Page 248 of Bratva Jewels Box Set

How does evil win against good? How is that fair?

I really wish I had a little white pill to take away this pain,

but my family is watching me, worried that I will relapse.

And I want to, I want the pain to go away.

But I won’t for Maxim.

36

MAXIM

Two fucking weeks I’ve been sitting in a cell in Langley, being interviewed by agents one after another. I need to get back to Grace. She has no idea what’s happening, she probably thinks I’m dead. I need to tell her I’m not. She needs to know that I’m alive. I can’t lose her. I hope and pray that she doesn’t turn to drugs again. I hope she is staying strong.

I need her to be strong for me.

“Let me the fuck out.” I slam my foot against the steel door. “I told you what you wanted to know.”

“Mr. Vasiliev, please stop kicking the door,” the voice booms over the speaker into my cell.

“Where’s Elena. Where is my sister?”

“She is safe, and you will be reunited soon,” the voice tells me.

It’s not fucking good enough. I slink back against the door and

hang my head. I need to get back to Grace. My poor Grace, she has been through too much for it to end like this. I’m destroying her. They are killing her slowly by keeping me here.

I must save her.

I have to get home.

I don’t even know if she’s hurt. No one will tell me anything.

I was supposed to make the fall. I don’t know what happened. We all survived, but the next thing I know, Sergei and Grace floated off in one direction, and Elena and I went in the other. I hit my head on the way down, I think against Grace as I was trying to protect her. I remember Elena helping me, calling out for me as the current pulled us along. Then hands were pulling us out of the water. Elena seemed to know who they were.

I must have passed out because the next thing I knew, I was waking up in the back of a Hercules, surrounded by boxes of bottled water. From what I’ve been told, we took a private plane out of Moscow to the closest American military base in Germany, then were transported to Langley on a humanitarian flight.

I rub my eyes. There’s light shining into my cell.

“Mr. Vasiliev.” A female voice filters into the room.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“My name is Laura, and I have been assigned to your case.” She

enters the room. She has brown hair, black-rimmed glasses, and is wearing a lab coat. She’s tiny; I could totally overthrow her and escape. “You have been cleared after your debrief, Mr. Vasiliev. But the higher-ups would like to talk to you before they release you.”

“I’m going home?”

She gives me a tight smile. “Yes, once your new papers have been produced, you will be able to go home.”

Home. I’m going home.I’m coming for you, Grace, please hang on. I’m coming for you.

I follow Laura to a meeting room, where she tells me some people

are waiting to meet me before I leave. She says she’ll return with my papers.