The Prelude (30 page)

The younger man standing beside him makes a goofy noise and says, “That doll’s ass is tight. She’s a piece of work.”

Control, Alek. They’re testing you. Don’t let them win.

“I will rip your tongue out if you so much as even say another word about her,” I threaten.

Knife Guy bursts out laughing. But he’s not really humored by what I said. I can tell. He wants to make me believe he’s the one in control, when I know he’s losing it because I’m not falling for his weak threats. 

“Tell me where the Master lives, and we’ll let your little sister go,” Knife Guy says, his gaze locked on Adriana.

“Can’t help you,” I answer. “I don’t have a Master.”

“You sure this is the right guy?” Goofy Grin asks.

“Don’t question me,” Knife Guy snaps back. He turns to me and says, “Show us your arm. You say we got the wrong guy, then prove it.”

I grin, but nothing’s funny. “You want to see my arm, then come lift my shirt yourself. You’re the bad ass with the knife, somebody who shoots people in their backs, yes?”

“Alek,” Adriana says in a worried voice.

Martuccio walks through the entrance. Holding two coffees in his hand, he glances around at all of us and checks out the knife the leader holds. “What’s all this?” he asks, giving me just the distraction I need.

Both men turn toward him. I charge toward Knife Guy who stands closest to me. We slam against a table behind him, knocking down a glass case filled with bracelets.

“Alek!” Adriana cries out.

Behind me, Luca lets out a string of curse words in Italian. Holding Knife Guy by his collar, I jerk him around in a circle, so now I’m facing Luca and my sister. Plus, I need to be able to see what his partner’s doing.

At once, Luca takes action, surprising me. He tosses the coffee in one of his cups straight into the face of Knife Guy’s partner. He’s now wearing hot liquid on his face. But these guys come from tough stock, an enemy gang. The partner cries out for a short moment and then charges toward Luca who dodges him.

Luca throws a punch at his face, hitting his target. Call it luck, or maybe I’ve underestimated his street skills; but Martuccio fights almost as efficiently as I do. A fist collides with my left jaw. I get the shit knocked out of me because I’m distracted.

From somewhere behind me, I hear Adriana giving out our address to the authorities. I hope she has sense enough to stay hidden until help arrives.

I straighten up and charge at Knife Guy. We briefly collide, staring into each other’s eyes. My temper erupts. I take a step back and pass a fist into his face, knocking him backward. The bones in his nose make a sickening crunch.

Sharp pain shoots through my hand and a couple of other places throughout my body. I wonder if I broke a bone in my hand and ribcage.

“Fuck! Little shit broke my nose,” Knife Guy shouts, shuffling to his feet and glaring at me.

“Good. That was for my cousin, you son of a bitch!” I’m running on full adrenaline now. Even with a couple of broken bones, I’m ready for more action.

Across the room, Luca and the partner have each other in a double headlock. Call me crazy, but the sight of the two men fighting makes me want to laugh. Sirens sound out in the distance. Black Butterfly’s shop is located in one of the most prominent areas of Milan. The police waste no time in responding to Adriana’s call.

“Come on, you jackass! Let’s go!” Knife Guy says to his partner. Goofy shoves backward, breaking out of Luca’s grip. The two men storm out of the front door. Luca hops to his feet and embraces Adriana as she rushes over to him. The room starts spinning. I’m not for exactly certain if the pain in my chest comes from a broken rib or something more. I lean over, supporting myself on my knees. To my surprise I realize that the shot to my jaw shook me up more than I realized.

“Run you crazy bastards! Come back here again and I’ll rearrange another part of your face!” Luca shouts at the doorway. He turns to me and says, “Teaches them to mess around with my shop.” I admit he has impressed me. Scoffing, his gaze moves toward something on the floor. The golden knife. “It’s covered in blood.”

“Alek, are you okay?” Adriana asks, her voice echoing around me. I’m wearing a black shirt and pants, clothes to accentuate my slim waste. But they also hide something else too.

It’s not too hard for me to figure out whose blood is on the knife. Mine. I close my eyes and envision Erin’s face. She’s wearing a white dress, and the smile on her face makes all that I went through to leave Russia worth every fight I had to endure to create this new life.

“Alek!” Adriana screams. I don’t respond. I’m caught up in visions of loveliness with my Jaybird. “Help him, Luca! Please.” My sister is crying for some reason.

Her agonizing wails rip through me. I want to tell her that I’m fine, but my lips have gone numb, and my body feels like somebody put a slab of ice under my ass.

Erin tugs lightly on my hand, and I follow her out into a field of white flowers. It’s beautiful here: the sky, the sun, the floral scent. And then, our world darkens.

Erin

I shove through the hospital doors, my heart thumping, my mind racing. I don’t believe a single breath has left my body since I got the phone call from Luca.

I can’t breathe or think. I don’t stop trotting until I reach the intensive care unit on the first floor. The nightmare demon who left me a mess five years ago has found me, yet again. I rush past the waiting room and head straight toward the nurse’s station. “Alek Dostov. Where is he?” I ask the woman sitting behind the desk.

“He’s in surgery, Erin,” Nikolai informs me as he comes to stand by my side. “The knife hit an artery close to his heart.”

“Knife? What? Who would do something like this?” I ask.

“We left many unhappy people behind in Russia,” he says in an accent that’s so much deeper than Alek’s. “Don’t worry, the carabineri caught the bastards who did this thanks to Adriana.”

“That’s cold comfort if he doesn’t...I’m going in to check on him,” I answer and start to move around Nikolai. I hate hospitals. The last time I visited one was when I tried to hurt myself and wound up putting my mother in one instead. It’s almost like the white walls mock me, making me think of the way Mom sits inside an institution, reminding me that I’m the one responsible for putting her there.

“You can’t go in right now. We have to wait,” Nikolai says firmly. His tired eyes are focused directly on my face.

Katerina and Adriana step out of the waiting room behind Nikolai. The two women support each other. I barely recognize Alek’s mom who’s dressed in beige slacks and a mint green polo shirt. Her long silver hair hangs loose and she wears no eye makeup. If Adriana wasn’t standing beside her, then I probably would think I was looking at the ghost of Katerina Dostov. We lock gazes. The fire in her eyes each time she has glanced my way in the past is gone. Tonight there’s no competition. On this night, Katerina and I play for the same team...Alek’s.

“Erin,” Adriana rushes over to me, embracing me. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“So I hear you’re the heroine of the day,” I say in a shaky voice. She steps back and gives me a tiny smile.

“You know how trouble loves that brother of mine. Somebody has to watch over him,” she says, her last words breaking up in fresh tears. Luca strolls out of the waiting room and makes his way over to Adriana. He wears a bandage over his left eye and there are several bruises on his neck.

“Luca, what happened?” I ask.

“I got in a fight with a big, ugly bear. Lost a deliciously good cup of coffee in the process too,” he adds. He kisses Adriana’s forehead and wraps his arms around her little body. They look good together, and I’m happy for them, a bright spot in the tunnel of dark and madness. “But I saved the light of my everlasting eye.”

“Oh brother. Someone shoot me in the head now, please,” Katerina says and starts walking back toward the waiting room.

“Mrs. Dostovsky?” a female’s authoritative voice calls out. We turn to find a doctor who’s still dressed in her scrubs. “We’ve moved your son into his room on the fifth floor. We were able to repair the damaged lung and stop the internal bleeding. But he lost too much blood. I’m afraid that he has fallen into a shock induced coma. Now we wait to see how Alek’s body responds to the treatement.”

“Don’t give me that we’ve done all we can bullshit line. Get yourself back in there and fix the problem. This is my son! One of the two main reasons I get up and do this shit every day,” Katerina says, trembling. Nikolai moves over to where she stands and massages her shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Dostovsky. It’s up to Alek now,” the doctor says and then leaves all of us to stand here in the aftermath of the diagnosis she left behind.

It’s like I can feel the floor moving closer to my face. That’s how the doctor’s words affect me. I’m on a freaky ass merry-go-round again, only this time the black and white tiles spin around my head instead of horses snapping at me with demonic looking teeth. A pair of arms surround me, tiny ones. Adriana. Glancing into Alek’s sister’s face sends a shudder through me. They could almost be twins.

“He’s going to be fine,” she says to me. “Don’t you worry, now. I know my brother. He won’t leave his two favorite girls ever.”

We make our way up to the fifth floor. Only two people at a time are allowed in the room. Everyone agrees that Katerina and I should go in first. Stepping into the Alek’s room, I’m assaulted by the sight of tubes, monitors, and that soapy smell that’s hard to describe. Leaning over his motionless body, I kiss his lips. He doesn’t stir a bit. But my heart thrashes loudly enough to make up for both Alek’s weak heartbeat and mine. I’m thinking at any moment he’ll get up and start cursing at me in Russian the way I believe he used to do without me knowing it.

I take a seat on the other side of the bed. I’m now staring at his mother.

“Hello, Erin,” Katerina says in a hoarse voice as though she has just now noticed me for the first time.

“Katerina.”

“Katerina. One hell of a name, isn’t it? I bet you didn’t know that it means purity and cleanliness, did you? I certainly didn’t.” She reaches out, tucks the covers up around Alek’s neck, and then glances at me, her eyes humorous, and her lips twisted in a sarcastic smirk. “That’s not my real name, darling.”

Whoa.
Katerina just used a term of endearment on me. I’m not sure whether I should smile, faint, or prepare to run.

“Back home, I’m simply Tracy. Do I look like a Tracy Higgins to you?” she asks.
Hell no
. I shake my head unable to look away from her face. “Alek’s father, Sergey, rescued me from a life of prostitution after my wealthy family threw me out of the house. I had gotten pregnant by a man of a different race, something considered shameful in the South in that day and time. I suffered a miscarriage. Shortly after that, Alek’s father spotted me one night while I was working in a bar. Oh, he was such a handsome man. And rich.  He said he was struck stupid by me. Said I was a natural beauty, the type any man would be proud to escort on his arm. He took me out of Austin back to his home in Moscow. What the hell else did I have to lose, right?  We came up with my Russian identity, gave me a fancy new name and family history so we could impress the Dostovskys. But Sergey’s parents were no fools. He had left his first wife for me, and his parents hated me for that reason. Imagine what happened after they discovered the truth about my real identity.

It was a hard time, Erin. I left behind one life of rejection, only to jump straight into another. I didn’t want the same thing to happen to either of my children.” She lowers her head and makes a trembling gasp as she massages Alek’s arm tucked inside the covers.

“I’m sorry my ex-husband left your daddy on the road that day. I never forgave him for being so cruel.”

This information slaps me in the face. But I’m numb with grief, and I’ve gotten so used to unexpected surprises from this bunch, that I don’t feel a thing. “So you knew who I was the moment you met me?”

She clears her throat and says, “I did. But Alek did not know. I could never bring myself to tell him the extent of his father’s cruelty that day. Agent Angelo was the man who tracked down Sergey’s contacts in America. My ex-husband was running scared when he came to Austin five years ago. I didn’t want to believe that someone who gave me such beautiful gifts in my children was responsible for paying someone to run your family off the road. I can’t believe it. My son loves you. I know he does. I’ve been so busy trying to keep my children from turning into tiny versions of Sergey and me that I failed to see I’ve done the opposite of what I set out to do.”

“If you know he loves me, then why don’t you like me?” I ask.

“It’s not that I don’t like you, Erin. I see all of me in you. Everything I could never be. I’m jealous. What you have with my Aleksandr is real. I’ve yet to discover such a thing with my husband, or in the fling I had with Sebastian, or anyone.” She exhales a shaky breath and shakes her head. “But I can’t lose my Aleksandr. Dear God, take everything away from me, but please don’t take my son.”

Her voice cracks and her face crumples as she’s overcome by sobs. I break down at the sight of this woman, the toughest person I think I’ve ever met, crying over the son she might lose.