Page 146 of Barinov

Behind Knox’s booth, past the edge of the light.

There’s a service corridor. It’s hidden from view.

I’ll be waiting there, already watching you.

♥♥♥

I lean my head back against the stone wall of the service corridor, the cold sting biting into my skull as I force myself to stay still. I’ve been standing here in the dark for nearly fifteen minutes and she still hasn’t showed up.

Every second stretches too long and makes the burn in my veins worse.

“This bitch better hurry,” Ivan’s grinding tone pierces through the silence. “You’re running out of time and I’m—”

“She’ll be here,” I interrupt, toe tapping against the tile floor. “She has to be.”

Of all the times for Ellie to show up fashionably late, she would choose the one time I have literal poison running through my veins.

Ivan starts to mumble something, but the sound cuts off when I hear stilettos clicking outside the door.

I straighten instantly.

“Wait,” I whisper, every nerve flaring through my body on high alert. “Someone’s coming.”

“Don’t even think about it,” a low voice booms on the other side of the door.

“Lex!” That voice I’d recognize in my sleep snaps at him. “Luca said come alone.”

“Not. Happening.”

“You’re such a control freak,” Ellie fires back, all bite and attitude.

I can’t help but laugh at the sound of her. Ellie in a ball gown ready to take on the big, bad Luca with nothing more than a handful of hairpins.

“Get the fuck behind me, Ellie,” Lex grits. “Right now.”

I push off the wall, rolling my shoulders once and ignoring the way my body protests. My hand tightens around the bulletless pistol at my side. Shaking my head at the useless steel, I lay it on the metal table as the door handle slowly begins to turn.

Looks like I get to meet one of my sister’s boyfriends tonight after all.

Chapter 37

LEX

Atrum Fortuna

Finally about to put a bullet in Luca’s skull.

58 days since Bella’s kidnapping.

“Don’t even think about it,” I grit, yanking Ellie’s hand off the handle so hard her back slams into Briggs’s chest.

“Lex!” she shrieks as Briggs steadies her. “Luca said come alone.”

My fingers tighten around the cold steel at my side. “Not. Happening.”

Not when I finally have a shot at him.

And sure as shit not when Bella’s still out there.