“What is it?” I ask even though I don’t want to hear the answer.
“They’re not at the station.”
“But it’s been more than half an hour since they left.”
“They don’t know the detective’s whereabouts.” He slams his fist on the table. It’s the first time I’ve seen him this agitated.
“What do you mean they don’t know his whereabouts? There were officers and…” I trail off. “Do you think—”
My words are cut off when his phone rings. He puts a hand up. “This is my guy.”
I remain silent as he speaks.
“Alexander Carson…yes…what do you mean she’s with them? … How about Rai? Where is she?” He remains motionless then lets the hand holding the phone fall to his side. “Fucking hell.”
The tendons in my neck bulge. “What now?”
“The Russian Mafia has her. She’s with Ivan Sokolov.”
My head spins and my worst nightmares start to materialize in front of me.
Reina hurt.
Reina tortured.
Reina—
I shake my head. I won’t let that happen, not now after all the distance we crossed. Besides, I promised to find her.
I fucking promised.
“What are we going to do now?” My voice is calm considering the disorder in my brain.
“My guy said he and Rai are out of this situation. It’s too risky.”
“We can’t just do nothing.”
He releases a breath. “I’m thinking.”
I pace the length of the room, my head filling with the scenarios Reina could find herself in.
Each one is more terrible than the previous.
She might have lived on the run in the past, but that was a long time ago. She knows nothing about mafia life now.
Reina is as clueless as your next normal citizen.
My phone vibrates and I retrieve it, about to silence it. The unknown number makes me stop in my tracks.
I answer, “Who is this?”
The voice on the other end is the last one I expected to hear. “Hello, Asher.”
A slap across the face startles me awake.
For a second, I’m too disoriented to realize where I am. It’s dark, strange, and smells of humidity.
Then everything crashes down on me in one go.
Daniels, the officers who spoke in Russian, and then—
My head jerks up and I freeze.
Light blue eyes stare down at me with malice so tangible I feel it crawling along my skin. He’s wearing a black suit, and his whitish blond hair is cut short, showcasing his square jawline.
I know who he is even before he says a word.
My mom’s nightmare.
The one who killed her then took my sister.
The one who killed my dad.
The one who made my childhood hell and orphaned me.
Ivan Sokolov.
I wiggle in my seat, but the tightly secured ropes keep me in place. I’m sitting on a metal chair in the middle of a sterile room. The earlier smell of humidity is replaced by something more potent: blood. No—piss and blood.
A shudder goes through me at the thought of what they do here.
The lamp hanging from the ceiling barely gives me a sense of time or space. I have no idea how long I’ve been out or if we’re even still on American soil. Maybe we’re in Russia already? It’s a terrible thought, but I need to weigh all the possibilities. This is someone who slaughtered my entire family and wouldn’t hesitate to end my life.
I stare at him with all the hatred I’ve felt for years, the grudge, the need for revenge.
“If it isn’t the other suka.” His voice is slightly accented but otherwise refined. “You two are so much like Mia. Too bad she didn’t live to see you grow up.”
I bite my lower lip to not lash out. I recognize what he’s doing, trying to bring out my anger so he can have me in the palm of his hand, but he should know looks aren’t the only thing Reina and I got from Mom. We have her wit, too.
Realizing I won’t fall for his bait, Ivan smiles, and it’s too deranged, too…fucked up, almost like a sick Game on of sorts.
“Now, Reina, a birdie has told me you’re regaining your memories, and I would like to know where your sister disappeared to.”
“Well, your birdie is wrong.”
I curse internally. It must’ve been Detective Daniels. That asshole was keeping an eye on me on Ivan’s behalf all this time until he was sure I’d have information for this jerk.
He must’ve figured out I’m regaining my memories from our last encounter.
Ivan slaps me across the face so hard my body jerks with the sting. That hurts.
“Lose the fucking attitude. All of you spawn of Nikolai need lessons in manners.”
I bite down the pain and stare at him. This is between me and him, and if he thinks I’ll give up easily, he must not know how much of Mom’s survival instinct lives within me.
“I’ll be nice.” He crouches in front of me, almost like a doting uncle. “Tell me where Rai is and I’ll let you go.”
An acute sense of relief washes over me at his words. If he’s searching for her then he thinks she’s alive, and if he can’t find her, that should mean she’s safe.
At least that’s what my brain hopes for.
“You want me to believe you’ll let me go?”
“You’re right—I won’t. ” He laughs; it’s short and sharp. “I can’t rule if any of Nikolai’s filthy blood live on. If that fucker bodyguard hadn’t taken Rai that day, both of you would be dead by now. I had to keep you alive to draw her out.”
She’s alive. Reina is alive. I can almost feel her breathing now.
“I’m a generous man, Reina. If you tell me where she is, I promise your end won’t be painful—just a single bullet like Mia. If you don’t, well…you’ll just die from torture and I’ll throw your head in front of Rai before she takes her last breaths.” He stands to his full height, almost casting a shadow over me. “What will it be?”
My spine jerks and spasms of fear dance along it. I have no doubt he’ll follow through on his threats. He must be under a lot of pressure from the other leaders, and he knows all too well he won’t be able to rule without the ledger Reina has.
He’s a desperate man, and desperate people have no limits, especially desperate, dangerous people.
What he doesn’t realize is that I’m a desperate woman, too. Since I lost Mom nine years ago, I’ve been half-empty waiting for the day I can return the favor of Reina saving me, hoping against hope she survived and is alive somewhere.
That chance is today. Now, I’m desperate to save her, desperate to see that light in her eyes again.
To say I’m not scared of what Ivan can do to me would be a lie. Not only is he a member of the mafia, he’s also successfully carried out numerous hits. My limbs are slightly shaking and I couldn’t stop them even if I wanted to.
I might’ve had gloomy thoughts before, but I never once carried it out because deep down, I knew there was so much more I should be living for. There are people who love me even though I’ve been an imposter since I was twelve.
There was also someone, the boy who turned into a messed-up man, the boy I loved and the man I fell in love with all over again.