Page 29 of The Russian Retribution

“We all were,” Erik says quietly, and there’s something unfamiliar in his eyes. “But you aren’t him. He was a tyrant. You’re trying to change things.”

“Hard to do when he left behind such a disaster and overwhelming debt.”

“Wait, what?” Erik perks up suddenly, but I wave him off and open the door to Tanya’s room.

“I’m staying here tonight,” I say. “See you in the morning.”

I close the door on Erik’s puzzled face and spend the next ten minutes assuring Tanya that I will get her clean again, and I will set her up in a new life with all the medication she needs. I’ll even hold her hand through the entire thing. Tanya is, thankfully, less angry, but she doesn’t believe me. Only time will prove to her that I’m telling the truth.

I take up residence in the chair by the window and settle in for the night until a call buzzes through from Faina.

“Hey.”

“We’ve got a problem.”

Pressure sweeps through my gut. “What is it?”

“The Cartel. They’re sniffing around again, and this time, it looks like they’re here to stay. What do you want me to do?”

Shit.

As if things could get any worse.

All the money I’m scraping together to help these people, and start the new construction business, hinges on the people my father owned money to not chasing up that debt yet.

It seems I’ve run out of time.

“Put everyone on high alert,” I say. “Shit just got so much worse.”

11

ERIK

“Anastasia, you have to tell me what’s going on.”

She sits before me at her desk, head bowed and pen scribbling rapidly over the paper in front of her. Ever since the Cartel moved into town, something’s been off. She’s been more tense than usual and her request to put security on high alert has alarm bells ringing in my mind. The only problem is she’s not telling me why. Something has made her clam back up just when I thought I was making progress.

And there’s a growing part of me that wants her to talk to me just so I can help her. I want her to look at me with trust in her eyes while she tells me what’s bothering her. I want to ease the weight on her shoulders and provide comfort and support. Instead, she’s keeping me at arm’s length when I yearn for so much more.

“What do you mean?” She doesn’t look up, entirely focused on her work.

“The Cartel have been breezing through town for a week and we have everyone on high alert. I respect that because the Cartel are known for making a mess of everything, especially with theItalians. But why do you have us acting like things are about to implode at any second?”

“I’m not.”

“Anastasia—”

“Erik.” Her head snaps up and her hair cascades over one shoulder. “Does your need to know every single detail affect your ability to protect me? Because if it does, I can find someone else.”

Despite the sharpness in her words, I can tell from the look on her face that she doesn’t really mean that. She’s pushing back against me, and it’s not a wise decision for me to meet her head to head. It’s difficult to resist the urge, though.

“No, but the more I know, the more thorough I can be.”

“You know what you need to know. The Cartel are a high threat and we need to be on the ball in case they try anything. I don’t see why you need to know any more than that.”

“Knowing why they will want to make a move helps me anticipate weaknesses that they could exploit,” I remind her. “Are they angry enough to charge in here, guns blazing? Are they annoyed enough to try a sneaky route? There’ve been multiple attempts on your life already.”

“I’m aware.” She scribbles something aggressively onto the paper.

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