Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I get ignored again. “They don’t need to be bilingual when they’re in the millions.” Matvei curses when Maksim warns, “We’re no match for Henry’s crew. We’ll be overrun in an hour.”
“Not if we give him the information he needs. He changed the rulebook when he was forced to give up his wife and baby to protect them,” Easton advises. “You need to tug on his heartstrings, Matvei. Get him on your side before he takes us all down with you.”
I don’t know who Henry is, but he is clearly a powerful man because he has the Ivanovs rattled. I didn’t think anything could shake them.
“I’m with you on this twenty-four-seven, Brother, but you need to call the shots because he’s coming after you. Family is family, and to Henry, that makes them untouchable.”
After a beat, Matvei’s eyes pop open like a brilliant idea popped into his head. “I think I know how I can convince him to back down.” My relieved sigh is quickly sucked back in when he says, “Once I get Natalya to safety, I’ll meet you at the compound.”
“My place or hers?” Maksim asks, once again running.
Matvei strays his eyes to mine before he answers, “His. It has more weaponry.”
“Are you sure you want to do that, Matvei?” Maksim asks. “That could start an even bigger war than the one Henry’s establishing now.”
“I’m sure,” Matvei answers while scrubbing his thumb over my swollen lips. “It’s time to tell the truth.” His eyes return to the rearview mirror. “But I need you to get rid of them first.”
“Consider it done.” A second after Easton’s gruff tone sounds down the line, the leading van is taken out with what I can only describe as a rocket launcher. “I fucking told you weaponized drones are the weapons of the future.”
The second van strives for a swift getaway, but it is blown to smithereens shortly after the first.
“What the…?”
A cloud of flames swamps the rearview mirror as Matvei requests, “Kill comms. If you didn’t release the info early, someone in your crew did.” His eyes are on me again, hot and heavy. “I don’t trust anyone with her safety. Not even you.” When Maksim pffts at him, he says, “Don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same for Nikita.”
Maksim’s gripe isn’t legible, but a second after demanding Matvei get to the compound to clean up his fucking mess, Maksim cuts communication. I wish it were before he warned Matvei about incoming insurgents, because his warning doesn’t leave room for discussion. A second after the LoJack and electronic dashboard are disengaged, Matvei throws the gearstick into first and speeds through the backstreets of Kronstadt like a racecar driver striving for a podium finish.
He skids around corners and drives well over the speed limit until we arrive at a mansion as large and grand as the one we’ve called home for the past week, but more rundown and unkempt.
“Please don’t do this,” I beg when Matvei punches a code into the security gate. “We could leave on our honeymoon now. Disappear and never come back.” I twist to face him. “You don’t need to do this.”
The prospect of spending twenty years in jail isn’t the sole reason I ran two years ago. It was the knowledge that Bastian’s sons were gunning for revenge for their family’s downfall, and my name is at the top of their list.
“This isn’t on you,” Matvei replies as he glides his sports car down a cracked concrete driveway with weeds growing through it.
I hear the thud of my heart in my reply. “How can you say that? This is my fault.”
He shakes his head, forcing mine to spin.
How isn’t this my fault? He married me, which put my name on a legal document. That’s the equivalent of waving a flag in the air and screaming “I’m over here. Come get me!”
I follow him out of the car before trying to make him see sense through the madness. “Matvei—” My words are forced into the back of my throat when he yanks me behind him before directing his gun at the head of a beautiful brunette sliding out of a dark town car behind us.
My heart was pounding in my ears so wildly I didn’t hear the vehicle’s chunky wheels rolling over the cracked driveway.
“If I find out your finger was anywhere near that trigger…” Maksim’s warning fades into silence when Matvei moves his finger off the trigger. “You fuckin—”
“Enough,” the brunette shouts while fanning her hand across Maksim’s chest to stop him from charging his brother. “We don’t have time for more sibling rivalry.” She locks eyes with Matvei. “You’re badly outnumbered. We barely got out, and your mother is refusing to leave. We. Don’t. Have. Time.”
After kissing Maksim like they don’t have an audience, she snatches my wrist and drags me toward the house. Her strength is inspiring, but it has nothing on the awe I feel when she cranks her neck back to Matvei and says, “Bring him home in one piece.”