Page 40 of Under Control

The gray-haired nurse looked at her with sympathy in her eyes, but left without saying anything more, obviously unwilling to make false promises.

Danica vibrated in the chair where she sat, whipping out her crappy hand-me-down phone.No cell service. Hospitals were like bomb shelters.

Tears were falling from her face onto the floor when she heard the footsteps of a man walking toward her. Gazing upward, she rose before her uncle.

“Danica,” Petrov stood, snarling down at her, “they are dead. Now, come with me.”

Dead.

She sank back. “No.”

“Did you just say ‘no’?” His voice grew livid, his eyes wide and crazed. “You will do as I say. I am your father now.”

Danica shook her head again and again, feeling the burn of hot tears down her cheeks. She found the edge of the chair hitting the back of her legs, and she wished she could turn and run—to be anywhere but there.

“You willlisten,” he spat, switching between English and Russian, “you insolent brat.Ne oslushaysya menya.”

Before anything could leave her lips, her uncle had raised his hand high in the air, ready to crash down on her, but then he backed down—as if realizing they were in a public space. In that moment, Danica could see the pain in his eyes. The loss. The hurt.

He wanted to hurt someone. He wanted someone to feel his pain.

It was something she understood.

Because she felt it, too.

Mertvykh.

Petrov stepped to the side and motioned fiercely for her to follow him.

“They are dead, but you are not. You will learn one thing very quickly. There are rules in this family,” he said, straightening himself. “If you want to survive, you will obey my rules.”

“No—I want nothing to do with you or yourbusiness,” Danica cried out. “That is how Papa died.”

Petrov shot her a threatening look. “You have no choice. You were born into this family. The only way out is…death.”

Danica’s vision went black, and she cupped her face in her hands as she sobbed. The last thing she heard was her uncle’s final threat.

Ne slushaysya menya, ty umresh odin.

Chapter Sixteen

Carrick

Present day

Carrick woke up too early. It was still dark out. Half of him wondered if he was in the bowels of a naval warship. He opened his burning eyes. They were dry and he was too tired to be awake. It was damn relieving to feel Danica’s soft, warm body beside him, breathing rhythmically. At least she was okay.

He fumbled for his phone on the side table, realizing it was barely five in the morning. Still, he damn well knew he wouldn’t be falling back to sleep. There was too much on his mind.

So, he moved off the bed—careful and calculated. The notifications blowing up his phone warned that he had far too much shit to do to lounge around crying over lost sleep. He made his way in silence down to the main floor to refresh himself, then into the office to start up his laptop. If the messages Delta had been sending him overnight said anything, it was that Carrick needed to read something as soon as fucking possible.

Carrick sank into his leather office chair, turning on the desk light. As he let his laptop boot up, he read the last message Delta had sent him just thirty minutes before.What the fuck is that guy always doing up all night? Something is going on with him.

Left something for you on your desk.

Carrick looked down at the folder in front of him, black and unmarked. It looked like something that had been smuggled. He curled his lips in distaste, wondering where the hell Delta was getting all the information from.

I have a strong guess.

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