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“So is reprimanding my wife.”
“It is to do with the coke shipments from Vilnius.”
There’s a pause. “What about them?”
“The first plane never arrived at Heathrow.”
“Pah! That Irishsvolach‘couldn’t find a hundred kilos of white in a black room. Are you sure he checked in with Heathrow and not Gatwick?”
“O’Sullivan says it just exploded over the English Channel.”
There’s a terrifying note of calm before Kirill speaks again. “And the second plane?”
“We lost radio contact over Europe ten minutes ago. There is an issue with the London warehouses too.”
With a howl of rage, my husband pushes past me and sends me spinning into the counter again.
The next few moments are a fast percussion of exit and release:
The angry words exchanged in the hallway.
His Ferrari engine roaring into life.
The strange keening sound I’m making at the back of my throat as I sink back down to the floor.
Hurry, Frankie. He’s tearing me apart again. And this time I might not be able to find all my pieces.
CHAPTER 24
FRANKIE
There are some things in this lifetime I’ll never unsee, like the image of my older brother, Matteo, holding his own guts in his hands after O’Sullivan blew a hole in his stomach, or my father dying badly in front of me less than an hour later. Then there’s the look on Ada’s face when they tore our hands apart, right before Kirill’s boot smashed into my skull and the universe went black.
When I was living in Monaco, the worst things were always in my head.
Late at night.
Alone and wandering.
That’s when I saw the real hell that was unfolding behind the closed doors of Semenov’s mansion. When my imagination was an instrument of torture that no amount of coke or alcohol could obliterate.
I’ve never been under any illusion of what he’s done to Ada over the years, and the price she’s had to pay for loving me. But knowing I couldn’t help for fear of the Red Compass making things even worse for her has been my own fucking cross to bear.
In the beginning, it made me question if the sacrifice was worth it. Black gun. Two silver bullets. I even bought a plane ticket back to London, and it sat on my desk for three weeks mocking me. Then Semenov exiled her to Surrey. She bought a small dance studio and set up a business. I saw how hard she was fighting to live and that changed something. It made mestronger. Made me want to fight harder to destroy the Red Compass and set us free.
It’s different when the abuse might be happening a hundred metres in front of you.
That’s when your self-control becomes a figure of hate.
I saw the way Semenov drove his supercar into his driveway, and I have a hunch why the bastard’s so pissed off. I followed Ada and her Bratva bodyguard to the hospital. I know how small her cage is. If she’s not at the house, the library, or her studio, then she’s told a lie to get there.
A lie he just found out about.
I check my watch.
8:55 p.m.
If he lays one fucking finger on her…
