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I told him. He looked shocked, but hid it quickly.
“I have not been plotting anything against Vasily. But there’s definitely something going on here. You made a goddamn key to my apartment, Sergei. You were spying on me. And somehow you’ve fucked up and misinterpreted everything. You want an innocent woman and a kid to pay for your mistakes? Or is Vasily finally losing his mind? You know I’ve always been loyal.”
Doubt entered Sergei’s eyes, giving me hope. But he just shook his head. “It’s my job to make sure you get picked up and brought to the boss. I don’t have any say in his decisions.”
“Even if they’re the wrong decisions?” I demanded. Beside me, Alissa sobbed quietly. I couldn’t even put my arms around her with those fucking shackles on. “Someone in our organization was working with the Ivanovs. Take a look at the laptops up in my apartment, I took them from the daycare center. You’re better at all that. Maybe you can crack the passwords I couldn’t. Whoever it is, there has to be something there that exposes them.”
He hesitated, but then he nodded and stepped back. Before I could say anything else, he slammed the van doors shut and shouted to whoever was driving. The engine roared to life, and we were moving.
I put my hand on Michelle’s back. She didn’t pull away. As we rode in darkness, my mind raced.
I had sworn myself to Vasily. Kept secrets for him. Killed for him. I had given him my whole life. And in return, that mad old man had betrayed me. Even convinced the others that I was the traitor. Why?
And what the Hell was I going to do about it?
Kill Vasily.
The thought hit me hard, in part because it felt so natural. But Vasily had allowed the situation that had led to Michelle’s kidnapping and suffering, and every other kid the Ivanovs had taken. Vasily had apparently set me up to die. Hell, Vasily had also given me orders that could have led to the death of my own child if I had followed them blindly. Whatever else was true about Vasily, he was no longer the man I’d sworn my oath to, if he ever had been.
Kill whoever you have to in order to save your woman and your daughter.
My fists clenched. I could get out of the damn manacles. I might even be able to get my hands on a gun, since I was still the best fighter and killer that Vasily had. Maybe I could even handle it all before anyone could do a thing to Alissa or Michelle.
But was I prepared to kill my way through the only family I had ever known?
I squeezed my eyes shut.Focus.I would try talking first. At least that way I would get a better idea of what kind of insane bullshit I was dealing with. And maybe if I got Vasily to talk enough, the others would see that he’d gone crazy.
“It’s okay,” I told Alissa and Michelle softly. “It’s okay. I will not let them hurt you. I’ll get us out of this, or I’ll die trying.”
Alissa uncurled a little, peeking at me through her hair. Her eyes were full of tears, and I hated seeing it. “How?”
“I have decades of loyal service. I’ll try reason first. If that doesn’t work, I’ll do what I have to. The only thing I need you to worry about is keeping Michelle safe while I get us out of this. Okay?”
Michelle turned her head to peer up at me as well. Then Alissa set her jaw, seeming to come to a decision.
“Okay. But you do it, okay? If you want me to believe in you forever, don’t fail us now.”
I nodded and leaned down to kiss both their foreheads. “I swear it.”
But saying and doing were two different things, and we both knew it.
***
Vasily’s mansion was lit up completely in the predawn darkness, like he was having a damned party. Sergei was not among the men who got us out and led us at gunpoint up to the front door. Hopefully, I had gotten through to him, and he was finding whatever information it would take to settle our crazy boss’s paranoia down and make him listen to reason.
I kept my back straight and my expression cold. The men around us knew what I could do, I could see the fear in their eyes as they kept us covered. I could see doubt there, too, when they looked at Michelle. What were a mother and small child doing here as captives? This was far off from normal with our crew. We had honor. We certainly had limits.
But where had Vasily’s honor gone?
He was waiting in his dining room, at the head of the table, with all his lieutenants there and many others. Sergei’s habitual seat sat empty, and mine beside it.
Vasily looked like he had aged ten years since the last time I had seen him. His flesh had shrunken to his bones, the lines in his face were deeper, and his complexion was the color of rotting milk except for three spots of high pink, his cheeks and the end of his nose. I wondered how much he had drunk to make himself look like a deranged clown.
His mouth was a nearly lipless gash in his face now, barely hiding something like a grimace. His eyes had a wildness to them that I had never seen. He looked scared. Like he was the one being dragged before me instead of the other way around.
I decided to capitalize on it, staring down at him in disdain as they pulled me over to him. Alissa and Michelle were brought up beside me. I stepped in front of them protectively. “What the hell is this about, Vasily?” I demanded.
“Watch your mouth with me,” he said peevishly, but there was no strength behind it. “You’ve already betrayed me, don’t make it worse.”
