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“I don’t need your voicemail, Yakov. I need you!” Mariya yells into the phone. “Akim Gustev isn’t at The Rouge Lounge like he said. He’s here. At our house. It was a trap!”
For a second, I’m terrified for Yakov and Nik.
Then I see the men in dark coats making their way across the front lawn towards the mansion, guns at the ready. And it hits me.
Yakov and Nik aren’t in a trap.
We are.
69
YAKOV
“Where the fuck is he?” I mutter just loud enough for the earpiece I’m wearing to pick up. “He’s supposed to be here, Nik.”
Nikandr’s voice is staticky through the headphones. “He should be here. He said he’d be here. I read it in the article and confirmed it with two other sources. Akim wanted to prove that security at his club is tight enough that he isn’t afraid to mingle with the patrons.”
“None of that changes the fact that Akim isn’t fucking here,” I growl.
I haven’t seen a single member of the Gustev Bratva since we climbed out of the car and walked up to the crowd of people gathered outside The Rouge Lounge. It’s been twenty minutes of milling around with influencers desperate to get the scoop on the newest hotspot and people who don’t exist except to be seen at the right place with the right people. It’s fucking nauseating.
The only way I’d put up with this is if I got to kill Akim once and for all at the end of it. But the coward hasn’t shown his face once.
“I didn’t say a word to anyone,” Nik says in my ear. “I told Oleg to tighten up security at the house, but that’s it. He doesn’t know why.”
“There’s no way our plan leaked,” I say mostly to myself.
“Maybe Akim changed his mind.”
“After making sure everyone in the city knew he’d be here? No way.” I scan the crowd again, looking for security guards or bouncers I recognize. But they’re nobodies. Civilians. “It’s an embarrassment. He looks scared. Why would he do this unless he…”
My voice drifts, an idea taking root in my brain.
“Yakov? You there?”
Akim told everyone who would listen exactly where he’d be standing tonight, down to the minute. It was like he was advertising his own execution. It was so easy that Nik and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, even with how quickly the plan needed to come together.
And Akim knew I wouldn’t be able to resist.
My veins fill with ice.
“Fuck!”
The girl next to me gasps and tucks into the chest of her boyfriend, who’s shirt is hanging open down to his belly button. I shove past both of them, a string of curse words pouring out of my mouth.
“Where are you going?” Nik asks. “What changed?”
“Everything changed,” I snap. “Get back to the car. Now!”
I can see Nikandr moving in my peripherals, his head bobbing above the crowd. But I break into a run.
“Yakov, what is happening?”
Shit, shit, shit.
“Setup,” I pant, running as fast as I can now. “It’s a fucking setup, Nik. Akim was never going to be here. He announced it because he knew we’d show up. He knew we’d leave Luna and Mariya at home alone.”
There’s a beat before Nik curses. He catches up to me, racing up the opposite side of the street towards the car. I can hear him breathing heavily in the earpiece. “Why would he do this? Why not go after us?”
