Until tonight.
The woman he loves was taken,the rational part of me needles.He’s wounded. He’s not thinking straight.
But right now, reason isn’t holding the wheel.
“You’re saying he took Mia?” Nikita presses. “That he kidnapped her?”
“No.” I wish it could be that fucking simple. Then I’d only have one person to be angry at instead of two. “I’m saying Mia acted on her own volition, but she didn’t act alone.”
But something still feels off. Brad—he specifically asked for MiaandEli.
So why is Mia going alone? Why does she think he’ll let Kallie go for only half the spoils?
Because it isn’t Eli he wants. Not really.
Mia would never give up her son, but she would give herself up in a heartbeat.
I punch my fist through the counter. “BLYAT’!”
Pain shoots up my knuckles. Hot, searing pain. I might have broken something, but right now, I don’t fucking care. I need this. I deserve this.
I never should have trusted her.
At that moment, someone throws the door open. The second I see who it is, my face twists into a mask of rage. “You.”
Maks is panting in the doorway. “I know you’re pissed?—”
“Pissed?!” I stalk towards him, lift him by the collar. “You think I’mpissedright now? That’s what you fucking think?!”
“Yulian—”
THWACK.
My punch hits him before I can think.
Maksim’s head snaps sideways. Red blooms on his cheekbone, where mypakhanring cut into his skin.
“I should have you killed.” It comes out like a clap of thunder. “Scratch that. I should kill you right fucking now.”
Maks’s face fills with fury. “You refused to act,” he says. “You were sulking like a goddamn teenager. I had to do something. If Mia hadn’t done what she did?—”
“Don’t you fucking say her name,” I roar. “Don’t you dare, you filthy traitor!”
“STOP!”
A female voice cuts into the fray.
It’s not Nikita. It’s not Mia, either—that would be too good to be true.
It’s Kallie.
She rushes out of the elevator and steps between us. “Please.” Her voice trembles as she speaks. “Please, don’t hurt him.”
Her big, brown eyes fix on me. They’re red and puffy, still wet around the edges, like she’s been crying nonstop for hours.
A sinking feeling spreads into my chest. “Where’s Mia?”
“She gave herself over,” Kallie says. “To Brad.”
