Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 56608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“It’s okay,” Ania whispers, which makes me realize I’m crying. I didn’t plan on letting out all this pain, but it just spills out of me. I turn and push my face against her chest, accepting her arms as she wraps them around me.
“Hush,” Ania goes on. “Everything’s going to be just fine.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
When I try to pull away from her, Ania hugs me tighter, pulling me against her. It’s like she knows I want to hide my pain, and she doesn’t want to let me.
“You can’t run from your pain forever.”
“You don’t even know why I’m crying.”
“Maybe you feel alone. Maybe you feel lost. Maybe you’re overwhelmed. It doesn’t matter. You’re allowed to cry.”
She doesn’t know how badly I need to hear that, even if I never would’ve admitted it and couldn’t admit it now.
“Thank you,” I say after a pause.
CHAPTER 17
DIMITRI
“What do you mean, use her?” I grunt as I drive back through the city.
The sun is almost rising again. It’s been a busy night. After I managed to put my knife to work with Artyom, I had to get his body to my car quickly and get rid of him. It took a long time, and it’s not something I relished, but what choice did I have? I’d kill a hundred more men to keep Lia safe.
“The bird sang,” Mikhail says, sounding sick. “Nikolai must’ve seen you and Lia together. He had men following you. He thinks you’re in love with her, not his daughter.”
“I’m not in love with his daughter,” I say gruffly as if it even needs to be said.
“Yeah, no shit.”
“What did you mean, though, use Lia?” I grunt.
“Nikolai is expecting her. What if we asked her to pretend to go along with it and then sprung the trap?”
“No damn way,” I growl. “We’re not putting her at risk.”
“We can’t let Nikolai keep going. Next time he tries to hit you, maybe he’ll be successful. How long can you ignore Sokolov Securities before things become suspicious?”
“The PR team has put out the word that I’m mourning our father. At least the prick has come in useful for something.”
“Still,” he says, “we need to think about ending this and ending it fast.”
“I’m not putting Lia in danger,” I tell him. “Think of something else.”
“They’ve got Mila’s brother.”
“Who, his father?”
“Don’t be cute, Dimitri,” Mikhail says, the only man I can think of who’d ever call me cute. “Nikolai is not a good man. We can’t let him keep the kid.”
“Mikhail, if Nikolai wins, he’ll torture this whole city. He’ll kidnap countless kids. He’ll do so much evil shit, even we won’t be able to believe it.”
“That’s saying a lot,” he mutters, a note of darkness in his voice, “but you’re proving my point, too. We must stop him, or the world will get very bad quickly. So, let’s stop him together.”
“Not with Lia.” After a pause, I say, “While I’m away, try to keep an eye on Mila too.”
“What do you mean?”
“What do I mean?” I snarl. “She could’ve gotten Lia killed. She—”
“Do you have any idea how terrified she is of her dad, bro?” Mikhail snaps. He’s a good man—he’s always been better than me. Always been more in touch with his emotions. Always been more forgiving. “And even then, in the end, she did the right thing. She’s not proud of what she did.”
“Proud or not, we can’t risk it happening again. Can you keep an eye on her, or shall I ask Ania to do it?”
“Ania?”
“She’s the only other person I know I can trust without a shadow of a doubt.”
“I’m just saying—”
Now it’s my turn to interrupt. “Are you saying it’s impossible for Mila to betray us again? I know she’s helping with the computer stuff, but that doesn’t mean you know her.”
“I never said I knew her,” he growls. “But when I look at her, I see a scared—but brave—woman doing her best.”
“Then keeping an eye on her shouldn’t be such a big goddamn deal.”
After a pause, he says, “Brother, I don’t like that tone.”
I grit my teeth. People might think Mikhail is just some computer dork, but making that assumption would be a big, big mistake. “Fair enough. But I need to know.”
“I’ll watch her,” he says. “Nothing like this will happen again.”
“Good, thank you. How’s our friend doing?”
Mikhail still sounds pissed, but he answers my question. “In storage, just in case we need to use him.” Mikhail pauses. “At least we know pretty much all of them are loyal to us now.”
That is a silver lining, though I meant what I said about Ania. She’s the only one we can really trust. And Lia, though I can’t explain that to him. Or myself. “It turns out Father dearest couldn’t twist as many as he hoped,” I say, nodding. “That just means Nikolai will try finding other ways to win.”