He chuckles again.“You don’t remember me?”
Riot’s entire frame tightens.
Then—the man removes his mask.
I gasp.
Riot goes pale.
“You,” he breathes.
The intruder smiles faintly.“Took you long enough.”
I look between them, heart pounding.
“You know him?”I whisper.
Riot’s jaw clenches so hard a vein bulges at his neck.
“I thought you were dead,” he says quietly.
“Oh, I was,” the man answers.“The Russians just didn’t bury me deep enough.”
A chill rips through me.
This man—whoever he is—is tied to Riot.To Bratok.To the reason I was run off the road.
The man steps closer.
“Kelly, right?”
Riot moves like he’s going to lunge—but the man lifts one finger.
Riot freezes.
Not out of fear.Out of calculation.
The intruder looks directly at me now.His eyes are cold.
Curious.
Detached.
“You weren’t supposed to live,” he says simply.I flinch.Riot steps halfway in front of me.
“But you did,” the man continues.“Which complicates things.”
Something in my chest cracks open.
“You—” I choke.“You ran me off the road.”
“No,” he says.“My men did.I just watched.”
My stomach flips violently.
“You hurt her,” he snarls, voice cracking open like a wound.“You erased her goddamn memory.”
“That was an interesting upside,” the man replies calmly.“I admit, Ledger, I didn’t expect that.But sometimes fate does the work for us.”
