Page 61 of Fractured Ties

Pop.

Maya had only seen the hazy form through her tear-filled eyes as he came down the street in their direction. She hadn’t even gotten a clear view of him before the soft noise. Tomor fell away from Maya with a morbid crack as his head hit the pavement.

Wide, dead eyes stared up.

Blood puddled under his body.

Then, Tomor blinked, a thick groan falling from his lips as his gaze swung in her direction from where he lay on the ground.

Okay, so not dead.

Maya inched away from the Albanian.

“You okay?”

Maya blinked, still staring at Tomor. She knew what just happened—that unmistakable pop of a gun firing with a silencer attached. And yet, her brain didn’t want to process.

“Are. You. Okay?”

That voice …

“You talk, no? Answer me, Maya.”

She glanced up as Konstantin Boykov came to a stop only a foot away from her. He was keeping his gun carefully aimed at Tomor on the ground, while he pulled out a phone from his pocket with the other. He had the phone pressed to his ear in a flash, and his Russian came out smooth, and quick.

“I need a cleaner at the safehouse in Wicker,” he said, “and it’ll be in the back alley next to the property. He’s not to be killed; do not let him die. Less than twenty—make it happen.”

Then, Konstantin hung up the phone, and looked at Maya again.

“Well, are you okay?”

She blinked again.

Unsure.

Wary as hell.

Still breathing, though.

“I’m okay,” she said. “Now.”

But she wasn’t okay, though.

Not at all.

“Lucky for Kolya that I was nearby,” Konstantin muttered, giving the Albanian on the ground a disdainful look. “This breed is always causing us trouble.”

Something soft, furry, and warm rubbed against Maya’s leg. She shrieked and jumped—her heart damn near leaping into her throat at the same fucking time. In her fear, she spun around and made a move to bolt away again.

Hands were on her shoulders in an instant. Warm, but not familiar. A soft touch, but not the one she wanted.

Konstantin held firm, turned her around, and didn’t let her run. “It’s the dog, Maya. The dog, yes?”

He said it again—a third time.

She nodded.

Sure enough, Sumerki sat his furry backside right down on her shoe and stared up at her. His leash still dangled limply from his collar.