In the rearview mirror, I sneak glances at my dad, who has his hands folded in his lap and a strained look on his face. Katia maneuvers the car with one hand on the steering wheel, and the other on the dagger at her waist. Once we reach our destination, she swerves and turns into a dark alley.
I barely have time to hug my dad before she hauls him out.
I’m halfway out of the car when Katia emerges from the shadows and gets into the driver’s side. I wait until she’s far enough away before I take a deep breath. “You’re going to tell me that I should keep my distance for a while.”
Katia doesn’t look at me. “You already know you should, but you insisted on going anyway.”
“If I want you to help me see someone, a friend, will you help me do that?”
Katia shoots me a withering look. “What about this day has made you feel like I’m willing to do things for you? I’m supposed to protect you, not run errands and arrange secret meetings, Blondie.”
I curl my hands into fists. “Miss Deveroux can help make arrangements for my family. I’m not going to let them fend for themselves. She works at the club, so she’s got to be trustworthy, and she helped me when I first started working—”
Katia holds a hand up. “I don’t need the history. I know who she is.”
“So, you’ll help me?”
Katia grips the steering wheel tighter and swerves suddenly, knocking me back against the seat. Before I can reply, she presses down on the gas, and the tires screech in response, the seatbelt digging painfully into my chest. I glance in my side mirror and see a few black unmarked SUVs gaining on us.
“It wasn’t an engine banging, was it?”
“Lucky for you, I don’t feel like dying this way,” Katia says in a low voice. “Hang on tight.”
She winds down an unpredictable path, but each time I think we've lost them, they appear on our tail until we’re on a bridge. Suddenly, they break off and drive on either side of us. Katia curses and presses down harder on the gas pedal, but it doesn’t help.
The two vehicles slam into us, and the impact sends shock waves through my system.
I can barely see past the spots dancing in my field of vision, and when they hit us again, I taste blood in my mouth.
Katia tries to muscle her way out, but the car skids out of control.
We’re pushed off the bridge and free-falling through the skies. Fear slams into me as I squeeze my eyes shut and send up a quick prayer. We crash against the water, and the breath is knocked out of me. I fumble with my seatbelt, managing to wrench it off. The assassin next to me is still wrestling with hers, panic etched onto her face.
Water rushes into the car from all sides.
I inhale a deep mouthful of air before my head submerges.
Darkness envelops me as my lungs grow tight, and my last thought is of Mason and the war he’s going to wage on my behalf.
I gasp and sputter as I kick for the surface, my eyes still burning.
With trembling fingers, I shove my hair from my eyes and spot a figure bobbing to the surface nearby. My muscles ache as I swim toward Katia and place an arm around her shoulders. I’m grunting and panting as I drag her to the shore. We barely make it as my muscles give out, and I collapse next to her.
I hear sirens in the distance as I stare up at the dying evening light.
My lungs are on fire as I lay there, trying to muster up the energy to move, and vaguely aware of Katia dry-heaving next to me.
Please don’t let this be for nothing. I don’t want to die here. I have to get back to Mason.
Chapter Five
Mason
“We’re not there yet.”
Jack Payne glances at me from the corner of the room. He sips from the glass in his hand, his face giving nothing away. “You’ve risked everything we’ve worked for, and now, you refuse to do what needs to be done where your siblings are involved.”
I school my features into neutrality. “Oliver and Olivia are better off where they are.”
