“There is a big difference between what you guys do and what?—”
“Is there?” I pause. “We put women in cages and sell them to the highest bidders. We move drugs, clean dirty money. We’ve killed, we’ve tortured. Hell, Elana, we have a fucking room specifically for that purpose. We aren’t that different.”
“You’ve never forced a woman into those cages. And you make sure they’re safe. You make sure they’re taken care of. You don’t sell them to be beaten and raped.” Elana’s tone turns ugly. “I saw the pictures of Coraline. Ivan showed me what they did to her.”
“The fact remains. Sienna is no more guilty of her brothers’ sins than you are of ours.”
She looks away from the camera. Tears shimmer in her eyes.
“You like her,” she whispers roughly. “Do you love her?”
“I’m more concerned about you right now.” I soften. She’s not herself.
Elana was carefree, sweet, and funny, and now she’s angry and beaten down.
I want to kill them all over again.
But not just them. I want to go back in time and be more of a brother to her. There were signs that she was seeing someone behind our backs.
Secrets I let her keep instead of making her tell us what was going on.
When Alexander wanted to force her to tell us what was really going on with dropping out of school, I told him to back off.
I gave Elana a comfortable existence. My fear of losing her kept me from being strong for her. From seeing something was wrong.
“I know,” Elana sighs. “Really, I’m okay. I just need to see some things through, then I’ll be back. I promise. I’m not staying away forever.”
“You’re not going to tell me what those things are?”
She laughs, and it’s lighter. “Of course not. Nothing you need to worry about, especially since you have your spies watching me.”
“That’s the second time you’ve said that. Elana, I don’t have anyone watching you. We all agreed to give you space.”
“But you know where I am.”
“Yeah.” I nod. “There’s a tracker in your phone. How have you not found it yet?”
“My phone.” She picks up the device, sending the screen on a whirlwind while she taps. “There it is.”
“Why do you think we’ve sent spies?”
There’s cracking on the other side of the line as she repositions the phone. When her face comes back into view, she wipes her hands up across her forehead, smoothing her hair back.
“I just assumed.” She’s lying.
“Is something going on?”
“Kaz.” Her eyes harden. “Nothing is going on. I’m fine. I just assumed since you didn’t have the Volkov army at my door, you had someone watching me.”
“If something happens, you call right away.” I point at the phone.
“Wow. You just got all big brotherly on me.” Her eyes go wide. “Okay, enough about me. Tell me about being married. Is it as horrible as you thought it would be?”
“I never said being married would be horrible.”
“Are you kidding? You never talked about getting married, and you never saw a woman more than once.”
“I knew I’d have to get married one day. We need more Volkov men in the world to keep you brats tamed.” I force a frown, but she sees right through it.
