Page 161 of His Darkest Obsession

I swallow hard, trying to steady my voice. "Please," I manage to say. "Don't hurt my sister. She has nothing to do with any of this."

I can still see the cop with his gun trained on Amara in our car. Svetlana's body remains motionless on the pavement. My stomach churns with fear and guilt.

Lola's green eyes glitter with cold amusement. "That all depends on how cooperative you're willing to be, Amelia."

For a moment, I wonder just how she might know my name. But that's when I remember how Valentina and Vassily cornered me in that musty room, and told me that every crime family has been looking into me.

They'd known everything. My name. My past. What happened with Bennet. Everything I'd tried so desperately to bury beneath blue hair dye and a new identity.

So of course Lola knows too.

I stare out the window, trying to see if Amara is still okay, but the dark tinted glass of the SUV makes it impossible.

"Eyes on me, you cheap slut," Lola snaps.

I meet her gaze, forcing myself not to look away. "What do you want from me?"

Her smile widens, red lipstick perfectly applied. "Simple. I want what belongs to me."

Then, she snaps her fingers, and the SUV pulls away from the curb, leaving Amara and Svetlana behind. I watch in horror as the bloody scene whirls past, and try to catch my sister's eyes in a silent promise that I'll come back for her.

If I come back.

"I always knew that my Tolya wanted a way out of our arrangement." Lola begins again. "But I never thought he was so desperate that he would marry common trash like you to do it."

I bite back my response. Instinct tells me to lash out and claw at her perfect face, but I force myself to remain still.

My eyes start darting around the vehicle's interior, searching for anything that I might be able to use as a weapon or a distraction.

But Lola catches my searching gaze and smiles sweetly.

"Don't even think about trying anything stupid," she warns. "Because if you do..." she glances at her brother, "Grisha won't hesitate to order that nice policeman to put a bullet right in sweet Amara's pretty little head."

My blood freezes in my veins as she mimes a gun with her fingers and pretends to shoot.

"Ponimayesh menya, shlyukha?" Lola asks, tilting her head slightly.

I don't need to know Russian to know what she's asking. So, I give her a slight nod as the walls start closing in around me.

If I fight, Amara dies. If I run, Amara dies.

The only way forward is through.

"I always have someone following Tolya," Lola says casually, examining her perfect manicure. "Discreetly, of course. From a distance so he'd never notice. Just in case he does something stupid like this."

You fucking psycho!

Her eyes flick to mine, catching my disgust before I can hide it.

"Imagine my surprise," she continues, voice dropping lower, "when he made not one, but two little excursions into the Bronx. First to some no-name barbershop that mysteriously gets shot up right after he arrived." She tilts her head, studying me. "And then to an apartment building where he came out with the same blue-haired bitch who almost killed him."

My stomach drops. She knew. She knew everything from the very beginning.

"That's when I started really looking into things." Lola's smile is predatory. "You're smart for someone not born into this life, I'll give you that. Not everyone would think to keep family away during their own kidnapping."

I try to keep my face neutral even as my heart races.

"Because of that little bit of cleverness," Lola continues, "I didn't find out about dear Amara until she started going around asking after you."