The issue wasn’t how she hated me for something I did; I had a job to deliver on.
But everything about this job feels wrong.
However, while there were a few things I didn’t know or understand about Alina, there was something I was sure of. She wasn’t some naïve civilian who would hold on to a false hope of getting out of what she was entangled in by deceit or false information. She knew how things worked in the Bratva world. She was self-possessed, trained, and most importantly, used to powerful men. I remembered Roman telling me she wasn’t just a competent nurse but one who had spent the majority of her life around Bratva men; the reports my men gathered showed the same thing. She didn’t look like someone who was lying or hiding anything. I saw that much.
Viktor’s orders echoed in my head as I paced.
“Make her talk or kill her.”
Since she had nothing to say, the latter option should naturally be the next course of action.
Why do I feel uneasy about the idea, then?
“Boss,” Sergei called from the other side of the door.
“Come in.”
He stood by the door and cleared his throat loudly.
“I heard your conversation with her,” he disclosed. “I think she might actually be clean, boss. She seems to be telling the truth.”
I pivoted, facing him.
“Appearances don’t matter. Leaks get plugged.”
Even as I said the words, I was unsettled.
“Agreed, boss. But she knows that you know her. She worked in Sir Roman’s house for a year; if she hasn’t met Sir Viktor, she has definitely heard about him. She knows better—”
“What if the fact that she was once under Lobanov employment is what she’s banking on as a reason we won’t actually kill her?” I interrupted.
“If that were the case, she wouldn’t have tried to run at all. If she were banking on their protection, she wouldn’t have resisted.”
He had a point, I knew he did. But Sergei wasn’t the one who received two options from Viktor; he didn’t know it was either one or the other. He thought it was the ordinary system where I could free her for not knowing anything. He didn’t know how complicated Vitya’s betrayal was.
“I’m to either get info from her or kill her,” I clarified, walking towards my desk.
“That’s… harsh.”
“Hmm.”
I didn’t know if it made me feel better or worse that Sergei wasn’t fond of the idea of killing her either.
“There’ll be a way,” he remarked, nodding with a certainty that seemed to mock my confusion.
“You can leave.”
“Okay, boss,” he answered, turning around to leave before he turned to face me again. “Boss, the virtual meeting with Mr. Yousef and the other man, we shifted it to tonight since we had to go to St. Petersburg earlier today. It’s 2 am. Should I postpone them?”
I glanced at the clock on the west wall.
1:48 a.m.
“No need. Connect them to me once they call.”
“Alright, boss.”
Just as he turned the knob, I called, “Sergei.”
