Page 84 of No Going Back

Her reaction set his internal alarm bells ringing. “Maddie?”

“If he was in Central Records, he could easily have uncovered my new identity.”

“And betrayed you to the Russians?”

She frowned. “Why, though? That’s the connection I’m struggling with. What would he stand to gain?”

“Could be anything, but I’d be willing to bet money’s at the bottom of it.”

“Well, whoever it is, and whatever their motive is, the Bratva will keep coming until they achieve their objective. This won’t stop them, especially since Kuznetsov escaped. If Matthews is the leak, it’s just as well I circumvented Central Records to set up Yana’s new identity. At the very least, it’ll buy us some time to work out the best way to protect her.”

Guy was impressed. Central Records was pivotal in establishing assumed identities, and for Maddie to have set something up without their oversight showed a remarkable resourcefulness. “A roadblock, yes, but we can’t be sure it’ll stop them completely.”

“I’m sure it won’t. I remember all too well what I heard about the Srenko Bratva. Kuznetsov’s only the brigadier—Viktor Srenko’s the pakhan, and he’s as hard-ass as they come.”

“How can you be sure Srenko’s still in charge? You’ve been back here for years. The command structure could have changed a dozen times by now.”

“Mikhail… Let’s say, he has sources and a way of keeping me updated, and the last update I received was a couple of months ago. Guy, they’re worse than you can imagine. Kuznetsov is the most vicious, inhuman bastard… In your worst nightmares, you couldn’t dream up someone like him. He’ll exploit every advantage he has, every weak link he can find. If Matthews is the source of his information, he’ll be the weakest link imaginable. If he hasn’t produced the goods, Kuznetsov’ll put more pressure on him until he gets what he wants. If Matthews hasn’t changed, and depending what they’re using for leverage, even he could be incentivised to dig deep enough to uncover the truth about Yana.”

“That’s a lot of ifs.”

“We can’t afford to ignore any of them. There’s too much at stake for Kuznetsov to give up.”

“You think he’ll regroup and try again.” Guy’s voice was bleak. “And if Matthews is the traitor we believe him to be, they’ll continue to put pressure on him. The longer that goes on, the more desperate and determined he’ll become.”

“We haven’t stopped anything, have we?”

He hated her hollow acceptance of the situation. “They won’t succeed. I meant it when I said to get to you, they’ll have to go through me first.”

“No. I won’t let you be hurt because of me. I’ll go away. I can lead them away from you.” Shaking her head, she clung to him as if his life depended on it—as if she could protect him.

Damn woman.Would she never learn? He was going to have to teach her a lesson the hard way.

“Like hell you will. Madeleine, you’re not dealing with this alone now. We aren’t dealing with this alone. And we aren’t hiding away for the rest of our lives. We’re going to end the threat to you and Yana once and for all.”

“How can we do that? We don’t have the resources. This is the Bratva, remember? They can reach—”

“Yes, I remember, and you’re wrong about the resources.” He tucked her against him again. “You know as well as I do how easy it is to doctor official records.”

“Yes—when you’re an official. You resigned, remember? You’re a private citizen now—you don’t have the same power.”

“No, but I have the contacts, and enough leverage to get them onside with this. In addition, Spectrum isn’t just any security company. We have resources other companies don’t, access to agencies they can only dream about.”

“What are you saying?”

“We’ve been looking at the problem from the wrong angle. Protecting you and Yana isn’t the answer. That would be a never-ending task, because there’d always be another group after the bounty they’ll have put on the two of you.”

“You’re saying we need to remove their reason for looking for us? I’m not sure I like where this is going. I wish we could keep Yana in the dark about this. I pulled all the strings I could to get her set up with a new identity. They did a damn good job, too. She’s been safe all these years, and she’s built a good life for herself.”

“And she’ll continue to be safe—once we convince Srenko that both you and she are dead.”

Maddie shuddered in his arms. What he was proposing was risky. It was an all-or-nothing strategy, one that would either work brilliantly or could go horribly wrong. If it did go wrong, the consequences could be fatal—she knew it as well as he did.

“I know you want to run, but think about it logically—we have to take a stand. And if Yana deserves a chance to continue living a safe, peaceful life, so do you.”

And she was going to live that life with him. He was convinced his strategy was the right one to deal with their current awkward situation. He also fully intended to be there to protect her as well, until the last breath left his body.

“But what about Mikhail? Surely we aren’t going to tell him she’s dead?”