Page 13 of Dirty Crown
We were standing on the roof already, even though we still had five minutes. I wanted to get up there first so I could spot Ilya coming in the distance, to make sure he wasn’t dropping down with any other helicopters full of his security team.
“I know,” I told him, smiling wanly. I didn’t know how it would end up, but I had to believe it would really be okay or there was no point to any of this.
Off in the distance I heard the sounds of rotor blades cutting through the air, but it was London so it could really be anything. Below us the sounds of the street seemed overwhelming, and above us was air traffic, planes taking off and landing in the distance. It was a multi layered city with noise from everywhere.
But in the darkness, I could hear that helicopter and I knew it was Ilya coming for me. Coming to rescue his son and kill us if he could.
As long as he had Amara and Ivan, I didn’t care what he had planned. Whatever it was he could try and he would fail.
I hyped myself up mentally, talking myself into a state of readiness as I waited for the helicopter to appear.
And moments later, it did. It rose up over the edge of the building as if he was trying to catch us by surprise, but with Ilya involved, there were no surprises. I was always prepared for anything he’d try throwing my way.
I loved the look on his face when he saw us standing there. He mouth some words and screwed up his mouth in frustration that he hadn’t gotten the jump on me or my Kings.
And then his eyes scanned across the rest of us and he found Maksim standing with his hands bound and his head hanging low. I didn’t feel guilty about what I’d done, but I did feel a twinge of regret because Ilya might use to to harm Ivan and Amara before he handed them over.
I should have shown more restraint, not left Maksim so beaten down and defeated. Luckily his wounds weren’t showing, so at least Ilya wouldn’t catch onto his injuries until he had him on the helicopter heading home.
“You’d better keep your mouth shut,” I snarled the second Ilya stepped towards me. “I’m gonna lay out what’s happening here, understand?”
His eyes narrowed and then darted towards Maksim. Maksim gave a slight nod and his face pleaded with his father to make this work. Ivan would never be so weak as to beg like that, Maksim was the typical spoiled rich asshole who loved dishing it out but couldn’t take it. He crumbled after significantly less than he did to people in his control.
I felt smug knowing he was such a loser, it added a cherry to the top of my nipple slicing sundae.
Ilya glared at me but he nodded vigorously.
“Get Amara and Ivan out here,” I ordered. “And you’d better hope they’re in good shape or your son is going to pay for it.”
I nodded at Kingston who was closest to Maksim, and for effect, jerked Maksim’s wrists. Maksim yelped like a dog and cowered in front of us.
“Please, he’s going to listen to you,” he whined. “He’s going to do whatever it takes to get me back.”
Ilya ordered Ivan and Amara off the plane and one of his security team ran back to escort them.
“You’re getting what you want,” Ilya growled. He hated giving into me, I could sense it in the tension carried in his voice and the stiff way he was standing. He was used to being the one doing the orders, not listening to somebody telling him what to do. “There’s no need to keep up this charade, you know.”
I shrugged and said, “Call it revenge. You could have gotten us killed, and you’ve had my father and friend for far too long. And let’s remind everyone about my professor. You had her killed just to get my attention.”
“The professor wasn’t me,” Ilya replied with anger. “That was Avery and her stupid fucking idea. She’s going to get us all killed if she keeps fucking with you, isn’t she?”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to be left alone,” I said and stood closed to him, meeting him eye to eye to assert myself. “Even if it means killing every fucking one of you, I’ll do it. If you don’t fuck off and leave me alone to live my life, I will come after you. End of story.”
Ilya watched me carefully through his constantly narrowed eyes. He was really suffering at the moment, he despised being forced to obey me and I was loving every second of it.
“Fine,” he said with a hiss. “We’ll leave you the fuck alone as long as you stay away from us.”
“No problem there,” I said, raising my hands in disbelief. “I was doing that just fine before y’all decided to fuck around. Now you’re finding out and you’re singing a different tune.”
Ilya wanted to argue. I could see a tension tic forming at the side of his temple and he took a deep breath.
Behind him, Ivan and Amara appeared next to one of the guards. They were pretty bad off, both of them were skinny and limping and neither one of them looked like they’d had a decent meal in a long time. But they were alive and they were heading my way.
“Let them go,” I called out. “Stay back.”
The guard looked to Ilya who nodded his head.
“Come to us,” I told Ivan and Amara. “We’re in control here.”
