I glanced over my shoulder.
“I see criminals. Enemies. The problem with you, Tank? You’re so pathetically starved for love that you see friends.”
“Touch any of them, and I’ll slit your throat,” I promised.
She poured me a drink and slid it toward me. “Touch me, and it will be the last time you do it, Tank.”
“I’m calling Thompsons…”
She held out her cell and pointed the screen toward me. “No need. He’s already asked for my ETA. Seems like you’ve been played, little man. One has to wonder why the FBI can’t trust you anymore…then again,”—she looked around the room—“I guess you have your answer.”
Confusion warred with rage. “He said it was my last job.”
Nothing but the pulsing music, and then she grinned. “Exactly.”
Son of a bitch!
They were playing me.
They all were.
But I trusted Thompsons. He was the closest thing I had to a father-figure, a stepdad in his own right. He’d found me. He’d helped me learn how to project my rage at the age of fifteen when I’d had nobody. Both of my parents were killed, and Thompsons knew that I would need to channel the anger I felt at losing them so young. I ended up becoming one of the youngest FBI recruits in the history of the Bureau. Then again, the government needed someone who was close in age to the bosses’ kids—which meant I got to be the lucky volunteer.
I balled my fists and slammed the countertop so hard, my drink toppled over. Then, I stomped over to Valerian. “You drunk?”
“You okay?”
“No.” I gulped. “I have to go talk to Sergio. You got eyes on Kartini?”
He shook his drink. “Club soda. One of us has to stay sober.”
I sighed in relief. “You got any men watching?”
He just grinned. “Around seventeen associates are surrounding the club right now. I want them to have fun.” He sighed. “They deserve it before they’re forced to turn into…” His voice trailed off, and I knew he was referring to himself.
Nearly overnight, he’d gone from a manwhore college student to the youngest boss of the Petrov Family in history.
The weight of his family name was nearly heavier than Ash, Junior, and King’s combined. Then again, the Russians weren’t experiencing much peace at the moment, not with Valerian constantly having to prove himself over and over again.
I didn’t even want to know how many people he’d killed in the past week.
I was sure it was daunting.
I slapped him on the shoulder. “I appreciate you.”
He put his hand on my other shoulder and squeezed. “A word of advice?”
I nodded. He leaned forward and said in a low voice, “Trust no one.”
“Not even you?”
“You’d be dead if you couldn’t trust me,” he said ruthlessly. “One day, you’ll have to decide if you’re willing to burn the world for one person or if your job means so much to you—your past—that you’re willing to fuck up your future. That’s your crown. That’s your baggage. That’s your cross to bear.”
A chill ran down my spine as his eyes locked onto mine in warning.
“Thanks, Valerian.”
“Anytime.” He moved gracefully past me then, and my rage returned full-force as I thought of anyone hurting my family.
Mine.
I had no clue when they’d become mine, when I had started claiming them, when it had turned from a very lucrative job where I was backed into a corner with a gun pointed at my face to justifying crime, murder, and bloodshed.
And all in the name of family—Family.
My thoughts were dark as I walked back down the club stairs and into the main pathway that led to the bungalows the adults and younger children were staying in.
Sergio had texted me his number for updates.
And while I hated interrupting his vacation, I had to know.
I knocked on number seven and didn’t even flinch when two men appeared behind me as if I would make a run for it.
“Must you guys always sneak up on me?” I sighed. “It’s not like you don’t know me…”
Dom flashed me a sloppy grin. “I just like seeing you flinch.”
Ax chuckled next to him.
“What? Are you guys gonna high-five now?”
“Should we?” Ax asked.
“I love a good high-five.” Dom nodded.
I groaned and turned back just as the door jerked open. Sergio wore black silk pajama bottoms low on his hips, and his long, still-black hair fell across his massive shoulders. “This’d better be good.”
“You look like Johnny Depp before the pirates.” I laughed.
He growled.
My smile fell. “It was a compliment!”
He peered around me. “Are you two laughing?”
“Never.” Ax choked on a laugh while Dom cleared his throat a million times.
Sergio sighed and then opened the door wider. “Come in.” He jerked his head toward the two made men. “You two make another round.”
“On it,” Dom said quickly as the door shut behind me.
Sergio’s bungalow was twice the size of the one I was staying in with Kartini. With floor-to-ceiling doors that opened out to the beach, white furniture, a roaring fireplace near a flat-screen TV, and a spiraled wooden staircase that I was sure led to the several bedrooms.
“The wife sleeping?”
His glare said that they’d been doing something other than sleeping and that I’d interrupted.
I winced. “Sorry, bad timing.”
“When is it ever good timing to have an FBI agent in your bungalow?” He walked over to the bar. “Wine?”
“No. I’ll be quick.”
“You may need it.”
“Then I want whiskey.”
His chuckle was dark as his muscles moved and stretched. The man may be in his fifties, but he was jacked.
Tattoos covered his chest, swirling down his massive arms as he held out a glass with one ice cube and two shots poured into it. “Speak.”
“How long?”
“Pardon?” He sat in the leather chair across from me. “You’ll have to be more specific. I can’t read minds.”
“How long, Sergio?” I repeated. “Have you known?”
His expression was impassive, and then he said, “Why else would I have you guard her?”
I shook my head. “You knew they planned to kidnap her? And take her out by any means necessary to get you guys to talk?”
He leaned back in his chair. “Serena’s a fighter, she would have probably beheaded one of them and laughed. Izzy’s not far behind. The rest of the girls are younger—they wouldn’t dare. But Kartini? Perfect little Kartini…she’s the perfect target, don’t you think? Related to basically every boss, Nixon’s niece, my daughter, Chase’s niece. Tex’s niece by marriage…Dante’s cousin…”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “I couldn’t do it.”
“Of course, you couldn’t. I knew they would one day ask it of you—that they wouldn’t be happy with you infiltrating the Families for the sake of feeding them information. Knew they’d get greedy—and my daughter nearly died because of it.”