Page 251 of Bratva Jewels Box Set

“He knows I’m alive?”

“Damon is actually the one who found us and brought us to safety,” Elena tells me.

I shake my head. How the hell are we all connected so closely without even knowing it?

“Agent Vasiliev will accompany you home, and Damon has been advised that she will join the team when you get back to Ibiza.”

“Wait a minute. I’m going back to Ibiza? You said I was dead. That I had a funeral.”

“All true. But we have given you a new identity.”

“That’s great, but you can’t change my face. Won’t Dmitri be suspicious?” I question them.

“We will have to make some changes, nothing drastic. No social media. You will have to lead a quiet life. Keep your head down just until Dmitri is captured,” the agent explains.

“Are you saying I can go back to Grace?”

“Yes. That’s what we are saying, but only if you agree to our terms,” the agent advises.

“Sold. I’m in. I will do anything and everything you need me to do if that means I get to go home to my Grace.”

“We are happy you want to join the team, Mr. Vasiliev.”

“Won’t everyone freak out that I’ve come back from the dead?”

“At first maybe. But we have cleared it that they all have low-level clearance. This will help with their charity work in rescuing these girls and bringing them home. Brooks Campbell has been given a higher clearance. He’s a decorated Navy Seal. He’s an honorable man, and a man who is duty-bound to his country. He will run point with the family letting them know things when they need to know.”

“What about Grace?”

“She has a higher clearance as your fiancé. You’re able to tell her who you work for, but there will be information that is on a need-to-know basis,” the agent explains.

That’s if Grace doesn’t kill me for faking my death.

“You still in?” the agent asks.

“Guess I’m one of the good guys now.”

37

GRACE

Yesterday was Maxim and Elena’s funeral or memorial or whatever you call it. I haven’t moved out of my bed all day, and my family keeps coming in to check on me. I guess they’re making sure I haven’t done something stupid, even though I want to. Maxim would haunt me if I did, so I don’t.

It’s late, and everyone else has gone to sleep. I pull myself out of bed and go for a walk in the garden. It’s the only time I can get out of the house without someone hovering over me. There’s a beautiful full moon tonight, and all the stars are bright, lighting up the sky. I follow the well-worn path from the house and stand against the stone wall to look out over the shimmering dark water of the ocean.

“I miss you, Maxim.” The words are carried away by the breeze.

“I’ve missed you, Grace.” I still, hearing his voice. He sounds so close, yet so far. I’m imagining things.

“I wish I could hold you one last time. Kiss you, tell you how much I love you,” I confess to the moonlight.

“You can,” he says.

I hear the crack of a stick behind me, and I turn around and gasp. There, bathed in the moonlight, is Maxim, dressed in a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt pulling across his hard chest, and wearing a smile that makes my broken heart thump against my ribs. His dark hair had been peroxided blond. There’s no scruff on his face, and his once-dark eyes are now green. Is this an angel version of Maxim? It looks like him but not quite.

Tears fall as I stare at the apparition in front of me. Obviously, this is what my mind needs to say goodbye to him, to let him go. To try to return to the land of the living. I let out a happy sigh, soaking in everything that is Maxim one last time. He moves closer to me until he’s standing right in front of me. His hand touches my cheek, and I lean into his touch. It feels so real. I have missed it so much.

“Hearing your voice again ...” I say.