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“Not much we can do,”he pointed out.“We go on as if we’re not watching our backs. We keep you guarded the best we can until Volkov makes his first move. That’s all we need. Until we have a reason to attack, we proceed as if we’re ignorant to it all, pretend we suspect nothing. We tell no one of this. Not your brother. Not your friends. Definitely not your mother or sister. Volkov can never know we’re expecting an attack. He needs to be fully assured in his plan.”
“I can be home tonight,” I offered.
His chair gave several squeaks as if he were rocking slightly.“No,”he said at last,“stay the rest of the weekend. We’ll start first thing Monday. The next few days will give me a chance to put the table together and bring the others in on the plan. I will also increase security. Not drastically. We don’t want to raise suspicions, but enough to make sense.”
I hung up after a brief acknowledgement of his plans and studied the bit of plastic mounted just inside the kitchen, a relic that was both outdated and necessary. My mother had one put in at every property we owned in case of an emergency. Medlake Lodge was the only location it made sense; there was no cell reception there.
A pen and notepad rested on the table next to it. Lavena’s loopy handwriting was still on the first page in blue ink.
“Edmund eats boogers.”
I rolled my eyes, amusement, and that weird fondness one gets for their siblings tangled together in my chest.
I loved my siblings. Of course, I did. There were days growing up that I pressed my parents to dump them off the nearest bridge, but I would take a bullet for them. I would give my life to keep them safe. That was what being an older brother was; I could want to strangle them but no one else was allowed to touch them. Fuck, hadn’t I taken Edmund’s place behind a wall of steel and concrete because he was a kid and didn’t belong in there?
But that didn’t seem to be the end of it if Uriah Volkov was on the move. He was a problem, a loose end I needed to deal with quickly and quietly. If left unchecked, he could become a deeply embedded thorn that required surgery to remove after causing irreparable damage.
I was starting to pick up the phone and call for a car, despite my father’s objections, when I heard it, the soft snap of twigs, the hushed whisper of voices in the distance, the slam of car doors. I didn’t think for a minute it was Uriah, but someone was there, and they were not being stealthy about it.
With my father’s 9mm freed from the hidden compartment inside the pantry, I moved to greet my guests just as the front door swung open. I couldn’t make out the conversation, but I didn’t misunderstand the voice threatening to blow off my skull if I didn’t come forward.
I knew that voice.
It took my brain a moment to truly recognize it, having not heard it in a damn long time, but it took all my willpower not to bolt out there and pull that little shit into my arms. There was a very high probability she would shoot me if startled. So, I took each step gingerly, keeping my own weapon loosely at my side and my tone light when I spoke.
I was not expecting the scream. It tore through the foyer in a deafening howl, yet it was nothing to the brutal clatter of herweapon as it was unceremoniously pitched to the floor. It struck the marble and spun, pinwheeling into a patch of fading light and lay still as its owner tore across the room. I had just enough time to think how displeased Father would have been when the full force of my sister’s weight slammed into my chest, driving me back on my heels before I caught her and myself.
She felt smaller, or maybe I’d been gone too long. Her hair was longer … and blonde. I had memories of an auburn bob during my trial. I slid my fingers through the heavy strands and pressed her closer.
“Hey kid,” I murmured into the top of her head. “Miss me?”
“No!” she sobbed into the front of my t-shirt, her arms cracking my ribs. “You fucker!”
I felt my lips twitch, but I bit back the grin. “Love you, too.”
I held her tight as her shoulders shook. My fingers combed the satin waves down her back, soothing her the way Mom would have.
Lavena played so well at acting tough, but I knew my sister better than anyone. She had a heart unworthy of this world and it hurt for everyone. I watched her break a girl’s nose for pushing Edmund off the swings, then cry because she hadn’t been there to stop him from getting hurt. I watched her take on an entire prison system to see me, even though she knew that was against the rules. Lavena was the army everyone needed on their side.
Sniffling and a hot mess of snot, tears, and make up, Lavena drew back and blinked up at me. There was concern and happiness in her blue eyes as she took me in. That delight dissolved a full second later into fury and five angry knuckles stamped into my shoulder with the full strength of her weight — just like I’d shown her.
“You asshole!” she snarled. “Are your fingers broken? You couldn’t take two seconds to call your sister and let her know you’re out of fucking prison?”
Shoulder stinging, I glowered down at her. “Jesus, Lavena.”
“Don’tJesus Lavename, you inconsiderate weasel.” She scrubbed the back of her hand under her nose. “I have been worried sick. You selfish prick! You declined all my calls, all my visits. You … you cut me out.” Her eyes welled up again and her chin trembled. “Nothing for four years.”
There was a prickle of guilt. A tickle. Easily ignored as I studied her face, a face I hadn’t seen since my trial, a face that meant the world to me, even when she was a pain in the ass. Hurting her was unforgiveable, but I would do it again in a heartbeat, because that was the rule. She was not allowed to visit me. She was not allowed to call. Once I was behind those bars, the only way to keep her safe was to pretend she didn’t exist. I would not apologize for keeping her away from the eyes and thoughts of the filth in that place. She could hate me all she wanted. I was fine with that.
“You know the rules, kid.”
She sniffed loudly even as tears trickled down her cheeks. “When have the rules ever applied to us?”
“This time. Enough,” I warned when she opened her mouth. “Knock it off, and don’t hit me unless you want frogs in your bed again.”
Fury pulsed anew in her narrowed eyes. “You promised you’d never do that again.”
“Then don’t hit me.”
