Killing Walter didn’t satisfy me. Gunter was the problem; he was close to Iker. And Iker chose to come at me sideways instead of walking through the front door like a man with actual confidence.
All he needed to do was approach me and make a deal. He wanted Inna and her family, and I needed Zachary. But he decided to come at me with his chest out, which told me he didn’t know I was already a step ahead.
He didn’t know I knew it was him. So we would play. I would let it run as long as it needed to run. Inna would stay as my wife until I got what I wanted or until I burned his entire operation to the ground. Both were options I was comfortable with.
My phone rang. I dropped the cigar and crushed it out under my shoe. Walking out of the room, I answered Akim.
“What?”
“There is a black Nissan across the street. Someone iswatching.” Akim reported.
My men were already moving through the house, cleaning the mess. I walked past them to the car they brought and opened the door.
The houses in the neighborhood sat close together, worn at the edges, a place where poverty described them easily.
I slid into the driver’s seat and looked at Inna in the passenger seat. She was fast asleep.
My eyes moved and found the car, the window slid up just a fraction too late.
“Track it. I have dinner to get to.”
“Yes, boss.”
“I want the motorcycle at the mansion.” I started the engine and drove off. “And find me Gunter’s location. I’ll need it tonight.”
After the dinner, Gunter was next. Iker needed to feel something before the night was over.
I glanced at Inna again. She was still wearing the dress she was trying on when they took her. My grip tightened on the wheel as I sped up.
A year ago, if anyone asked me to name the weakest man I knew, I would have said Rodion. I remembered the day I pressed a gun to his wife’s head and watched a man who never bent for anyone in his life bend right in front of me. I pitied him that day, yet here I was, acting as if I were possessed.
The plan was simple: let Iker come for Inna, then use her as the exchange point to get to Zachary. Nothing personal.
Except I was sitting here with my jaw tight because someone touched a woman I kept telling myself was temporary. The feeling wasn’t of a man running a clean operation.
There was this specific disorder that Inna introduced into every calculation I made. Nothing moved the way I planned it when she was anywhere inside the equation.
I stopped the car on the private road leading up to my beach mansion. The ocean stretched as the sun dropped into it, orange bleeding into the water at the horizon line.
I got out and pulled another cigar. Leaning against the car, I smoked, giving my wife time to get the sleep she needed.
Chapter Sixteen
Inna Grace
I gasped awake and presseda hand to my head before my eyes fully opened. The throbbing wasn’t from bad sleep or a hard pillow. I massaged my temple and waited for the world to stop moving, then looked around. I was in a car.
The panic came in fast, and I became alert. Scanning around, I found nothing that told me where I was, but there was a figure leaning against the front of the car, smoke curling above him. The sun was setting ahead of him, burning him into a silhouette. I couldn’t see him well. But I didn’t need to be told to run.
Looking at myself, I was still wearing the dress from the boutique. The memory came back in fragments. A man walked into the dressing room, held a cloth to my face, and after a moment of struggling, everything went dark.
I unbuckled slowly, watching him through the windshield. I checked behind. The road ran long and empty between trees. There was no visible end in either direction. I didn’t have shoes. That was another problem.
I pushed the door open quietly, keeping my eyes on his backthe entire time, and stepped out onto the gravel. It bit into my feet, but I took one careful step at a time, leaving the door open because closing it would announce me.
But I didn’t go far.
“Nice try.” His voice stopped me, and I itched against the car, holding my breath. “Get back inside.”
