Page 56 of Claimed in Sin
"You don't understand what's happening here." His voice has calmed a little, but he’ll never change his mind. "I'm doing this for your own good. When this is over and you've had time to think clearly, you'll understand why I couldn't let you walk back out that door and hand yourself to the people who want to destroy us."
"They don't want to destroy us."
"Get in the room, Marina."
I look at his face and search for the father who taught me to ride a bicycle and braided my hair when my mother was too sick and sat with me at the kitchen table helping me with schoolwork. But I don’t see him. That man's in there somewhere, buried under decades of paranoia, and I can't reach him right now. I can see it in his eyes—no amount of pleading is going to open his mind.
"Papa," I protest one more time, but he shoves me into the closet and slams the door shut, then I hear the heavy break room table scraping across the floor, probably with Filipp's help, and the door shakes. "Papa, please!" I scream, slamming my fists on the thick wood, but it's no use. There's no way out, no window or vent, and the table is too heavy for me to move on my own.
I'm trapped by my own father, and Stepan has no clue where I am.
What do I do now?
28
STEPAN
Radimir and I are doing eighty on the ring road when Timur's name lights up my phone. We've been rushing from one scene to another trying to keep things from blowing up all night. I tap the speaker and as soon as the call connects, he's speaking, spitting out words I don't want to hear.
"Step, Marina's gone. She left the compound sometime this morning."
Confusion furrows my brow, because I swear he said Marina left Roman's compound. "What do you mean, she left the compound?" How the fuck could she get away from Ro's place? Yegor was supposed to be watching her.
"Yegor went to check on her and found a note on the pillow. We pulled the house cameras and she walked out the side gate around nine this morning and got an Uber on the main road." I can hear him typing in the background. "Look, I got the car's plate number and hacked its GPS. It crossed the river heading east and dropped her at a building on Kuybycheva around 9:20. That was over two hours ago, man."
I don't need him to tell me which building she went to. A swirling, sinking feeling turns my gut. Kuybycheva runs through the industrial district and her father's been running operations from the factory at the east end of it for as long as I've known his name. If she went there alone more than two hours ago, God only knows where she's at now. I know what men like Sergei Belova are capable of and with as angry as he is, I could be too late already.
"Call Kaz," I say. "Tell him to meet me at Kuybycheva and Gagarina, armed and ready. And call Ro and tell him I'm not making it to the club."
"Stepan, Roman specifically told you to handle the club first." I hear the warning in Timur's voice, but Marina is too important. That club is just a building, but she will be my wife soon. If I desert her now, what sort of man does that make me?
"I know what Ro said, but Marina is having my baby. Sergei could hurt her, Tim. Roman can wait."
"Yeah, I get it..." He sighs, then I hear more typing. "I'll send Kaz. You be safe." When he hangs up, I start to regret leaving Marina. I knew how volatile this situation was, and she was so calm watching me walk out. I should've seen it. She thinks she can talk her father down or something.
Radimir opens the glove box and pulls a spare clip and checks it then slides it into his jacket. No words really pass between us, but he gets it. Wherever I go, he goes. He has no other choice since he's in my car. But that means both of us have to be prepared for fighting.
My mind races ahead of me to every worst-case scenario possible—Marina's been tied and gagged, she's been beaten or lockedup, or my nightmare—they're taking her to an abortion clinic. I can't let that happen to her, and it isn't because of how I'd feel knowing I had a chance to be a father and lost it. Marina will never be able to live with herself or her family again if that happens.
I push my car harder, zipping off the ring and into the industrial district. When I whip around the corner on Gagarina, Kazimir's car idles, parked along the curb with its headlights off. He gets out when he sees me pull in behind him and walks back to us. Timur must've briefed him already because his jaw is clenched and he looks ready to fight.
"Have you heard from her?" he asks as I roll my window down.
"No, and I don't like this. If she's still in there, I’m scared of what we'll find." I push my door open and hear Radimir climbing out his side. "She told me her father is going to force an abortion..." Just saying the words makes my heart drop.
"Fuck, man... She's pregnant?" Kaz runs a hand through his hair as Radimir joins us, and we all turn toward the building.
"Yeah, and he's not happy about it. You see what he's been doing all night." These attacks aren't anything we can't handle, but they're out of nowhere. We weren’t ready for them so they took us by surprise. We're playing runaround trying to put out fires while he does God only knows what to his daughter.
"So we go get her..." Kaz squeezes my shoulder and nods at the building. "I scoped it out while I was waiting for you and I think the service entrance is where we should go in."
The fury in my veins is burning so hot, I feel like I could faze through the walk and burn the place to the ground. But I take a deep breath and follow his lead. I'm not too foolish to think Iknow better than him. He's level-headed and I'm not in my right mind right now.
"Alright, I'm following your lead," I tell him, pulling my gun from the waistband of my pants to check the clip. It's full, and I chamber a round as we start across the street.
Radimir hangs on our heels as we walk quietly. I'm sure this place has a few cameras, so there's no way we'll sneak up on Sergei if he's watching. But with as much chaos as he's been instigating around the city on our properties, I doubt he has very many men here this afternoon.
We get our first glimpse at how lax security is when we walk right in the back door and no one is there. "Fan out," Kaz orders. "Rad—go to the security office and shut down any cameras." He nods at the large sign on the wall along the far side of the building, then he looks at me. "You take the main offices," he says, nodding at the front of the building. "I'll check the loading docks."
