We stand with the perfect posture of soldiers while waiting for his orders.
If we knew who to kill to stop all of this, I’d go do the deed now.
Roman starts pacing. He never paces.
Each turn is clipped and precise but also threaded with violence at the core. “Kill the bastard…hunt him down…string him up…”
We all exchange wary glances.
Roman’s fracturing, his control slipping.
A man who rules with logic and tactics is coming undone before our very eyes. A crack forms in the molten core of our world.
“It’s a trap.” Alexei breaks the standstill. “Someone’s baiting us. They want us to chase.”
Kolya runs a hand over his closely cropped hair. “Every clue has only led to more questions. When are we going to get some actual answers? Chloe doesn’t know any more about the subject. She’s even allowed her therapist to hypnotize her to find hidden memories, but there’s nothing there. Kirill, you’re sure your woman doesn’t know more?”
My woman?
A pleased sort of hum stirs in my gut.
I like the ring of that, even if Kolya calling Jordan that in front of Roman chills my spine. “She was never there. And never had access to his things until today. She found the safe when we were at the gala, and I opened it. She can’t be hiding anything.”
“I want to know how Gio keeps figuring out where we are and who we’re looking for.” Max trails off as he stares at the open door that Sasha disappeared through.
Maybe Sasha talked to more than just the cops.
Vanya smooths his perfectly groomed eyebrows. “Well, the next step is clear as mud. Either they want us on that island or at St. Augustine. If that’s even the real target and not a trap.”
But Roman has already gone past reason and strategy. Something feral has replaced the cold chess master.
He’s a man at war with a ghost in the shadows. “Trap or not, we move. Someone’s threatening my family. Mocking me. This ends immediately.”
I turn the note over again. “St. Augustine Rare Books and Manuscripts Library. That a public library? A store?”
Alexei beats him to the answer. “A private library. They collect rare books. You can only get in by appointments.”
Roman stops pacing. Decision hardens his face, and the mask snaps into place. “Vanya, you go. Get whatever’s waiting. Bring it back. No mistakes.”
Vanya nods. Just once. He’s the obvious choice considering he can talk his way past barriers and blend in with any group of people with his charm and ability to coax instead of smash through. He’ll seduce the secrets out of them, breeze through security, retrieve what we need, and disappear.
Roman gestures to the sheet of paper. “I want answers. Real answers. And to find out who’s behind this all.”
As my hand lingers on the satellite image, I picture Jordan in the penthouse I rented for her, safe behind glass and steel.
Is she truly safe, though? Or did I leave her exposed, a walking target with no protection?
Misgiving lodges in my gut.
Someone set all of this in motion. Someone who knows Jordan, Alistair, and the history of the island. They know our every move before we make it.
The question is, how?
Chapter 38
Kirill
Kolya, Alexei, and I remain in the office with the ghosts, left to guard the bones of what just happened as a dead woman with lively eyes watches over us.
