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“I’ll be there in ten.”
The ten minute drive to get to them feels like years. Then I see the smashed-up front end of Banger’s Chevelle, and I’m out of the car as soon as it is in park. I stride straight to Bridget and tilt her face up with fingers under her chin. “You’re bleeding,Zolotoy.” She has some blood right in her hairline, and it makes my blood boil thinking someone hurt her.
She dabs it with a napkin. “It’s fine, Nikolay. Just a bump.”
I pin Banger with a stare. “What the fuck happened?”
“Look at me, angry man,” Bridget says, pulling my eyes back to her. “It’s not his fault. I was driving. The guy drove up beside us and swerved. I over-corrected, and we hit the embankment.” She looks at Banger, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m so sorry about your car.”
“Fuck that, Baby doll. I don’t give a fuck about the car. I’m just glad you’re okay.” He pulls her into his arms and away from me. It takes everything in me not to jerk her back.
I’ve heard Alexey and Dmitri talk about Bridget for months. I helped them with their plan to win her over. Never did I think when I met her that it would feel like the breath had been knocked from my lungs. But there is no way I can embark on the type of relationship they are all building.
“Let’s get her back to the estate and see what we can find from these cameras,” I say, pulling out my phone to get Banger’s car towed. There are several businesses here, and at least one of them would have seen the person who dared to hurt her. “I have someone on the way for your car.”
I gently take Bridget’s hand and lead her to the passenger side door. Pulling it open, I help her inside, shut the door, and turn to Banger. “Do you think this is connected?”
“At this point? I have no fucking clue. But we need to find out because I’m about fucking sick of her getting caught in the middle.”
I nod in agreement. “Have you spoken with Alexey?”
“Yeah. He called and told me what happened.”
“Get in. We’ll wait for the tow and then discuss this more at the house.”
We join Bridget inside the car, and she’s massaging her temples. “Are you okay?” I ask, concerned.
“Yeah. Just a headache from hitting my head,” she smiles. We lapse into silence, lost to our own thoughts. We’ve been sitting here for five minutes when Bridget reaches over and lays her hand on mine on the gearshift. I jerk my head to look at her. “You’re tapping.” The only nervous habit I have is drumming my fingers.
“Sorry,” I say and squeeze her fingers before moving my hand. I need to watch myself around her. I don’t want to give her the wrong impression, but I’ll be damned if that little touch didn’t make me want to jerk her hand back to mine.
The tow truck pulls up minutes later, and we watch as they load Banger’s poor Chevelle onto the flatbed. I give them instructions to take it straight to the Viper’s garage and swing my car around to head back to the estate.
“Is this your car?” Bridget asks.
“Yeah,” I answer.
“Huh. This is the car Dmitri was driving that night.”
I exchange a glance with Banger in the rearview mirror, and he shrugs, indicating Dmitri still hasn’t told her why he doesn’t drive. But it’s not my secret to tell. Anything to do with Viktor is a sore subject. I only wish I would have known about it from the beginning. Even Nina, their mother, doesn’t know most of it.
When Alexey and Dmitri called me to ask if I’d take over the empire, I almost said no. I was running my own smaller empire in Florida for the Lenkovs, my father’s family. When Nina married into the Orlovs, they thought it was going to be a good thing. Little did they know Viktor was as evil as they came and took it out on those boys any chance he got. Now that he’s gone, things can go on as they were supposed to, with Alexey and Dmitri sitting at the head of that table instead of me. I’ll gladly hand it back and head back to Florida. To my family.
I pull through the gates of the estate and pull into the garage. Bridget pushes open her door when I put the car in park, and I hear Banger growl under his breath.
“Woman never listens,” he mutters when her door shuts.
We both shove out of the car, and I lead Bridget inside with my hand on the small of her back. I walk her to the bathroom downstairs and open the drawer to pull out the first aid kit. Banger leans against the door frame.
“It’s really fine,” she argues, watching my every move.
“No, it’s not,Zolotoy. You could have gotten seriously injured today.”
She rolls those pretty green eyes. “But I didn’t. I guess I shouldn’t tell you Banger let me run from the cops.”
Banger’s head snaps up from his phone, and I narrow my eyes at him. “He let you do what?” I ask between clenched teeth.
Bridget laughs, and it sends a shiver down my spine. I love that sound, and if I could bottle it up to take home with me, I would. “Seriously? It was fun.”
