Page 93 of Where the Wind Whispers

And he didn’t have to hurt him, not really. He just needed Alberto to come out of hiding, to show his face once more to give Kaz the opportunity to end this once and for all.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been out there with his cigarette dangling from his lips when a taxi braked to a sudden stop in front of the hospital, and a girl in a modest black dress scrambled out of the back, practically throwing a twenty at the driver as she started for the entrance.

It wasn’t until she got to the light did Kaz actually recognize her.

Kira …

Rus’ something.

He still wasn’t sure how all this shit worked. “Hey.”

Kira slowed, blinking and squinting at him until he came back toward the building. “Kaz, hey.”

“I would have called,” he said, walking with her into the building and toward the bank of elevators. “But I didn’t know how to contact you.”

“Right, yeah, I know. Nate called, so it’s all good.”

Despite the flippant way she’d said that, Kira looked nervous about something. It could have been worrying about Rus, but watching her, he didn’t think that was it at all.

“Something wrong?”

She looked up at him with wide eyes. “It’s just been a long night.”

Yeah.

He understood that all too well.

Violet had just gotten Anastasya laid down in bed when the shouts started from down below. Then the slamming doors followed.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

One right after the other.

She could distinguish her husband’s shouts, though she couldn’t understand what he was saying, given his rage spilled over in Russian and she wasn’t quite that good with the language yet.

Especially not when he was speaking fast, loud, and angry.

Violet, knowing she should probably stay out of Kaz’s way for whatever was happening, decided against her inner voice and quickly made her way down the hall and then the stairs to the ground floor. She didn’t want yelling and nonsense in the house where Anastasya was sleeping.

Kaz had been holed up in his office for a great deal of the day, and then he’d just left without much of an explanation.

She didn’t even hear him when he got home because she was busy with the baby.

Unless he’d just gotten home.

Violet just rounded the corner in the bottom hallway that led to the main entrance when something crashed—glass shattered, more Russian spewed from her husband, and someone else groaned.

Jesus Christ.

What was going on?

Violet only caught sight of a man being shoved out the front door before Kaz shouted something at him. Then he slammed the door with yet another loud bang.

“Kaz!”

Her husband barely reacted to her scolding.

In fact, he didn’t even make eye contact with her before he was brushing past her in the entryway and heading back the way he had come—from his office, obviously.