Page 156 of Ruined Vows
“I want eyes on every man that moved through that yard,” I say. “Pull heat signatures from the drone feed. Cross-check gait analysis with the footage from the Rozhdeniye docks last month.”
Luka raises a brow. “You think it’s the same crew?”
“I think Radovan’s making a show,” I say, voice flat. “Which means he’s hiding something bigger.”
He nods. “And Bianca?”
My jaw tightens. “She stays locked down. I’m not giving him another inch.”
My phone vibrates again—a new text.
A message from an unknown number.
You looked happy at dinner. Shame if it didn’t last.
Attached to it is a photo.
Me and Bianca. On the rooftop. She is in red. I’m watching her like she’s the only thing that exists.
A sniper’s view.
Laser scope. Wind calibration data. Timestamped for twenty minutes before the shot was ever fired.
He could’ve killed her then. He didn’t. He waited. He wanted me to feel it. My blood goes ice cold. I pass the phone to Luka.
“This isn’t just a message,” I say. “This is war.”
And Radovan? He’s not playing to win.
He’s playing to annihilate.
47
VUKAN
SAFE HARBOR
We don’t sleep. Not really.
She curls against me on the worn leather couch in the safe house living room, both of us fully clothed, weapons within reach. The candlelight casts shadows that dance across her face.
She dozes in fits, her breath shallow, fingers curled in my shirt like she’s afraid I’ll vanish if she lets go. I don’t move. I watch the windows.
I replay the shots fired, the angels, and the timing, over and over. And all I see is red.
Radovan didn’t just take a shot at her. He sent a message. He’s in the city. Embedded. Confident. I’m surprised by how ballsy he was.
But that ends now.
By sunrise, the house comes alive. Reinforcements arrive—silent and efficient. They are handpicked men who owe me blood and loyalty. They fan out around the property, inside and out.
I meet Luka in the war room—really just a side den retrofitted with reinforced glass, three monitors, and a table scarred by bullets and old plans.
“We traced the shot,” Luka says. “We confirmed shooters on the south rooftop, Hotel Marlowe. Clean exit. Pro sniper. Military-trained.”
“Radovan’s men?”
“Almost certainly. Still digging.”
