THE OUTLAW’S BRIDE Read online

  ***

  Fiona went into the kitchen and pulled an icepack from the freezer, throwing it to Niko, who winced as he raised a lean arm to catch it.

  “Start from the beginning,” she ordered him, pouring herself another glass of wine.

  Niko sat back, tousling his cropped brown hair. “I don’t know…” he moaned.

  “Well, you’d better figure it the fuck out, Niko,” Fiona said, unconsciously falling into Mom-mode, with her fists squarely set on her wide hips, “because you getting killed by the Russian mob isn’t an option!”

  He rolled his eyes. “Right, because that’s what I want. To be murdered. Very helpful, Fiona. This is exactly why I didn’t plan on telling you about this.”

  “Yeah, and your cover lasted all of an hour and a half before I found out. Great job, Niko!” Fiona shot back. “I can tell you’ve really got a handle on the situation.”

  She saw the hurt flash in her brother’s eyes and she mentally cursed herself. Yelling wasn’t going to help anything now. If she freaked, Niko definitely wouldn’t come to her the next time something happened.

  She sat down next to him, sighing deeply. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I just worry about you, and when I worry, I get angry. Will you please tell me what happened now?”

  “Are you going to get mad?” Niko asked testily.

  Fiona bit her lip at his tone. “I promise I won’t get mad.”

  Niko leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “You know my friend Paul who got me the job? Paul Ivanov?”

  She felt her heart sink and tried not to let the disappointment show on her face. It was something Fiona was well practiced at by now.“You said his cousin’s friend hired the two of you to work at a bar,” she said evenly. “That wasn’t true, was it?”

  Niko shook his head. “That part is true. His cousin Patrick did hook us up with the guy we were working for, Danny, but…” He trailed off, too ashamed to continue.

  “But what?” Fiona pressed. Despite her promise, she was quickly losing patience with Niko’s reluctance.

  “It’s not like I said before. Not anymore, anyway,” Niko said, hanging his head. Fiona thought she was going to scream if her brother didn’t spill in the next thirty seconds. “About a month ago, Paul and I were bussing tables one night when this guy walks in. He’s a tall, snooty-looking guy, like how dare you breathe the same air as him, y’know? Anyway, as soon as he walks in, the bartender goes to the back and gets Danny, who shuts the place down. Like, kicks everyone out except the staff. It was crazy.” He paused to take a sip of his wine and Fiona mentally screamed at him to get to the point. Niko seemed to be in a much better mood now that he had an audience.

  “So after everyone leaves, in walks this other guy, biggest guy I’ve ever seen. His shoulders practically touched the doorframe when he came in. Scary guy. He gave me the heebie-jeebies.” Niko shivered dramatically to make a point. “He and Danny went to the back and Paul and I went back to cleaning. Cut to an hour later, the guy comes back out. He spots Paul and me and comes over to us.” Niko paused. “This is where I start to get stupid,” he warned her. “He asked us if we wanted to make quick cash running an errand for him. Paul said yes before I could say anything, and I figured I could use the money.”

  He paused for a long time.

  “What was the errand?” Fiona asked hesitantly, unsure if she really wanted to know.

  “It was a drug run,” Niko blurted out finally. “Almost a pound of meth. Paul carried it and I was lookout.”

  “Why did they beat you?” Fiona asked, trying to maintain her carefully constructed I’m not judging you face.

  “They didn’t,” Niko told her dully. “Alexei, the big guy who sent us on the run, he was so pleased that he gave us five hundred bucks each, and a bonus: some coke.” He laughed bitterly. “I’m sure you can imagine what happened next. I got hooked on the coke and the cash. So did Paul —for the cash, anyway.”

  “So then…” Fiona was still struggling to understand how Niko had gotten hurt in the situation.

  “Everything was good for a few weeks,” Niko continued, seeing her confused face. “We got bigger and bigger runs, for more and more money. Then a couple of days ago Paul and I got jumped. They stuck guns in our faces and told us to hand over everything we had. The drugs and the money.”

  “Niko!” Fiona gasped. “You refused to hand it over? They could’ve killed you!” she exclaimed.

  Niko laughed again, anger beginning to creep into his voice. “Oh, we handed it over. That’s what nearly got us killed. They didn’t do this to me, Fiona,” Niko said, gesturing to his stomach. “Alexei did. When we got back, and he found out what had happened…he lost it. Went fucking nuts. He grabbed a bat and started swinging, then kicking when I finally fell down.”

  “What about Paul ?” Fiona asked timidly, terrified of the answer.

  “Alexei beat the shit out of him, too,” Niko said. “But he got off lucky,” he added.

  Fiona made a face, bewildered. “How is that? You said he got beat up, as well.”

  Niko sighed. “Yeah, well, do you remember that cousin of his I told you about?”

  “Yeah, what about him?”

  “I guess he’s pretty rich,” Niko told her, explaining nothing. Fiona bit her lip until she tasted blood to keep from screaming at her brother. “Alexei expects us to pay him back for what we lost. Paul ’s cousin Patrick paid for his half,” he clarified, continuing. “I still have to come up with mine.”

  A long silence stretched between them.

  Fiona stood up, pacing the living room. “I guess asking what happens if you can’t come up with the money would be a stupid question,” she said, finally breaking the quiet.

  Her brother nodded. “I don’t think they would be quick about it, either.”

  Fiona turned green and her stomach did a flip. “So, how much?” she asked him again, continuing to pace. Fiona wasn’t stupid. She knew her brother had been purposely avoiding this particular fact during his story hour.

  Niko bit his lower lip and said nothing.

  “Niko…” Fiona threatened, stopping in her tracks to glare at him.

  He mumbled something under his breath.

  “Niko!”

  “Ten grand!” he yelled back, snapping. “Fucking ten thousand dollars, okay?”

  Fiona sank back down to the couch, her eyes wide.

  “Yeah,” Niko said solemnly. “I’m fucked.”

  “Not necessarily,” Fiona said, optimistic. “He had to have given you some time to get the money together. How long do you have?”

  “One week,” he replied heavily, nearly crushing her hopes with his fatalistic tone.

  She jumped up from the couch and began to pace again. “Okay,” Fiona said, her mind going a mile a minute. “Okay, so I’ve got a couple grand in my savings account. I might be able to open a credit card and get a cash advance on it within a week, that should be at least another three thousand dollars right there, so that’s half of it taken care of…”

  Niko watched as his sister walked back and forth across her small townhome living room, muttering to herself about accounts and advances. A slimy pit of shame grew in his gut as he realized he had gone his entire life allowing his sister to clean up his messes for him.

  Every time he got into trouble, there she was to bail him out, no matter what he had done. And every time, the trouble he found himself in was worse and worse. Eventually, a time would come where Fiona wouldn’t be able to help him.

  Is this that time? he wondered, hating himself that he was so weak. He tuned back into his sister’s ramblings. The least he could do if she was going to save his sorry ass was pay attention.

  “…if I sell my car I could get another three, maybe four thousand, so that leaves a thousand…let’s say fifteen hundred dollars we need to come up with in a week,” she finished, looking at him expectantly.

  He stared back at her. “Yeah, uh, that sounds great.”
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  “Do you have any ideas where you can get fifteen hundred dollars?” she asked, though what she really wanted to say was, You had better start helping me save you or I’m going to let them murder your ass.

  “I might be able to borrow a couple hundred from Paul ,” he suggested.

  “Okay, why don’t you give him a call and ask him while I go get more wine,” Fiona said, heading to the kitchen before Niko could respond.

  If she didn’t get a minute to herself, she was going to flip the fuck out. Her brother had really pushed the limits this time. She had to help him, though. If she didn’t, he would be dead within a week. There was no way he would be able to come up with ten grand on his own.

  Fiona poured herself another glass, reasoning that tonight had been incredibly stressful and that she was entitled to an extra glass of wine or three. Taking a deep breath, she reentered the living room and immediately saw Niko was white as a sheet.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, alarmed. She rushed to his side.

  “Well, I’m glad we hung out at your house tonight. Paul said Alexei put someone on my place, to make sure I don’t run,” Niko explained, seemingly in shock. “He also said every day I don’t come up with the money, he’s going to add ten percent interest. I, uh, I guess it’s normally twenty percent, but, um, Paul said Alexei gave me the employee discount.” Niko broke into a crazed, uncontrollable laughter that quickly subsided into heaving sobs. “He wants me to fail, Fi!” he screamed. “He wants me to fail so he can kill me and pretend it was my own fault; that’s what he does!”

  Fiona flinched, more at his tone than his volume. She had never heard the sound of pure terror before. It was particularly horrifying knowing that its source was her little brother. “We’ll think of something,” she finally said, sounding more confident than she felt.

  “Like what?” Niko asked skeptically.

  Fiona stood up. “Let’s just figure out tonight first, okay? You can’t go back home, obviously. You’ll stay here and we’ll work out a plan first thing tomorrow morning.” She forced a smile onto her face and went to grab a pillow and blanket for the couch.

  Niko caught sight of the look on Fiona’s face just before she plastered that awful “everything is fine” grin across it. It was a look that said for once, she had no idea what to do. Niko took the bedding from Fiona, setting it next to him on the couch.

  “Good night, Fi,” he said, flashing a quick smile at her. “I think I’m gonna watch some TV before I go to sleep. I’m feeling pretty wired, y’know?”

  Fiona didn’t move. Niko gave her a look. “I’d ask you if you wanted to watch with me, but at this hour it’s just going to be infomercials and I know you hate late night TV.”

  “I’m really sorry, Niko,” Fiona said quietly. “But I need you to turn out your pockets.”

  Niko stared at his sister, a confused look artfully constructed on his face. “What? Why?”

  “You know why, Niko. Please don’t turn this into a thing,” Fiona said flatly, her blue eyes aimed squarely at his shoes.

  Niko began to puff his chest up, ready to stir up a dramatic outrage against his sister’s terrible insinuations, but one look at his big sister, a woman who had spent half of her childhood and all of her adult life taking care of him, and the tank of prideful hot air whooshed out of him in one big rush.

  He stuck his hand into the small watch pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small baggie of cocaine, carefully, almost lovingly, rolling it between his tan, bony fingers.

  “Can I trust you to do it?” Fiona asked quietly, interrupting his reverie. “Or do you need me to?”

  “No,” Niko said firmly, strength filling his voice. “I can do it.”

  He walked to the bathroom quickly, almost running, desperately trying to make it before he lost all the willpower his sister had imbued him with. The toilet flushed and Niko came back to the living room. He sat on the couch, rested his elbows on his knees, and then buried his head in his arms.

  “I love you, Niko. Goodnight.” Fiona kissed the top of her little brother’s head and turned out the light, as she had done a million times before.

  The next couple of days had the Brown siblings in high spirits. Fiona had found a potential buyer for her car that was willing to pay three hundred over the asking price, and Paul had said his cousin would help kick in two grand in thanks for keeping Paul safe. Between the money Paul promised to bring by, and the cash Fiona had made from selling a few other things, they were only eight hundred dollars away from saving Niko’s life.

  Fiona woke up to the sounds of songbirds outside her window and the soft thud of the morning paper hitting her front door. She got up and went into the kitchen, passing her snoring brother on the couch. Starting the coffee machine, Fiona went about making breakfast, not caring to be quiet. Niko slept like a dead horse. The only way to wake him up was with an air horn or a cold bucket of water.

  Testing this theory, she gave him a sharp prod in the shoulder where she knew he was uninjured. Nothing. Shrugging, Fiona walked to the front door to retrieve the paper. Her neighbor, Mrs. Montgomery, was walking by and waved hello. Fiona waved back as she bent down to grab the paper, not paying attention to what it was she was reaching for.

  At the last second, she looked down, and saw her fingertips inches from a dead, brutally dismembered dove. Fiona shrieked and fell back, scrambling on her hands to get away from the bloody creature.

  Niko’s head popped up, his brown hair pointing in all directions. “What is it?” he cried, pulling himself over the couch as fast as his sleep-laden limbs would allow him.

  Fiona’s trembling fingers reached for the dove once again, using her thumb and forefinger to gingerly pluck a small, folded piece of paper from the bird’s beak. “A warning,” she said, the paper falling from her hands.

  TIME’S UP.

  Chapter 2

  It was only once Fiona put on two pairs of kitchen gloves and a bandana around her nose and mouth that she was able to carefully place the dead bird into a shoebox. Niko was gagging too much to be any help at all, so Fiona put the box in the garage, resolving to bury it once she had some time.

  “What the fuck is a dead bird doing on my doorstep, Niko?” she demanded, washing her hands for the third time. “I thought you had another four days!”

  Niko sat on the couch, staring dully at his feet. “I guess Alexei doesn’t want to wait any longer. If I don’t pay him by tonight…that’s it. Game over.”

  Fiona stopped in the middle of the living room, hands on her hips. “Then I guess you won’t be here tonight,” she said finally.

  “What are you talking about?” Niko tiredly raised his head to give her a confused look.

  “We still need eight hundred dollars to pay him off, Niko,” she explained. “Can you guarantee that we’re going to be able to get that by tonight? Because I can’t.”

  “So, what?” Niko said blankly. “You want us to run?”

  “Not us,” Fiona said, looking down at her feet. She raised her head to look her little brother square in the eye. “Just you.”

  “If you think I’m going to leave you behind, you’re fucking crazy,” Niko said with a small, disbelieving laugh.

  “Don’t argue with me, and don’t swear,” Fiona scolded him. “They’re only after you, Niko. You only have to leave for a couple of days, until I can manage to pull some more money together.”

  He scoffed. “Yeah? And how are you going to do that? Are you going to hit up the Tooth Fairy? We’ve tapped every resource available to us, Fi.”

  Fiona bit her lip. If she told Niko who she was planning on asking for the money, then he would really worry, and they didn’t have time for that right now. “Don’t worry about it. I have it under control.”

  “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me where you plan on getting almost a thousand dollars in a day’s notice,” Niko insisted, folding his arms.

  Fiona rolled her eyes. “You’re insufferable, you know that?”
she said angrily. Her brother merely shrugged. “Fine,” she spat. “I was going to ask Dad. Happy now?”

  Niko looked at her incredulously. “Dad? You were going to ask Dad?”

  “Well, we don’t exactly have a lot of options, Niko!” she cried. “It’s either ask Dad or a bunch of scary men come to the house, kidnap, and murder you!” He looked at the ceiling, shaking his head. “You know he’ll have the money,” Fiona quietly added.

  Their family had never been wealthy growing up, but their father, Nathan, had kept a decent paying job, despite his rampant alcoholism. A few years after Niko was born, Nathan’s two or three beers with dinner turned into a six-pack. And then into whiskey-Cokes. And then just whiskey.