Ivan is standing by the comms desk. The screen is dark.
The call with the Venezuelan Cartel ended moments before the Sentinel's distress beacon lit up the wall.
The second the alarm triggered, I ordered Ivan to completely burn Helena's biometric clearance from the mainframe. If the vehicle was compromised, her system access had to be severed instantly.
Ivan looks up.
"Lev?" I ask, walking to the liquor cabinet.
"The pickup team was fast," he replies. "They had Lev in the van before the cops closed the bridge. He's already on the table at the clinic, but it's bad, Konstantin. He lost four pints of blood. They're sewing up the artery now, but he might not wake up."
I grip the bottle of vodka. The glass is cold against my battered hand.
"He will wake up," I say. "He has to."
I pour a glass, but I don't drink it.
"She told them," I say.
Ivan doesn't look at me. He’s typing, his movements jerky. "She was scared, Boss. She isn’t a soldier. Put a gun to a civilian's head, and they’ll sell you out. It's instinct. Survival."
"It’s betrayal," I snap, hurling the glass.
It shatters against the wall. The smell of alcohol fills the air.
"I trusted her." I pace. The ring in my pocket feels like a lead against my thigh, burning through the fabric. "I put her in that car because I thought she was a Queen. I thought she couldhandle the weight. I didn't realize I was sending a civilian to the slaughter."
"She’s a shipping CEO, Konstantin," Ivan says quietly. "Not a mobster. You can’t expect her to die for a war she didn't start."
I stop. My eyes feel dry.
I walk to the safe in the wall. Punch in the code—my mother's birthday. The steel door swings open.
Inside sits the tablet.
The black slate of glass and metal. It looks so innocuous. Just a piece of technology. But it controls the destiny of the Bratva.
It contains the return route from Venezuela. It holds the fate of the ship.
The codes on this drive unlock theLady Anastasia. They release enough firepower to wipe out the Italians. Missiles. Automatic rifles. Explosives.
It’s the only reason I’m still breathing. The only reason I wake up in the morning.
I stare at the device.
If I give this to Moretti, he wins. He gets the weapons. The power. He becomes King.
And my family... they die in vain. Again.
I can’t let him have it. The debt is too high.
"No," I whisper.
"Boss?"
"We keep the tablet," I say. I pick it up, brandishing it. "We don't negotiate. If I give Moretti this drive, he kills us all anyway. He takes the weapons and razes the city. He’ll kill me. He’ll kill you. And he’ll kill her once she’s useless."
"And Helena?" Ivan asks.
