“Blew it up how?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m here.”
“That makes no fucking sense,” Cam growled. “We look like an operation capable of that kind of hit?”
Ranger stood his ground. “Respectfully, Cam, you might be as ignorant on this shit as I am, but lookwho’smissingfrom this room. Think about it for a fucking second and find a plausible answer, cos I’m not the only person who’s gonna wonder where they are.”
“Who else is asking?”
“Jakov.”
“Jakov?” I searched my brain. “The Russian? What about Viktor? What does he have to say about it?”
“That’s the other thing.” A muscle in Ranger’s jaw ticked. “Viktor’s missing. He set a meet with Sambini a week ago and he never came back.”
“So there’s a chance this was him?” Nash asked. “He’s the boss, right? Maybe he doesn’t tell his second everything.”
Ranger laughed, bleak and humourless. “You’re wrong on every level, brother. Viktor’s a weapon, not a boss. And whatever he is, he’s notFolk. No one is. Why do you think that mob wanted him for themselves?”
Nash blanched and pulled a box of smokes from his pocket. He jammed one in his mouth before he remembered where we were and shoved his chair back instead.
He retreated to the wall, seeking comfort from the closer proximity to Rubi. Cam and Saint orbited each other too. Mateo and Embry. Only I sat alone with the knowledge that the man I loved was out there somewhere in more danger than I’d ever imagined.
I leaned forward, catching Ranger’s attention. “Spell it out. Be clear. You didn’t come here for your own peace of mind, did you?”
Ranger’s gaze turned as helpless as I felt. “Folk matters to me. He’s family. But right now I’m here with a gun to my head; you just can’t see it.”
“Who’s gun?”
“Jakov’s. He’s the one you need to worry about. Him and Vik, man. They’re tight. If he was on that boat when your guerrilla brothers blew it up, it doesn’t matter who Alexei used to be or who Folk still is. It’syouhe’s going to burn first, and he won’t stop until you’re all dead.”
I’d heard enough. I pushed my chair back and left the room, heading straight for the door instead of checking on my little girl.
I wrenched it open and jogged down the stairs that lead to the private exterior entrance to Orla’s flat.
River was on guard.
Locke too.
I sank onto the stone steps beside him. “Got a smoke?”
Locke thumbed one from a box and held it out.
I wedged it between my lips and leaned into the flame from his lighter, taking a deep, acrid inhale of a substance I’d quit five years ago.
Fuck me, I’d missed it.
Andfuck me, it helped nothing. “Ranger tell you?”
Locke’s gaze flickered beneath the security lights of the building. “He told me some. I stopped him before it got too deep, though. Not my place to hear it before the table does.”
River was a few feet away, watching the road. “If it wasn’t your place, you wouldn’t be here. Not knowing this shit is a choice.”
Couldn’t argue with that. “You think it was them?”
Locke sighed and lit his own smoke. “Could’ve been. I can’t speak for Alexei, but Folk’s got mad skills. It’s why Rocco wanted him to be a Crow so bad.”
River’s eyes flashed hot. “So he could blow us up too?”
