Page 35

ARSENI

S he’s alive.

She’s alive .

“Oh my God,” I say, slapping Hudson in the arm as if he can’t see the woman flailing her arms in the road. He slams on the breaks, and the tires squeal to a stop.

“Stay in the car,” I say to Hudson, not taking my eyes off Margot as I throw the door open. I don’t wait for him to respond. I jump out of the car and nearly trip over myself at the relief in Margot’s eyes.

She’s fallen to her knees, but at the sight of me, she stands. Tears burst from her eyes as she runs to me. I take her in my shaking arms and have to hold back all emotion. All relief.

It isn’t over yet.

“No one shoots!” I yell out in Russian at a brother as he climbs onto the bridge. The SUV is parked behind us on the other side, and if we hadn’t spotted Margot, we would’ve stopped there. Who knows if it would’ve been too late.

Two others are quick to join him, all guns drawn and pointed our way. I urge Margot behind my back and lift up my hands.

“I have orders from Vitaly to take the girl to headquarters!”

Boris is the first to furrow his brow. He takes the lead among the others. “Nikita Petrov gave us strict instructions?—”

“He lied to you.” I roam my gaze over the brothers. “He lied to all of you the same way he lies to me… Put your guns down, and I’ll explain everything.”

“What the fuck are you doing with a cop?” Boris asks, still not lowering his gun.

“He’s on the payroll. Vitaly sent him too. Put your guns away .”

“Fuck you.” Dimitri shakes his gun at me. “We have strict orders to kill you too, you idiot.”

“Right, because Nikita can’t kill me himself. He isn’t the fucking Pakhan. What do you think it’ll mean for you when the actual Pakhan finds out you went against his orders?”

Boris and Dimitri give each other a look.

“We’ll call him,” I say, keeping my hands up. “It’ll take two minutes to clear this up, I swear to God.”

Or two minutes for them to know for certain I’m full of shit.

“ Please , just put the guns down. I’m unarmed.”

The driver’s side door to the car opens, and I slowly turn my head Hudson’s way, my eyes wide with disbelief.

Stay the fuck out of this , I try to say with my eyes. He doesn’t listen. All guns draw to Hudson, who holds his own at his side.

Margot clings to me, and when I look over my shoulder, she’s peeking around my back at my brothers. She shakes in terror.

“Put your gun down,” I tell Hudson before he fucks things up for all of us.

“Them first.”

Margot’s body stiffens. She was shaking, but now she’s still, her nails digging into me like a frightened cat.

I look over my shoulder again to tell her it’s going to be okay, but her eyes are no longer on my brothers. They’re on Hudson. Her mouth is agape. Her face is twisted in horror. And when the muted sound of a silenced gun goes off, she sucks in a breath to scream.

Boris is the last to fall as I turn around, confusion making everything happen in slow motion. My mind feels like it short-circuits. There’s a question mark permanently branded on my brain.

It isn’t until the butt of the gun hits my temple that I understand why Margot screamed. It isn’t because of my brothers’ deaths.

It’s because her worst nightmare is coming true.