Maybe that was the plan all along.
And honestly? I’m not even sure which one I’d prefer anymore.
The rag in my mouth is taped in place, glued to my face with blood and spit. My jaw’s locking, aching so deep it buzzes through my skull. The metal around my wrists is cutting now—I can feel the trickle of blood pooling in the seat of my palms, and the chair beneath me creaks with every breath.
I can’t move. I can’t speak. All I can do is listen.
And wait.
Then—
Footsteps.
Not here. Below.
The floor beneath me.
I tense. My entire body locks down.
My head is angled perfectly to face the space below—whether I want to or not—and something inside me already knows... I’m about to witness something I won’t survive.
“The Italians found the place. We should take everything and leave,” a voice says from the floor below. I can’t see his face.The shadows are thick. But the fear in his voice is louder than anything.
Then Ivan’s voice chimes in. His voice like frost cracking stone.
“Not yet. They played Fedor for years. I won’t be played. And I have the perfect chance to show them—I'm the real nightmare they should’ve feared all along.”
His voice slithers into my veins like poison.
“Ivan... you’re not from New York. You don’t know the rumors…” the other man says, and I can hear it—he’s already regretting speaking.
“I don’t give a damn about rumors,” Ivan snaps. “I deal in facts. And I’m not handing over two centuries of Fedor’s work on this drug to their capo’s joke of a son in brand shoes. Let him barge in—I want him to. I’ll show him what survival really means.”
His laugh crawls up my spine and nests in my skull.
Malec is here.
And God help me, for the first time in what feels like forever—I should be terrified after what I saw in that alley.
But I’m not.
Because knowing he’s close?
I can finally breathe.
“Before he gets to this side of the building…” Ivan’s voice drips with venom, “bring her here. I’m going to kill two birds with one stone.”
A pause. Too long.
“She’s already here,” the other man says.
Who—
My eyes dart frantically, stretching as far as the chains allow. My chest tightens. My breath shortens.
No.
I see her.
