Page 70

If they want to create monsters, then they need to remember just how dangerous those monsters can be and that they don’t forget the treatment of the men who raised them.

I hit send and look back at the warehouse in the distance.

I’m going to love watching it burn.

Text: Twenty-four hours. Be ready, then light that bitch up.

30

LANE

I’m not sure what’s about to happen, but I have to hope the youngest Romanov doesn’t scream and freak the hell out and isn’t as volatile as her father and uncle. I really don’t have time for that.

I’m cutting it close as it is.

Is it weird I’m nervous to see her again? I’ve been writing her letters and warnings for years. Yeah, that’s fucking weird. I’m a badass assassin; why the hell am I feeling this way about seeing Mila Romanova again?

Probably because if she’s super pissed at me for involving her, it might make it harder for me to try and get her uncle to understand why I’ve done all this. Or her.

Damn it, I need to get a fucking grip.

Mishka snickers behind me, and I glare at him over my shoulder. Of course he’s enjoying this shit. I’m going to have to kill him when this is over after all. I’ll even help Ilya take over that territory just to spite him before I eventually meet up with him again in hell.

Have I thought this out? Yes. And right now, I’m damn glad.

I open the back door of the SUV and slide inside, ignoring the curses and glares from the Italian man yanked from the vehicle. “Fuck off, you bastard. Alonzo is going to have my ass when we get there as it is,” he barks, the rest of it muffled as the door slams shut.

Snickers fill the vehicle, and I turn my head to see Mila Romanova sitting there, icy-blue eyes so like her father’s and uncle’s full of mirth, shoulders shaking. Arching a brow, I don’t know what the hell she’s laughing at, considering the situation.

“He thinks whoever this Alonzo is, is going to beat his ass, but when my father and uncle see me, that guy will be the least of his worries. And I think I just learned some very creative Italian curse words on the way here. They’ll love that too.”

I grin. “Something tells me you’re not the least bit sorry.”

“Nope.” She launches herself at me, wrapping her arms tight around my neck, and I freeze.

What the hell do I do?

I can’t remember the last time someone hugged me. Genuinely hugged me because they seemed happy to see me.

“Thank you,” Mila whispers, before pulling back and smiling widely. She no longer has the young face of the girl I pulled out of that hole, but of a young woman who is going to be a stunning beauty when she’s older. “Thank you,” she repeats, louder, firmer. “I know you’ve sent me the letters and you’ve been protecting me. Your friend, boyfriend, or whatever he is, told me that you’re helping my dad and uncle right what happened to me. And everyone else those bastards hurt.”

“Mishka is a… colleague, I guess we’ll call him. Not my boyfriend.” It’s my turn to snicker. “If you tell him that, he’ll probably hurl.”

“Why? He’s hot, you’re hot, it makes sense.”

I shake my head. I am not here to debate my love life with a teenager, and I can’t let her distract me, damn it. We can talk later.

“Just trust me that it’s not happening. Besides, I’m into someone else. No, I’m not telling you right now. We don’t have a lot of time. You are going to come back with us to the house, and we’re going to put all this ugly business to rest.”

She arches a brow, losing her smile. “Yeah, about that, I don’t really know what the hell is going on. I get that you’ve been watching over me, but the rest of it, no one’s talking. So, how about you tell me that, and then I’ll decide what I’m going to be doing.”

“You make it sound like you have a choice, darling, and you don’t.”

Her smile is so much like her uncle’s. “And I have a choice if this goes off smoothly or I make your life difficult. Weren’t you the one who said we couldn’t be late? Better start talking.”

She’s going to give her father hell for the rest of her life, and I am here for it… but right now, it is a giant pain in the ass.

“I don’t have time to get into it fully, but all you need to know is that the men who sold you to that disgusting pig are going after your father, uncle, and their territory. The entire reason I’m doing this is to take them down and make sure they never do this again to anyone else.”