Page 149 of Cruel Juliet

“Explain yourself,” I bark. “Now.”

“Yeah, fuck.” He massages his throat. “If you’d let me speak, maybe.”

“I’m letting you speak more than you deserve.” I whip out my gun and press it against his forehead. “Tell. Me. Where. She. Is.”

He doesn’t blink. Barely even seems to register the gun at his head. In any other circumstances, I’d admire the guts on this boy. Because that’s what he is—a boy. Young, headstrong, foolish. No other type would have been stupid enough to waltz straight into my den. Certainly none of his dead brothers.

“At my house.” His voice is raspy, but clear. “My father is keeping her there. She’s alive, but I don’t know how long that’s going to last.”

Every muscle in my body locks tight. My mind floods with white noise.

“Where in the house?” I snarl.

“Upstairs. East wing.” He grits his teeth. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he looks almost as furious as I do. “He said—he said he’d deal with her himself.”

I study him. Keep my gun pressed tight to his temple. “Why should I believe you?”

“Because I fucking hate your guts.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good reason.”

“It should,” he spits. “You killed my brothers. You’re a fucking monster.” His eyes narrow. “But for some godforsaken reason, my sister is in love with you. And while I fucking hate that, too, I’m not going to let her die because of you.”

“Because of Nikolai.”

“No, because ofyou.” He jabs a finger into my chest, uncaring of the gun at his head. He’s either very brave or very, very stupid. “You got involved with her. That’s the only reason Dad is considering killing her. Because she gave you a child. And I—” His throat works. “I don’t want to lose another sibling. I won’t.”

My finger hovers on the trigger.

Nikolai wants to kill Sima. Not get her back—killher. His own daughter.

Because she got involved with me.

I want to call Maksim a liar, but I know better than that. I’ve accused the wrong Danilo once before. And besides, he’s right. I’m the reason Nikolai no longer sees value in Sima.

But I do. She’s the most important thing in my life. And I’ll be damned if I let Nikolai take her from me.

I drop my gun. “You could have sent someone to tell me that.”

“No, I couldn’t have.” Maksim fixes his collar. “You’re not that fucking stupid. Anatoli tried that, and he’s dead.”

“Then you’re not that fucking stupid, either.” I holster my weapon and straighten up. “Is that all you came to tell me?”

“No.” He pulls out a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. “I’m done with this idiotic war. This is Sima’s location. If you want it, agree to a truce.”

I raise my brow. “I could just take it from you, you know.”

“Sure. But wouldn’t you rather stop bleeding men for no reason? Because I sure as fuck would.” He scoffs. “My brothers went too far. Father, too. Our families are tied now, and I don’t see the point in gunning each other off in the streets until we’re all six feet under. No one wins that way.”

My whole being is itching to rush to where Sima is. The last thing I want right now is to be talking truces with her goddamn brother.

But he’s right. Fuck me, he’s right. We’ve been at this too long. If it were Nikolai on the other side, I’d drag him under no matter what, but Maksim never did anything to me. Not directly.

Still, I don’t trust him.

“And if I say no?”

“Then you kill me.” He doesn’t sound concerned. “And you can go explain to my sister why you put her last brother in the ground.”