Page 80 of In Her Blood
“No.”
She jumped in place at the firm surround-sound. Even Otto had barked at her.
So, she aimed her frown up at him. “I said I wasn’t planning to.”
“Just fuckin’ say youwon’t.”
“Are we ready to go?” Mikey asked as he rejoined their circle. “Or are we still going over the no-sacrifice-play thing?”
Evelina huffed.
Romeo chuckled.
Dante tipped his head back and a faint smirk lifted his lips. “We’re ready.” He motioned toward the looming building. “Ladies first.”
Evelina drew a deep breath, eyeing the distillery one more time, and gave herself a mental smack to the face. This was no time to be nervous. She was not going to have the opportunity to be better prepared. She could not afford to wallow in how much had gone wrong, or to linger in her anger over all the deceit.I just need to hold my head high and plow forward.
She’d lost nearly everything in the past couple of weeks.
But, somehow, she’d gained even more.
All they had to do was keep Otto’s father alive and take Grisha—preferably all the Morozovs, but at least Grisha—off the board.
Chapter twenty-seven
Empowered
Evelina didn’t try tokeep track of where Dante’s borrowed men went, knowing only that they spread out to get a better hold on the scene and their enemy. Instead, she put her energy into keeping her composure as she moved forward through the cozy public space of the distillery and pushed into the larger interior.
Otto held position at her side, his hand still locked around hers.
She knew he was having a harder time than he maybe ever had before, and she hated that. She just didn’t know how to make it better for him without first forcing him to endure the scary part. She had offered to let him sit with Artem—the safest place she could think of—while she and her new cousins went to retrieve his father, but of course, Otto had flat-out refused. Really, she hadn’t expected him to take the offer. But she would have let him.
It was only a few moments before Grisha, Iouri, and a handful of men she didn’t recognize came into view.
Grisha was perched on a barstool, gun already in one hand and looking none the worse for wear despite that Evelina was certain she’d hit him at least once at their last confrontation. Apparently, she hadn’t hit him anywhere helpful.
Iouri was on the floor, gagged and bound around the middle to the fireman’s pole no one had ever bothered removing. He had some visible bruising and blood stains on his shirt, but his unswollen eye was open and from the way he responded to the sight of them, he was clearly alert.
Still, her heart lurched to see him injured. She much preferred him laughing and at ease.
There were four men easily visible beyond Grisha and Iouri, all armed and angry-faced as if they had been personally offended in some way. Which was awfully ballsy of them, considering how damn pristine their big, visible guns were. Behind those men, Evelina spotted two more figures lingering on the edge of the overhang, trying to keep themselves out of sight.
If Grisha had gotten his way, she doubted any of them would have left alive.
Grisha frowned and tapped a finger against the side of his Glock. “I believe I said to come alone.”
Otto made a low rumbling sound.
Evelina matched Grisha’s glare. “Your note said ‘no brigadiers.’” She pulled the sticky note from the pocket where she’d folded it before leaving. “I brought it for reference, if you’d like.” Then she motioned with the same hand to the tall, intimidating men gathered behind and around her. “As you can see, these are not brigadiers.”
“Hmm.”
“You think you’re impressin’ anyone, roughin’ up a retired old man?” Otto challenged, his anger thickening his voice.
Grisha shrugged. “He’s sworn Nikolaev. That’s all the reason I need to kill him. If I choose to do it quickly or slowly first, that’s just a matter of my mood.”
Evelina flicked the note in Grisha’s direction and let her arm fall to her side. “Well, here’s my mood, Grisha.” She waited only long enough for him to narrow his eyes at her. “You’re going to let Iouri go without further injury. And then if all your buddies return those nice, shiny new weapons that I presume are the ones from my missing shipment, they die quickly. Painlessly. But you, you’re going to suffer, regardless. I can’t think of a single reason to bless you with a swift death.”
