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The Matron scoffs. “I’ve been leading it for nearly a decade, since my husband was killed.”
“That’s right,” Nico agrees, tapping his chin with a finger. “I distinctly remember learning about your Bratva because I was told how unusual that is, for awomanto be in charge.”
The Matron stiffens behind me, her nails digging into my scalp in what I imagine is an effort to keep her temper in check.
“But that’s not what really stuck with me about your clan’s reputation,” he adds lightly, weaving his trap.
“Oh? And what is?” she asks, stepping into it readily.
“You’re known for being liars and backstabbers,” Nico says, his biting tone returning in force. “I wouldn’t stoop so low as to work with a snake like you if it was my best chance at surviving.”
The room falls silent once again, and I brace myself for whatever new pain the Matron might inflict on me as punishment. But she doesn’t move. Instead, she grinds her teeth, the muffled sound sending a shiver up my spine.She’s out of plays.
“Fine,” she says lightly, her tone belying the tension radiating from her.
She might sound calm and collected, but I sense that she’s closer to a cornered animal who might do something drastic if Nico pushes her much further.
“But I promise you there will come a day when you regret not taking my offer, Nicolo Marchetti,” she threatens darkly. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Maybe you will, and maybe you won’t,” Nico acknowledges with a shrug that says he highly doubts it. “But right here, right now, it seems you’re out of plays. We’ve killed all your men. We’ve taken your house.No one is coming for you.Your best chance of survival now is to not piss me off further, so give me back my brother. Now.”
“You know, I don’t think I will. Maybe I’ll just slit his throat unless you shoot Ilya before I count to five,” she threatens, adjusting her knife against my Adam’s apple.
“If you kill him, you’ll have given up your best means of defense,” Ilya points out logically before she has time to start her countdown. “I doubt you can hold up his dead weightandfight us off yourself.”
He pauses to let that sink in before continuing with the alternative. “And if Nicolodidkill me, our alliance would be broken. My men would have no reason not to shoot youandyour captive. I promise you won’t leave this room alive if I should die.”
From the look on his men’s faces, I’m confident that’s not a lie. The Matron seems to know it, too, as she shifts her stance nervously behind me.
“Give it up, Matron Veles,” Nico says coldly. “You’ve played your best hand and lost. You can’t kill my brother. His life is the only thing keeping you alive right now, and you have nowhere to go.”
The Matron releases a maniacal cackle that borders on hysteria. “Now that’s where we can agree. I might not survive if I kill your brother, but then, it sounds like I’m dead if I hand him over as well. Which means we’re at an impasse, and I see taking him with me as my best source of vindication before I die.”
Lucca and Nico tense, both trapped in the space between action and knowing anything they do will all but condemn me.
“However!” the Matron cuts in, making them freeze. “I do see one alternative. If you want your brother back alive, you’ll lead me to my plane.”
Ilya scoffs. “Don’t tell me you have your pilot’s license,” he jokes darkly, his eyes dancing.
The Matron levels him with a cold gaze but doesn’t say a word.
“Fine,” Nico agrees, throwing Bianka’s brother a look that warns him not to further endanger my life.
“You first,” she says lightly, jerking her chin toward the office door.
It’s a slow procession down the hallway, neither of my brothers willing to take their eyes off me for more than a few seconds at a time as Ilya and his men lead the way. We collect men as we go, everyone exiting ahead of the Matron and in plain sight, as she demands.
There’s a tense moment when we reach the door to the house, and the Matron spots three of her men down on their knees at gunpoint, Nico’s men waiting for his command.
“They surrendered, so we figured we’d see if you wanted to interrogate them,” Sep, my brother’s bodyguard, says.
“I’m taking them with me,” the Matron barks by my ear before anyone can say otherwise. Her tone holds enough authority that Nico meets her gaze. “They come with me, or you don’t get your brother back,” she warns.
Nico’s lips form a sneer that matches Ilya’s derisive snort perfectly.
“What did I tell you about the Veles and their reputation?” Nico drawls, then his expression grows arctic. “Fine. But that’s the last request you get. Next time, I’ll take my chances with my brother’s life and have one of my men put a bullet in your head.”
He jerks his chin, and his men step back, keeping their guns pointed at the prisoners but letting them slowly stand. We make a steady procession to the plane, and the Matron reaches the steps last, forcing my brothers and our men to keep a distance as her three men climb the steps.
