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“You’ll never know,” he grinds out.
Motherfucker.
“Tell me and you might get out of this alive,” I press on.
He stares at me for a second, then tilts his head toward me. “She…” He stops and coughs past blood-stained teeth. “She died screaming.” His breath comes out like laughter. “And you…you weren’t there.”
I see red.
“Ublyudok!”I spit in his face a second before the blade of my knife rips through his flesh, exposing tissue and sinew before his blood begins to spill. His mouth stretches wide into a scream of pure agony, but I don’t break eye contact until the light seeps out of his eyes. He goes limp, blood pooling beneath him. It’s a sleep he won’t wake from.
I rise to my feet, chest heaving as I glance over the bodies littering the ground.
In the chair where I’d left him, Yuri sags limply. A blossom of red on his shirt shows where a bullet has pierced his breastbone. His body twitches a few times before it goes still – killed by one of his own men. My only regret is that I wasn’t the one who did it.
Fucking useless, all of them.
But they will serve as a message.
There are more men in Volkov’s ranks, and one of them will talk. They always do, in the end. Except this time, they might end up talking about my whereabouts.
A chill dances down my spine as I turn on my heel and head for the car.
“Boss!” Luka blurts as he sprints toward me from down the street. I raise a hand.
“It’s done,” I say. His face falls. I know he’ll be beating himself up for not being there to have my back. That’s not important to me. I need to get back to Nikolai…and Scarlett. Now. If Volkov has any brains left, he’ll realize that I’m behind what happened here today. He’ll know I’m hunting.
And he’ll use my absence send someone after my family.
Chapter 23
Scarlett
The car chase left my heart pounding and my mind reeling, the adrenaline still coursing through my veins like a drug. The fear that I’ve drawn the dangers of my old life into this new world has been plaguing me all day.
But now I have something more pressing occupying my thoughts. Two pink lines on a pregnancy test. Both of the tests. I know these things can come up with false negatives, but it seems unlikely. I’ve missed a period and the second one’s late. I must have literally fallen pregnant the first night Anton and I had sex.
But I took a morning-after pill!
Yeah, like that was a guarantee – even if it had worked, I’ve been with him since then.
God, I’m an idiot. It’s like I was asking for this or something! The man makes my head reel. I can’t think clearly when I’m around him. The chemistry is through the roof.
But now the feelings that bubble inside me are a wild mix of terror and excitement. I don’t know if I’m ready to be a mother. Hell, I don’t even know where I’m going to be living in a week’s time! The threat hasn’t diminished, even though a couple of months have gone by. Cartwright isn’t the type of man to let it go.
Not to mention that besides stealing his precious stone, I saw him kill someone and he knows it.
Maybe if I told him that his secret is safe?
Yeah, right. As if he’d believe that. Or even care. Men like him don’t leave loose ends. And to him, I’m the textbook version of a loose end. If I don’t do something I’ll be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.
Either way, I have to get out of here. I have no right to put Nikolai in danger again. Mexico still beckons like a beacon. I could disappear there for years.
And the baby?
Shit. I don’t know what to do about the baby.
Calm down!
