Page 20 of Bratva and Betrayal: Kirill

We stop, and the SUV’s engine is cut off. For a moment, there’s only silence. The driver is staying behind to return this car, or dump it, or burn it. I don’t care.

I give myself another moment to think. Smiling, I press the gun to Elodie’s head this time. “You’re going to get out of this car and walk a thousand paces without turning around. You turn around, I shoot you.”

Not really.

Her eyes widen, confusion cutting through the fear. “Me? Just me?”

“Yeah,” I say evenly. “Just you.”

Sandrine’s voice breaks. “Not me?”

“No,” I answer, and this time there’s no room for interpretation. “I came here for you.”

“Why me? I don’t⁠—”

“Shut the fuck up.” I hate myself for being so harsh, but all I can hear is tiny crying, all while Sandrine was in Scottsdale at a fucking spa.

The rear passenger door wrenches open, light flooding in. “I’m not ready, Drago.”

Looking that way, the world fractures. It’s not Drago at the door. Two men I don’t know have guns to my enforcer’s head.

And the one man I do recognize has his weapon raised right at my head. The only man in my dark underground world who can do that without being killed.

“Scava,” I bite out. “What the fuck?”

Nico Scava, the head of the Las Vegas Cosa Nostra, stands there with an irritatingly amused expression, as if this is all a game.

“I heard you were transporting something from the desert,” Scava says casually, his gaze flicking past me as he tries to see inside the SUV. “It piqued my curiosity.”

“It’s nothing. Go home,” I grit out. “This doesn’t concern you, or your house.”

“Go home?” He raises an eyebrow. “We’re closer to my home than yours. You should know better than to come this far south without my permission.”

“I heard what you did in Miami,” I say, buying time for Drago to get a signal to one of our men. “You’re consolidating, too.”

Ignoring me, Scava glances in the SUV. “What’s up, Volkov? You don’t traffic women. What changed your mind?”

“None of your business,” I snap. “Get the hell out of here. I’m serious.”

He pushes his head inside to get a better look at my cargo. His eyes land on the brunette, and his jaw drops.

“Wait, Volkov, that’s⁠—”

I don’t let him finish. I shove forward out of the car and tackle him onto the gravel.

Around us, chaos explodes into motion. Shouts, the sharp click of weapons, the scramble of bodies colliding. Drago is out of the front passenger seat and blocking the open rear door to guard Sandrine and the brunette. Only, my mammoth brother-in-law is too slow for these two.

Elodie dives out, practically trampling me. “Jessica, Come on!”

I lift off Scava and grab Sandrine, hauling her up against me.

Her body fights and twists, her hands pushing against my chest as she tries to break free. “Let me go.”

This is definitely her.

I knew the day would come when I would rule and my wife would be a target. I trained her to be tough, to resist, and to fight.

“Elodie, help!” she yells.