“I’m sorry,” I say. “For everything. For hiding the boys. For lying. For all of it.”
“I know. And I forgive you. All of it. We start over from here.”
“Together?”
“Together. You, me, and the boys. That’s our family.”
I squeeze his hand and let myself believe it. That we survived this. That we’re going to be okay. That the family we’re building is strong enough to withstand whatever comes next.
“I love you,” I say again, because I can. Because he’s here and I’m alive and we have a future now.
“I love you too,” he says, and kisses me again.
41
CASSIAN
Petrov’s lieutenant’sapartment smells like cigarettes and vodka.
He’s on his knees in the living room, hands zip-tied behind his back, blood running from his nose where Marcus hit him. Declan’s searching the bedroom. I’m standing in front of the lieutenant with my gun pointed at his head.
“Where’s Viktor’s second?” I ask.
“I don’t know.”
I put a bullet in his left kneecap.
He screams. The sound echoes off bare walls. His neighbors probably hear it but no one’s calling the police in this neighborhood. Not when they recognize Rourke men conducting business.
“Let’s try again. Viktor’s second-in-command. Alexei Petrov. Where is he?”
“I swear I don’t know! He disappeared after the warehouse! No one’s seen him!”
Marcus walks over and presses his boot into the man’s ruined knee. More screaming.
“You were at the warehouse,” I say. “You helped torture Aurelia. I saw you in the photos.”
“That was Viktor’s orders! I was just following?—”
“You think that matters to me?”
His face goes white. “Please. I have a family. A son?—”
“So does the woman you tortured.”
I put two rounds in his chest. He drops forward and doesn’t move again.
Marcus is already pulling plastic sheeting from his bag. We wrap the body, tape it closed, and carry it to the service elevator. My people have a disposal team waiting in the parking garage.
This is the fourth Petrov soldier we’ve eliminated this week. Three weeks since the warehouse assault. Three weeks of hunting down everyone who survived.
The list is getting shorter.
In the car, Declan pulls up the remaining targets on his tablet. “Seven left. Three in the city, two in New Jersey, one in Connecticut, one location unknown.”
“The unknown one is Alexei.”
“Probably. He’s been careful. No digital footprint, no credit card usage, no sightings.”
