He pulls me closer until my head is tucked under his chin, and his arms wrap around me like a fortress. I close my eyes and let myself sink into the warmth of his chest.
I never expected to find safety in this marriage. My life might be in pieces, my brother might've destroyed everything I once had, but lying here in Vadim's arms, I feel safe.
Finally.
And it might cost me something, but I think I want to stay here.
19
VADIM
The clock on the wall reads 2:47 a.m., and I'm still awake, nursing a glass of vodka while some mindless news program drones on about economic sanctions and political posturing. I'm not really watching. My mind is elsewhere, picking through the wreckage of the past eight months like a forensic investigator at a crime scene.
I take another drink and let the vodka burn down my throat as I listen to Danica whimpering in her sleep down the hallway. For the past five days, she's been having nightmares about that attack. I hear her sometimes, small whimpers and gasps that make my jaw clench, but she never remembers them when she wakes up.
I should be in bed sleeping with her, but the nightmares that plague her are my cross to bear too. Marko's finger on the trigger, seeing how close I came to being too late… I can't shake those feelings any more than she can, except that it boils over as rage for me and not fear. So I sit here instead, going over everything I know about this hunt for Andrei, trying to find the thread I missed.
Miloš Popovic has been stirring up trouble between the Balkan syndicates and the Gravitch name for months, feeding us bad intel, sending us chasing ghosts while the real target stays hidden. And one of my own men was corrupt, in bed with Miloš, passing information back and forth like we were all playing some game. I can't believe I missed it.
It makes me stew and obsess that somehow, a man I vetted myself snuck into my company and I was blind to it. Not only blind but deaf too. I can pretty much blame Boris's death on him, and the only condolences I was even able to offer his wife was a wad of cash, delivered by Nenad before he got shot. Now he's recuperating and my numbers are dwindling.
But Jovan is gone now—ousted from every circle and cut off entirely. And Nenad's collecting proof on all of this to bring to Yuri, documentation that will bury Miloš and help us later when the time comes. Everything's falling into place like dominoes, but it doesn't change the fact that I've wasted eight months on a wild goose chase.
I drain the glass and pour another, watching the light from the television, though at this point it's a blur of colors. I'm getting drunk and my eyes stopped functioning hours ago.
The news anchor is talking about a bombing in Sarajevo now, and I wonder if any of it connects to our world. Probably—everything connects eventually in this business.
It's too late to be night time and too early to be morning, but I reach for my phone to update Yuri anyway. It's been a while and he deserves some news, not just to sit and wait for a bunch of nothing. So I shoot him a message and wait to see if he responds.
Vadim: 2:51 AM: You up?
I don't have to wait long. I should know by now that the boss never sleeps. Especially when it's something as important as this. He replies instantly.
Yuri: 2:51 AM: Any progress?
Yuri has always been direct, cutting through the noise to get to the heart of things. It's one of the reasons he runs the operation so well, and it's also one of the reasons conversations with him can be so tense.
Vadim: 2:53 AM: Not really. With Miloš fucking things up it means eight months of bad information and I'm starting from scratch.
I didn't bother to tell him about Boris's death, but the conversation about Jovan's betrayal didn't go well. He's losing faith in me for something that was out of my control. Had I not been delayed by Jovan's scheming, Lebedev would've been in custody and we'd have justice by now.
Yuri: 2:53 AM: I'm sending Lev or Fyodor. You need help.
My jaw tightens and I set the glass down on the table in frustration. I don’t need a fucking babysitter like one of my cousins. I can do this without help. I just need more time.
Vadim: 2:54 AM: That's not necessary. Now that the mole is out of my clique, I can finish the job on my own.
Yuri: 2:55 AM: You've been saying that for months.
Vadim: 2:56 AM: Two weeks. Give me two weeks. If I don't produce results by then, I'll accept the help.
There's a pause, longer than the others, and I can picture Yuri sitting in his office, weighing the options. He doesn't like delaysand he doesn't like complications. But he also knows I don't ask for extensions unless I mean it. I'm hoping he understands that I'm capable of doing this job without help and that I will finish it.
Yuri: 2:59 AM: Two weeks. After that, Lev is on a plane whether you like it or not.
Vadim: 2:59 AM: Understood.
I set the phone down and lean back on the couch, closing my eyes. I have two weeks to find a ghost who's been evading the entire Gravitch network for months. That's a lot of pressure to live under, and I will rise to the challenge. It's not in my DNA to fail.
