Perfect Sinner by Maggie Cole

17

Nolan

Neither of my brothers,Liam or Finn, answered their phones. Maksim is the first person I turned to when none of them responded to my calls. Normally, I'd go to Darragh with this, but after he disapproved of how Killian and I handled the pub incident, I'm not taking any chances.

Before I called Maksim, I didn't even know the thug my cousins caught was the guy who'd been stalking and harassing Gemma. Now that I know this, I'm even more grateful Maksim is here. I initially called him to help me keep the guy alive long enough to find out information on Orla's whereabouts. I didn't trust myself not to kill him within the first five minutes. He was only in my neighborhood to watch Gemma and do God knows what to her. Now that I'm aware he's the guy who spent months threatening her, the war raging in my belly is tenfold.

"I need you to make sure I don't kill him too soon," I admit, taking deep breaths.

Maksim flings his blade across the rectangle stone, sharpening it. His Russian accent fills the car. "I will. He was by himself?"

"Tiernan swears no one else was around."

Maksim sets his knife down and holds out his hand. "Give me your knife."

I take it out of my pocket and pass it to him. He repeats the same movements. "You've been drinking a lot today?"

Memories of laughing and feeling stress-free with Gemma seem like longer than only a few hours ago. "Gemma and I were in Longdale at Miguel's."

Maksim stops sharpening my blade. His icy-blue eyes meet mine. "Lunchtime margaritas?"

"Yep. You're familiar?"

He chuckles. "Aspen's a big fan. How many did you have?"

I shrug. "Not sure. Three? Maybe four? Possibly five. But I'm sober enough to kill this motherfucker now."

Maksim arches an eyebrow. "You smell like you took a shower in tequila. No matter how sober you think you are, you aren't."

"I'm fine," I assure him.

"You said you're ready to kill."

"I am."

Maksim sniffs hard. "Thought the goal was to torture him and get information? Make him suffer as long as possible and once he has nothing left to tell us, then kill him?"

"It is," I claim.

Maksim returns to sharpening the knife. "Then make sure you keep that in mind at all times. If you don't, you'll cut too deep, and he'll bleed to death too fast."

"I have done this before," I remind him.

Maksim snorts. "How many times have you done this after lunchtime margaritas?"

I scrub my face. "None."

Maksim hands me the knife back. "All right. If I say stop, you freeze. If I tell you to back off and let me take over, you don't question it. Understand?"

"Fine. You're in charge," I grumble.

He smiles. "Let's get this done quickly. Hopefully, we'll get the call soon about the baby."

I glance at my phone to double-check Boris hasn't texted, but there's no message. I say, "Darragh thinks it's a girl. Let's hope if it is, she looks like Nora."

"An O'Malley-Ivanov. What has the world come to," he mutters.

I grunt. "No shit. I can't wait to see her though."

His eyes light up. "Agreed. It'll be nice to have something good happen with all this going on."

Maybe it's the alcohol, or the fact I've always been able to say whatever to Maksim, but I admit, "I was having such a good time with Gemma before we pulled into the driveway."

His face hardens. "These interruptions to everyday life seem to be getting more frequent. Before Aspen, it was never this intense. Now that I have her, it seems there are so many more threats."

"Yeah. It's getting worse."

He studies me then asks, "Is Gemma your light?"

A lump grows in my throat. The feeling in my chest I keep getting that I can't explain pops up. I swallow hard.

"What do you mean?"

Maksim's steel gaze drills into mine. "Lately, I always wonder how I would get through it all if I didn't have Aspen. She makes the darkness disappear for me. At least until the next thing arises. It seems like something is going on between you and Gemma, so I'm wondering if she's your light."

I glance out the window at the passing Chicago skyline. "I don't know what's going on between Gemma and me. It's complicated."

Maksim huffs. "If it were simple, you should run."

I turn to him. "Why is that?"

He arches an eyebrow. "If it were too easy, she wouldn't be challenging you. You can't be a better man if your woman doesn't put you in your place every now and then."

I groan. "Don't worry. Gemma knows exactly how to push my buttons."

The car stops, and Maksim shuts his knife. "Sounds like a keeper to me." His face turns solemn. "Remember, I say stop, you don't move. I say back off, you let me take over."

I sigh. "You're taking all the fun out of this."

"You'll thank me later." He opens the door and gets out. I follow, and the driver leaves. We step into the garage and go to the back room.

Tiernan and Bodgen, Maksim's younger cousin, are both in the back. The moment Maksim agreed to let me use the garage and come with me, he had Tiernan pick Bogden up before bringing Orla's thug to the garage.

"What's his name?" I ask, assessing the naked man. His arms and ankles are tied with ropes and stretched as far as possible.

Tiernan's voice turns cold. "Rafferty Bailey. Third cousin to Orla. He came to the United States a few years ago."

Bogden steps in front of him and tilts his head. His Russian accent fills the room. "I've seen you before, haven't I?"

Rafferty scowls and says nothing.

I ask, "Where have you seen him?"

Bogden takes his knife out. "Let's be clear on how this is going to go. We ask questions, and you answer." He holds the blade at Rafferty's neck with the point on his Adam's apple. "Tell them where I've seen you."

"Go fuck yourself," Rafferty replies in a thick Irish accent.

Bogden tsks and slowly slices a line under his eye to his jaw.

Rafferty attempts not to scream, but his breathing picks up. Sweat pops out on his skin.

Bogden makes a cross on his chest at the same slow speed as the last cut. "I was coming out of Boris and Nora's building. You were in the lobby cafe, acting like you were reading a paper and lived there. But you don't belong in that building, do you?"

Short whimpers come out of Rafferty's mouth. He closes his eyes.

Maksim steps behind him and growls in his ear, "Why were you in my brother's building?"

Rafferty continues his silence, and piss drips down his leg. His body trembles.

Maksim places his knife on his spine. "Three...two...one—"

Rafferty cries out, "The baby! She wanted me to get the baby."

Chills fill my body. I lunge in front of him, pushing Bogden aside. I squeeze his throat and bark, "What did you say?"

He coughs, and his face turns red. I relax my hand slightly, and he scrunches his face. "Orla wants the baby."

Maksim leans into his ear. His voice turns colder. "And you were going to kidnap her?"

Rafferty closes his eyes and swallows hard.

"Where is Orla?" I demand.

"I don't know," he claims.

"Liar!" I yell, squeezing his throat tighter.

"Nolan, take a step back," Maksim commands.

But I don't. I can't. Something in me snaps. He stalked and threatened Gemma. He plotted to kidnap Nora's baby.

I scream in his face, "Where is Orla?"

His face turns purple as he gasps for air.

"Nolan!" Maksim shouts then pushes me.

I release Rafferty, breathing hard, and pull out my knife. I open it and hold it against his balls. "You're going to tell me right now where she is. If you don't, I'm going to—"

His eyes roll, and foam runs out of his mouth. His entire body violently convulses.

"Fuck!" Maksim mutters.

"What's happening?" Tiernan asks.

"He's having a heart attack or seizure, maybe both," Maksim replies.

I grab his neck again, completely out of control with rage leading my actions. I roar, "Where is Orla?"

Maksim claims, "You're wasting your energy. He's probably got less than a minute left."

Darragh's voice pops into my mind. If he only has a minute left, make it painful.

I stab my knife all over his body, as if it could somehow give me the information I need or make all the bad shit disappear. Blood flies all over the place. I get lost in a violent trance.

Maksim pushes me away, bellowing, "That's enough!"

I struggle to find oxygen and wipe my forearm over my blood-spattered face. Maksim's eyes are two slits. He calmly says, "He's dead."

I glance over his shoulder at Rafferty's corpse. His eyes are frozen open. Foam and blood cover his body, pooling at his feet, mixing with his piss. "Fuck!" I drop my knife on the ground, angry we didn't get any information about where Orla is hiding.

Maksim picks up my knife. He addresses Bogden and Tiernan. "Clean it up." He turns back to me. "Shower. Now."

I glance down at my clothes, frozen, wondering what Orla will do next to come after Gemma or Nora's baby.

"Nolan," Maksim snaps.

I look at him.

"Shower. Now," he repeats.

I close my eyes then open them and strip. I go into the bathroom and stand under the hot shower. Blood swirls down the drain. When the water runs clear, I finally pick up the soap and begin to scrub my body. After I shampoo twice, I put my forearm on the cold tile and rest my forehead against it.

Sean's voice fills my ears. "The Baileys are coming for you. Watch your back."

I gaze around the small space. Sean is nowhere, of course, but I hear it again.

"The Baileys are coming for you. Watch your back."

I swallow down the emotions crawling up my throat and turn off the water. I dry off and step out of the bathroom.

Maksim studies me a moment then nods to the shelf. "Get some clothes on. Have a seat. I'll be out soon."

I follow his instructions, getting changed and sitting at the desk. My knife is so clean, it looks brand new. I shut the blade and put it in my pocket. Then I pick up my phone and check to see if Boris called, but there's nothing. Gemma's cell is in my house, so I can't even call her. Not that I know what I would say. My heart races. I cover my face and breathe into my hands.

Maksim comes into the room, grabs clothes, and puts them on. He picks up his personal items. "Let's go."

I follow him outside. His driver is waiting, and we get in the car. My head is spinning with worry and fear. I'm unsure how I lost so much control, and I'm also embarrassed. Maksim told me to obey his orders, and I didn't. It's his garage. He did me a favor letting me bring Rafferty on his turf.

Maksim rolls down the divider window. "St. Joseph's then Club Seventy-Six."

I turn. "Why are we going to Club Seventy-Six?"

He raises his eyebrows. "Boris needs to know. Then, you need a drink."

"Pretty sure I've had enough today," I mutter.

Maksim grunts. "You can't go home to Gemma like this. Tonight, we drink vodka."