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“You father called you and you declined his call. After that, he paid someone two million dollars to keep an eye on you until he arrived.”
“Who did he hire?”
“I’ll get to that shortly.” She paused for a moment. “After that, it was quiet for a while, but then, on December twentieth, he paid an additional million.”
That was the night I’d celebrated my birthday in Lunax. I blinked. “That’s a lot of money.”
Rhea’s snort grabbed the attention of a few people, though it only took a glare from me to get them turning the other way. “Not for your father, it isn’t,” she continued, “but connecting people you dislike to people who dislike Aleksei was a lot harder than you might think.”
“Please, for the love of God,” I breathed, “just speak your mind.”
She swallowed visibly, her shoulders tensing. “The thing is, Ekaterina, I’ve found some weird shit. And none of it is related to Aleksei. All of it somehow leads back to you.”
My heart snapped in half. A long sigh slipped past my lips as I continued holding eye contact. I knew what she meant—she knew I knew what she meant—but I needed her to say the words, to make it real.
“Say it, Rhea,” I breathed. “Out loud.”
“I don’t think the hit was on Aleksei. I think it was on you.”
“Continue.” I managed to keep my voice impassive, though it was difficult.
It wasn’t fear I was feeling; it was excitement. It’d been a while since I’d had that much attention on myself, and I was loving it. Because, for the first time in a while, I had somewhere to release all of my anger and suppressed agony.
“The phone calls I recorded made no sense if Aleksei was their target, but as soon as I thought of you, it all made perfect sense,” she sighed. “You have all the information here, aside from the person who was hired to kill you.”
“So, I’m only missing the most important part?”
Rhea tilted her head to the side. “Well, no. I’ll get you a name, and then, like I said, I’m out of this situation.”
A wicked smile tugged on the corner of my lips. Aleksei’s party was soon, and whoever was hunting me, it would be a perfect opportunity to get me alone. But they had no idea what kind of plans I had for them, and though my excitement threatened to slip out, I managed to remain calm.
Soon enough, they would fall straight into my hands.
D A V O R I N
THE mansion was rather empty. I’d expected tighter security, especially for the Pakhan’s primary home, but aside from a few of his hidden guards, which I detected before I set foot onto his property, I wasn’t impressed with his protection—or lack thereof.
One of the housekeepers gave me an odd look, which I chose to ignore. If the security for his home was this terrible, it was no wonder I’d managed to kill four of Kaya’s guards with no fuss. Though the first two had been much more suitable for the job, and had been harder to kill.
It wasn’t my first time in his house, and I moved swiftly towards his office. I didn’t bother knocking.
He was there with his younger brother, Dominik. Whilst Aleksei always had a permanent scowl on his face, Dominik seemed unbothered, indifferent.
“You’re late,” Aleksei drawled. “Three minutes, to be exact.”
“It took me three minutes to reach this floor. You’re practically living in a castle.”
Dominik released something resembling a chuckle. “You should see my home in Russia then. It’s an actual castle.”
I ignored him and sat on the leather couch on the right. Dominik was standing, inspecting some papers Aleksei had slid over the table, and neither of them uttered a word for the next five minutes. Why the fuck was I here? They were the ones that had called me.
“Davorin.” Dominik turned to me as he put away the file and took off his glasses. “Does Kaya suspect anything?”
“Your sister suspects a lot of things,” I told him. “But as far as the issue at hand, no. Thus far, she’s unaware.”
Dominik glanced at Aleksei, who spoke next. “How sure of that are you? Because she’s been snooping around.”
My brows creased. I’d been on a different job for the past few days, but I had my eyes on Ekaterina at all times. The moment she left my house, she was followed. That was only for her protection, but somehow I doubted she’d see it that way.
