Page 45 of The Games of Madmen

“Oh,” she breathes. “Okay, honey. Hold on.”

The phone rings several times, and then Rodion’s rumbly voice answers. “What?”

Hearing his voice is such a relief that I start sobbing. “P-Please, Ro. I need you to help me.”

“Alyona,” he growls, voice sharp with panic. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m in the parking lot at The Vault,” I croak out. “Jeremiah’s dead. Yuri sent someone for me.”

He curses, and I hear him barking at Zahkar, who’s no doubt in the bed with him. “Stay right there,liybimaya.My love.We’re coming for you.”

The line goes dead, but my heart jolts back to life.

They’re coming for me.

They’re coming for me.

They’re coming for me…

Chapter Thirteen

Rodion

“Just stop here,” I instruct Z, glancing out the window at the dimly lit street ahead. We’re a block from The Vault and don’t need any witnesses who can link us going to the club at this hour. I’m not sure what we’ll be walking into once we get there. I didn’t wait around for details on the phone.

Her voice was so fragile. I’ve never heard her sound like that before.

Zahkar doesn’t wait for me before he’s out of the car and jogging toward the club. I catch up to him, and I'm grateful he brought enough gym wear in his luggage for me to wear as well. Running in dress shoes would have been more than unpleasant.

There is only one car in the parking lot, and her silhouette fills the driver's seat. Zahkar flings open the door and kneels beside her. “Are you okay?” he barks, panic in his voice. He surveys her body. “Is this your blood?”

She’s covered in it, some dried and flaking, some still wet. Her bottom half is bare, and her top half is covered with a man’sT-shirt. Blood is seeping through it, expanding up the fabric. All that blonde hair is buried beneath crimson clumps.

“You’re injured.” I swallow my dread. It’s a statement.

I attempt to shift Zahkar to get a better visual of her.

“A girl,” she mumbles, lips cracked and trembling. “She was just a girl.”

“Who, love?” Zahkar asks, his hands hovering over her, too afraid to touch her.

Her voice is hoarse, and the bruising on her neck is worse now that she’s not wearing any makeup to cover it. Fresh marks litter her flesh.

I’ll take apart whoever has done this to her limb by limb. Draining them of their screams until hell takes them from this world into the next…and I’ll meet themtheretoo.

“Your arms,” Zahkar chokes, taking her hand from the steering wheel and inspecting the wounds slashed into her skin.

“S-she killed Jeremiah.”

“Whokilled him?” I growl.

She’s not saying enough. This is useless. The longer we wait here, the greater the chance of being seen. There’s no explaining away this amount of blood.

“The girl Yuri sent.” Her words are raspy and broken. Tears well in her eyes and drip down to her cheeks creating a path through the blood. Then, she darts her gaze all around, looking and seeing nothing, but terrified nonetheless. “I need to clean this up. Adam will kill me and take her from me.”

A pained howl rips from her chest. It’s deep and from the soul. Somehow, it cuts into my soul too.

“Takewho?” Zahkar’s brow creases.