A moment later, my phone buzzes in my pocket, and I fish it out before glancing at the screen.
An unknown number.
Not hesitating, I swipe to answer and lift it to my ear. "Yeah?"
The other end is silent for a second, then a voice I barely recognize comes through. It’s low and rough, but in a way, it’s strangely familiar to me.
"You genuinely thought you could steal my sister and not face the consequences, Sergey?"
Yuri.
That’s it…strangely, he sounds vaguely like Kat.
My whole body tenses, and my grip on the phone tightens. “You took your time responding to it...but you can’t fault me for acting when you wouldn’t.”
Yuri’s tone gives away his true irritation. “She was mine to protect. Mine to marry off when the time was right. You Lukov pigs have already taken enough from me, but this? This I can’t tolerate.”
Feeling myself lingering between smugness and anger, I move toward the end of the dock, back to the clean-up, and my attention is solely on the call. "You’ve got some nerve talking about protection when you had us chased down not that long ago. Letting your guys open fire on your betting chip is risky. But it’s too bad you don’t even know her."
He laughs, but it comes out too sharp and bitter to be sincere. "I know her as much as I need to, and now, you’ve made yourself my target."
"I’ve been one of your targets since your dad was put in the ground, but me putting a ring on it has only sped things along. Let’s not pretend otherwise."
He pauses, then returns, "You think I’m going to let you get away with this? You think marrying her changes anything, or earns you her loyalty? Try all you want, but at the end of the day, Katya is my blood, and I will get her back.”
The words hit their mark, digging into a wound that I wasn’t fully aware of. My protective instinct spikes so hard I can feel it in my throat tightening.
"You won’t touch her while I’m breathing."
"Then maybe it’s time I fix that,” he says, tone cold and full of icy intent.
Then, the call drops, and I’m left to the stifling silence on the other end.
I lower the phone slowly and stare out at the dark stretch of water, well aware that the call wasn’t a warning. It was a promise.
When I turn around, I find Ivan not far, and his eyes are on me. "Yuri?"
I nod, doing everything in my power to hold back my anger.
"What did he say?"
"He acknowledged the slight, and now he’s determined to get Kat back,” I answer, finding myself grinding out the response.
Ivan’s eyes narrow. "You think he’s coming for her?"
"I know he is."
“Shit, Sergey,” Ivan mumbles, forcing out a breath while he scrubs a hand down his face. “This isn’t even close to a de-escalation.”
No kidding…
Everything in me is screaming to get back to her. But I can’t just leave right now, especially not since I’ve already been running hot lately. I’ve been too emotional, impulsive, unpredictable, and as right as Roman has been about me, I can’t keep living up to that piss-poor image he has of me in his head. Our family can’t afford that version of me, especially not with someone as calculating as Yuri involved.
Clenching my jaw, I pull in a breath and try to focus on the task at hand. “We’ll make sure everything here is spotless before we leave. I’ll debrief with Roman later, but I also want tighter surveillance around every shipment, and we should double-check our informants. Someone gave them our schedule, and whoever did will regret it.”
Ivan nods, more focused now with the semblance of a plan laid out in front of him. “On it.”
I don’t leave until the afternoon once I walk the perimeter twice, check through the cameras myself, and take note of everyone we lost during the hit. It doesn’t ease the pressure in my chest of knowing how devastating the attack was, but it’s a start.
