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"It ends now." I down my drink and turn toward Niko and Lucy, who are standing with Donovan. "But I need your help."
Lucy glares at me. "We've been helping you this whole damn time."
Donovan's hand rests on her shoulder. "Let's cut him a little slack. It's not like he hasn't been doing anything.” Donovan turns his attention to me. "Have you gotten that cabin of yours upstate rebuilt?"
I've hardly given that cabin a thought since Babichev blew it up. "No. I'm as frustrated as you are, Lucy. I’m beginning to think there's a traitor in my midst."
All their brows rise in surprise.
"Any idea who?" Niko asks.
I roll my shoulders because I have no proof of anything, only good guesses. "For some reason, Babichev has been like smoke. I get a whiff, but when we get there, he’s gone. On the other hand, he's been able to find me and Kate. How is that?"
Lucy's eyes narrow. "You'd better not be thinking it's one of us."
I glare at her. "I know that you don't like me, and I have no problem with that. But don't ever question my trust in Niko and Donovan. They’re my brothers."
Lucy purses her lips at me, but there's a noticeable relaxing of the tension she'd been directing toward me.
"So, who, then?" Donovan asks.
"I've gone through all my men, and I just can't see any of them betraying me. Of course, I can't absolutely rule everyone out.”
“What about Robbie or Artyom?” Donovan asks. “I never would have guessed Lou was a rat. You never suspect those close to you.”
“Makes sense,” Niko adds. “Without you, Robbie is next in line.”
I shake my head. “Not them. I think it might be someone at the FBI."
Once again, all their brows rise to their hairlines.
"The contact you have?" Niko asked.
I nod and pour myself another drink. I feel like such an idiot to have put so much trust in him. In many ways, he’s like I’d been, an agent focused on organized crime who on occasion helps them rather than hinder them. For me, it started because of my friendship with Niko. A friendship that started in childhood and grew into a brotherhood. For my contact, his reasoning is financial. He’s paid well to protect the Bratva.
Because of my ties to the Bratva, I stayed away from it as much as I could, except for the few times I let my uncle know about investigations. But when he died and Igor took over, I stayed away and a new agent filled my place.
Now, I’m wondering if he’s the one who warned me that the FBI was on to me. And I can't help wondering if he's the one who outed me. All this time, I thought he was helping me search for Babichev, but perhaps the truth is that he’s working for Babichev. Like a fucking idiot, I hadn't considered it soon enough.
"That sucks," Donovan, always ready with an understated one-liner, says.
"So, what's the plan?" Niko asks.
I begin to explain what I have in mind, and almost immediately, there's pushback. But I have no other choice. I can't continue to chase smoke and have a traitor expose Kate and the baby.
"This is the best way and you know it.”
They reluctantly nod.
“I also ask that you protect Kate as if she were mine?—"
"Why don't you marry her already?" Donovan says in an exasperated breath.
His words tear through my heart because there's nothing I would rather do. "Because her life isn't with me." I turn my attention back to Niko, cutting off any further discussion.
"I'm asking you as a brother, Niko, to please look after her. I know your instinct is not to because of Elena and the babies’ safety. But I have never once asked you?—"
Niko put his palm up to stop me. "I already said that I would protect her. And I’ll do everything I can to follow your wishes so that she can live a normal life away from all this. But if the ultimate goal is to keep her safe from our enemies, it's possible that she will have to stay within Mafia protection."
