Page 142 of His to Own

Aleksander motions at me. “And what of Elena? She’s heard everything. She knows your plan.”

“Then kill her. No one else will know.”

“You’re a ruthless man.”

“I’m a man who gets the job done. And I am tired of being made to look like a fool. But if we make this deal, you cannot hurt my oldest daughter.”

“The one married to Nikolai Smirnoff? But she would be so easy to hurt and that would bring Nikolai Smirnoff down.”

“Not her,” Father growls. “You can marry my youngest but leave my oldest alone.”

“And your poor middle child gets killed. You are an interesting man, Gregory Karetov. I don’t find that many people interesting in my line of work.”

“Do we have a deal?”

Aleksander looks down at the knife in his hands. “I could agree to a deal. But… you have to do something first to prove your loyalty to me. I need to make sure you’re not just making this up so I’ll let you go and then you fuck me over.”

“What?”

“Kill your daughter yourself.”

Maxim

I shoot the last man standing in the stomach. The street is quiet as all the people who were around scattered when the gunshots started. The sound of sirens fills the air. The police are on the way.

If I’m caught, I’ll have no chance at getting Elena back.

“We have to leave,” Nikolai says. “Where’s Lana?” He runs into the theater and a moment later comes back out with Lana and Adriana. “We have to go. Now.”

My eyes land on Masha, who’s huddled on the ground. “Whoever attacked us stole Elena and Gregory.”

“Aleksander.”

I nod. “Most likely. We don’t have anyone else ballsy enough to do this.” My eyes find Polina, lying on the ground. Her leg is bleeding but she’s alive. The police will get here and help her out but she’s a witness to everything.

“Don’t say anything,” I growl at her.

She gasps. Her head frantically bobs up and down.

“You will regret it if you do.” I head to my car. The police will surely come to me for questioning but I don’t have time. I need to find Elena.

“I’ll handle this,” Nikolai says. “I’ll call my lawyer.”

I’m not even listening as I get into my car and drive away. I head in the direction I saw the van go but I know it’s pointless. It’s gone. I lost Elena and now I don’t know where she is.

I return home and call Nikolai’s hacker friend with the license plate I saw. He tells me he’ll find out who owns it within the hour.

While I wait, I get a knock at my door. The police. Of fucking course.

It’s two men –one middle aged and one young. The young one looks a little wimpy and like he’d be easy to take in a fight. The older one seems arrogant but he’s never handled a man like me.

“Maxim Morozov?” the older one asks.

“Yes?”

“I’m Officer Petrov and this is Officer Ivanov. We’re here to question you about the shootout that took place tonight. Many eye witnesses saw you and caught your license plate. We know you were involved.”

My hand tightens on the doorknob. “No comment.”