Blaire

After Stefan took the picture, a woman came in to sponge me down and gave me a change of clothes. She left some kind of porridge and water. I didn’t think Orlov had anything to do with it. My jaw was painful and swollen and I felt a couple of loose teeth. I bled from my nose, but it didn’t feel broken. I wasn’t hungry. I couldn’t even open my mouth, but I was thirsty, so I just drank the water.

I laid as still as possible and closed my eyes. I hurt less that way.

I heard the creak of the door and realized I’d fallen asleep. My eyes shot open and the fluorescent light blinded me. My visitor was one of the men who’d accompanied Orlov.

“Get up,” he ordered. “Marco made contact.”

He stood motionless while I struggled to get to my side, then I propped my upper body with my elbow. He removed my ankle shackle, and I swung my legs to the floor, tentatively levering myself up to my feet. My body felt liked I’d ran a marathon, and my brain felt like it wanted to burst out of my skull.

The man whistled. “Let’s see your rich boyfriend want you now. Even I wouldn’t want to fuck you looking at that face.”

I was thankful speaking hurt, because I would have told this bastard that I wouldn’t fuck his ugly face either. So, with as much dignity as my beaten body could muster, I marched—okay—limped out of that room. I almost cried when I saw how far I had to walk, although I was sure the cavernous hallway intimidated me because every step was an effort. Orlov’s goon got impatient and shoved me ahead. I tried so hard not to stumble, but fell to my knees anyway. I was yanked up and dragged along, so I had no choice but to force my aching limbs to move.

When we got to the first floor, it was like a meeting in a mafia movie. There were about twelve men; I recognized many of them. Some because they’d worked with my father, and the others because I’d recognized them from the files. They were looking at me with a mixture of satisfaction and anger. Many of them were cracking their knuckles to intimidate me. I didn’t think I could take another beating, but I doubted they’d be merciful and just shoot me.

One of them approached me. I didn’t remember his name, but I remembered my papa saying he was one of the sadistic ones who liked to torture his victims.

“You think you’re getting out of this alive, suka?” he sneered. “We’re going to have fun with you. Don’t think that old man can save you. We’ll take him too, if not kill him first, but you…?” His mouth lifted in a cruel smile.

“Kiril, stop that shit,” Stefan ordered. He walked toward me. “Come on, Paulina, the car is waiting.”

The others walked ahead of us while Stefan kept pace with me.

“I don’t get you, Stefan,” I mumbled through my aching jaw. “How could you hurt me and still be nice to me?”

“I follow orders,” he shrugged. “Don’t imagine any compassion where there isn’t, Paulina. If Orlov orders me to kill you, I will.”

I flinched at the bluntness of his words, so I shut up and bowed my head. Orlov met us at a Black SUV. He got in first. I was sandwiched between him and Stefan.

If by some miracle Liam and I got out of this alive, we could start fresh somewhere. I wasn’t sure what he told Orlov, if he was bluffing that he had the physical evidence that could link almost all his top level men to their crimes. I was tired of holding on to Papa’s legacy like an albatross around my neck. If any of the evidence amounted to anything, that was for the FBI and the DOJ to decide. I was done with it. We needed to get far, far away from the mafia so they couldn’t touch us, and far, far away from Grant so I could forget all the heartache.

* * *

My foggy brain didn’t understand why I was gagged until two SUVs of our four-vehicle convoy broke away. I started to panic. We were meeting Liam and they didn’t want me to warn him that there were others in covert positions. Knowing Liam though, he would have prepared for every scenario. I had to trust him.

I recognized the part of town we were in. It was an industrial area that was quiet on the weekends. I’d accompanied Papa several times when the assassins of the ROC did their business here. I wanted to laugh. If Papa hid the physical evidence right in Orlov’s own backyard, that would be ironic.

The sign for the self-storage came up and our Suburbans turned into the facility. I wasn’t surprised that Orlov had a keycard to the place. He probably had several units here himself. The SUVs slowed to a crawl, I heard the driver communicating with the other cars, looking for signs of an ambush or if there were any suspicious vehicles around, but so far Orlov had gotten the all-clear. After a couple of right and left turns, my heart leapt to my throat as I spotted my friend.

He was standing nonchalantly against one of the units. Liam was wearing a white tee with a Kevlar vest and khaki military cargos. I was sure he was armed, but no apparent weapon was in sight. Orlov stiffened beside me as he and Stefan gripped their guns.

“Marco has a lot of balls,” Orlov muttered.

“You should’ve stayed at the mansion, boss, and let me handle this,” Stefan said.

“The men are restless. They need to see that I’m not merely a figurehead,” he replied. Translation: Orlov was having trouble maintaining the loyalty of his men.

Our now two-vehicle convoy stopped a few feet from Liam and both turned off the engines.

“I’m not opening the gate until I see Blaire,” Liam called out without moving a muscle.

“I have her. You stay in the car,” Stefan told Orlov.

Stefan opened the door and pulled me from the vehicle. A flash of fury crossed Liam’s face, but he quickly masked it.

“You shouldn’t have hurt her,” my friend said softly.

I cut my head to the side and brought it back center. Liam tensed. It was our signal that all was not what it seemed.

“Open the gate,” Stefan ordered.

“Before I do,” Liam said conversationally. “I’d like to point out that there’s a grenade launcher aimed straight at your vehicle. Orlov’s side actually.”

“You’re bluffing,” Stefan replied. “We’ll all be dead.”

“If you’re going to kill me, why would it matter?”

“You don’t want Paulina to die.”

“If I’m dead, you think I’ll leave her alive for you motherfuckers to torture?” Liam looked at me. “Would you want to live, Blaire, if these assholes kill me?”

I shook my head. Liam was a crafty mind manipulator. Kudos to him. There was nothing scarier than someone with nothing to lose.

Orlov slammed out of the vehicle with a gun pointed at Liam. “Open the motherfucking gate!” he shouted. His men in the other vehicles exited as well with guns drawn. Including the drivers, it was ten against one.

Liam was nuts.

“Now, is this a fair fight?” Liam asked. To his credit, he brought out a card and swiped the slot beside a keypad. The device prompted for a code and my friend punched it in. He bent forward and shoved the gate up. Orlov’s men fidgeted from side-to-side with their eyes darting around the area.

When the gate fully opened, the lights came on automatically. Orlov stepped in with one of his men, while the other one kept his gun trained on Liam.

Stefan’s grip tightened around me.

Boxes were shoved around.

“What the hell is this?” Orlov roared.

“Now!” Liam shouted.

I stomped Stefan’s foot and shoved my head up to his chin. Gunfire erupted amidst another gate rolling up. Stefan grunted, his arms slackening around me as I surged toward Liam who tossed me a gun. I caught the weapon and fell on my back, unloading the cartridges at Orlov’s goons advancing on us. They were trying to get to their boss who had taken refuge in the first storage unit.

A couple of the ROC men fell as Liam grabbed my collar and dragged me to an open storage unit where two men in military gear covered us.

Who are they?

“Shooting from the left. Not friendlies,” one of the guys muttered.

I yanked the gag from my face. “Two of the SUVs broke off. It must be them.”

“You okay?” Liam asked, grim eyes searching mine.

“Fine.” I said. “You have a plan getting us out of here?” I grimaced as my earlier escape effort was causing my already-battered body a world of pain.

The shooting ruckus stopped.

“Marco, you son of a bitch! You think you’re getting out of here?”

“Take cover!” One of Liam’s men yelled.

The rattle of a carbine sprayed into our storage unit.

“Fuck!” Liam hit my crouched body and flattened me.

It lasted a few seconds when that too stopped.

“Shooters on the right!” Stefan yelled from outside as the gunfire resumed.

My friend felt heavy on top of me. “Liam, I can’t breathe,” I mumbled.

“Goddammit!” Someone yelled.

Noises rang through a vacuum and all I could hear was my breathing.

Liam’s groan sounded so far away and a sinking feeling roiled my gut as he rolled off me to the ground and on his back.

Blood pooled under him.

“Oh my God,” I whispered as I got to my knees and searched for the source of the bleeding. Eyes closed, his chest heaved with each breath.

I unzipped Liam’s vest.

“Armor-piercing,” he said, choking on a gasp.

“Oh, please, no!” It must have nicked the brachial artery on his shoulder. I pressed hard. “Stay with me, Liam.”

“Sweetheart,” he mumbled. “It’s okay.”

“Don’t you dare give up.”

“It’s gonna be okay.”

“How, Liam?” I cried as the blood geysered out. How is it going to be okay? I glanced frantically around for something to staunch the bleeding, ignoring the gunfight and the bullets ricocheting crazily inside the storage unit that was rapidly becoming a death trap.

Somehow, Liam found the strength to sit up and we managed to get his vest and shirt off. I wrapped the bleeder with the shirt.

“Fight back.” He grabbed my gun and threw it at me. “Leave me be,” he growled.

I took one last look at him as he found purchase against the wall before I rejoined the fray.

“Dammit, where are they?” One of Liam’s men yelled.

I didn’t know what they meant, but I prayed it meant help was coming.

* * *

The end came in a split second.

One of Liam’s guys was reloading and he got shot in the head. Liam’s second man glanced at his comrade and got hit right in the neck.

In the split second I had taken my eyes off Orlov’s remaining men who were using the SUV for cover, Stefan materialized in our storage unit. He grabbed my wrist holding the gun and squeezed. The pain was excruciating as I gave a soundless cry. He grabbed my weapon and handed it to Orlov, who was holding his gun at our two men down on the floor.

Stefan glared over my head at Liam. I scampered back to shield him—he was pale and slumped over.

Sporadic gunfire echoed in the distance.

Stefan’s smile was cruel. “I told you I have no problem killing you, Paulina.” He pointed the gun at me. “Boss?”

“Make sure Marco is dead. We need Paulina alive,” Orlov ordered in Russian.

I heard a whistling sound and Mikhail Orlov fell to the ground like a puppet whose string was cut.

Stefan spun around and the blast of a bullet slammed into him, the impact throwing him on the concrete flooring.

Grant walked in, arm outstretched with a gun fixed on Stefan’s head and shot him again.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Even as I saw Tyler follow his boss with a frustrated look on his face, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.

Then I remembered Liam. I got down on my knees in front of him, my aching wrist cradled against my stomach as I touched him lightly with my left hand.

“Liam?” I whispered brokenly. There was no rise and fall in his chest. My lips trembled and my eyes blurred as I touched my fingers to his pulse.

No pulse.

“No!” I screamed. The sinking feeling in my stomach expanded until I couldn’t breathe. “No! No!” I fought the arms that wrapped around me.

Tyler crouched in front of Liam and felt for his pulse. I stared at him hopefully. His sad eyes met mine before looking to the person holding me. He shook his head.

“No!” I shouted as I struggled again. “He’s not gone. He’s not dead!”

“Blaire,” Grant’s voice whispered. “Let him go, baby.”

Arms tried to pull me away from my friend but I clung to his arm. I cried for Liam to wake up. I cried for him to get up. I cried until my voice was hoarse and there was no strength left inside me.

“You can’t do this to me, Liam,” I sobbed brokenly. “I can’t start a new life without you.”

My hand fell away from his lifeless body and I felt someone lift me.

I’d given up the fight for good.