Page 125 of Between Us

“Where the fuck is she?”

“I don't fucking know. She was with my sister. We were about to send them off to a safe house.”

Matteo got in his face. “Motherfucker, if she’s hurt in—”

Roman didn’t care for his threats. “Move.”

When he didn’t step back, Roman slammed both hands hard against his chest. Matteo stumbled back with a curse, but before he could even think to retaliate, Vladik made his presence known. He stopped by Roman’s side, giving Matteo a warning look.

“There's no one else on the ground floor, but one of the windows in the study is wide open. I think they got out through the back and Alek is with them.”

“Goddamn it.” Roman pushed past him to go back downstairs. He took a hard left in the foyer and nearly collided with Andrei.

“Boss, what do we do with the bodies?”

“Put them in the trunk before the neighbors get an eyeful and call the police. Get the Italians to help then call Dimitri.”

It was the dead of night and most of their neighbors lived far enough they weren't in any immediate riskof being discovered, but Roman still had to be careful. They’d caused enough noise to attract unwanted attention if someone was interested enough to look into it. Thankfully, he'd bought a house in an upscale neighborhood where people were all too happy to ignore each other. It suited him just fine.

Roman walked out through the kitchen, and when the door opened again behind him, he didn’t need to look over his shoulder to know it was Matteo. It had started to rain a few minutes before, small droplets of water falling from the dark sky and landing on the shoulders of his suit jacket. He surveyed his surroundings and tried to think of where Alek would have taken the girls.

His gaze narrowed as it caught onto something. He walked a few paces then leaned down to inspect the grass.

“What are you doing?”

“It's been stepped on.” He pointed to a spot where the grass was flattened. Glancing up, his gaze landed on the brick fence and he knew exactly where to look next. He straightened, removing his suit jacket as he walked across the wet grass. Grabbing the top of the fence, he hauled himself up easily and straddled the wide edge.

On the other side, the neighbors' yard was unlit and quiet. Roman blew out a whistle, waiting a few seconds to see if any dog came running, altered by the noise. When there was nothing, he jumped down and let his eyes adjust to the darkness.

Matteo, of course, was right behind him.

Roman whistled again, louder this time. A muffled noise came from straight ahead, so he walked that way, keeping a hand at his back in case he needed to draw hisgun.

“Alek!” he called quietly.

The noise came again, and it sounded like an object softly hitting wood.

“Alek!” he tried again when he reached the side of the house. He peered around the corner and thought he saw a shadow moving. He stopped and stared, trying to make out if it was a person or just his imagination playing tricks on him.

It was then a whispered voice reached his ears. “Roman, over here.”

“Thank fuck,” Roman muttered and started to make his way in that direction.

He’d only taken a few steps before the shadow moved and he realized that it was coming straight for him. A moment later, someone slammed into him hard and slim arms wrapped around his waist tightly. The tension in his body evaporated as soon as he recognized his wife's warmth and the unmistakable smell of her herbal-infused shampoo. He squeezed her against his chest, saying a silent thank you to his lucky stars.

“You're here,” Alessandra said in a raspy voice, and he could hear the relief in her voice. “I was so scared. I thought you were hurt.”

“I’m fine,” he said softly, kissing her hair. “You?”

He felt her nod. “Yeah.”

“Anya?” he called quietly, glancing over Alessandra’s head at the other two figures. He couldn’t see much, but he knew it had to be her and Alek.

“I'm okay.”

As the two of them got closer, Alessandra stepped away from his embrace and shifted to look behind him. “Matty, is that you?”

“Yeah,” her brother replied gruffly.

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