There’s no thought, no hesitation.
Just brutal efficiency.
Inside the main container, I find five more men playing cards.
They reach for their weapons, but I’m faster.
The confined space works to my advantage.
One by one, they fall until I’m standing alone among the bodies, breathing hard, covered in blood that isn’t mine.
But Lorenzo isn’t here.
Just more soldiers.
More bodies to add to the count.
I’m searching the container for any clue to his real location when I hear footsteps behind me.
I spin, weapon raised, and find Sophia standing in the doorway.
She takes in the carnage and her hand flies to her mouth.
“I followed you,” she whispers. “You weren’t responding to my calls or texts. I was worried you’d do something stupid.”
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I don’t recognize you anymore.” Her expression is pure disgust.
27
SOPHIA
I worry my bottom lip as I watch Mikhail from the doorway of his study.
He sits hunched over his desk, surrounded by maps and photographs, his green eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. Empty whiskey glasses litter the surface, and they smell the alcohol heavy even from here.
Three days.
Three days since he tortured that man in front of me, and he hasn’t slept, hasn’t eaten anything substantial, hasn’t looked at me with anything but hollow determination.
“Mikhail.” My voice sounds small in the cavernous room.
He doesn’t look up. His finger traces a route on one of the maps, his jaw clenched so tight I’m afraid his teeth will crack. “I’m busy.”
“You’re destroying yourself.” I step into the room, my bare feet silent on the hardwood floor. If I don’t stop him, he’ll stay a man I don’t want to be with. “Please. Come to bed. You need rest.”
“I need Lorenzo dead.” His voice is flat, emotionless. “Everything else can wait.”
I move closer, hesitating before placing my hand on his shoulder. His muscles are rigid beneath my touch, coiled like a spring ready to snap. “Tony is recovering. We’re safe here. You don’t have to?—”
“Safe?” He finally looks at me, and the emptiness in his eyes steals my breath. “We’ll never be safe while Lorenzo lives. He won’t stop until he’s taken everything.”
“So you’re going to let him take you too?” The words come out sharp. “Because that’s what’s happened, Mikhail. You’ve disappeared into this rage, and I’m losing you.”
He stands abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor. “Then maybe you should leave. Go somewhere safe. Take Tony and disappear. I’ll give you money, new identities, whatever you need.”
I tense, my eyes narrowing. “You want me to leave?”
