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"There was a time when I would've wanted to kick your ass for coming in here,” Bianchi says, and when he grins, I see he's missing a tooth. Newly? Who knows. "But I heard how you stood up to Volkov. Fucking brilliant. You know we all want Volkov dead."
Of course they do. He runs all of New York with an iron fist, mercilessly and selfishly. He annihilates anyone in his path, after building a group so large no one has a chance to withstand him.
"He's why I’m in here."
Bianchi swears. "Of course he is." His voice drops. "You need to get out, don't you?"
I nod. Of course I fucking do. I tell him about Aria and the baby. His eyes shine with conviction. "We’ll bust you out of here." He lowers his voice even more and brings his mouth to my ear. “Do you see that guard over there?”
I nod.
"He's on my payroll. I'm here voluntarily. I have connections, and I needed face-to-face interaction with a couple of the detainees. I get out tomorrow, if all goes as planned."
“Yeah?”
"You have an informant, yeah?"
I nod.
"And you're willing to pay?"
I laugh out loud. "What do you fucking think?"
Bianchi grins at me. He reaches a fist out, and slams his knuckles to mine, a universal code of loyalty. We may have rival clans, we may be in different groups, but loyalty runs deep when it comes to the law.
"Romanov.”
The guard comes to the bars, looks at Bianchi. Bianchi nods, and the guard gestures for me. "You have a call. Let's go."
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Aria
It turnsout Ekaterina's home is closer to the office than ours. Or…Mikhail’s. Whoever's.
I can't think of it as my home anymore. Not now.
If only I had somewhere to go. A part of me feels as if it would be not only a betrayal, but an act of great cowardice. Yes, my husband used me. Yes, I've been betrayed. But I didn't make this commitment to him out of love. That only happened as a result of drawing close to him.
A lump rises in my throat, and I put a hand to my forehead. I don't want to cry. Not now. Not when I have so much to do.
A knock sounds at the guest room door. "Who's there?"
"It's me, Polina."
I open the door and let my sister-in-law in. She takes one look at me and gathers me into a huge hug. "I know, I know. But don'tworry, you have to believe me, they get arrested all the time. It's fine, I promise. We have ways out. It's not what you think it is."
It's kinda sweet that she thinks I'm upset because Mikhail was arrested, although…I'm not immune to that either. The vision of my husband being taken away in handcuffs is something that I won't easily erase from my memory.
"You'll see, he knows how to get out. You just have to give him time. It's probably fucking killing him, knowing that you're here and he's there. He’s been glued to your side ever since you had those two lines on the test.”
I nod, turn away from her, and pace the room. "I understand. I know where you're coming from. How's your mother?"
Even in my own distress, I feel badly for her. It must not be easy seeing her sons go through something like this.
"Oh, Mom’sfine.She takes it all like a champ,” Polina says. "And I think if she didn't already have completely silver hair, she’d get more gray. But you have to keep in mind, this stuff’s been going on for a really long time. She's steeled herself against them. I mean, when Viktor was in grade school, he made the owners of this lemonade stand on the corner pay him protection money, and he’d guard their money. It's kind of hilarious, when you think back on it. And Nikko? Nikko was bad news. He's always been excellent at what he does.”
She pauses. “Not that you know what he does. Uhm, not that I'm supposed to know, either. But let's just say his skill with a weapon startedlongsince before he was old enough to actually carry one. And Lev got in trouble for some petty theft, but by the time he was old enough to get into real trouble – namely, drug dealing? My father was traveling in Europe, and the older guyswere all in charge. And they put a very quick end tothat. Not that they have any trouble with drugs, like don't get me wrong. They're not exactly good guys? But they didn't want him to get involved with the wrong people.”
