Page 33 of Born into Darkness

“We don’t usually invite outsiders in like this, but I knew you wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving your wife here unless you saw the place for yourself and met everyone,” he says.

I don’t bother contradicting him, because we both know he’s right. Instead, I nod to the man in the corner, the one who’s married to Lev’s very pregnant daughter. “He runs the Alessi Mafia?”

Roman nods. “He does, and he’ll be working with us on this.”

I run my eyes over the rest of the group, and as much as I appreciate how smoothly this alliance is going, I’m more than ready to get the fuck out of here and get my daughter back.

As if he can sense my impatience, Roman asks, “You ready to go over the plan?”

“I was ready when you first called me,” I remind him.

He gives a soft laugh. “We didn’t know if we could trust you then.” Looking over at his brothers, he gives a subtle nod, and I watch as they start making their way downstairs. It doesn’t escape my notice that the ones who are married take the time to kiss their wives before they leave the room. I’ve been around abused women. I know how they act, and these women aren’t displaying any of the warning signs. They’re worried about Max, yes, but instead of trying to remain small in the presence of all these men, they’re actively seeking them out for comfort, and the men seem more than happy to provide it.

“Can I talk to the man who saw my daughter?” Nina asks, catching the attention of those standing closest to us.

“Val,” Roman calls out, waving a hand at the young man whose arm is still securely wrapped around his wife. I know the Melnikov brothers aren’t related by blood, but I’d still been surprised when Val’s wife was also introduced as Matvey’s daughter. The raised-as-cousins thing apparently didn’t stick with these two.

Val keeps his arm around his wife as they walk over, and even from a distance, the healing bruises and cuts on his face are obvious. Nina sucks in a quick breath when she sees it, and Val must see the horror on her face because he quickly gives her a reassuring smile.

Gesturing to his face, he says, “This was just for me. They haven’t hurt your daughter.”

I immediately feel indebted to Valentin Melnikov. I’m not completely convinced that what he’s saying is true, but it’s enough that he’s convincing Nina it is. That’s all I care about, and when she breathes a sigh of relief, I nod my thanks to him over her head so she can’t see it. Val doesn’t give me away by acknowledging it, but he looks down at Nina and adds, “Your daughter is safe, and my cousin will do everything he can to make sure she stays that way. Talia’s very brave.” He meets my eyes when he says, “You should be very proud of her. She’s holding it together and staying strong.”

“We are,” I tell him.

Nina reaches out and squeezes his hand. “Thank you for letting me know she’s okay.”

“Max will protect her,” Yelena says. “He’s a good man. I know it’s not going to take away your fear and worry for her, but he’ll do everything he can to keep her safe.”

Nina notices the way Val’s wife is keeping a hand on her lower stomach. It’s the same kind of protective touch that I used to love seeing my wife do when she was pregnant with our first. It was a constant reminder of the small life we’d created.

“Is this your first?” Nina asks her, and Yelena’s smile lights up her whole face as she looks up at her husband.

“Yeah, a bit of a surprise, but we’re thrilled about it,” she says.

“We are,” Val agrees, holding her even closer before kissing the top of her head and whispering something in her ear. When he’s finished, he looks over at me and says, “If you’re ready, we can show you what we have planned.”

Nodding, I look down at Nina. “You going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She gives me a smile to let me know she really will be okay. I can already see Emily and Simona walking over to keep her company while we’re all downstairs.

Before they get to us, I lean down and whisper, “Come get me if you need me, and please try to eat something,zolotse.”

“Stop worrying,” she whispers back.

She knows me well enough to know that isn’t about to happen, so I just give her a quick kiss and then follow the Melnikovs down to the lower level with my family right behind me. I take one last look, watching as the other wives take Nina under their wing, smiling and already filling her a plate of food. Relieved that she’ll be fine, I put all my focus on the task ahead, and when we step into a large room, I’m surprised to see a few other men down here that we haven’t met yet. The one that’s sitting at the table with his laptop opened in front of him looks like he’s still young enough to be in his teens. There are a couple of older men leaning against the wall in the corner. They’re deep in conversation with a younger man, and they all turn to look at us when we walk in.

“This is Niki, my younger son,” Danil says, resting a hand on the shoulder of the young man who barely lifts his eyes from his screen to give us all a quick nod. “He’s only seventeen, but he’s going with us because we can’t do this without him.” He squeezes his son’s shoulder and adds, “But he’ll be staying on the boat while we go on land.”

Dominic motions towards the men in the corner. “Those are my cousins, Alessandro and Dario, and that’s Sasha, Lev’s son.”

Dario and Alessandro each say a quick hi, their thick Italian accents matching their cousin’s, and I’m guessing they’re the reason we’re speaking English right now instead of Russian. Sasha just does a slow sweep, running his eyes over all of us, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little unnerving. There’s something off with that one, and when I look over and meet Volodya’s eyes, I can tell he sees it, too. Like recognizes like, I guess.

“All right, take a seat and we’ll show you what we’re planning,” Roman says, shutting the door and making his way to the front where there’s a large screen set up. It’s quickly filled with a map as my family sits at the large table in the middle of the room so we can see the screen. Dima sits next to Bran, discreetly signing what’s going on anytime Bran can’t see who’s talking well enough to read lips.

We all watch as they take us through their plan. It’s well thought out, and I begrudgingly admit that it’s exactly what I would’ve chosen to do had they been kind enough to share Talia’s location with me a week ago. We’ll be flying in to a private airport in Apartadó. Trucks will be waiting for us, and from there we’ll drive to Turbo. The last bit of the journey will be by boat. It’s a solid plan, but it’s also going to be a long, pain-in-the ass one where a million different things can go wrong.

“What about security at the airport?” Volodya asks.

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