Page 105 of Bratva Bidder
I huff a laugh. “I guess I am a little sad.”
She looks up at me, thoughtful. “Is it ’cause of Kolya?”
“Yeah,” I murmur. “It’s because of Kolya.”
“I can fix him, right?” Her voice is small.
I kneel down in front of her. Her eyes are so big and bright andgood, it nearly kills me.
“You might,” I say, brushing her hair behind her ear. “You might save his life.”
She beams. “Cool.”
The truth is, everything feels like it’s wilting. Me most of all.
We walk a little farther until she finds a bench she likes. I help her climb up, and she immediately swings her legs and starts counting ants on the pavement.
That’s when my phone buzzes.
Not Lev. Not the hospital.Anton.
I step aside to answer, already feeling tension rise in the back of my neck.
“What happened?” I ask, no pleasantries.
“It’s Staten Island,” Anton says. His voice is tight, rushed. “The deal went south. Bad.”
My whole body goes still. “What do you meanbad?”
“They were hit,” he says. “Three-man team. Maksim’s with them now. Two are down. One barely made it out. He’s en route to the safehouse.”
I clench my jaw, eyes fixed on the distance beyond the courtyard gates. “No one was supposed to know about that shipment. I changed the drop point yesterday.”
“I know. We only informed them an hour before go-time. There’s no way the leak came from our side—unless someone was already in place waiting.”
My pulse thuds hard behind my eyes. “Who?”
“We don’t know yet. But it wasn’t law enforcement.
“Which of ours?”
A pause.
“Sergei’s gone. Oleg too. Gleb made it out, but he’s a mess. Took a hit to the ribs, said they ambushed them before they even opened the trunk.”
Fuck.
I exhale slowly, trying to keep the rage from showing in my voice. “Where’s Yuri?”
“Already with Gleb. No one else knows. I’m keeping this quiet until you say otherwise.”
“Good,” I say. “Don’t move until I get there.”
“You got it, boss.”
I hang up and stare at my phone for a long second.
Sergei is dead. Oleg too.
