Til Death Do Us Part (Kornilov Bratva Duet #2) - Nicole Fox Page 0,72
she screams into the phone.
“Okay, okay.” I’m not sure if Hannah has been drinking or doing drugs, but whatever is happening, this isn’t her. She isn’t acting like herself, and I need to help her. She shouldn’t be wandering around the streets late at night like this. I have to go to her. “Stay where you are. I’m coming.”
Hannah releases a long sigh that I take to be relief. “Okay. I’m in front of the nail salon.”
I know where she is talking about, so I hang up and slip back into my bedroom. Viktor is still sleeping on the bed, and I consider waking him up to tell him where I’m going, but I know he won’t approve. He hasn’t liked Hannah from the start. If I tell him she thinks I need to leave him, he will insist on coming with me, and then Hannah won’t talk to me. She might even run off when she sees him, and I don’t want her getting hurt.
So, I silently grab a pair of jeans, a sweater, and a pair of sneakers from my closet and then tiptoe back into the hallway. I change, pull my sex-mussed hair into a ponytail, and walk downstairs as confidently as possible.
The guards stop me at the door.
“Where are you going? No one is supposed to be leaving right now.”
The overnight guards are always lower on the totem pole. Young members who are trying to prove themselves. Sometimes, it makes them a little overzealous, but sometimes, it makes them easy to manipulate. I hope these guards are the latter.
“I’m going out to see a friend down the street.” If they tell Viktor about it later, I’ll already be home and safe, so it won’t matter.
One of the guards, a stout man with a bald head, sighs and slides off a stool. “Fine, but give me a second. I need to find my shoes.”
“Don’t bother. I’ll be right back.”
He narrows his eyes and frowns. “Someone has to go with you. You aren’t supposed to leave alone.”
“My husband knows where I am going and told me I could go alone,” I snap, pulling my face into a deeply offended scowl. I want this man to feel foolish for questioning me at all. “Do you suddenly outrank your leader?”
The guard’s mouth opens and closes several times, and I know I’ve got him.
“By all means, feel free to go upstairs and question him,” I say, leaning back against the wall, arms crossed over my chest like I’m bored. “I’ll wait, but I should warn you, he is tired and in a very bad mood.”
The man looks towards the stairs as though he is considering it before he reluctantly shakes his head. “Sorry I doubted you.”
I raise a brow until he lowers his face in shame. Bratva queens are not to be trifled with.
Only once he is good and shamed do I march through the front door and into the night.
I see the nail salon from a block away, but I don’t see Hannah until I’m standing in front of the alley next to the building. She is leaning against the brick wall with her arms wrapped around her middle. She isn’t dressed for the cold night, and I can tell she is shivering.
“Hannah?”
She starts and turns around, and that is when I realize she isn’t shivering, but sobbing.
Fat tears roll down her cheeks, smearing her mascara, and her entire body is trembling.
“What happened?” I ask, rushing forward to wrap her in a hug. “Whatever is going on, we can fix this, okay?”
I’ll let Hannah live with me for years if she needs to. I’ll drive her to AA or NA meetings. I’ll do whatever I can to help her the way she helped me and Theo all those years ago. She may feel like the debt between us has been paid, but I’m not sure I’ll ever feel that way.
“No, you can’t,” Hannah sobs into my shoulder. Her arms are hanging limply at her sides. “I ruined everything for you, and I’m so sorry.”
I step back and rub warmth into her shoulders with my hands. “Nothing is ruined. I’m fine. We can go back to the apartment and talk about this. Everything is fine.”
Hannah pulls away from my touch and shakes her head. “I didn’t find you with the Find-my-Phone app, Molly. Someone told me where you lived.”
I blink, confused. “Someone?”
Hannah’s lower lip pouts out, and her chin wobbles. “Fedor.”