… and so he started working for Petrov.” Nikolai leaned back on his hands, raising his chin toward the ceiling and inhaling deeply through his nose. “It’s a long complicated story. Believe me when I say now you know everything.”

He turned his gaze to mine.

Eyes so dark, so haunted, like they were begging me to understand him, begging me to accept him even though he came with so much baggage that it was hard to see everything he was carrying on his shoulders.

“Yes.” I whispered.

He frowned, “Yes what?”

“I still love you.”

“I didn’t ask.”

“Your eyes did,” I whispered reaching for his hand. “It’s not your fault she was crazy, and it would be stupid to hold your past against you, ruining both our futures.”

“I’d let you go.” Even as he said it he was pulling me into his lap, kissing my neck, his lips grazing by my pulse. “It would destroy me, but if it’s what you wanted, to be away from memories of me, your father, Jac, I’d let you go.”

“My place is here.” I turned my head so I could meet his mouth. We kissed, and then I placed my hand on his chest. “And here.”

His hug was so tight it was hard to breathe. “I’ll protect you with my life.”

“Good.” I laughed through my tears. “Because apparently I’m a wanted woman.”

A low growl issued from his throat. “I want you every second.” His mouth covered mine and then pulled back. “Of every day.”

“That’s a lot of seconds.”

“Eighty-six thousand four hundred.” He kissed my neck. “But who’s counting?”

“Who knows those things?”

“I’m a doctor.”

“Is that going to be your answer to everything I don’t understand?”

“Yes.” He licked where his lips had just pressed. His touch was driving me crazy. I tried to pull off my shirt but he pinned my hands down.

“Oh, sorry, I thought all that math talk was foreplay,” I teased, wondering how I was able to even do that after the traumatic day I’d had.

“You’ll know when it’s foreplay.” He snaked his arm around me and lifted my body back against the pillows. “Now, shall I force some chicken noodle soup down your throat?”

“Why is it always chicken noodle? What if I wanted clam chowder?”

“Then I’d get you clam chowder.”

“Really?”

He slid a cell phone out of his dark jeans and held it up in the air. “Really.”

“In that case… I want clam chowder, sourdough bread, and a brand new Mercedes.”

His smile was gorgeous—dazzling as he leaned forward and kissed my chin. “A Mercedes huh?”

“A new one.”

“Figures.”

“Part of the new contract?”

“You wish.”

“You are still paying me half a million…” I teased. “Even though I’m technically your girlfriend now?”

“Let’s start small, with the clam chowder. Later we’ll talk cars and… payment.”

“A guy who doesn’t want to talk cars in bed? My, my, where have you been all my life?”

His eyes met mine. “I’m here now. That’s what matters.”

“My contract specifically says I’m not to have any sort of dating relationships.” It was fun getting him upset, ignoring the darkness of the day and focusing on us, on our reality, our future.

“One tiny indiscretion after a near death experience doesn’t count.” His mouth found mine again. “I’ll explain to that pretentious boss of yours.”

“Please do, and while you’re at it tell him to buy me something red.”

Nikolai growled low in his throat. “I’d kill to see you in red.”

“Too bad, the boss says only black.”

“The boss had his reasons.”

“The boss is an ass.”

“He has reasons for that too.”

“Hmm.” I licked his lower lip and tasted. I was acting like an insane person. I would never get tired of his taste of the dominant way he returned each kiss like he was trying to remind me I was his.

My life stopped making sense a long time ago.

But his kisses always eased the cobwebs and helped me focus on what was important.

“Maya…” He groaned. “If you keep kissing me like that—I won’t be able to control myself.”

“So lose control.”

“Easier said than done.” He pulled back slightly. “You need to eat and then we’ll discuss… all bedroom activities.”

“Ah, so the boss means to put his cranky pants back on.”

“When did the boss take his pants off? Just curious.”

I peered down. “Must have been my overactive imagination.”

“You’re cute.”

“Am I?”

“And dangerous…” He sighed, “So very, very dangerous.”

“Maybe that’s why Jac wanted me dead.”

“No.” Nikolai said it so quickly it was as if he knew I was already going to say that. “She was clinically insane, out of her mind. She finally snapped the minute I let you in my life, the minute she was no longer number one, but she was slipping even before that. Only, I ignored it, and for that I’ll never forgive myself.”

“And my father, if he ever finds me? Discovers I’m alive and breathing?”

“He’ll die… besides he’ll be too focused on staying out of prison. Sergio truly did a number on your family.” Nicolai shrugged. “You’ll be happy to know your mother wasn’t implicated.”

“I stopped having a mother a long time ago.” Fresh pain washed over me, but I pushed the thoughts away. What good would they do anyway?

“You still want to stay? With me?”

“I’m still holding your hand aren’t I?”

“Yeah.” He squeezed and then lowered his head to brush a kiss across my knuckles. “You are.”