I force Polly behind me as I prepare to round the corner. Stupidly, I have my eyes on her when we turn. Which is why I don’t see the huge man looming directly in my path. I knock right into his hard chest and as I do, I have three distinct thoughts in quick succession.
I’ve failed Lev.
I’ve failed Polly.
How could I have failed so soon?
61
URI
Niko keeps scrolling through all the info Stepan has sent us. “Based on this location and the information we’ve dug up on Sobakin… this isn’t him.”
I grimace at the road as I drive. “Only Sobakin would have enough motive to try and take Lev. Who else would dare?”
“The Bugrov Bratva is powerful, brother. With our kind of reach and influence, the enemies come out of the woodwork.”
“It still could be Sobakin,” I say stubbornly. “He could have hired mercenaries. This might just be a ploy to cover his tracks and avoid retaliation so Lev’s abduction can’t be blamed on him.”
Nikolai purses his lips and keeps refreshing the laptop’s location. “Have you told the men where to meet us?”
That’s the second time he’s asked that question. I’m too stressed to be polite anymore. “I’ve already told you I have.”
Nikolai’s scowl gets darker. “You can’t blame me for checking. Your judgment hasn’t exactly been sound recently.”
“Say what you feel, brother,” I snarl. “Don’t hold back.”
His face screws up even more. “You want to know what I think? Fine. Lev would never have been taken if it weren’t for your obsession with this girl. You should never have moved her into the house, much less the basement.”
I open my mouth to argue—but then I realize I don’t have an argument to make.
He’s completely right.
I made an error in judgment by bringing Alyssa into my home and exposing her to my family, my world, my enemies. I turned a blind eye to her budding relationships with both Polina and Lev because it seemed to be helping all of them. But that was a mistake on my part.
“I just never pegged you for the type of man who could be so easily turned by a pretty face.”
She’s not just a pretty face. The thought comes unbidden and I try to push it away. It doesn’t matter at the end of the day. So what if she’s different than the women I’ve been with before? So what if I can talk to her?
What does that matter if I can’t trust her?
“We’re gonna get Lev back,” I assure Nikolai through gritted teeth. “And once we do, Alyssa will be shipped off somewhere far away and we can all go back to our lives as they were.”
Nikolai doesn’t respond except to say, “We’re almost there.”
I park at the bottom of the hill and step out of the car. We check our equipment, then Nikolai and I walk up. He coordinates with my men. I can only brood on all the mistakes I made that brought us here.
“There’s the house,” Nikolai points out.
The house in question is a modest two-story building with an overgrown garden hugging the corner. If it wasn’t so neglected, it might have looked idyllic. As it stands, the red brick walls are crumbling and the grass is dying of thirst.
“I’ll take the left. You go right.”
Nikolai nods and pulls his gun out, then starts creeping in his direction, squads of Bratva men fanning out behind each of us. I head off the other way, weighing my gun in my hand. There was a time when it used to feel heavy against my palm. I was so aware that I was toting death. Now, it just feels like an extension of my hand. Part of me. Like violence fused right to my skin.
I can hear movement from around the back. It can’t be Nikolai; there’s no way he would have made the circuit so fast. Tensing instantly, I take the corner hard…
And someone smashes into me, completely blindsided by my presence.
I have to say: the feeling is mutual.
“Alyssa!” Two pairs of wide eyes stare up at me in shock. “Polly!”
“Oh, fuck,” Polly mutters. “We’re never gonna hear the end of this one.”
Alyssa holds up her hands and inserts herself directly in front of Polly. “Don’t yell at her. This was my idea.”
“I’m not going to yell at her,” I growl, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards my chest so that I can snap right in her face. “You are the fucking problem here. Do you ever just do what you’re told?”
“Seriously, Uri.” Polly scowls at me. “When did you become such a brute? Let go of her.”
I glare at my sister. “Aren’t you in enough trouble as it is? Do you really want to make this worse for yourself?”
Undaunted, she glares right back at me. “Are you trying to leave more bruises on her body? The ones on her neck just aren’t enough for you?”
“Polly,” Alyssa says softly, “it’s okay.”
Instinctively, I reach out and sweep the hair from around Alyssa’s neck. The bruises are bright and colorful—and horrifying. Because I know I’m the one that caused them.
Fuck me. Nothing is going to plan. No matter how hard I try, it all keeps spiraling right out of my hands.
I drop my arm. Alyssa backs away slowly, still keeping her body between mine and Polly’s. “Listen, I used my tablet to track my laptop. We figured that Lev would be in the same place. Polly tried to contact you and your brother but when you didn’t pick up, we decided to come ourselves.”
It’s a reasonable explanation—except for the part where she brought my fourteen-year-old sister along for the ride.
“I’ll take it from here.” I take a step towards Alyssa and bend down so that my nose is only an inch from hers. “Take my sister back home now. If you’re not there when I get back, I’ll assume you decided to go off-book. You will be outside my protection and your life will be yours to lose. Is that understood?”
She nods.
I pull up my gun and offer it to her. “Here. Take this. Use it if you have to.”
She doesn’t so much as blink, nor does she take the weapon in my grasp. But she does pull out another gun from the waistband of her jeans and dangles it in front of me. “Thanks, but I’ve got my own.” She turns and grabs Polly’s hand. “Come on, Polly, let’s go.”
What the fuck? Who is this woman?
There’s a newfound air of confidence rippling around Alyssa as she leads Polly away from the house. It’s almost enough to make me feel like she can handle this. That maybe, a part of her was made for this kind of life, with these kinds of stakes.
Nikolai comes around the corner just as Alyssa and Polly get to the slope. “What the fuck? Is that—”
“They decided to stage a rescue mission of their own. Now, they’re going back home.”
“My God, you really don’t have any control over her, do you?”
I have no idea which one he’s talking about. But at this point, I doubt it matters; he’s right either way. I have no control over either one of them.
“Text security back on the estate. Tell them to inform me the moment they get back home.”
“If they get back home,” Nikolai mumbles under his breath before he looks up at me. “We’ll deal with that later. I know where they’re holding Lev.”