Page 64 of Fractured Ties

Asshole.

“I know his name because that’s not my first run-in with him,” she confessed. “And don’t ask more; I won’t tell.”

“All right,” Konstantin said gruffly. “To answer your question, he was taken because Kolya requested it, if he was still alive, and you don’t need to know where. That’s not important.”

“I asked, though.”

“My answer remains the same.”

“That’s—”

The ringing that suddenly came through the speakers of the car quieted her entirely. Konstantin passed a glance at the number and name that lit up the touchscreen stereo, and then said, “Answer call.”

“Where are you?” came a dark, growled demand.

“Hello, Vadim. I’m good—the roads aren’t too bad. Things are great. How are you, yeah?”

Maya passed Konstantin a look, knowing by the name he used that he was talking to his and Kolya’s father, but all she saw reflected back in the man’s profile was a stiffness in his jaw, and a hardness in his gaze.

“I’m sorry,” Vadim said, “do you need me to start every phone conversation with pleasantries that you know I don’t give a goddamn about?”

“It would be asking a bit much, no?”

“I beg your pardon?”

Konstantin sighed. “What can I do for you?”

“I can’t get ahold of your brother.”

“Funny—I was just talking to him a half hour ago. You know, when I had to run in and save the day. Or rather, save his newest thing from getting hurt by a crazy Albanian who’d broken into the safehouse.”

Vadim made a noise on the other end of the call—one Maya couldn’t decipher. “Is that so?”

“Was I not supposed to do that?”

Konstantin asked the question so innocently one wouldn’t think he was fucking grinning like the Cheshire cat watching a mouse scuttle across the floor right in front of him. He looked mighty fucking pleased with himself.

God save the poor woman who thinks to play games with this man.

Vadim didn’t answer Konstantin’s question, instead asking, “The girl is safe then, no?”

“Maya, you mean?”

“Whatever her name is—the Kozlov woman, Konstantin. Stop with your word games.”

“She’s okay.”

Vadim made another one of those noises. “Kolya will be pleased, I’m sure.”

“I would think—”

“For now,” Vadim added before Konstantin could finish. “He forgets his place; the place I gave him.”

Konstantin said nothing.

Vadim continued on anyway, asking, “And what of the Albanian?”

“He’s dead.”