Page 21 of Beautiful Broken Vengeance

I’m so fucking stupid.

A foot catches me in the back of my head. Pain explodes until I’m nauseous with it. I can’t hold it in and vomit.

“Gross,” one of the men mumbles. I can’t hear anything really besides the blood pounding in my ears.

“Bitch!” is yelled, then seconds later my side glows white hot with pain.

“C’mon, you can’t use a knife on her. What if her body don’t burn all the way up? Remember it’s supposed to be a car accident.”

Knife? He stabbed me? It hits me—I’m going to die tonight.

Another kick is aimed at my stomach, so powerful it tosses me forward several feet.

Oh god, this wasn’t the way I thought I’d go. I really thought if I died it would be Aleksander Levin who killed me. Aleksander wouldn’t have killed me this way. No, he would have made it quick, clean, simple—despite his threat the last time I saw him. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t kill me. I believed he would. I didn’t believe he would make it painful.

Another kick into my side. I close my eyes against the pain, golden eyes shimmer at me, urging me to get up. Squeezing my eyes tight against those eyes. No, not him, it can’t be him.

If I don’t get up and run then I’ll never know what happened to Ray and avenge him. I’m on my knees, barely. Tires screech a second before light floods the alley. I roll to the side of the alley, certain I’m about to be hit by the car.

“Hey buddy! Where the fuck is Ohio? Is it another damn one-way street? Damn navigation doesn’t work for shit.” A guy is hanging out of the shiny red convertible.

“It’s not Ohio, Martin, it’s Oak!” a woman yells as she stands up in the passenger seat. “We’re trying to find Gibson’s. Can you tell us how to get there?”

I don’t think, I push up from the ground and take off running as fast as I can. Adrenaline allows me to get out of the alley then down a side street. My legs give out from under me, so I roll to hide behind a massive dumpster seconds before the tall guy comes running after me. The cool night air sends a shiver through me as I pray I’m sitting in water, dear god please let me be sitting in water.

Once I’m sure they’re gone my fingers find the stab wound, fuck it hurts but it isn’t bleeding as bad as it feels like it is. I crawl out and barely manage to get to my feet. It’s several swipes of my face before I wipe the blood and tears off my face and eyes so I can read the cross street. Shit. I’m a long way from home. Even further from a hospital. I pull my phone from my pocket, it’s cracked but still on.

This far off a main street, the streets are darker and emptier. I scan both sides of the street and don’t see a single person. A cab appears and slows only for it to speed up and squeal away as I try to flag it down. Fuck me, no cab is going to stop for me like this. My phone is no help. I can’t think of someone to call. If I call John he’ll take my badge and kick me out of the FBI. Maybe if I had a phone number for Presley I would call her.

It hits me. I’m only three blocks from Aleksander’s place. He doesn’t go there very often. I could go in and make use of his place, then be gone before he found out.

My head is swimming so badly I barely manage to cross the street and have to stop and sit down once I make it across.

It feels like hours later when I finally make it to Aleksander’s house. Too open on the street, I go around the back. There is an alleyway between the houses where a car can drive into the carriage houses and car ports behind the large houses. Thank god, Aleksander’s backyard is surrounded by a six-foot privacy fence. The small patch of grass is so soft, when I fall down even though I know it's a bad idea, I close my eyes against the pain. Aleksander will find me soon. It’s safe here. I’m safe.

* * *

Aleksander

“I planned on meeting Manuel Rodriguez at the delivery, but I think I’m going to try and get some time in with Celia. Can you please meet it instead?” Milos is weary.

I swallow my desire to argue. I’m aware he’s stressed over Celia fighting him instead of being as happy as he is about their upcoming marriage. It doesn’t matter I haven’t been to sleep yet, too on edge from the news Phoenix slipped her detail and no one has seen her since last night. I can sleep when I’m dead. “I’ll meet him. Don’t worry.”

“I was speaking with Celia today. It would bring her great happiness if you married her sister.”

I’ve heard much about Celia’s little sister over the last few years. Milos felt responsible for both Celia’s mother and little sister since they were both important to his woman’s happiness. Carina is a…unique young woman. I have no single desire to tie myself to her.

“I’m aware the girl has…issues. She is not truly mute. I’m sure you would be able to talk her around. If you want someone moldable, it isn’t her, but you’d be bored to death with a woman you could mold.”

“I’ll think on it,” I lie.

I manage to get him off the line without more of a commitment. It doesn’t matter marriage is nothing more than a piece of paper, the idea of marrying a woman who only feels disdain for me sounds like hell on earth. I decide to sleep at the house, it’s closer than the condo and will give me an extra half hour of sleep.

I’m only ten feet inside the front door when I hear banging on the back door. What the fuck? Why the hell have none of my alarms gone off? Pulling my gun, I tug at the blinds covering the glass of the back door. Sonofabitch.

Opening the door, Phoenix Raymond falls into my arms. “What happened? Who did this to you?”

“Richie Angelo. Two of his soldiers grabbed me... Thought they were helping.” She moans when I run a hand over her cheek, trying to figure out where the blood on her face is coming from. The sound sends a fist into my chest. “Manuel Rodriguez is going to kill me, beat me to death then put me in a car before it explodes with my body inside so it isn’t traced to anyone.” Her breathing is shallow.

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