by Cara Carnes
“We need to get them out before Lavrov acts on this intel. You know I’m right.”
The man sighed into the com. “Get Marshall’s team on it. They’re closest to the location. We’ll establish a perimeter and surveille until we have Addy secure.”
Addy doubted Kristof would take the news well once his minions arrived at the address and didn’t find the women, but she’d deal with him.
“Send his head to the one he stole from and his heart to Gavriil. Burn the rest.” Kristof donned his blazer. “If your stupidity started a war, I’m going to kill everyone in your family. Slowly.”
“No. Please.” The man pulled at his restraints. “I’ll make restitution.”
“Your death is the restitution.” Kristof turned and headed toward the car. When Addy remained with the man, he looked over his shoulder. “Come, Iriana. We are done here.”
Right. She pulled off the gloves and tossed them onto the tray. Sourness coated her stomach as she forced herself to walk to the car and ignore the man screaming. Begging for his life. His family’s.
Would Kristof kill the man’s family?
No. Addy wanted to believe that was a line he wouldn’t cross, but she didn’t know him. She’d once thought she did, though. Long, long ago when both their worlds had just upended.
“We will drop Iriana off first.”
“I stay with you until this is over,” Addy said. “I insist.”
“You cannot protect me when you are asleep on your feet,” he commented as he grasped her face and ran his thumb across her lips. “Perhaps I should take you to my home. It is closer. I like the idea of you in my bed.”
No way in hell she was getting anywhere near Lavrov’s home. She glared at him when he chuckled as if sensing the direction her exhausted brain was taking. She needed rest, but she needed to know what Lavrov’s next move was more.
The com had gone silent when she left the warehouse. Though she knew her team was likely following her home, had Zoey and Jesse really dispatched a team to the address the man had offered? If so, she couldn’t leave his side until this was done.
If he sent men to the address and The Arsenal had already taken them…
“Let him drop you off,” Zoey said. “You shouldn’t be with him if he shows up at that address.”
Where else would she be? She’d handle the fallout easier than anyone.
His jaw flinched. “Don’t press this.” He whispered the order in her ear, the one with the com. “Stand down and let me deal with this, Hummingbird. Only I can stop a war from breaking out. You’ll have to trust me on this one.”
Addy didn’t reply. He wasn’t speaking to her. He was talking to Zoey via the com. Ivan was glaring at her in the rearview mirror. How much of the conversation had he heard? Iriana wouldn’t argue with Kristof’s orders.
“It’ll take a few days, but I will handle this. Too much scrutiny will create problems neither of us can afford,” Kristof whispered in her ear.
“He’s right,” Jesse said. “If he can get them back without a ripple, we need to let him.”
“Back to whoever had them! Not free!” Zoey argued.
“That’s not an option,” Addy whispered. “You know better than that.”
“Three days,” Kristof said. “Give me three days.”
“My team will keep them under surveillance,” Marshall said. “Zoey, get to work on identifying who Gavriil is. We’ve learned a lot about Lavrov’s network the past couple of weeks. The more we learn, the better.”
She nodded, holding eye contact with Kristof. They’d talk later, whenever he worked privacy into his busy routine. So far he’d done well in that regard. Addy peered out of the vehicle and remained silent as the tension eased.
The Arsenal was constructing a massive amount of data on Kristof’s network—one he’d opened up to them because of the biochemical weapons. All for Stacia.
The man wasn’t an idiot. Kristof had surely known Marshall Mason and his five brothers would take the opportunity to gather everything they needed to take him down whenever The Arsenal was done playing his games.
So why take the risk?
Who the hell was Stacia? Why did Addy want to know so damn bad?
It wasn’t like she gave a damn about Kristof. Sure, he’d once been a friend. Maybe. But that was a lifetime ago, a short three years where she’d held on to foolish innocence. The child she’d once been died long ago.
The car slid to a halt outside the Maryino District apartment complex. She exited, but then turned and leaned in until their gazes locked. “We need to talk.”
“We will.”
4
“You shouldn’t have involved her in this,” Ivan said.
Kristof Lavrov expended a weary breath. He’d had the same conversation at least a hundred times since she’d entered his world yet again as Iriana. “She isn’t your concern. I assume Father knows what we learned.”
“He’s organizing. They’ll recover the men and send others to the Kozlovs. He’ll pay for stealing what isn’t his.”
“He had nothing to do with this foolishness. I will deal with him and retrieve the women,” Kristof said. “Father can’t handle a war right now. None of us can.”
“He decides what he can handle, not you.”
The situation was worse than Kristof expected. He hoped The Arsenal hadn’t acted on the intel they’d learned. If they did, it’d create problems he couldn’t resolve. Keeping Father from striking Gavriil’s syndicate would be hard enough.
Twenty-two years of conniving and sacrifice could be destroyed because of one foolish idiot. Damn it! Ivan was right, though. Involving Iriana had been a mistake—one he’d realized too late. Perhaps the exhaustion of the past few days’ work had dulled his mind.
No.
He was tired of the secrecy. The lies.
He’d bathed in carnage and depravity so long that he’d become the very monster he’d vowed to destroy. Had he gone too far? Probably.
But he’d do anything for Mama. Olaf. Stacia. The names of those harmed by the man who’d sired him was too long to recount. They’d have their vengeance soon—assuming he didn’t screw up resolving this issue.
He peered down at the text he’d sent to his true second-in-command moments ago. The situation would be volatile, but Maksim would handle it as he always did.
“You think that worthless bitch will protect you against your father,” Ivan said. “Against me.”
“Call her that again and I’ll handle you myself.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
He would. There was very little he wouldn’t do for Addy. He’d failed to protect her twenty-two years earlier when their paths first crossed. Though they’d met several times since then, he’d remained at a distance. Watched as her brother stripped away her humanity and soul bit by bit after she’d left the training camp and started to work for Hive.
Yet he’d done nothing.
Again and again.
She was safe now, no thanks to him. The Arsenal was the best operation in existence—a formidable opponent Kristof intended to stay on the right side of despite what they thought of him. Maybe Maksim was right. He should read them in on the truth he hid from everyone.
No.
They were a risk he couldn’t chance. They kept Stacia safe.
They’d done their part, even if it had been unknowingly.
Kristof exited the vehicle when it stopped behind a nondescript, white cargo truck. The rear door was open. Blood coated the road in a river of death around two armed men. He recognized neither.
Had the women been hurt?
The rancid stench of feces and urine wafted in his nostrils. He cursed and kicked the dead idiots at his feet. Kristof’s gaze lit on the black BMW parked nearby.
A plan formed in his mind as he closed the distance. He paused a moment when he arrived, and then opened the rear door and got in.
“You reacted quickly and without mercy. Perhaps you are not as soft as I
’d thought.” His father lifted his glass to his lips and took a sip. Gray eyes too like his own peered at him. “You were not needed here. I’ll handle the situation.”
“It’s already handled. Gavriil knew nothing of that idiot’s plan. He knows better than to piss us off,” Kristof said. “You have them back and Gavriil extends his profuse apologies with an offer to purchase them for twice their value. Recompense for your time.” The lie slid from Kristof. This was the only way to get his father to back down.
“Then perhaps he’s not the fool I thought him to be.” His father sighed heavily. “Very well. I’ll agree, for the sake of his father’s memory. Tell the twit to clean house. I will level him if this happens again.”
“Yes, Father.”
“What about you? Ivan is concerned about your latest conquest. What was her name? Iriana?”
Pander to his power. Feed his depravity.
“Ivan needs time off to spend with his woman. Perhaps then he’d not worry about who rides my dick.” Kristof shifted in the seat. “She is useful in many ways and needs the money. I grew bored. She entertains me.”
Kostya laughed. The sound boomed within the vehicle’s interior. Kristof joined along. “You’re more like me every day. There’s nothing quite like watching the fire die from their eyes. That look when they realize they’ve lost. That you can have everything you want of them.”
Kristof maintained eye contact and ignored the rage rolling in him as the glimmer appeared in his father’s gaze. The bastard never missed a chance to poke at the wound he’d created twenty-two years before.
“Perhaps I should meet this Iriana. It’s been too long since I’ve found a woman with that hunger for survival. You’re lucky, son. You’ve never met one like your mother. She set the bar high before she betrayed me. No matter how much they fight, the others after her never came close to her natural survival instinct.”
Rage stifled his reactions, kept him locked into place. Over two decades, and the anger hadn’t calmed. It’d festered, an untreated wound packed with endless hours, days, and months of planning and subterfuge.
You’ll be avenged soon, Mama. Forgive me for what I have done.
“Learn from my mistakes. Things didn’t end the way I wanted with your mother. I fell for her pretty face and those sexy tears and screams. I didn’t sense the treachery.”
“You’ve taught me well, Father.”
“I have. Don’t forget where your loyalties lie. Ivan is worried you’ve spread yourself too thin as of late. This mess wouldn’t have happened if you’d held the auction as I directed you to.”
“Yesim’s new faction has created problems. Authorities have raided two of their auctions—ones they held without my protection and approval.” Kristof ran his hands down his thighs. “They’re a problem.”
“Perhaps. What will you do about it?”
“Whatever I must. They don’t control the underground. We do.”
“I’ve heard you’ll be at their next auction.”
Ivan had a big mouth and missed nothing. Kristof clenched his teeth and nodded. “A client wishes to purchase an item they’ll have. We were paid well for it, and it’ll be the perfect in to handle Yesim afterward.”
“Very good. I’m afraid I have men devoted to other ventures right now, but I can spare a few if you wish.”
“I have it under control, but thank you.” Kristof took a deep breath. “I’ll have your money this evening.”
“Very well. Bring it to the compound.” He took another sip of his drink. “You’re overdue for a visit with Olaf I believe, though I don’t know why you bother.”
“For the same reason you keep him alive. He betrayed us, but he is still blood.” Kristof shrugged. “Seeing me keeps what he lost alive. That’s his true punishment. Death is too easy.”
The lie slid out easily enough, thanks to years of practice. He’d honed the performance over the past four years since Olaf’s imprisonment. Just a little longer and he’d be free. All Kristof had to do was play Father’s game and wait.
“Spoken like a Sidorav. You’re close to earning my name back. Perhaps then you’ll stop using that whore’s name.”
He’d never take the Sidorav name again. Kristof clenched his fists and forced back the rage. Mama wasn’t a whore. “It’s suited our purpose. No one knows I’m your son and that gives us more reach and power.”
“You have learned a lot from me.” His father laughed. “Go. Clean yourself up and rest. You’ve done well today.”
“Perhaps you could share that with Ivan. I feel I’ll never gain his approval no matter what I do.”
“He sees too much of that cunning whore in you. You have her fight, but I’ve honed it into a weapon for me. He’ll see that soon enough.”
Yes. Yes, he would.
“Be well, Father.”
Kristof exited the car and made his way toward his own. He felt like he’d danced on a knife’s edge too long. Father would handle Ivan as he always did. For all the man’s strengths, his one weakness was Kristof’s only solace. Father wouldn’t ever accept that Kristof was more his mother’s son than his.
“I’d already briefed your father,” Ivan growled.
“We had other issues to discuss. Take us home,” he ordered.
Kristof entered his private study and made his way to the shelf along the back wall. It’d taken two hours to rectify all the problems created by Gavriil’s rogue. His longtime friend hadn’t taken Kristof’s solution well, but he’d agreed for the greater good. They’d both done far worse to maintain their trek to the end.
Soon.
He pulled the bookend on the third shelf and waited as the hidden entry appeared. Water dripped from his hair and slid down his bare torso. He’d spent less and less time within the hidden sanctuary the past few months.
He sat on the mat facing the water rippling down the wall and inhaled the scents assailing his nostrils. Meditation had cleansed the worst of what he’d done when everything began years ago, but the simple act couldn’t scrape the surface of what he’d done since.
How many lives had he destroyed?
Mama wouldn’t have ever approved, but this wasn’t only for her. It was for Olaf. For Addy. For Stacia and everyone else ruined by Father’s twisted power mongering.
A soft click of the entryway lock sounded. Kristof took a deep breath and rose as Maksim approached. He remained more of a mystery than when they’d first met.
“The women are at a safe house with extra security,” Maksim said. “Your new friends have a perimeter established. It won’t take long for them to figure out who it belongs to, if they haven’t already.”
The underlying censure filled the room. “They backed off and trusted me to handle the situation.”
“Have you?”
“Gavriil will purchase them at twice their value for three times their value compensated by me.”
“And the women? Are we entering the flesh trade now?” Maksim’s eyebrows rose. Arms crossed, he studied Kristof.
“The Arsenal’s Hummingbird will help them.” She’d helped many of the women and children Kristof had come across the past several years. Zoey had become an instrumental asset within his arsenal—one he used often to salvage what he could of his honor. His humanity.
“And your father?”
“Appeased for now.” Kristof sighed heavily. “Ivan is a problem.”
“He has been one for many years.”
“He’s a threat we must deal with. He undermines my standing with Father at every turn.”
“He always has.”
He gritted his teeth and glared at Maksim. The man was one of the few who could stare him down and win. “He threatens Addy.”
Kristof had trusted no one with Iriana’s true identity. Only Maksim knew the truth because they kept nothing from one another. Their true objective wouldn’t succeed without absolute trust.
“They will only be here a few more days. Once they have what they came for, she’s
not an issue.”
“He should’ve died the day he beat her. You shouldn’t have stopped me.” No one beat a woman and survived. Kristof fisted his hands and waited through the silence.
“She’s not yours to protect. She’s also not your fault.”
“I should have saved her back then.”
“You almost died trying.”
Tightness filled his chest. He rubbed the area and studied Maksim. Nineteen years and he still remembered the events from those few days as though they’d just happened. “Why didn’t you kill me that day? It would’ve been easier for us both.”
“We all have our line, the wall we can’t ever pass. Until I met you, I didn’t think I had one.”
Did Kristof have one? “I’m not the man I was back then.”
“You were a child.”
“I wasn’t. She was a child.”
He’d been seventeen to her thirteen the day he’d left the training camp intent on telling someone of her existence so she could be free from the camp. But he’d fallen into a trap—one that would’ve killed him if Maksim had done as ordered.
“You were both children.” Maksim approached and touched Kristof’s shoulder. “You were in an impossible situation. One day she’ll realize that.”
“She won’t ever find out. She can’t.” The truth of who he was, his connection to Father. The bastard who’d broken her down and helped her brother create the perfectly trained operative he’d sought… “It’d destroy what little of me remains if she ever found out. She’s lost enough.”
“You have both lost too much.”
“Too many things are in the air right now. We’re juggling flaming swords with one hand.” Kristof ran his hands through his hair. “We’re close, yet I fear we’ll never be near enough to strike.”
“She could help.”
“No.” Kristof shook his head and stepped away from Maksim. He wandered to the shelf and picked up one of the glass figurines. He traced the turtle’s shell and smiled as he set it back down. “Promise me you’ll get her and her teams out of Russia if things fall apart.”
“You are my priority.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Promise me. She walks away from this untouched. One of us must get the fresh start we both dreamt of.”