Half a dozen of our men are already in the club by the time we get down there and there are at least a dozen Russians too now, from what I can see. I wonder if Alexei Ivanov has come himself to get his daughter back. I certainly hope so because I want nothing more than to come face to face with him. There are shots being fired in every direction and Jessie is sandwiched between me and Conor as we edge into the club.
A gunshot whizzes past us and we dive for the cover of the bar as Liam and Mikey stride into the room like they’re made of titanium. Mikey tosses two grenades into the middle of the club while Liam shoots anything that moves that isn’t Irish, or female. The Russians return the gunfire amid lots of shouting and noise while the twins head to the safety of the DJ booth.
We crouch behind the bar and I sense Jessie getting twitchy beside me. “Don’t do anything stupid,” I warn her before I turn to Conor. “I think the twins have taken a few of them out. I’m going to head out and come at them from the side. Cover me.”
Conor nods, but before I can act on my plan, Jessie moves while I’m distracted. She stands up from behind the bar and holds her hands in the air. “Papa!” she shouts, and the gunfire stops.
I grab hold of her hand. “Get the fuck down. Now!” I snarl at her.
She looks down at me and shakes her head. She is the fiercest woman I have ever known and I admire her almost as much as I hate the fact that she refuses to do as she’s told. “He’s here for me. I won’t have any of you getting hurt because of me.”
“You are not leaving here with him, Jessie,” Conor snaps.
“I need answers. I need to know who he really is. Please let me do this my way.”
I rub a hand over my face and sigh. “Fine. Let her try.”
Jessie gives me a brief smile and then she walks from behind the bar as Conor and I stand and train our guns on the men opposite us.
“Jessica. Idite syuda!” Come here!
“I’m here, Papa. But please ask your men to lower their weapons. I don’t want my friends hurt.”
“These men are not your friends,” Alexei snarls. “Friends do not steal you away in the night.”
“They didn’t steal me. I came willingly,” she lies.
There are a few moment’s silence. “If they will lower theirs first,” the reply eventually comes in a thick Russian accent.
I grind my teeth so hard my jaw aches, but I do as he asks. “Stand down,” I shout around the room and my men do the same, but I know that Liam has a sniper rifle in that DJ booth and he will have it trained on Alexei.
The Russians lower their weapons and a tall man, who I assume is Alexei, appears from the shadows. He holds out his arms to her. “Why did you run away?”
“Because you lied to me,” she says.
He shakes his head. “It is not I who am lying to you. It is these Irish pigs. They fill your pretty head with nonsense, printsessa. And I will make every one of them suffer for taking you from me.”
Conor bristles beside me, and I put my hand on his arm. We will have our chance as soon as Jessie is out of harm’s way.
Jessie glances around the room. The Russians appear to outnumber us, but they don’t have the upper hand. Jessie doesn’t know how good Liam is with a sniper rifle. Or how Mikey has explosives stashed in a floor safe beneath the DJ booth.
I see the exact moment she falters. “Then I’ll come back with you, Papa. Promise me you won’t hurt my friends and I’ll leave with you right now.”
I frown at Conor. She knows what he did to her. She knows he is probably the man responsible for killing her family, but she would do that? For us? Or so that she can exact her revenge? Or both?
“I told you. These animals are no friends of yours, Jessica!” he shouts.
“At least they don’t drug me to keep me compliant,” she says as she takes a step towards him. “Is that what you did, Papa? I’ve seen the reports. Is that why I was always so tired in your huge mansion? Because you were drugging me?”
“I gave you something to help you. You were hysterical,” he snarls, his mask slipping momentarily before he smiles at her again. “Everything I do is for you, printsessa. But you betray me by lying with these dogs. These men who were willing to sell you to the highest bidder. They know who you really are, Jessica, and why you are so valuable to me.”
“And who is that?”
“My daughter. Your mother’s daughter.”
“My parents are dead,” she snaps. “So, who the hell are you?”
He steps closer to her with a cruel grin on his face and I suck in a breath as my fingers squeeze the handle of my gun. Just give me a reason to shoot you in the head right now, Alexei!
“I am your father! I have been looking for you for twenty-six years!” he snarls. “They stole you from me. My own brother. It wasn’t enough that he took my wife. He had to take you too. And they poisoned you against me. But, you belong to me, Jessica.”
“You paid the Wolf to kill my family?”
“I paid him to return what was mine.”
“But my brothers? They were just children,” she says. I hear the crack in her voice and wonder how much longer she’s going to be able to distract him for. Glancing up to where Mikey and Liam are, I give them a subtle nod.
“Their existence was an insult to me,” Alexei spits.
She moves quickly, pulling the gun from the waistband of her jeans and pressing it against his forehead, and it’s clear this isn’t the first time she’s handled a gun like that. An unexpected surge of anger wells up in my chest as I’m forced to think about the life that Jessie has lived. Always running. Never being able to trust anyone. One of Alexei’s men runs towards him, but Liam takes him out with a clean shot through the neck.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now?” she says, the tremor in her voice clearly audible.
“Because, whether or not you approve of my methods, I am your father, Jessica. One does not simply shoot their own father in the head. It is a burden I would not wish on my greatest enemy.”
I step out from behind the bar. She’s not going to kill him. She doesn’t have it in her right now. I’m aware how much it hurts to hate your father so much you want him dead, but be unable to pull that trigger yourself.
Another of Alexei’s men moves towards him and Liam takes him out too. I sense the tension in my own men creeping around the room and I hold up my hand to signal they should keep their weapons low. Not until Jessie is safe. I step closer to her, but I hold my hands up in surrender as Alexei’s men eye me suspiciously.
“I hate you,” Jessie says to him as the tears run down her face.
“Regardless, you are my daughter. You belong to me. I will never stop looking for you. I will never rest until you are at my side where you should have been all along.”
“Never!” she hisses.
“Then you should shoot me.” He looks her in the eyes and her hands tremble as she squeezes the handle but she doesn’t pull the trigger.
“Jessie,” I say as I approach. “Put the gun down. You don’t have to do this right now.”
“I do have to, Shane. Because he will never let me go. And you will always be in danger if I stay here.”
“Come here and give me the gun.” I hold out my hand to her before I turn to her father. “There is a rifle aimed at your head right now, Alexei. Make a move and you are dead. Do you hear that?” I shout the last part to his men. “Any shots are fired and your boss is dead.”
Jessie lowers her weapon and walks backwards towards me until she is in my arms. I want to hold on tight to her and never let her go again. I want to savor the sensation of her body pressed against mine. There is so much I need to say to her. But I have to get her out of here. I press my lips against her ear. “You remember that freedom I offered you, sweetheart? The one you told me to stick up my ass?”
“Yes,” she breathes.
“It’s still waiting for you. The keys are where we left them. All you have to do is run.”
“What about you, and Conor and the twins?” she sniffs.
“It will never be the same after all this,” I tell her, even though it damn near kills me to do it. But this is the only way I see out of this right now. Alexei will never stop looking for her, and if she’s here, he knows exactly where to find her. “You’re not one of us. But you’re not one of them either. Run, little hacker. Take your freedom. You deserve it more than anyone. Now go.”
She turns to me and plants a soft kiss on my cheek. Then we both look up at Conor and she hesitates. I know this will be breaking his heart, but I also know that he trusts me. He nods his head, and that’s all the permission she needs. She runs out of the nightclub and towards the silver SUV in the garage, and straight out of our lives.
I don’t have time to watch her go as Alexei shouts to his men to go after her. But they’re not quick enough for Liam’s sniper rifle and none of them make it anywhere near her. Alexei realizes he is not going to win this particular battle, and he uses two of his men as human shields as he makes a run for the nearest exit. I drop one of them, and Liam takes the other one out just as they reach the door, but Alexei makes it out unscathed while the rest of his men scramble for the side door.
Fuck! Another day, Alexei.
Three of our men were injured in the shoot-out, but fortunately none were killed. The same can’t be said for the Russians and I have seven dead ones stinking up my club. Conor calls the clean-up crew to come deal with them while I debrief our own soldiers.
When there is no-one left in the club but my brothers and I, Conor walks over to Liam, Mikey and me.
“She would never have killed him. It was the only way I could buy us all some time,” I say as their faces search mine for answers.
“So, that car does have a tracker, right?” Conor asks.
I raise an eyebrow at him. Does he think I’m an amateur? “Of course it does.”
He nods and lets out a long, slow breath. “Thank fuck for that.”
