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“Where are they?” I demand, my throat going tight.
She just laughs again, ignoring my question as she continues. “You thought the four of you could take me on by yourselves? Did you really think I’d open myself up to an ambush like that? Your men should have been more creative. Did you all forget that I’m X? The Voronin brothers worked for me foryears. I’ve seen their handiwork. They’ve done enough jobs for me that I know how they operate. So all it took to lure all of you out into the open was the perfect opportunity to attack me. Except, silly me, I forgot to get into my car.”
My stomach is in knots, and her taunting tone grates on my frayed nerves as terror skates through me.
“Did you kill them?” I hiss. “Are Malice and Victor dead?”
“No,” she replies smoothly. “I’m not a fool. That would be like breaking a very expensive tool before I even got a chance to use it. They’re alive. But they won’t be for long unless I get what I want.”
“Fuck you,” I choke out, my hand tightening around the grip of my gun.
“Sorry, that isn’t one of the options here, Willow,” she says coolly. “There are only two options you have right now.” She sighs, clicking her tongue against her teeth. “Since you’ve clearly decided not to take me up on my offer to spare your life if you signed everything over to me, I’ve decided to take a different tack. All of Troy’s holdings in exchange for your two men. Give me what I want, and they’ll live. Or you can keep playing this game and lose everyone you love, one by one.”
I stare at Ransom as we both listen to Olivia speak, our gazes locked, the sound of my own pulse loud in my own head. Anger and fear and heartache war inside me. Every time I think it couldn’t be possible to hate Olivia more than I already do, she proves me wrong.
“You’re a heartless bitch!” I spit at her. “A fucking monster. You—”
Olivia sighs, cutting me off with a sharp voice. “Andyouare wasting time. Make your choice, Willow.” She rattles off an address, then adds, “I will be waiting there. Tonight at eight o’clock sharp. If you want your men back alive, you’ll come—unarmed—with the paperwork necessary to sign everything you stole from Troy over to me.”
She cuts the transmission before I can say anything else, and the earpiece goes dead again.
I stand rooted to the spot, trying to breathe through the panic that’s clutching me.
Jonah looks from Ransom to me, the lines of his face deepening as he frowns. “What are you going to do?”
My mind races, and I drag in a breath as I try to think. Numbness and clarity burn away the fear as the course of action lays itself out in front of me. There’s only one thing that matters right now.
I can’t let Olivia kill Vic and Malice. I just can’t.
“I’m going to give her everything she wants,” I tell him.
* * *
At eight p.m.,Ransom and I approach the building Olivia told us to come to, alone and unarmed.
At first, the address didn’t make much sense, but when we looked it up, I understood immediately why she had chosen this location.
It’s a building that’s under construction, and the company in charge of the project is Oberon—the same corporation Olivia has a large stake in. She probably chose this as her ideal meeting place because it’s guaranteed to be empty since it’s still being built. There will be no one around to witness the handoff, and she can control the environment since her company owns the site.
So far, just the foundation and scaffolding have been put up, and in the dusky gloom, it looks like a twisted skeleton.
I have the paperwork with me, everything I’ll need in order to sign everything over to Olivia, and my heart beats a furious rhythm in my chest.
Ransom looks down at me, his blue-green eyes glinting in the light of a few nearby streetlamps. This building is in a part of Detroit that’s being redeveloped, so there are several other construction projects nearby. The area is quiet at this time of night, making it feel like a ghost town.
“Are you sure about this?” he asks.
I nod. “Yeah. I’m sure. It’s what any of you would do for me.”
He looks like he’s about to say something, but then he just shakes his head and pulls me into a kiss. The last few hours have been hell for him, I know, worried about his brothers and not being able to do anything about it. I can feel the anxiety and concern in him when he kisses me.
I wrap my arms around him tightly, and we hold on for a moment, breathing each other in.
“We’re going to get them back,” I murmur against his chest. “We have to do this. It’s the only way.”
“I know.” His voice is thick. “Just… be careful. Okay?”
“I will. You too.”
