A couple of Garin’s men smirk. One of them mutters something in Russian to another.
Garin’s smile fades, just a bit. “You can act like a little brat if it helps you feel better. But rest assured, I hold all the power in this little scenario.”
Max clears his throat like he’s trying to remind Garin that he exists. “We should?—”
“Quiet,” Garin snaps, cutting him off. “You know what I pay you for, and it’s not advice.”
Max lowers his eyes and looks away, efficiently silenced.
Garin nods to a pair of his men. They step forward, making their way toward me with hard expressions on their faces. They’re on me in seconds, grabbing my arms with vice-like strength. Part of me wants to scream, to curse, but a bigger part of me doesn’t want to give these pricks the satisfaction. I scowl at Garin as the men practically drag me to the chair and shove me onto it.
Once I’m seated, I notice the chair is bolted to the damn floor. The hard metal bites, sending pain flashing up and down my body. The men tie my hands behind my back with zip ties.
My eyes remain on Garin so he understands I won’t be intimidated. He watches the whole thing like he’s enjoying his favorite comedy.
I glance over my shoulder at Max. There’s a flicker of something in his face—guilt, maybe. Or possibly regret. Too late for that.
Garin stares at me with a curious expression. “You know, I expected you to cry. Maybe even beg a little.”
“Then you don’t know me very well.”
He grins. “That’s right, my dear. It turns out you have more of a spine than I’d anticipated. But that doesn’t matter. The plan iswell under way, and now there’s nothing left to do but complete it.”
My throat tightens as I remember Sasha sleeping alone in the car. I say another silent prayer that he’s not awake.
As if reading my mind, Garin says, “Don’t worry about the boy. He’s safe for now, with a pair of my men close by.”
His hands still behind his back, Garin slowly moves around the table, taking a seat on the edge of it across from me.
“And Roman?” I ask.
He smiles. “He’s not nearly close enough to stop what’s about to happen. I’m going to guess he and his little friend Andrei, maybe even your brother, too, are poring over camera footage and satellite images hoping to track you down. They will, in time. But they won’t find you while you still breathe.”
Tears burn my eyes, but I’m not scared for my own life. I’m scared for Sasha and the baby. I’d trade myself for both of them in a heartbeat.
“Why are you doing this?”
Garin snorts in amusement. “It’s very, very simple, actually. I want to break Roman, and then I want to destroy him.” A beat of silence passes, like he’s considering how to say what’s on his mind. “Roman is a hard man to kill. A hard man to break. I’ve tried. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
He leans in, a smile of pride forming on his lips. “First, I took his wife.”
My blood turns to ice. “Elena.”
“That’s right,” he says smoothly. “Elena.”
“You killed her.”
“Well, not me, specifically,” he says, raising his palms. “But it was done under my command.”
The way he just cops to it makes me sick to my stomach.
“It wasn’t what I had planned originally,” he says with the same sort of tone a boss might have when talking about letting an employee go. “She was collateral. My real target was the boy.”
I want to burst out of my chair, to strangle him with my own two hands. “You sick?—”
“Easy, easy, child,” he says. He’s so calm, so unbothered, it makes him appear even more monstrous. “My plan was to destroy Roman’s family, to weaken him, to take away his reasons to live. I wanted to crush him until he gave me what I wanted.”
I shake my head, rage coursing through me. “You didn’t get him.”
