Page 181 of Vicious Games

It’s a text from Remus.

Actually, two texts from him.

Remus:Just checking to see if you’re alive.

Remus:Wanker.

I don’t bother texting back and just call him.

“Hey.”

“Oi,” he answers with that overly posh British accent of his.

After that, the line goes quiet, thick with unspoken apologies that neither one of us has the balls to say out loud.

“Bollocks,” he finally mutters. “Let’s not do the whole teary-eyed ‘I’m sorry’ routine. I fucked up. You fucked up. Call it square, mate.”

My shoulders instantly relax only to tense up again a second later.

“You could’ve given me a heads-up.”

“I could have, yeah,” he says. “But I decided not to. It didn’t seem like she knew who she was anyway. Thought it best to keep it that way.”

“Butyouknew.”

“Yeah,” he says, voice low.

“How did you know?”

“Got a front-row seat to that sigil of St. Peter when that asshole Aleksandr was pounding my face in two years ago. Fucker has it tattooed across his chest. Didn’t seem like a coincidence.”

“Well, your instincts were right.” I sigh and run a hand through my hair, eyes still fixed on the fortress in front of me. “Did Jude tell you where I’m at?”

“He did.”

“And how do you feel about it?”

“Not good,” he admits. “Half of me wants you to poison their food and burn the house down with every last Petrov inside.”

“And the other half?”

“Understands what it’s like to fall for the last person you should.”

“She wants to stay,” I tell him, my voice quiet.

Silence. Long. Heavy.

“Did you hear me?” I repeat. “She wants to stay. In Russia.”

“Where exactly in Russia?” he asks.

I open my mouth and just as quickly close it.

“Nice try,” I mutter. “I’m not telling you where thePakhanlives. Frankie would never forgive me if I put her family in danger.”

“Then you’ve already made your choice.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

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