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“Nikolai—” I begin. My voice is so fucking hoarse.
“What the fuck happened?” Luka interrupts. It’s probably useful to give him an overview.
“Volkov and his men hit us. By the time we realized they were in, it was too late. Scarlett… I couldn’t…” I stop talking because self-recriminations will serve no purpose right now.
I look to the man at Luka’s side.
“Ivan?” I’m still surprised to see him here.
“I called him in when I realized something was wrong,” Luka explains. “The security was out of comms. Volkov’s men took them out. That’s when I knew some shit was going down.”
I meet Ivan’s gaze. ”You came?” We both know what this means. There’s no going back for him now. By aligning with me, he’s cut himself off from the world we once knew.
“I did,bratok,” he shrugs. “We fight this war together now,da?”
I incline my head in answer, not trusting my voice to speak. Loyalty means a lot when everything else has been taken from you. But there’s something more important to deal with right now.
“Nikolai.” I repeat. “We have to get to him. I locked him in the panic room behind the garage when it all went down.”
Luka nods grimly. “It will be a task to get out of here. The place is crawling with fuckers.”
“And…Scarlett…” I add. “There was a gunshot.” I don’t want to say it out loud.
Ivan’s gaze flickers over my injuries, a muscle in his jaw twitching – but his voice is steady.
“If she’s around here, we’ll find her,” he says.
My heart stutters, then pounds into a frenzied rhythm. Dread washes over me as I think of finding her battered body outside, but I shake it off. I can’t think of her now. I have to find my son.
Forgive me, Scarlett.
Rage ignites in my veins, hot and primal, burning away the last shreds of my restraint.
Volkov will pay for this. I’ll tear his syndicate apart brick by bloody brick to get them back.
“We’re wasting time.” There’s urgency in my voice. Even now, gunfire and shouts still ring out within the halls. “Where’s Volkov?” I spit out his name like a curse.
“In the wind. But we’ve still got Volkov’s fuckers to deal with,” Ivan says grimly. “Maybe not so many after my men have been set loose. But I’m sure you’ll feel more like yourself after you’ve spilled a little blood, yes?”
I snort out a humorless laugh as I reach for the Glock he’s holding out to me.
Luka inclines his head, a dark smile twisting his lips. There’s no more that needs to be said. We’ve worked together long enough to understand each other perfectly.
As we leave the room, Ivan’s men fan out, weapons at the ready. This is what we’ve trained for, what we’ve lived for. The thrill of the hunt, the violence, the power. It’s in our blood – but never have the stakes been so high.
We stalk through the empty halls, checking each room with brisk efficiency, making sure our path is clear. Most are empty, abandoned. A few contain the corpses of Volkov’s men, blood spattered across the walls.
Ivan’s men work fast. Too fast.
We need answers, not more bodies. But I can’t help putting a bullet in at least one fucker’s skull as he charges toward us in a desperate attempt at an attack. They know they’re outnumbered. Outgunned. Surrounded. Yet still, they fling themselves into the path of death rather than surrender.
I know what that means. They’ve been left here to slow us down while Volkov gets his ass out of here.
Fucking coward.
Finally, we find one still breathing. Barely. Ivan crouches beside him, eyes glinting. “Where’s Volkov?” he demands. “The boy and the woman? Speak,pizdet!”
The man chokes out a laugh, blood bubbling at his lips. Bravado in the face of death. I can respect that, even as rage boils in my gut. He has answers. He will give them to us.
