Page 109 of Silent Ties

He’s the good cop, then.

“Why don’t we get her some more water first,” Elijah suggests.

“So she can puke it up?” Dmitri strolls into the warehouse. I can’t tell what type of cop he is, especially when he nods and says, “Hey, kid.”

My eyes go blurry. Is this all a power play? Put me at ease, before finishing me off.

Me and Daisy. Both off to an early grave.

The Zimins talk quietly amongst themselves.

My eyes droop and I startle awake to find Lev sitting in front of me.

“That’s going to be some nasty crick in your neck.”

Someone pushed the table in front of me and half my body sags against it. I bite back a groan because he’s right. My neck burns when I move.

“How long have I been here?” Light floods in from high windows along the walls. It’s not the harsh gaze of the afternoon sun. It’s mild, softly peeking in.

Did I pass out for the rest of the afternoon and night?

“That’ll be the adrenaline.” Dmitri’s drinking from a coffee mug, acting like he’s at a brunch rather than an interrogation. Where the fuck did they set up a kitchen?

I find Max. He’s also got a coffee mug in front of him, but the caffeine doesn’t help the bruises under his eyes. They bore into me, before dismissing me.

“For the record he wanted to take you home, put you to bed.” Lev rolls up a shirtsleeve. Have they been watching me sleep for hours in this creepy place? “He really cares about you, you know that. Did you think about him before you tried to pull this shitoff?”

“Why do you think I called Elijah instead of him.”

It’s my luck the bastards showed up together. I should’ve known the brothers were a lot closer than they appear. I couldn’t spend the time talking to Max. I needed to keep going, I needed to get to Daisy. And I knew if I heard Max’s voice. . .

“Everyone knows what you’re capable of now.” Dima sips his coffee.

Perhaps in a little bit, I’ll think to ask myself did I go too far? Or maybe I’ll wonder if I didn’t go far enough.

Lev starts with the soft questions. “Why’d you decide to go in?”

Hearing the interrogation begin, Elijah and Roma slink back in. They stand on either side of Max, faces drawn.

I frown. “Because Daisy needed help.”

“How did you know it wasn’t a trap?” Dima asks.

I didn’t but my eyes go toward Elijah. “What happened to her?”

The three brothers say nothing. Excellent soldiers to their father.

Lev leans forward in his chair, his elbows on his knees. Even slouched over he cuts an imposing figure. “And the Ghost. How do you know him?”

“I don’t.”

His brows lift. “You listed off a number to Elijah.”

“Which belongs to Tyler Mulligan,” I reply. “And he’s not the Ghost.”

I’ve seen Tyler hold a gun hundreds of times. It wasn’t him behind the mask. Besides, the Ghost had a physical build different from Tyler’s.

“Nancy Mulligan’s son,” Dima says from his chair. He cuts Max with an unimpressed look. “It didn’t come up in any of the background checks that the city’s best triggerman was her neighbor?”

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