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“Another team in your ear?” Alyona asked while lowering her arms. “Always prepared.”
“They’re clear, boss,” Easton said, returning next to me.
We still needed to move to a new location, and soon, in case Alyona had been careless and followed.
“What do you really want with Diana?” Was Alyona attempting to lure me into agreeing with her? That wouldn’t be happening. “This isn’t just about her mother setting you up for Rebecca’s murder, is it?”
“Wait, what?” Diana’s words, and her small gasp, pulled my attention to her just as her headphones fell around her neck.
“You didn’t tell her?” Alyona’s soft tone didn’t last long, and the sting of bitterness at her situation cut through her teeth. “He believes your mother is responsible for the international headlines blaming him for murdering his wife.”
This was an obvious crushing blow to Diana’s already fragile state. She could only take so much, and we didn’t have time to dive into this now.
“Your mother is why he’s not only a wanted man, but his face is being broadcast all over the world,” Alyona said, cutting into Diana even deeper that time.
Diana dropped the MP3 player and it tumbled alongside Dallas’s paws. He howled and sat taller, bopping his nose into her leg as she stood.
I patted the air, needing to calm the waters before things escalated and I needed to do something rash to settle her down. Physical contact. Oxytocin. Skin on skin. The fact those thoughts had pushed through my mind at a time like this . . . I needed to get my own shit together, never mind Diana losing hers. “It’s okay, I promise.” My acting skills were subpar, but at least Diana surrendered a small nod. No evidence of trembling, which was another good sign.
“I’ve never seen you patient like this with anyone before.” Alyona tossed the burner phone back to her armed guard. “You clearly lied to me about why you wanted her.” She made a clucking sound with her tongue before calling me out, “You wanted to save her.”
Doing my best to mask my irritation at how this situation was unfolding, realizing hand-to-hand combat with Alyona’s men would’ve been preferable to this conversation, I jutted my chin and hissed the truth, “If Diana winds up in the wrong hands, your parents and sister are in danger regardless.”
“How so?” Alyona didn’t cower back when I towered over her, boldly locking eyes with me while waiting for answers.
“I can’t tell you more, but your parents live in Germany and your sister is in the U.S.” According to what I’d seen on the blackmail screenshots, at least. “Both are potential targets for an attack. Not just a city. The whole fucking country.”
Germany was one of the countries partnered on the project, which meant Germans were potentially at risk from an attack, too. But I didn’t need to reveal more details to Alyona than I already had.
“You know me. I’m not lying.” I set a hand to my chest, feeling the crucifix under my shirt beneath my palm. “So, what’s it going to be? Are you helping us take down the bastard who’s threatening you, or are you going to fight me instead?”
“You have twelve hours to convince me working alongside you is better than going up against you. After that, I skip to my next plan.” Alyona shook her head, then brought her wrist to her mouth and ordered, “Stand down. Do not engage.”
I covered my left ear to listen to Gray as he announced, “They’re packing up into their two SUVs and holding position.”
“Roger that,” I told Gray. “We need to exfil within thirty in case they had a tail.”
“Agree. Prepping the team now,” Gray answered.
“Be in touch soon,” I said, then muted my comm and redirected my attention to Alyona. “I assume you’ve already tried to track the blackmailer down through the emails they sent, and you came up empty?”
“My people hit a wall of encryption they couldn’t crack. We had a short window, so we moved to the alternate plan in tracking you down,” she responded.
“Looks like we’re in contingency territory now,” Easton spoke up.
“We have people who can get past the layers of encryption.” If not Sydney, then Gwen.
“So, what do we do now?” Diana asked, drawing my focus. She was still standing, stroking Dallas’s head as she visibly held her ground.
“First step is to not kill each other in the next twelve hours.” Alyona approached Diana, and Griffin took a protective step forward right along with Dallas. “You’re the person endangering my business and family. I’ll work with you, but I don’t like you.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t like you either.” Diana frowned, then chucked the headphones onto the chair and sidestepped Alyona. “If you’ll excuse me . . .”
“Where are you going?” Unable to stop myself, I gently took hold of Diana’s arm, worried about her being alone with Alyona’s armed men there.
“I need a minute to think.” At Diana’s words, I shook my head no.
“You can have that minute, but it won’t be alone.” Still keeping hold of her, I told Griffin, “We roll out soon. Keep an eye on them for me.”
