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Gideon folded his arms across his chest. “I think there’s truth to what Maksim said. I found it extremely easy to grab you. Sure, there was some resistance, but nothing like what I expected. For the attack at the wedding, you brought manpower that was almost impossible to combat. But when it came to protecting you, it kind of fell flat. Why do you think that is?”

Vladimir didn’t answer, simply glared at us with contempt.

“I figured it out, though.” Gideon smiled and slipped his hands into his pockets. “It’s hard to run a kingdom when you don’t have the crown.”

“What are you talking about?” Vladimir spit.

“See, we brought you here so Alex could have his revenge for you killing his wife. But then, I got an interesting phone call…from your son.”

Vladimir’s eyes moved to the door where Maksim had left.

“Nope, not that one.”

His eyes widened. “Sergey?”

Gideon pointed to Vladimir. “You got it in one.” Vladimir frowned. “You seem confused, so I’ll dumb it down for you since we are on a bit of a time crunch. Your son asked us to kill you so that he can take the seat at the head of the table.”

“He would never.”

“Oh, he did, believe me. Actually, you know what? You shouldn’t take my word for it. Why don’t you come with us to go meet with him?”

Toni and Maksim returned at that point, and it was decided that we’d all go. Maksim would throw Sergey off his game a little, which could work to our advantage.

This plan wasn’t what I’d originally wanted, but in the end I’d be the one killing Vladimir, and I was content with that.

The meeting place—or should I say the spot Sergey wanted us to drop his father’s body— was in the middle of nowhere. There was a shack of a house on what looked to be a dried-up field. It was giving serious Children of the Corn vibes.

There was a circular driveway in front of the house with an SUV and a black van parked there. I saw Raff, his hands and feet chained, standing beside a man who was very obviously Sergey. He had three men with him. What I didn’t see was Danny.

“That’s my brother.” Maksim confirmed what we already knew.

I noticed Sergey’s men held AK-47s at their sides, and one of them also had a machete strapped to the side of their belt.

“Penn and Toni, stay in the car with Vladimir and Maksim. Alex and I are going to go talk to him and find out where the hell Danny is.”

“Any sign of trouble, and I’m coming out,” Penn said.

Gideon was very protective of Penn, but ever since my wedding and everything that had gone down afterward with him being taken by Benito and beaten, Penn had explained that he wasn’t going to sit back and have Gideon jumping into fires without him.

I opened the door and stepped out, making sure Gideon was slightly behind me. Sergey was grinning as he stood there like he didn’t have a care in the world.

“You like to keep things interesting, Mr. Hendrix.”

“How you doing, Raff?” Gideon ignored Sergey.

“I’m okay, Boss. Danny is, too.”

“Speaking of, where the fuck is he?” I asked.

Sergey flicked his gaze to mine, then returned it to Gideon. “I can keep things interesting as well. I am giving you Raff here on good faith. Show me my father’s dead body, and I’ll leave this van here with Danny inside it.”

I looked at Raff who nodded, confirming that was where Danny was.

Gideon turned toward our SUV and motioned to it. The door opened and Toni and Penn stepped out, followed by a tied-up Vladimir and finally Maksim.

Sergey laughed. “A family reunion.”

“Sergey! What is this?” Vladimir shouted.