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My stomach rumbles and twists painfully with hunger. I rub my hand over my not-yet-swollen womb.
And I pray—oh, how I pray—for God to keep me alive long enough to save my baby.
44
DEMYEN
My phone vibrates on the desk, breaking me out of a daydream I can’t afford to be having. “Yeah?”
“We need you out here, stat.” Mikhail, one of myvors, sounds like he’s stuffing down panic. “It’s bad.”
Mikhail has been overseeing one of the shipment warehouses near the Las Vegas airport for the past few months, tracking inbound antiquities marked for upcoming auctions in the black market. It’s one of our safer operations, thanks to TSA focusing on drugs and weapons more than handpainted vases, so I’m genuinely surprised to receive a call like this. “What’s going on?”
“Half the warehouse is gone. Bomb went off the same time we were gunned down by a surprise attack. Luka, Sven, and Henri are dead. I took one in the leg. I don’t even know how many we lost in the explosion yet.”
I jump to my feet, knocking my desk chair over. “Who?”
He knows what I mean. My men almost never need an explanation. “I know they’re our allies and all, but I promiseyou, boss. The cars, the guns, the clothing, even the way they attacked… It screams, ‘Yakuza.’”
I take a few deep breaths just so I don’t throw my phone across the room. “Call Erik and get his men down there to help pull out everyone you can find. Forget the merch for now; focus on lives. I want a headcount by the time I arrive.”
“You got it.”
The phone feels heavy when I set it down on the desk. I brace myself on my hands so I can take a moment to ground myself. I have to focus on right here, right now before I lose my absolute shit.
Too late.
Paperwork and office supplies go flying off the desk with an angry sweep of my arm. I don’t know what’s louder: the stapler crashing against the wall or my soul-deep bellow of rage.
I need to break things.
I need to breakfaces.
Pavel opens the door right when I’m about to throw the overturned desk chair through the window. “You called?”
“You were right. She was right.” I drop the chair to the ground and just stand there.Breathe in, breathe out. Slower than that. “Everyone was right. Everyone but me, okay? Is that what you want to hear?!” I shout at the ceiling.
I don’t need to look at him to know that Pavel is suppressing his facial expressions as best as possible. “I take it you want me to bring a car around?”
“I want you to unwind time and bitchslap me before I do anything stupid.” Now, I do look at him, and I’m very aware of how unhinged I appear. “Do that, and I’ll give you a huge raise.”
“Man, I would if I could, believe me.” He holds his hands up to keep me calm. “But I can’t, so tell me what you need so I can do something in the here and now.”
I wipe my face with my arm. My eyes suddenly sting. My throat is tight. “Clara tried to warn me about Raizo. Before the auction, before everything… She fucking knew and she tried to warn me and what did I do?”
He knows better than to answer that question for me.
“I swear, Pav, if it’s true that Yakuza just attacked our warehouse, I’ll fucking kill each and every one of them myself.”
“Starting with Raizo?”
I shake my head with a laugh. “Oh, no. Save him for last. Let him watch me burn his empire to ash. And then feed him his own balls as vengeance for Clara.”
Pavel folds his arms across his chest and tilts his head to one side. “Interesting. I thought we were exacting vengeanceonClara. Now, we’re doing itforher?”
That stops me mid-tirade. I know what he’s getting at and I hate it. But I can’t deny it.
I sigh and slump against the side of the desk. “I fucked up. I know I fucked up beyond fixing. So yeah, we’re getting vengeance for her. Because she’s been right all along. And Raizo’s the motherfucker who needs to pay for what happened to Tolya. Not her.”
