One second, Maksim and Dean were discussing how soon they’d sell the chips, and the next, a car was speeding up close and firing at us.
They’d come out of nowhere, but they’d been clearly heading somewhere.
Rattled by the adrenaline rush, I held on to Maksim as he rolled us under the car. Since we were on the driver’s side of the vehicle, the speeding car couldn’t get any shots at us. Dean crouched over and fired at the sedan that zoomed by.
They didn’t stop.
They didn’t say anything.
They’d come and gone, firing like hell.
And there was no possibility that it was random.
“All clear,” Dean said after a long moment.
We hadn’t needed him to say it. Maksim and I both had a clear view of the road as we held each other on the ground. Through the clearance of the car to the pavement, we watched the car speed out of sight, miles and miles away.
“What the fucking hell was that about?” Maksim asked as he gestured for me to get up with him. Before he was fully on his knees to get up, he paused and searched me with concern in his eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Was there a leak?” I answered with a question, dismissing his worry about me. I was fine. Naturally, I was fine. He’d been here and he’d protected me. It was ironic, though, thatIhad been the one to pullhimdown, wanting to keep him safe.
Not because I loved him.
Not because I was obligated to want my husband to stay alive.
But because… I cared.
He’d given me the permission tomatter. To contribute and to use the skills and wealth of knowledge my father had instilledin me all my childhood. It felt damned good to do what I was supposed to do, at last.
I cared that he desired me too, and that he wanted to please me. It was only physical, but yes, I cared. Enough that I wouldn’t want him shot up and dead. Not even hurt.
“Was there a leak?” I asked again as he held my elbow until I stood again.
He shook his head, not in denial, but anger. “I can’t see any other way that could’ve happened like that.”
“Did you know about this handoff?” Dean demanded.
I furrowed my brow at him while Maksim gripped the front of his shirt.
“Don’t fucking say shit like that about her,” he growled.
“I have to wonder,” he protested, holding his hands up in a truce.
He didn’t release him, his right-hand man and go-to runner. “Don’t fucking accuse her of being behind a leak. Who’d she fucking hear it from? Who’d she leak anything to?”
“I wasn’t told about this handoff until I got in the car with him,” I told Dean, wanting to defuse the anger between the men. Using thedon’t fuck with metone I’d employed on the men in my Cartel, I shook my head. If they needed someone to referee, I would do it. Of course, the Bratva men would suspect me of being a spy or traitor. I was an outsider expected to fit in.
But arguing about whether I could’ve been behind a leak was a waste of time. “They came here and were ready to fire.Someoneknew we were out here.”
Maksim released Dean and stared at me. “We,” he said, swallowing hard. “Could someone have wanted to takeyouout?”
I scoffed, shaking my head. I saw where he was coming from, but that was ridiculous. “Me? I’m not in power. If anything, that was set up for someone to takeyouout. You outrank us.” I jerked my thumb at Dean.
Since he said it, though, the words reverberated in my mind.
I couldn’t see why anyone would wantmedead.
But I dreaded that I could be embroiled in more danger than ever by assisting Maksim and being increasingly tied to the inner workings of the Bratva.
