Page 24

When Jade walks into my living room it’s like someone has dropped me into a pool of ice water.

My entire body goes rigid, my heart freezing in shock and my breath knocked completely out of my lungs.

At first I can’t tear my eyes off of her, and then once I manage to—I can’t bear to look towards her again.

I can smell the delicate scent of her skin, even though she isn’t too close to me. I want to reach out and touch her, I want to forget what she has done and pretend that all of it was just a bad dream.

But she had my brother taken. She orchestrated the entire thing and now he’s in danger. We might lose him.

I clench my jaw and fidget with my nails.

“What do you want, Jade ?” it’s difficult—the shape of her name on my lips causes pain in my heart.

“I want to help.”

All I can do I laugh. “You want to help do you? How sweet. What would you like to do? Invite the Enzo’s over for dinner and have them take me in my sleep?”

I force myself to keep my eyes turned down. Away from her. I won’t let her tempt me, just the sight of her is like an elixir I’ve been dreaming of tasting again.

“Rad—“ she murmurs, her voice soft and warm.

“Radmir,” I correct her. We are no longer that familiar with each other. In fact, I have no idea who this woman is, only what she let me see.

“Radmir, I might be the only one who can help you get Ruvim back.”

In all honestly, this might be true. And her holding that over my head like a weapon infuriates me.

I stand up and step towards her, the warning and coldness if my words is not hidden in my voice. “Don’t you dare say his name.”

She nods, looking at me with desperation in her eyes.

I’d be desperate, too. If I’d done what she did and now, I would be pleading for my life.

She takes a slow breath and lifts her hand, then lowers it again. I can sense her discomfort and I have mixed feelings of enjoying it and hating it. I want her to know the pain she caused, but I also hate all of this. I can’t be this close to her without my heart reminding me of exactly how I feel about her.

How much I love her.

How much I wanted her in my life, and still do, but I don’t even know her.

It’s all too confusing, it’s too much.

I turn my back on Jade and walk towards the patio doors to stare out into the garden and try and clear my head. A low, angry growl rumbles through me when I can still see her reflection on the glass panel in front of me and I stare at that instead of the garden.

“Radmir, the Enzo family is really good at hiding, but I’m sure I can locate them. Or get in touch with them. I can reach out and we can find out where they are.

Andrei works for them. He was my brother’s best friend. Um. I can contact him—“

She is rustling through information, either trying to tempt me with it to trap me or trying to use it to negotiate for her life.

I turn to glare at her.

“And you want what in return? Your freedom? The chance to go home and live a happy life after what you’ve done?”

She huffs loudly, visibly frustrated.

“I want to help,” she practically shrieks, fighting tears.

“I want to help you get your brother back,” she says more calmly, controlled.

“And you think one call to the Enzos is going to get my brother back? How stupid do I look, Jade?” I say, walking slowly towards her with my eyes locked onto her like death rays. There is no point in trying to look away. She is the flame, and I am the moth.

I ordered my brother not to kill her. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. But that doesn’t mean I should let her trick me again, as hard as it is not to fall for her words. She always seems so sincere.

“A phone call, maybe, but I think it’s better if I go there. They are expecting me to anyway. The longer I stay here, the more suspicious they will become, but if I left now and went straight to them, I could pretend like their plan worked. And I could find out where Ruvim is and get that information to you.”

I listen to her words, and if I trusted her, it would be a brilliant plan—but I don’t. I can’t. I can’t make the same mistake twice.

And—

I don’t want her in danger.

I snarl at the thought. Angry with myself for being so weak.

But my heart still belongs to her, until I can get over what’s happened between us. Until I can find a way to heal and piece myself back together. I still want her and long for her, and care for her deeply.

“No,” I snap angrily.

Marching out of the room, I leave her standing alone in the living room. She can’t escape anywhere. The house is a secure fortress, and the guards will stop her before she gets a few feet from the house. And I need space.

I need to think clearly, and I can’t do that with her so close to me.

I head toward the kitchen to speak to Renat. He’s been holding her captive for me and I want to know his thoughts on the matter.

In the kitchen, Renat is leaning against the counter and flicking through his phone.

“Did you get any information from her while you had her?”

“No, I found other information though that will interest you. I wanted to tell you in person—“ he holds up his phone. “This is the image they showed her to prove to her that you were the killer.”

I take her phone and see a screenshot taken from security footage. Grigor’s moment of death.

My heart sputters when I see the man leaning over him. “It looks like me.”

“It looks very much like you and the Enzos did that on purpose. They hired this guy to off her brother. His name is John Grecko. They chose him specifically so that they could then lead Jade to believe you murdered her brother, and then manipulate her into this situation she is currently in. They used her to infiltrate our family.”

I bite the inside of my cheek, my heart sinking for her.

They killed her brother, just to use her in a plot to take me down.

That’s sick.

“I believe they were in her head for months about you, planting seeds and pushing her to hate you and our family. I think they brain washed her like a puppet, using her grief to shape her choices. And using this evidence to solidify their lies.”

Handing Renat’s phone back to him I feel anger and pain boiling inside me—for her. For what they put her through.

“What are you going to do?” Renat asks.

“She wants to go to the Enzos pretending to still follow their plan and then try to find Ruvim.”

“And… if she’s willing to do that we can finally locate them. Roman has been struggling, he can’t find anything and if he can’t find it you know it’s bad,” Renat says, heated and encouraged by the idea.

But I still hate the idea of Jade being at risk like that.

“Radmir, Ruvim needs us. She is our best chance,” Renat says.

I still can’t bring myself to agree to it.

“Are you scared she won’t go through with it? That she will back stab us again?” he asks, not letting this go.

“It’s just—“ I mumble.

“You have feelings for her,” he sighs, frustrated and angry with me. He pushes his fingers through his hair and shakes his head.

“Well, this is her chance to prove herself, Radmir. If you want to know if she genuinely feels bad about what she’s done, if you want to know if she is even worthy of your forgiveness or not—then you have to let her do this. She has to prove herself.” Renat is angry, desperate, and speaking the truth.

“Fuck,” I mumble.

“Radmir?” her voice makes me jump as she steps into the kitchen.

I look towards my brother before I look at her.

He nods, tilting his head to the side. A gesture that speaks a thousand words as his eyes bore into me. It’s the only choice we have. The only way to get Ruvim back. You have to agree to this.

With my jaw muscles tight, my shoulders tense and my heart beating angry and cold, I turn towards Jade.

“How will you do it?” I ask quietly.

Her eyes flicker a little wider. Hope.

She steps tentatively closer to me, notes my body language and stops. “I’ll leave from here and catch a taxi. On the way I’ll call Andrei and find out where I can meet him. I just need my phone. Andrei—I’ve known him for years, before my family even allied with the Enzos. He has no reason to suspect that I will be helping you.”

Renat reaches into his pocket and takes her phone out. He hands it to her.

She glances at me, waiting for me to argue, but I don’t.

She slides her phone to unlock it and reads through her messages, constantly looking up to watch me at the same time.

Then, she holds her phone out to me.

A message from Andrei on her screen.

It’s evidence that she’s willing to help, but it’s also evidence that she betrayed us. A message from the enemy. From the people who have my brother.

Andrei: Hurry up and get out of there. Let me know when you’re free. I can meet you.

“Answer him,” Renat demands. “Tell him you have a chance to get away this morning.”

Jade bites her lip as she types, then before hitting send she holds the phone up to us for our approval.

Jade: I can get away this morning. I’ll grab a taxi and come to you. Where are you? Is that asshole's brother somewhere secure?

“Sorry,” she mutters, looking at the floor while I read the message. I clear my throat and nod, my mouth pulled tight.

She hits send and we wait.

Andrei: I’m going to meet with Marat now. I had dinner with him and his sister, Eva, last night and they said he was locked up secure and surrounded by guards until they decide exactly what they want to do. Let me know when you’re out and I’ll tell you where to meet me.

I hate to admit it, but with what she’s shown me it seems like she can easily infiltrate and locate my brother.

“I can do this,” she whispers, her bright hazel eyes staring right into mine.

I clench my jaw, hating how beautiful she is. But willing to accept that she is our best chance, and even if it’s a risk for her, this is something that has to happen.

“Do it,” I sigh. “Call a taxi. But maybe shower and change first. It’s better you arrive there looking fresh, no red eyes from crying.“

I glance over her body. She looks agitated and tired. Her clothes are a little scuffed and dirty from when Renat took her. Her gorgeous hair is wild and a little tangled.

I reach out and touch it, running my fingers through one of the strands. Then I quickly drop it and step back, half shaking my head. What am I doing?

She glances down at herself. “I’ll go upstairs, if um… If my clothes are still there?” she asks.

“Everything is exactly as you left it,” I mutter, turning my back on her. I didn’t have the heart to tell my brother to kill her, and I didn’t have the heart to move anything of hers. I enjoyed it. Savored it, as though she was still with me.

Jade hurries upstairs, leaving her phone on the kitchen counter which nobody asked her to do but I think was just a gesture of good faith.

“Do you believe her?” Renat asks, flicking the coffee machine on.

“I don’t think we have any choice.” I shrug. “Make me one too. I haven’t slept in two days.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling. If they’ve done anything to Ruvim—” he says tightly.

“I know,” I sigh. “I know.”

While Jade is upstairs, we relay the situation to Rodion and the other guys, letting them know our plan and to be ready. As soon as Jade sends me that location, I’m going to get our brother.

Jade comes downstairs looking gorgeous in a pair of tight jeans and a white cropped camisole. Her hair is washed and pinned up into a high bun, neat and sleek with a few stands of hair around her face. She smells gorgeous, the creamy scent of her body wash filling the kitchen.

I have so many things I want to say to her, but I can’t.

I don’t even know if I will ever see her again after she leaves now. Anything might happen.

Everything or nothing.

I bite my lip, letting my teeth push pain into my skin so I can hold back the emotions surging through me.

Jade can feel the tension drifting off me. She moves carefully when she picks up her phone.

“I’m going to call the taxi. And then once I’m in the car I’ll call Andrei and go to him. I’ll find out where Ruvim is and then send you that location. But I don’t think you should come there until I can actually confirm for myself that Ruvim is there. Just in case. I want to make sure they still trust me. If he isn’t there then it might just be a trap… “

Renat nods. “That makes sense.”

I wish it didn’t.

“Fine,” I mumble.

Her lips part as she looks at me. She has words stuck in her throat too.

They close again and she turns her attention to booking the taxi.

Renat and I wait with her, watch her climb into it, and drive away.

“Now, all we can do is hope like fuck that she does what she says,” Renat says tightly. “Let’s go get ready. It could start happening really fast and I want to be ready the second she sends that pin.”

My heart is sitting in the pit of my stomach as we head back into the house.