Page 42 of Ruined By Sin

Before I'm even on my feet to answer Kazimir's questions, my phone is ringing. I pull it from my pocket and see Morin's face, angry enough to smash the damn thing against the wall of the building.

"What the holy hell!" I snarl as soon as I answer.

"You okay, Tim?" He sounds worried. "I heard there was a bomb threat... You need to get people out of the building and?—"

"You're too late," I hiss, locking eyes with Kaz. "It's done. Some guy in a C4 vest just exploded out back."

Morin goes quiet, but where I'm standing is growing louder by the second, and I already hear sirens in the distance. I turn to Kaz. "Clean it up. They're gonna want to search the building. We can't let them see the betting sheets..." I flick my head toward the entrance and he grabs our guards, pushing back inside. Then I turn my attention back to Morin.

"You knew this would happen?" I snarl, locking my eyes now on the fire burning at the end of the alley. It's small, but I see blood spatter everywhere.

"I just found out. I called you right away... Fuck, I should've been there." He sounds angry with himself, but I can't blame him.

"It was Mirov? The man said he was just a plumber and knew nothing." My heart is finally starting to calm down, but there's no way we get out of this without telling Ro. And he's gonna wanna know about Kira. I really hope Stepan comes through fast.

"It was... I have confirmed texts I traced..."

"Fuck!" I kick a board, sending it sailing across the alley, and it sends a shockwave of pain up my leg, but I'm so mad I could kill. This isn't good. People almost got killed. This is a major escalation. "Take them out... All of them... Tonight," I snarl, then I hang up.

Victor Mirov has to be taken out.

Because if he hurts one more person around me, I'm gonna lose my mind.

20

KIRA

Sonya disappears down the hallway to get me a robe and slippers, and I sit at the kitchen table holding the ice pack against my elbow stupidly. My elbow is fine. I'm not even hurt. Everything I told her was a lie stacked on top of the pile of lies I've been building since I got here, and the pile is getting so tall, I can't see over the top of it anymore.

I'm not even sure why I keep telling lies. I could come clean and beg for mercy, and maybe that's what I'll do the very instant I see Timur. By the time he gets home from his fights, he'll be able to see the bruising on my neck, because I feel how tender it is. Morin almost killed me, and he would have if I hadn’t been able to hurt him.

My eyes rake over the counter, still acutely aware of how close I came to death, searching for some self-defense in case he comes back, but instead of landing on the knife block, they land on Sonya's tablet.

It's sitting on the counter where she left it, still glowing and unlocked. She was looking at recipes before I came crashing in.I see a page open for some kind of fish stew with a photo of the finished dish and a list of ingredients down the side. That means she has internet on that, and if she does, it means I could try a video call with my uncle—if I can manage to get to it before she gets back.

I set the ice pack down and tiptoe across the room, picking up the tablet. My hands shake a little, but not nearly as bad as they were a few minutes ago. Still, I steal a glance over my shoulder back toward my room where Sonya vanished to. I close the recipe page and open the video call app and punch in Victor's number from memory and he picks up almost instantly.

His face fills the screen so close, I see his nose hairs.

"Kira?" he hisses, talking quietly. I see he's moving too, lights flashing overhead. And I see a bruise on his cheek.

"I don't have long. The maid will be back any minute... Uncle, I need out of here. One of them almost killed me." I realize I sound whiney, but after what I just went through, I'm terrified.

"Listen to me. There was an assault tonight. The Kuzins hit three of our locations in the span of two hours. They were coordinated strikes and if we weren't on our toes, we'd have lost a lot more lives than we did." His voice is controlled, but I can hear the fear in it. "Three of our men are dead."

"Who?"

He stops somewhere dark and leans against a wall, but I can hear his huffing and see the silhouette of his face. "Honey, don't worry about that."

"Who!" I demand, but I'm scared to know.

"A few lower-level guards, and well..." His lips compress in a line, then he sighs. "They took Baron. He had a bomb strapped to his chest, I heard, the last time Pyotr saw him."

"How?" I can barely get the word out as my throat constricts. Baron, my cousin, taught me to ride a bike when I was seven. We weren't horribly close now, but back then, we were like siblings. This is horrible.

"Honey, you don’t need details, okay? But if you have any leverage... I need you to use it."

"Oh, God." I press my hand over my mouth and close my eyes. Tears are running down my face shamelessly. "I want to come home," I say through my fingers. "Please, Uncle Victor, I need to come home."