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Chapter36
ANDREI
The container terminal is empty after dark. Literally, there’s not a person to be seen as we drive between stacked shipping containers, large cranes standing tall in the distance. The occasional cry of a seagull punctuates the silence.
Yulian maneuvers our armor-plated Humvee with Daniil in the front seat, and Leo and me in the back—eagle eyes scanning for anything that stands out as a threat. You could hear a pin-prick in this car. We’re so silent, attuned to any movement or sound that signals trouble.
“This is it,” Yulian announces, his face like stone. A derelict building rises in front of us, looking as empty as I feel inside.
“We leave the weapons in the car,'' I remind my brothers, “but we take these.” I pass out some real James Bond shit—a basic ink pen that turns into a switchblade knife with a flick of the wrist.
“Fucking brilliant,” Daniil breathes, as he tucks the so-called pen into a side pocket of his fatigues. It’s innocuous enough that if we get patted down on our way inside, most of the basic level soldiers won’t be any the wiser.
I haven’t been without some sort of weapon on me since I was a boy, and it feels odd to be so exposed, even wearing the best ballistic body armor money could buy.
Stepping out of the car, we nod to Yulian. He’ll park out of sight and communicate with our team hidden around the port area. We have drones in play, sending a live feed back to our security teams. It’s the best we can do. Try to anticipate everything in advance. And hope like hell this isn’t an ambush designed to wipe our family from the face of the earth.
My brothers follow closely behind me as I lead the way into the building. I expect to be frisked by security, but there is no one to greet us. I tamp down my better instinct that screams for me to turn back. As instructed, we head right, following a narrow hallway to the very back of the building, where we enter a cavernous room. It’s dark when we step in, but the lights soon flicker on. There are no tables and chairs, nothing, except for a few wooden shipping crates and a large television screen set-up on the far-side of the room.
The vision on the screen chills me to the bone. It’s a close-up of Georgia—she’s blindfolded and gagged with a gun to her head. I can’t see who is holding the gun, just the fear in the way Georgia holds herself pin straight, not moving a muscle, barely daring to breathe.
It takes everything in me not to call out to her, though I doubt she’d be able to hear me. I catch my brothers’ expressions. Both of them look about as tense as I feel. Someone is watching us. This whole set-up is meant to unsettle us, and give them the upper hand. I school my expression, deep breaths calming my frayed nerves. And then a voice booms from behind us.
“Good evening, gentlemen. Thank you for coming.”
All three of us spin around, only to be confronted by a familiar face smiling back at us. Except the woman standing here is no longer a brunette. Instead, she has a stylish blonde bob. Piper. The woman who somehow bluffed her way into a job in our home. I still haven’t figured out how that happened, but when I do get to the bottom of it, there will be hell to pay. For now, getting Georgia back is my only focus.
“It wasn’t exactly an invitation we could ignore.” Daniil says tightly, his eyes trained on the gun she has pointed at us.
“No, I suppose not,” she says, a hint of smug satisfaction bleeding into her tone. She gestures to the television. “This is a livestream of Georgia. A show of good faith on my part so you know she is alive and well. If you make a move to hurt me, she’ll be killed, and you’ll get to watch it on-screen. Keep that in mind.”
“If Georgia is harmed, I will rain down a world of hurt on you.” I snarl, pointing at the screen. Piper holds her ground, cold steel flashing in her eyes. Whoever she is, she’s tough; she doesn’t even flinch at my threat. “Why are we here?” I demand.
She crosses her arms and meets each of our eyes with her own cool gaze. “I’d like to suggest an alliance, one that’s mutually beneficial,” she says silkily. “My name is not Piper, although you’ve probably already figured that out. I’m the daughter of your sworn enemy. Our families share a history of violence, a history of hate, but I want to change that.”
My stomach drops. Beside me, Leo and Daniil remain still, as if we’re all holding our breath to see what comes next, to see if this moment is real.
“What’s your name?” I ask. I need to hear it from her mouth.
“Kira Antonov.” Shock punches the breath from my lungs. My sister stands before me, but there is no spark of recognition. Nothing to suggest that she knows we’re related or that she’s brought us here for a family reunion, so I test the waters.
“What exactly do you have in mind?”
“We have the same objective, you and I. We both want to destroy my father, and avoid an all-out mafia war. Help me take down Oleg and install me as the new head of the Antonov Bratva. I know I’m young, but now you’ve seen what I’m capable of. Together, we can move forward with our brotherhoods aligned, rather than opposing.”
I’m momentarily struck dumb by what she has revealed. Kira wants to overthrow her father? It’s either an act of sheer stupidity, or the ultimate example of bravery—likely somewhere in between.
I don’t need to look at my brothers to know they feel as I do. It’s time to get it all out in the open.
“Kira, there is something you need to know first.”
My words are cut off by rapid gunfire exploding just beyond the room. The noise is deafening as a hail of bullets splinter through the thick wooden door, sending all of us scattering for cover.
Kira releases a blood-curdling scream and dives for cover.
Ice travels through my veins. I can’t lose her too.
Chapter37
