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“I’m not suggesting or implying anything. She told us that he would be here. So, where the fuck is he?”

“And changes of plans can fucking happen. It wasn’t just her pinpointing this location.” It was a team effort. With Trojan and Igor helping her, they fit together the pieces of a puzzle that indicated that Vladimir would be at this casino meeting a bookie tonight. And it would be an opportunity for us to ambush him.

“Whatever,” he replied gruffly.

“We headed up to another level of the casino, looking for the sniper that Kirill Konstantin seemed to have put in charge of taking out Adrik and Smithson. The assassin he had also put to the task of finding Louisa and killing her. He had to have been there that night when I intervened, but he must have escaped because I had only killed two men in that apartment.

“I’m guessing this will probably be one of the last times that you work with me like this,” he said.

I frowned. “Where the hell else would I be?”

He scowled at me. “Playing house at home with your woman.”

I didn’t even try to hide a smile. “It’s early yet. I’ll figure out a good balance.”

He shook his head, seeming more annoyed. “I’m going to be the only man out there.”

“Shut the hell up. None of us are going to leave you stranded. Just because you’re not interested in finding a woman and having a real life with someone to come home to doesn’t mean that you’ll be doing all the hard work on your own.”

As one of the Volkov spies approached us from across the casino, I shook my head. He was being ridiculous to claim that. “It’s not like any of us have to do the hard work on our own. We work as a team.” We had so many men employed to be at our beck and call, like the one walking toward us now. “If you ever need a little more advice on how to delegate and properly distribute your responsibilities⁠—”

He cut me off with a hard look.

The spy was closer, but he didn’t make it obvious that he was looking for us. We knew, though. He headed to a table and sent us a simple glance to join him.

We stood at the table, not directly facing him. While no one paid attention to us with the dice rolling, he cleared his throat and leaned in a little. “He’s not in the casino.”

Goddammit!

“He’s heading out through the steakhouse right now,” he muttered under his breath.

Fuck!

Alexei and I didn’t hesitate. In unison, we turned away from the table and began to hurry toward the nearest stairs that would take us down. We ran down them, taking them three at a time.

Behind us, guards rushed to catch up with us as we hurried to address this change of plans.

Changes of plans were expected in life. My existence had changed when I met Louisa and Brady. On a smaller scale, I had to roll with the shifts and adjust to pursue Vladimir outside.

Alexei and I reached the steakhouse. Not stopping or slowing through the frenzy of the packed restaurant, we wove around servers, hostesses, and guests.

“There!”

I heeded the shout from one of the soldiers. He was up ahead, near the door. Pushing it open and smacking into some guests, he didn’t halt at all. He ran, sprinting into the parking lot.

Alexei and I barreled through the throng of guests waiting outside. But by the time we skidded to a stop on the hot pavement, he was gone.

“Fuck,” Alexei growled, fisting his hand as he glowered in the distance.

Twin red lights blinked as Vladimir sped away. We had vehicles on standby, but with how crowded it was out here, there was no way we could chase him in a high-speed situation. Not with all the cops around this side of the city. And not with half of the law enforcement already targeting us as the criminals they were so hard on getting behind bars.

I caught my breath, shaking my head.

“Next time,” Alexei stated. “Next time, he’s not getting away.”

I nodded. “There’s nowhere he can hide where we won’t find him.”

My cousin smirked. “Yeah. What about where Gregori’s hiding?”