Page 60 of The Bratva's Innocent Forbidden Bride
Please tell me everything will be all right.
To my relief, he answered.I’ll see you soon.
I was clinging to that promise an hour later when all hell broke loose. A crash from the back of the house had the guards running through from the front. I hurried to see if it was merely a gust of wind whipping a chair into the wall, but as I crowded out to the deck behind the guards, the night air was still. The chairs were exactly where they always were, but a small fire blazed out on the sand.
And then another loud crack and a new fire erupted a few yards away, and another and another. One of the guards who remained at the front shouted at the same time, there was the bang of a gunshot, and a drone whizzed by overhead.
The guard that was closest to me shoved me back into the house. “Get in your room and stay there,” he shouted, already aiming his gun at the first drone as another one appeared in the sky.
Well, this had to be the signal. I fled to the guest room I’d been sleeping in since Kon, and I had grown chilly towards each other, looking out the window. Since most of his guards had gone with him to deal with his nephew’s problem, the few that were left were preoccupied with yet another fire on the beautifully manicured front lawn.
Neighbors were swarming out of the surrounding mansions, and it was only a matter of time before sirens began wailing and emergency vehicles showed up. I tried to shove open the window; grateful this room was on the ground floor. The only thing in my way on the outside was some spiky palmetto plants.
The window was locked from the outside, typical Bratva paranoia, or possibly Kon’s own addition since I left his bed. Fury swept over me, crystallizing my resolve. With a towel wrapped around my hand, I grabbed a heavy marble vase off thebedside table, dumped the fresh daisies, and smashed through the glass. As soon as the biggest shards were swept away, I climbed outside.
Then I ran like hell.
Chapter 36 - Konstantin
I wasn’t sure if this attack on Dima’s properties was business as usual for the enemies he usually dealt with, or if the Yakuza was widening their net down to the San Diego area because they suspected I was there. Either way, I was in the midst of a bloody battle that we were on the verge of losing.
Dima didn’t want to retreat, determined not to give up the warehouse completely. We’d already been shoved out by the superior firepower and greater numbers of the men who’d broken in. Two of my guys had been badly injured but were still throwing smoke grenades through broken windows, and one of Dima’s men lay dead inside, shot through the head.
“We’ve got to call it,” I said. “This is what insurance is for.”
Dima was pissed, and rightly so, but there was still a battle to be waged in another location that had a chance to be won. I cared about my nephew’s lost property, but what I really wanted was to grab someone to interrogate. If these men were working for the Yakuza, they might have some idea where their leader might be.
The decision was made for us when something went awry inside, and suddenly a ball of flame erupted from the warehouse. A rush of heat blew out the remaining windows, and half the roof rained down around us.
As we ran for cover, Dima laughed bitterly. “Some idiot must have shot too close to my stash of explosives.” A mangled hand landed near our shoes, and he kicked it out of the way. “Okay, now we can move on.”
As he rounded up our remaining men, I got a call from one of my guys who had stayed behind at the beach house.My chest constricted. They knew why I had left with half their team, so there was no way they’d call me unless there was an emergency.
“Is Tati okay?” I shouted into the phone as a greeting.
“Yes, she’s secure, but shit is hitting the fan here. Cops and fire are probably on the way.”
With a curse, I ended the call. Not what I needed right now, but I could breathe knowing Tati was all right. Whatever disaster had emergency services heading toward Dima’s beach house had to be dealt with right away, and after a swift apology, wished him luck, trying to downplay whatever was going on so he could concentrate on matters at hand.
“Try not to let that place explode,” he said, waving me away. “Olivia just had the bathrooms redone.”
“I’ll do my best.”
While I certainly hoped his house was going to survive whatever was going on, my first priority was Tati. As soon as I was certain she was okay, the stupid fucking wall that went up between us was coming down. And then we’d have to move again, since the beach house was clearly compromised.
I pulled up, relieved to see the roof was still in one piece and there were no flames despite a fire truck blocking the road, along with several police cars. A crowd of neighbors had gathered to watch the show, and I groaned.
One of the police officers tried to keep me from breaking through the perimeter they set up, and it took a lot to keep from decking him. If Riku had become aware of my presence in San Diego, it wouldn’t be wise to waste time getting bailed out of jail for assaulting a police officer, no matter how annoying he was being.
Spotting one of my guards dealing with the fire chief, I perused the damage while I waited for the officer to painstakingly look over my ID. There were a few piles of sodden ash, still smoking a bit under the onslaught of the fire hoses, but the house looked unscathed. That very fact gave me an uneasy feeling, though I wasn’t sure why.
“It’s my nephew’s house,” I said impatiently. “But I’m staying here. Now I’d like to make sure my wife is all right, since she’s probably terrified.”
The word wife rolled off my tongue without any thought, and I liked the way it sounded. The look on my face and the fact that my guard was waving at me in such a casual manner put my mind at ease enough that I could refrain from shoving my way past the barriers with force.
The officer began explaining that it was probably arson, and I kept my sarcastic reply in check. Several small fires had been lit at once on the beach by some kind of detonation system.
“Do you or your nephew have any enemies that would have access to this sort of…” The officer hesitated in calling them bombs.
