“Who sent you?” I asked, my voice quiet. “Speak.”
He said nothing. His jaw clenched instead, his body tensing under my grip.
I sighed, more annoyed than anything else. “We can do this the easy way,” I told him, leaning in slightly, “or the way you’re not going to enjoy.”
I didn’t have the time to play with him on the side of the road. At any minute, a car could drive by.
His lips twitched. “Fuck you.”
Then his hand moved quickly. I saw the flash of steel clenched in his hand, and I jerked back, but he didn’t aim at me. He brought the knife down and slashed across his neck.
“Fuck.”
His body twitched as the blood flowed like rivulets from the wound in his neck. The fucker hadn’t even done it properly. He was going to suffer before he drew his last breath. Very well, then. I could help him with that.
I grabbed him by the arm and dragged his body across the asphalt over to the truck. He was wheezing, trying to say something, but I dumped his body in the bed and quicklysearched him for more weapons. I tied his legs together and his hands in case he made any more heroic attempts at ending his life.
“Don’t make any mistake, you son of a bitch,” I said with a growl. “Youaregoing to die, but only when I say so and not a moment sooner.”
22
LEO
I’d been waiting for Sergei to slip into bed next to me, so I heard exactly when his truck pulled into my driveway. Something was different about tonight, though. He usually parked in the driveway, but tonight the garage door opened and closed. Sergei also took way too long to enter my bedroom. Usually, he would be upstairs in under five minutes.
I clutched the sheet into a fist and fought against the urge to investigate what was happening downstairs. If I did, he would know that every night he’d slipped into my bed, I’d known but pretended to be asleep.
So I waited.
The footsteps that eventually crossed the threshold weren’t quiet like I was used to. They made a beeline straight for the bed, and the lamp on the night table came on with a click. I squinted against the sudden brightness and groaned.
“Leo.” Sergei sat next to me and touched my shoulder. “Leo, are you awake?”
I turned over and blinked up at him, pretending I’d just woken up. “Sergei? What are you doing here?”
And the Oscar goes to me.
“I’ll explain everything later.” His hands were on my shoulders, urging me upright. “Can you come with me, please? I need your help.”
“Where are we going?”
“The garage.” When I didn’t move fast enough for him, he picked me up and set me on my feet on the floor. I was so stunned I blinked up at him owlishly.
“I don’t understand.”
“You’ll see. Come on.”
He took my hand, and I barely managed to stuff my feet into my house slippers before he was leading me out of the bedroom. I trailed after him, dragging my feet down the stairs. By the time we reached the door to the garage, a bit of common sense returned and I dug my heels in, refusing to go a step further.
“What’s going on, Sergei?” I stared at the closed door. “Am I walking into an ambush?”
“The fuck, Leo!” He scowled at me fiercely. “If I wanted to take you out, I wouldn’t need anyone else for that. And you know I’d never hurt you.”
“You would if it was to protect Morozov.”
His hand tightened on mine. “I said I would never hurt you. What part of that is tripping you up?”
I swallowed as a thrill ran down my spine. “Then tell me what’s behind the door.”
