Page 119 of Devious Corruption

Joey has a thin sheen of sweat over his lip. A bead of it rolls down the side of his face.

“He’ll come; don’t worry,” Keith says with confidence.

Air won’t come. An ache so large and so overwhelming fills my chest I can barely register anythingother than the pain.

My brothers have brought me here to use me.

“I hope for your sake you’re right.” Marco cups my chin, dragging me to face him. “Cause if her little lover boy doesn’t show up here, with those fucking Russians with him, your little sister here is going to have a spot in the room right next to Ani.”

He shoves my face away and I bump into Elana.

“She’s not our sister,” Keith says. His voice turns hard.

“Keith,” Joey snaps. “What the fuck, man?”

“I don’t really care either way.” Marco shrugs and turns away.

Tears fill my eyes, but I wipe them away before they can fall.

“You’re counting on Lev and Elana’s brothers to come here, and then what happens?” I thrust my chin forward. “You’re going to gun them down?”

There’s a gun strapped to his hip.

“If I have to.” Marco checks his watch. “But they’re taking their slow ass time. Michael, go up front and see if they’ve been spotted. Maybe they’re trying to play heroes.”

“Yeah.” Michael gives Elana and me one more glance, then leaves, slamming the door behind him.

Marco drags out the last empty chair and sits down, crossing his legs and pulling out his phone. He’s just going to scroll away while we’re sitting here waiting for either our lives to end, or the lives of those we love to be taken away.

Love.

I do love him. I love all of them. The Volkovs, Elana, and Lev. They’ve all been so welcoming, so caring. They’ve enveloped me in their little circle without ever asking for anything in return.

Flicking away another tear, I look to Elana. She’s staring straight ahead again. Tony, sitting beside her, isn’t even trying to comfort her.

“Elana,” I whisper, leaning toward her. “I don’t understand.”

She gives a faint smile. “Tony decided he not only wanted in the family business, but he also wanted to take over,” she whispers. “So, he’s been working behind Marco’s back—behind my back—to make deals with other families. Marco and Michael found out, and now we’re all here waiting for my brothers and Lev to show up so Marco can take care of everyone at one time.”

“Why would they come in here; they have to know Marco wants them dead.”

“Because my brothers would do anything to keep me safe.” Her brows pull together. “Even when they find out about my relationship with Tony; they’ll come for me. And Lev will do the same for you.”

“Because they’d burn the world to the ground to keep us safe.” As the words fall from my lips, my soul soaks them in.

They’re not just words printed on a romance novel poster, or flashing on some social media post. They’re real. They’re true.

This morning was my last morning with Lev, and Iwasted it being pissed because he’d been keeping things from me. He’d been trying to keep me safe by keeping me in the dark.

“Marco wants to kill them all,” Elana whispers.

“Oh, not all of them.” Marco interjects into our conversation. “The Russians, yeah, they need to go. But Vartan and his boy here…they’ll be fine. And so long as they do what I tell them, Ani will walk away unscathed, too.”

“Marco, you’ve lost your fucking mind,” Tony snaps.

“You, stupid brother, however, are still uncertain. See, if I kill you, our uncle is going to be pissed. Even though you’re a traitor. If I kill her though,” he swings his eyes to Elana. “I suppose that would be punishment enough—you watching your little girlfriend die—that could work.”

“You don’t think Uncle Vicente will be pissed that you’ve taken out the Russians?”