Chapter Three
“Where is the girl?”
Gavriil stopped walking and stared at his boss. He’d only just finished dealing with Carlo and his team of impulsive, trigger-happy assholes when he got the call that John had come to. Now, John was sitting up in the hospital bed they had equipped the infirmary’s recovery rooms with his wife Sofia in the chair beside him. Despite looking pale, gray, and extremely tired, his eyes were sharp and alert.
“What girl?” Gavriil asked.
“The baker. The one who saved my life.”
Gavriil smiled at the memory of the pint-sized woman who had more than held her own when large, armed men stormed her small bakery kitchen.
“Well, would you look at that?” Sofia’s voice held a funny tone, and when Gavriil shifted his gaze to look at her he was surprised to see her grinning at him like he’d done something good.
“Look at what?”
“You, Gavriil, my sweet boy,” Sofia said as she stood up to walk around the bed and wrap him in her arms, that sugary-sweet smile still on her face. Gavriil frowned in confusion and shot a quick look at John, but if he was hoping for any help there he was shit out of luck. John had a grin much like his wife’s on his face.
“I have to meet this baker, I think,” Sofia said as she moved back to her husband’s bedside and took his hand in hers. “Not only has she been on my husband's mind since the moment he came out of the anesthetic, but from the look on your handsome face at the mere mention of her, I think she must be something very special.”
“She is special,” Gavriil answered. “She handled the situation last night with dignity and grace, and she certainly didn’t panic. And when you take into account she was faced with a man bleeding on her kitchen floor and Angelo Battaglia in the alley behind her shop, that’s saying something.”
Gavriil frowned over at John who was shaking his head.
“There is more to it than that,” John’s voice held a serious tone to it that had Gavriil tensing. “When she stepped into that kitchen, I pointed a gun at her.”
“What the hell for?” Gavriil growled. “She’s five foot six and a hundred twenty pounds soaking wet. Why the hell would you think she was a threat?”
John gave him a pointed look. “I had just been shot. Twice. Two of my friends slaughtered in front of me, so forgive me if I was running on little more than adrenaline.” Gavriil understood that, but it still irked him that his woman had a loaded weapon pointed at her. “But despite it, that woman—”
“Abigail,” Gavriil informed them, not liking her being referred to as that woman.
John inclined his head. “Abigail didn’t back down and other than an initial burst of surprise, she showed no real fear, at least not in that moment.”
Gavriil didn’t like the way John worded that. “But she did at some point while you were there?”
“She didn’t just hide from the men out in the alley. She threw coffee grounds at me to mask the scent of my blood. I didn’t realize why at first, again I’m blaming the blood loss, but she used it for that and to hide the blood smears I had left behind. Angelo came to the door and demanded that she open it. She did, and his big ass dog, Titan, pushed through, growling and snarling, and that little woman began to shake so damn badly I could hear it in her damn voice, even as she dealt with that figlio di puttana. The only time she showed true fear was when she was faced with that animal.”
A sudden thought came to him. “So she spoke with Angelo? He saw her?”
John nodded, frowning back at him. “Yes, why?”
Gavriil cursed fluidly in Russian as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “Because she is exactly the type of woman Angelo would want for himself. The fact that he can scare her shitless is fucking foreplay for that bastard.”
Just as he was about to put a call into Gino, whom he’d left behind to watch Abigail’s place, it rang in his hand. When the caller ID read Gino’s name his heart stuttered in his chest.
“Speak.”
“Gavriil, you better get down here quick, your woman’s shop is on fire!”
****
Abigail felt numb.
She couldn’t register anything or anyone around her. All she could see was her life burning down before her eyes. All she could hear was the roar of the fire that had boomed to life in her kitchen so fiercely, it drove her and her only customer out of the shop so fast the only thing she had managed to grab was the photo of her mom and nonna.
“You okay, ma’am?”
Abigail turned to blink at the man beside her. Gino had come with Gavriil the night before to take John Carlisi out of her kitchen. She had spotted him standing across the street for most of the morning, and had signaled him to come across for coffee and something to eat. She had been surprised when he said yes. He had been in the front with her, working his way through the baked goods she’d had in her cabinet. She had been laughing at the sounds of pleasure he’d been making as he consumed one of her pecan caramel cannolis when the fire started.
“Physically? Yes.” She whispered returning her gaze to her store, now completely ablaze in front of her. “Emotionally? Not so much.”
Gino winced as the top of the building collapsed in on itself, sending a plume of sparks into the air. “I’m sorry we couldn’t get any more of your stuff out.”
Abigail sighed, reaching out to pat him on his arm. “We got out, Gino. That’s all that matters.”
The sound of tires squealing on tarmac as a car ground to a halt from a hefty speed took her attention away from the fire and to the road behind her. A man stepped from a large black truck with tinted windows while the vehicle was still rocking from the sudden stop.
Abigail’s heart thudded in her chest when Gavriil stepped up onto the curb, pausing as he stared out over the crowd in front of the store. When his gaze locked with hers, she made a sound of pure need. He walked straight toward her. When he reached her, he pulled her up and into his arms, and with a sob she threw her arms around his neck, complete with photo frame.
Gavriil pressed his face into her neck, heaved a large sigh and held her tight while she cried. She had no idea how long he held her, feet dangling high above the footpath, rocking her gently from side to side, but he did nothing but let her cry.
“I’m here, moy angil,” he murmured when she quieted. “I’ve got you now. You’ll be okay.”
Abigail took a deep breath, inhaling the woodsy scent of him deep into her lungs, before pulling back so she could look into his face. “My sh-shop burned down.”
Gavriil nodded solemnly. “It did.”
“They think it was a gas explosion. But I don’t even have gas connected.”
Gavriil sighed. “They’ll find out the real cause soon, Abigail. For now, why don’t we get you somewhere safe where you can rest and process all of this?”
A sudden thought brought more tears to her eyes. “I don’t have anywhere to go. That was my home.”
Gavriil smiled, leaning in to press his forehead to hers and held her gaze. “As crazy as this sounds, moy angil, will you trust me to look after you?”
Abigail swallowed the lump of emotion that had formed in her throat. When her mom and nonna were taken from her six years ago, she thought she’d lost the chance to have anyone look after her. Having Gavriil ask for that opportunity now had her understanding just how much she had missed having someone she could rely on.
A small voice in the back of her mind whispered that she didn’t really know anything about his man other than the fact he was a high-ranking member of an organized crime syndicate.
“Have you ever broken the law?” Abigail suddenly asked, her face blooming with red at the surprised look on Gavriil’s face.
She thought he’d drop her ass on the foot path and storm off at her question, but he didn’t.
“I have.” She wasn’t shocked by his honesty, somehow knowing he would tell her the truth no matter how much it might hurt. “And I will tell you all about it—hell, I want you to know everything about me. But I need to know that you’ll at least start this journey with me. Listen to what I tell you, and not make up your mind about me until you know everything.”
Gavriil seemed to be searching her face for something and Abigail wondered what he might be looking for. When he said nothing more, just kept staring at her intently, she realized he was waiting for her answer. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was getting herself into, but she had a feeling that whatever it was, being with this man might just make it worth it.
“I can do that.”