Page 112 of Alexei

My jaw clenched, my free hand reaching up and grasping his hair, lifting it up and slamming it against the floor. I pushed his face into the glass, his crying louder.

“I told you you’d find yourself on the wrong side of the bars,” I sneered.

I cocked the gun but before I even had a chance to point it at his head, he screamed. “Greece,” he shouted. “She’s somewhere in Greece. That’s all I know.”

“For that, I might kill you faster,” I said conversationally. With precision, I fired two shots into his kneecaps. His pained screams rattled the glass. I pulled the knife out of my boot and dug the tip of the blade into his neck. “But not too fast,” I drawled. “After all, we have a score to settle.”

I took pleasure in watching his miserable life drain out of his eyes.

ChapterThirty-Seven

AURORA

“Are you sure you're gonna be okay?” Byron eyed me worriedly. We were in the parking lot outside my building. It was still hot and humid outside.

He was perfectly fine with leaving until yesterday. When a box was delivered. It contained hands and a picture of Igor. Dead. I knew who did it, but I kept my mouth shut. When the police came, I acted like I had never seen him.

And here we were. My brothers all panicked.

Except, I knew Alexei did it to avenge Kingston. Was it sick? Yes. Did I object? Fuck no. Maybe I was just as crazy as Alexei.

“I should stay,” Byron protested. “I don’t want to leave you now.” I appreciated his thoughtfulness and the fact that he cared, but there was nothing more that I wanted to do but be alone.

“You have to go,” I told him. “Otherwise, we are going to kill each other.”

He tugged on my ear. “Brat.” I stuck my tongue out at him. It wasn’t very mature, but it was either that or I smack him. “A guard will be left behind to watch you.”

“Byron,” I protested, annoyed.

“You won’t even know he is here,” he justified. “He’s been here since we got back from-”

He stopped himself. It was ludicrous that we avoided all mentions of Russia. Byron’s men hacked the surveillance and what he had seen wasn’t good. He said he nor his men watched it, but I knew he made assumptions. He destroyed all the evidence of me being there.

Now, I had to lick my wounds alone and in the darkness, until I could come to terms with everything that happened.

“Okay.” I forced a happy smile as I pushed him into the limo. He wouldn’t budge on the guard so I might as well go along with it. “Stop harassing your sister and go back to work.”

“I don’t like it,” he muttered and I chuckled.

“Yeah, I don’t like to work either,” I joked.

I nudged him into his limo, then slammed the door before he could say another word and tapped on the roof, giving a signal to the limo driver to get going.

The back passenger window promptly slid down and my brother’s perfectly symmetrical face poked through. The man looked too good for his own good.

“Don’t think this conversation is over,” he warned, his voice carrying through the air.

Instead of commenting, I just waved.

“Love you,” I yelled after him. “Don’t call me.”

He flipped me the bird out of the car window, causing me to chuckle. I knew he was letting me off easily. He could have easily told the driver to turn around and let him out.

I stood there, half-expecting that familiar tingle at the back of my neck. That same feeling I had from the moment I met Alexei and that warned me he was following me. But since Russia, the feeling wasn’t there. I couldn’t quite decide whether I was relieved or distressed about it.

I did tell him I’d arrest him if I saw him again. I meant it at that very moment, but now, not so much.

I fell for him.I knew it the moment I couldn’t shoot him, but it took me a while to admit it myself. Just the idea of him dead sent heavy dread through my veins. The feelings for him snuck up on me while focused on the case.