Page 58 of The Stalking King

Soon, my car is here. Maksim doesn’t try to kiss me at the door.

I don’t know whether I’m relieved or disappointed.

In the car, I get another text.

Maksim: I will never lie to you again. For better or for worse.

I put my phone in my pocket. Take it out again. Hesitate… then react with a heart emoji.

I know I’m sending mixed signals to him, but they’re nothing compared to the clashing signals in my heart.

CHAPTER 22

MAKSIM

“You know who did this,” Anton says, sparking the jumper cables as he stands over the three men. They’re part of a little gang, pups who think they’re wolves. A two-day-long hunt, involving street work and digital investigation, led us to them.

The men look up at Anton, fear in their eyes, but something more vicious too. Desperate. I’m trying to puzzle it out. They look scared… but not of us, necessarily. Maybe Conrad has some dirt on them. Maybe that’s why they agreed to kill Daniel Mercer… and maybe that’s why they’re not going to talk, no matter what we do.

“Easy or hard,” Anton says. “You pick.”

They pick hard.

I sit in shadow, nursing a glass of whiskey. My mood is foul. Two days without any contact with Lia. It shouldn’t make me feel so lost, but it does. I didn’t realize how important it was to see her, hold her, feeling human with her.

As the men scream and panic, I force myself to watch. This is who I am. The Bratva king. The Bratva beast. This is who I have to be.

Anton stops. Nikolai paces up and down behind them, his gun in his hand.

One of the men spits. “If… if…” He catches his breath. “If they had your secrets, Russian, don’t you think he would’ve used them by now? One half of a password doesn’t mean anything!”

I stand, emerging from the shadows. Their eyes widen to saucers as they stare up at me. As they stare up at the devil.

This is about more than the password for me, but I can’t voice that in this room. This is about the fact Vale sent men after Lia in the parking lot at her workplace.

“If it meant nothing,” I snap. “He wouldn’t have worked so hard to get it.”

“Data,” Anton grunts, sparking the cables again. “Too complicated. This is easier.”

Nikolai and I exchange a look as Anton does his work. Neither of us likes this. We prefer fair fighting. There’s no sport in this. But these bastards were seen dragging a broken young man into that rundown apartment complex. Witnesses saw them enter with Daniel and leave without him. They tortured and killed that boy and would’ve continued if the Bratva hadn’t got them.

Finally, one of them clears his throat. “Wait—wait,” he says, gasping. “Conrad… he mentioned something.”

“We’re getting somewhere,” I mutter. “Go on.”

“He’s got a secret data center, some high-level programmers there. Daniel knew about it too.” The other two glare at him, and he explodes. “Do you want to die, you idiots?”

“Vale will kill us too,” one of the others says.

“Men don’t die twice,” Anton grunts.

“Where is this data center?” I growl. “And these programmers, are they busy working on the phone? Trying to decrypt it?”

Maybe they think they can use one half of the key to work out the other half. After all, it’s just ones and zeroes. We have great programmers too, of course, but restructuring our entire operation is not a quick, overnight thing.

“I don’t know,” the man whispers. “I just know he has it. That’s why he hired us.”

I nod. “Anton, leave off for now. Nikolai, arrange some lodgings for our… guests. We may need to speak with them again. I’m going to dig into Vale’s property listings.”