Belov walks over, looking grimmer than I’ve ever seen him. Gina loosens her grip to look up at him. “Hi, Dad.”
“Gina, you should go home now.”
“I’m not leaving Dima.”
I’m not surprised in the slightest, and her dad doesn’t seem to be either. He just sighs and looks back at Liam and then at my bloody, swollen face.
“Another sparring session?” he asks, lifting his brow up at me and looking not even slightly amused.
“Something like that,” I say.
“What is this all about?” Paddy cuts in. “Why are you showing up at my club like this?”
Belov waves at the other officer to step forward. “We came here to arrest you.” Belov looks down at Liam who is just now starting to come to. “And him.”
“Arrest us?” Paddy asks. He forces a laugh, but his face has gone deathly pale, and it’s obvious he’s scared shitless. “What the fuck for?”
“For the murder of Jimmy Mulligan.”
“I didn’t kill Jimmy. You don’t have shit on me.”
The officer cuffs Paddy and reads him his rights while Liam slowly gets to his feet. His right eye is swollen shut, and his nose is still bleeding freely. Both of us are going to be walking around with bruised and cut faces, but he definitely got the worst of it.
He points a glove at me and yells at Belov. “Arrest him, too.”
“Oh, yeah? For what?”
“Assault. I want to press charges.”
Nikolai lets out a harsh laugh. “Nice try, Liam. There’s a roomful of witnesses that will testify it was a friendly sparring match that went a little too far when you threatened to hurt his girlfriend.”
“You threatened my daughter?” Belov asks. He may be older than Liam and way out of shape, but Liam cowers a bit at the harsh tone and drops his eyes when Belov steps closer to him. “I’ll deal with you later, Liam. I can only handle so much shit at once, and I’m about at my limit for the day.”
One of the other officers cuffs Liam, and when the ring is empty except us, Belov shouts at the other cops by the door, “Get names and phone numbers of everyone and let them go.”
Turning back to us, he lets out a sigh when he spots Jamie who’s half hidden by Aleksei.
“Hi, Mr. Belov,” she says, giving an awkward wave.
He sees the way Aleksei’s arms are wrapped around her waist. “Good grief, not you too, Jamie.”
“They’re really not bad guys, Mr. Belov. I promise.” Her voice comes out in a rush, and then it’s like she can’t stop now that she’s started. “And Liam had it coming to him. He hurt Gina, so Dima was just teaching them a lesson.”
“He hurt Gina?”
Belov looks down at Gina, his eyes softening when the full meaning of Jamie’s words hits him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to use it as another reason for me not to see Dima. If I told you I was seeing Dima and that Liam and Sean met me after work and hurt me, what do you think you would’ve said?”
I’ve never seen Belov look so uncertain of himself. Gina turns so her back is pressed up against me. “We both know exactly what you would’ve said and done, and that’s why I didn’t say anything.”
“If it makes you feel better,” I say, “she did not tell me either.”
His face clearly shows that it does not make him feel better. He scrubs a hand over his face in frustration and lets out a heavy sigh. “Okay, everyone leave except Gina and Dmitri.”
Nikolai hesitates and asks me in Russian, “Do you want me to stay?”
Gina lets out a small gasp when her dad answers in Russian. “He’ll be fine. Just get the hell out of here. I need to speak to my daughter and her boyfriend alone.”