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“The Romanovs sell pure product. Nothing hard. Nothing that will make a person overdose unless they are completely careless.”
“Ah, because a dead customer isn’t good for business.” I fold my arms over my chest. “You’re not better. Don’t act like you’re better.”
“If he did in fact get your brother a job, what do you think he got him a job doing?” he asks, his voice sharp.
I swallow hard. “He wouldn’t…” I close my eyes. “I know. I know.” I put my hand up. I don’t want to hear any more from him. The hope I cradled so close to my heart yesterday is starting to fade away.
“I don’t want you there when I talk to him.”
“I won’t sit at home waiting for you,” I vow. “If Jack knows where Gunner is, I want to know.”
The phone rings again and he smashes his finger on the console.
“At the warehouse twenty minutes,” the same voice from earlier says in clear English.
“Okay.” Maxim hangs up.
Panic rushes through my chest. I cannot go back to the apartment and just sit like a good little girl. I won’t do it. I have to go with him.
“If you come with, you will stay outside. You will not go in to talk to him unless I say so.” He grips the wheel harder. “Do you understand, Mandy? You will not interfere.”
His jaw is tighter than I’ve ever seen it. This is the man who works for the Romanovs. He’s in work mode. If they brought Jack to a warehouse, it isn’t to have a nice glass of wine while they talk.
“Yeah. Okay,” I agree, not wanting to push him. Not yet. “I won’t interfere.”
He comes to an intersection and rolls to a stop, curses, then makes a left turn. “You’ll stay in the car.”
“I already said I wouldn’t interfere, but let me hear what he has to say.”
“No.” There’s a finality to the word and it keeps me silent.
If Jack really did visit Gunner all those times, he knows where he is. I’m sure of it now. He has the missing piece of this puzzle. But I can’t find the hope I thought would come when I got this close to an answer. The thick dark cloud I’ve been shoving aside for the last three years feels closer than ever.
“I know you’ve never had anyone to help you. No one you could trust,” Maxim says as he turns into a parking lot behind a warehouse. He drives down a narrow alleyway that brings him to a door on the side of the building. The sun is setting, but the large buildings shield us from any of the residual rays. It’s darkened here.
After he throws the car into park, he grabs my hand, bringing it up to his mouth.
“Trust me now,moy malen’kiy voin. Trust me to do what’s needed to be done. By the time I’m done here, we will know what’s happened to your brother. But you have to let me do this my way. You will stay here, where it’s safe. Where your innocence is safe. I will not take that from you. If it’s safe, I’ll bring you inside. But only when I know you won’t be hurt.”
My innocence.
Dread runs through my veins. The cloud is barreling down faster and faster.
I clench my teeth and nod. “Okay, Maxim. I swear. I won’t leave the car.”
He kisses my knuckles, then pulls me to him, kissing my cheeks then my lips. A spark lights up in my chest, but it’s not enough to push away the storm. There’s nothing that can stop it, I think.
“Be good,” he says then jumps out of the SUV. As he walks up to the door, it opens, and three men step outside. He says a few words to one of them, who then walks over to the car and stands at my door. Blocking my view.
But I hear the metal door slam shut after Maxim and the other two go inside.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes.
The storm is upon me.
Maxim
“Has he said anything?”I ask Levi as we make our way through the warehouse and down to the cellar.
