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“You should be,” I assure him. “I’m capable of some pretty terrible things. I’m not known for my mercy. I’m known for keeping men alive for days at a time, peeling their skin away piece by piece until there is nothing left.”
He pales, eyes rounding in fear. Now I am getting somewhere.
“Tell me who hired you and I promise to make it quick.”
“You already know who it is.” He smirks. “You’re just too blind to see it.”
“Who is it?” I roar at him, anger tightening my features. “Who the hell paid you from my own accounts?”
“Maybe you should look deeper into who you allowed in your home, Volkov,” he laughs. “Strife and discord have been following you for a very long time. Revenge is best waited out and I’ve had mine. Now it’s time for them to get theirs.”
“Who?” I snarl. “Who wants revenge on me?”
He furrows his brow, but his smirk deepens. “You?” Another laugh. Who says they want revenge on you? Sometimes you’re the king Volkov, but other times you’re just the pawn like everyone else.”
“Who are they after.”
“You place chess, right?” His normal eye brightens slightly, and he shifts his body to gain better purchase. “Tell me. What is the most sought-after piece on the board?” He opens his mouth wide before slamming it shut. Fuck. I hear the cracking of porcelain but it’s too late. Luan’s body seizes as foam crawls out from between his lips.
Cyanide capsule.
“Dammit,” I hiss as I turn away and stalk from the building. I can hear Sasha behind me, mirroring my footsteps. “Fuck. We need to get back to the house.”
“What’s going on?” he asks as he slides into the driver’s seat. “Why did he ask you what the most sought-after piece on the board is?”
“He’s telling me who E-Ris is going after.”
“How do you know that?”
I dial Vanya’s new phone, but it goes straight to voicemail.
“Because the most sought-after piece is the Queen and that is exactly what Vanya is.”
My queen.
Twenty-Nine
Sasha had dropped me off hours ago to meet up with Adrian. Something about getting answers from the sniper.
Who also happens to be the hitman who took out my family.
At first, I was miffed that he didn’t ask if I wanted to be included in torturing the motherfucker who killed my family, but the longer I was left to stew in my anger the more I came to realize that I am glad he didn’t. I’m not ready to have blood on my hands.
Not yet anyway.
I’m saving it for the main event. The one who ordered the hit. The pieces are slowly coming together on the board. The pawns are slowly being pushed off the board to reveal the true puppet master behind the intricate moves.
Cora’s case files are spread out before me on the bed in chronological order. Svetlana had managed to acquire them from one of the detectives on her payroll. He’d faxed them over to her within minutes. My father had led me to believe that she had died in a car accident on her way to pick up Ada from wherever my father had stashed her.
I was fifteen at the time and I knew better than to question him. It wasn’t something I’d think him to lie about. But I also wasn’t aware of the depths of his depravity. Ada’s mother had been my father’s captive. He’d made her into a prostitute. An unwilling whore for his men who were willing to pay top dollar for a piece of the Albanian mafia queen’s pussy.
She’d been his prisoner. Hooked on drugs and god knows what else. Then she became pregnant with Ada. My father placed her in rehab, she gave birth, and then spent the next few years as a maid in one of my father’s hotels. Twelve years later, Cora came to live at the mansion and Ada became my playmate.
Why wait all that time?
I think back to that time but it’s mostly blank. I’d been ten and still naïve to the twist of cruelty fate had dealt me when it came to parentage. What had happened that year to make him bring them to live with us? Why had he never recognized Ada as his child?
The coroner's report is heavy in my hand. Tears gather at the edge of my vision as I read it.
