Page 158 of Wicked Refusal

A short, icy pause. “Either put her back on, or you can forget about seeing the Indian girl again.”

Maksim’s face paints with rage, Mia’s with dread.

“You son of a—” I start, but Mia stops me.

“Let me,” she begs. “Please.”

I don’t want to. In fact, I want to keep Mia as far away as I can from this fucking monster.

But she’s not wrong. Brad has a hostage, I remind myself. And right now, Mia’s our best way of negotiating.

I grit my teeth and hand over the phone.

“Thank you,” she says to me, then places it on the counter so we can all hear. “I’m here, Brad.”

“Good.” I hate the way he says it—so goddamn self-satisfied and cocky. Like it was only a matter of time before he sunk his claws into her again. “You see, I didn’t like how we left things.”

“You mean, when I beat you?” Mia fires at him.

He laughs, cold and cruel. “Sure, if that’s what you think happened. But see, you little blackmail stunt really got me thinking.”

Blackmail?I glance over to Mia, but her face has shuttered. Like she suddenly can’t look me in the eye anymore.

What the?—

“Brad,” she says, almost pleading. “We really don’t have to go over?—”

“Oh, but we do,” he counters. “That money trail you found on my computer? I checked. As I thought, it was all autopay. An old agreement of my father’s. Sure, his shadowy friends in high places were still helping, but to be honest? It was basically payroll. I hardly ever thought about it. But then you threatened to tell your sugar daddy, so I told myself… Well, what if I cashed in on all those overdue favors?”

“What’s he talking about?” I interject. “What blackmail? What friends in high places?”

“Yulian, please?—”

But Brad must overhear, because he hacks out another laugh. “Oh, that’s rich. So you really didn’t know? Your baby mama was threatening to expose me to you.” His tone turns gleeful. “For being in business with Prizrak.”

The world stops turning.

Prizrak.The bastards who killed my family. Who painted my house red with the blood of my parents, my sister, my best friend.

And Brad’s in bed with them?

And Mia?—

She knew?

All this goddamn time, she knew?

“That’s right,” Brad gloats. “I hear they didn’t treat your family so well. Unfortunately for you, they’ve got a pretty good relationship with mine. So I told myself I’d use it. And they were oh-so-helpful: got that little threat through at the pizzeria, got your little friend all wrapped in a bow for me…”

I stop listening to Brad’s monologue. All I can do is stare at Mia.

But her face is a mask of guilt. She doesn’t even have to speak. I look at her, and Iknow.

It’s true.

“Yulian,” Mia whispers, covering the speaker with a hand so her shitty ex won’t hear, “I was gonna tell you. I?—”

I snatch the phone away again. “Tell us your terms.”