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Gunsyn laughs. “He’d do anything for her. And we now have an unexpected third player in our little game.”
“I’m not sure if this is the way.” Alexander’s tone reveals his doubt.
“He found the journals,” declares Gunsyn. “He’s soft, not dumb. He was figuring it out. I could tell by how he looked at me that something had changed.”
“It doesn’t mean he would have done anything.”
“He’ll look weak by doing nothing,” Gunsyn scoffs. “If I was pakhan, the Lanzzare would be soot and dust. Instead, he wants to marry one of them. No one in the Bratva will put up with his pretty little wife.”
“Even after all these years,” Alexander replies, “it still amazes me how easily people are manipulated by their emotions.”
“Like I said, he’s too damn soft,” Gunsyn snarls. “Matvei didn’t want Nikolai involved in anything dangerous. He went on and on about how Nikolai wasn’t ready and needed more time.”
“He was a child,” Alexander muses. “Anyone could guess how it would’ve ended.”
“You said Matvei volunteering to take his brother’s place was a gift,” Gunsyn says, annoyed. “How stupid.”
“Stupid or not,” Alexander replies, “it would’ve worked.”
“Except for our little complication.”
As they continue talking, my body is rigid with anger as I learn how these men manipulated Nikolai and his brother. My heart aches, knowing it could’ve been different if one person knew the truth about these men back then. My father found out too late, and they destroyed him like they are trying to destroy Nikolai. What will happen when he comes home and sees what they have done? Sensing the lull in the conversation, I lie motionless, wondering if they’re watching me.
“You know who is to blame,” Gunsyn says, his voice dripping with malice. “Ippolit missed.”
My blood runs cold, and my hands tremble. I know they’re talking about my mother.
“Missed?” Alexander scoffs. “Ippolit wanted to play with his food. A mistake enabled by his inability to anticipateyourfailure.”
There’s silence before Alexander talks again. “You can’t touch her. We’ll need the money if this backfires.”
“You’re really going to blue-ball me now?” Gunsyn laughs. “Do you even have a buyer yet?”
“It won’t take long to find one.”
Something falls upstairs, and their footsteps dash out of the room. I open my eyes and see I’m alone again. I manage to lift up on one elbow, but damn, I feel too dizzy and sore all over to move. I lay my head on the floor again. But if I don’t try … I sit up and my head swims, but I don’t fall over. On the table, one of them has left behind their phone.
As the drugs wear off, my hearing becomes sharper. Somewhere down the hall, I hear shouting. It takes me a moment to realize that it’s Mercy.
“I’ll see you in hell!” she screams.
“I’ll see you broken!” Gunsyn shouts back.
My fingertips graze the phone and it spins, thankfully toward me. More shouting, and I pray she won’t push them too hard. I touch the screen, but it’s locked. Not giving up now. Tilting my head, I see the light reflects dirty smudges that form an angular squiggle. I trace it with my fingertip and the phone unlocks.
“Call Nikolai,” I whisper. The phone picks up before the second ring.
“You are dead for this …”
“Nikolai, we’re at my parents’ house.”
“Eden?” I hear shock and relief in his voice.
“Please, they’re going to hurt her.” I end the call when I hear a sharp blow from upstairs and a bloodcurdling shriek from Mercy. I crawl away from the table and knock a chair over. I keep kicking it until they come running back into the room.
“Have a nice nap?” Alexander smirks as he rolls down the cuffs of his shirt.
“Leave her alone,” I hiss.
