Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 57121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
“Where?” he snarls.
“I’ll go to the townhouse, okay? Just let me pass.”
“I have to arrange a car.”
“Fine,” I say. “Then let’s just sit in silence and wait.”
I return to the armchair, folding my arms, purposefully not looking at him. I can’t shake the feeling that I know him, on some level that goes beyond… facts. That doesn’t make any sense, does it? But when we’re together, I feel like I see a part of him he doesn’t show anybody else.
My phone vibrates. I check it to see if it’s Mom. When I see his name, I look up, smiling despite myself. I quickly push it away.
Maksim: Does this count as silence?
Lia: You’re very good at being a jerk. Has anybody ever told you that?
Maksim: Nobody who mattered. Until now.
Lia: You can’t just send some cute texts and make everything okay.
Maksim: Cute? Now, that is a first.
I can feel him watching me, so I do my best not to smile. I can’t believe how easily he makes me feel the breadth of human emotion all at once. Sad, angry, resentful, excited, longing, and hopeful all at the same time.
Lia: I still haven’t made up my mind about you. I still haven’t decided what happens when Mom and I are safe.
Maksim: I made up my mind the second I woke in the hospital and saw your face. You don’t want to hear that, I know, but it’s the truth. I made up my mind that you were the only woman who ever made me feel a damn thing. If this ends with you hating me, that will never change. I’ll always cherish your memory. I’ll always be changed by you.
Warmth spills through me.
Lia: I could never hate you.
I type, but then I delete the message and put my phone in my pocket.
We can’t hide behind the shield of texting forever.
“Why did they kill him?” I say, looking him in the eye, keeping my voice steady.
He swallows. He knows he can’t flirt his way out of this one. “To keep him quiet.”
“They thought you’d torture him to make him talk?”
He looks disgusted. “No, Lia. They knew we’d protect him. That we’d offer him a way out. They knew we’d pay his debts, so he didn’t have to work for scum like them.”
“So, Conrad Vale is a gangster too?”
“Conrad Vale is a businessman in over his head. He hired someone to do this. And he’s going to pay for it.”
Soon, my car is here. Maksim doesn’t try to kiss me at the door.
I don’t know whether I’m relieved or disappointed.
In the car, I get another text.
Maksim: I will never lie to you again. For better or for worse.
I put my phone in my pocket. Take it out again. Hesitate… then react with a heart emoji.
I know I’m sending mixed signals to him, but they’re nothing compared to the clashing signals in my heart.
CHAPTER 22
MAKSIM
“You know who did this,” Anton says, sparking the jumper cables as he stands over the three men. They’re part of a little gang, pups who think they’re wolves. A two-day-long hunt, involving street work and digital investigation, led us to them.
The men look up at Anton, fear in their eyes, but something more vicious too. Desperate. I’m trying to puzzle it out. They look scared… but not of us, necessarily. Maybe Conrad has some dirt on them. Maybe that’s why they agreed to kill Daniel Mercer… and maybe that’s why they’re not going to talk, no matter what we do.
“Easy or hard,” Anton says. “You pick.”
They pick hard.
I sit in shadow, nursing a glass of whiskey. My mood is foul. Two days without any contact with Lia. It shouldn’t make me feel so lost, but it does. I didn’t realize how important it was to see her, hold her, feeling human with her.
As the men scream and panic, I force myself to watch. This is who I am. The Bratva king. The Bratva beast. This is who I have to be.
Anton stops. Nikolai paces up and down behind them, his gun in his hand.
One of the men spits. “If… if…” He catches his breath. “If they had your secrets, Russian, don’t you think he would’ve used them by now? One half of a password doesn’t mean anything!”
I stand, emerging from the shadows. Their eyes widen to saucers as they stare up at me. As they stare up at the devil.
This is about more than the password for me, but I can’t voice that in this room. This is about the fact Vale sent men after Lia in the parking lot at her workplace.
“If it meant nothing,” I snap. “He wouldn’t have worked so hard to get it.”
“Data,” Anton grunts, sparking the cables again. “Too complicated. This is easier.”
Nikolai and I exchange a look as Anton does his work. Neither of us likes this. We prefer fair fighting. There’s no sport in this. But these bastards were seen dragging a broken young man into that rundown apartment complex. Witnesses saw them enter with Daniel and leave without him. They tortured and killed that boy and would’ve continued if the Bratva hadn’t got them.