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LUKA
I wrap my fingers around the steering wheel, my teeth clenched tight. I veer left and right along the Florida Turnpike, barely acknowledging the other cars on either side of me.
“Christ, Luka. Let’s get there alive, yeah?” Taras snaps.
“I told you to stay back. If you don’t like my driving, get the fuck outta my car.”
“Relax,” Nikolai mutters. “We don’t know what we’re even walking into. Can we at least try to stay on the same damn team?”
The rest of the ride to Boris’s compound is silent. And it’s deafening. So many toxic thoughts careen around my brain, and questions pepper my mind like bullets.
Does Boris even have the answers I need? Because if he doesn’t, I have no fucking idea who to trust and who to save.
“You think Boris knows what the Brotherhood bullshit is all about?” Taras asks, finally breaking the tense stillness.
“He knows it exists.” I veer off the Turnpike, hooking a right toward Boris’s mansion in Surfside. Boris has offices in many cities, but hates the hustle and bustle. He always goes for seclusion, and in our line of work, that makes you vulnerable as fuck.
Case in point, the reason why we hauled ass over here.
“And that list you found. Will he know whether those people need to be killed or saved?”
I clench the steering wheel. “Why don’t you say what you really mean?”
Taras lets out a frustrated sigh. “See, this is you putting your cock before the family, boss.”
I slam my foot on the brake right outside the entrance to his place. Like my house, there is a quiet road that leads to the actual building. Great if you’re looking to throw people off your trail. Very fucking bad if they launch a surprise ambush on you.
A fire rages deep in my gut, the flames incinerating my insides with fury. I grab Taras by the shirt and pull him close. He closes his hand on mine but doesn’t try to pull it away.
Smart. He knows I’ll think nothing of snapping his wrist if he tries.
“Natasha is going to be my wife. Get the fuck on board with that. And no matter what Ivan Resnov has up his sleeve, no matter what he thought he’d accomplish by giving her up to us, she won’t suffer for his sins. He will. Only him,” I growl, letting go and shoving him backward before getting out of the truck.
I stalk to the back and pop the trunk. I reach into one of the duffel bags and pull out two thin Kevlar vests. “Put these on,” I say as I toss them to my brothers.
“What about you?” Nikolai asks.
“You need them more than me. And I only have these two.”
“You’d better know what you’re doing, Luka. You have a lot of people counting on you to make the right choices. Don’t fuck up and make the wrong one, or else Resnov won’t be the only one to suffer for his sins.” Taras glowers at me as he tugs on the vest and puts his shirt back on over it.
“You want to be boss, Taras. I get it. But you’re not, so shut the hell up and let me do my damn job.” I stick a .22 in the waistband of my jeans and strap another to my ankle, waiting for a response that never comes.
Good.
Taras loves to challenge me, but when push comes to shove, he knows I get things done. I wordlessly hand guns to my brothers and then secure a stiletto knife to my other ankle before slamming the trunk closed.
“What’s the plan?” Nikolai says, peering past me at a small clearing in the high grasses.
“Whoever is in there is expecting us.” I pull the gun from my waistband and walk along the road. “Splitting up is the best way to go. I’m sure they’ll have all entrances covered.”
“So how the hell do we get inside?” Taras grunts.
“There is a back entrance. It’s hidden by some tall bushes. He always liked to have it as an emergency exit.”
“Too bad he didn’t get to use it today,” Nikolai mutters.
“You guys wait there for my signal.” I creep around the base of a nearby palm. “I’ll clear the way for us.”
