AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I love you too.”
I end the call and drop the phone on the counter.
Okay, so Valentina is clearly full of shit. Something is definitely up with her.
I slide the phone into my pocket and stalk toward the kitchen.
My eyes fall on Natasha’s untouched breakfast plate. “Fuck!” I slam my fist on the granite countertop. Prison sucked, but shit on the inside was so much easier to deal with. You learn one set of rules and you follow them. Period.
But out here?
Everyone has their own goddamn set of rules.
And not following them is punishable by death. Why the hell is my father letting this happen? How could he let Dima run our family into the ground with this revenge plot and put all of us in danger?
I’m getting the hell out of Miami as soon as Val’s wedding is over, but what about everyone else? They’ll be stuck here to deal with the fallout. The businesses they run, the money they make, the allies they’ve created?
With Dima in charge, everything will turn to shit in less than a year.
I’d stake my left nut on that.
Natasha and Ilya finally come out of the bathroom and walk into the kitchen at the same time I hurl the full breakfast plate into the sink. In the fakest voice I’ve ever heard, Natasha asks, “Oh, are you frustrated about something?”
Ilya’s face is cleaned up and bandaged, and he has on one of my T-shirts instead of the torn, tattered, and bloody button-down he showed up wearing.
I bite back the sarcastic comment hanging off the tip of my tongue.
“Thank you,” Ilya says to Natasha, shaking her hand. He looks between us, a flicker of discomfort in his expression. “I think it’s time for me to go.”
I cut a glare at Natasha before following Ilya out of the kitchen. This time, I’m not taking any chances. I grab my gun from the table in the foyer. Just in case anyone else decides to fuck with me today. Squaring my shoulders, I follow Ilya out to his car.
“Be careful,” Ilya warns me in a low voice once we’re outside in the sweltering heat. “Whoever sent them will come looking when they don’t return with the girl.”
“I know. Don’t mention this to Dima,” I mutter. “I’ll handle him in my own way.”
“Yes, Luka.” Ilya hurries to the driver’s side of his car. I watch him through the window, my throat tight.
Please don’t tell me we’re gonna have a fucking Godfather situation here.
Car bombs are so cliché, but it doesn’t stop people from using them.
Ilya hesitates, his finger hovering over the ignition button like he can read my mind. He finally jabs it, and the car starts.
No explosion follows, thank fuck.
I let out the breath I’d been holding.
The car shoots forward when he gasses it, the tires kicking up gravel and sand in their wake.
I gaze up at the clear blue sky once the car disappears through the tall grasses lining the perimeter.
Cloudless everywhere except over my head.
The Miami heat is thick with humidity, enough to choke me. The fabric of my shirt clings to my slick, sweat-pebbled skin as I pace the length of my driveway.
I built this place on a secluded slice of land to escape the toxins poisoning my life, but I guess I didn’t do a good enough job of hiding what used to be my own private oasis.
Now it’s been invaded. Tainted with all I’ve been trying to avoid since I got out of jail.
