Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
When he steps back, I seize my chance and close the door. Tears start sliding down my cheeks, hot and unwelcome. I push my ear against the door, listening.
“Mila,” Mikhail says, and I quickly turn the lock. “We’ll get Drake back. We will. I promise.”
He stays there for a few minutes, and then I hear his footsteps move away. After another minute, the door to the en suite opens. The man emerges, aiming his pistol at me. “We’re going to wait here a while,” he says, “until everyone is asleep. Then you’ll walk to the other house and tell Lia you need her help.”
“With what?”
“I don’t care. Tell her the truth if you want. You’re scared for your brother. As long as you can get her out of the bedroom quietly, I’ve got everything I need to keep her quiet after that.”
“You can’t hurt her,” I whisper.
“Can’t?” the man laughs meanly. “Mila Petrov, you clearly don’t understand the world you’re in. You clearly don’t remember where you grew up or who you grew up with. There’s no such thing as can’t for us, but let’s say you take a stand. Let’s say you tell me no. All it takes is one phone call to Nikolai, and you’ll never see your little brother again.”
CHAPTER 12
MIKHAIL
In my bedroom, I lie down and stare at the ceiling, too wired to sleep. Instincts war inside of me. Some of them yell I should be with my brother, while others tell me to find Mila and convince her to speak to me about her agony and stress. Yet why should she? We’re strangers. I should let go if she wants to cry alone in her room.
She looked at me like I was a monster when she saw me carrying Ania. For a split second, she thought she’d kissed and been intimate with a woman killer. It makes me sick.
Standing up, I pace the floor, rolling my shoulders like I’m getting ready for a fight. There’s too much tension in me. I need my lady. I need—
“Help! Help!”
A female voice screams in the night. It’s coming from the other house. Is it Mila? I’m not sure. It could be, and that’s all that matters.
“The second house! There’s a man here with a gun!”
Immediately, I spring to my feet, rushing through the mansion, taking the stairs three at a time as I sprint for the front door. As I run onto the compound’s grounds, I see strong flashlights zigzagging as the guards holding them sprint for the house. By the time I reach the porch, Denis and another Sokolov are dragging a man I recognize from the front door. His feet trail between the two men, his head hanging low.
“What happened?” I ask Denis.
He hesitates, and then I growl, “WHAT HAPPENED?!?!”
“Mila’s always going to be a Petrov,” the man says.
“Yevgeny,” I say, remembering the man as one of our own or what I thought was one of our loyal men. “Is that your real name, friend?”
The man sneers at me. “You think I’m going to speak with you, dork?”
I grind my teeth, the blood in my veins pounding deep in my ears. “Take him underground. I’m going to have a conversation with him very soon.”
Denis gives me a bleak look. He knows that underground means the cells and that a conversation means doing whatever it takes to get this rat to talk.
“I can handle that, sir, if you like—”
“No.” I keep my gaze fixated on the asshole, a storm brewing deep in my mind, a movie reel playing of all the ways this could’ve gone wrong. “Is Lia okay?”
“Yes, sir, they both are.”
“Both?”
Since we’re at Lia’s house, I assumed that this was about just her. Mainly because I’m almost sure I would’ve recognized Mila’s voice if she was the one screaming about the gun and for help.
“Mila and Lia, yes, sir.”
I nod, pushing past them. When I’m out of their sight, I break into a run, knowing I’d never be able to be the same person if something happened to Mila. I’d never be able to look at the world, my work, or the Bratva in the same way. I run into the room, pausing when I see Mila standing there with her hands across her middle, her eyes glistening, staring at the floor.
My savage, protective impulses almost send me running across the room to Mila’s side. I want to sweep her into my arms and hold her close, tell her I’d never let anybody hurt her. Then I remember Lia. What if she tells Dimitri? I’m not sure how my brother would react to this extra complication. If he told me to stop, I know I wouldn’t be able to.
It could start a war with my own brother. That’s why I try to push this down and hide it. I attempt to look at Lia as well. “Are you both okay?”