Page 177 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

“Follow my lead, okay?”

She nods.

“Whatever happens,” I continue, “no matter who appears or what they say, you stay quiet and follow my lead.”

“Do you have something planned or—?”

“Just promise me you’ll listen,” I interrupt. “Ready?”

She nods again, and we move around the side of the house towards the main street. Apparently, if we exit the driveway and keep walking, we’ll run into Prospect Park. That’s what I was told, anyway. That’s where they’ll meet us.

We stick to the landscape along the sides of the driveway, moving from tree to tree, doing our best to blend into the shadows. By the time we’re moving across the street to the tree-lined median, I’m cautiously optimistic this might work.

Then a car pulls up alongside us and the doors snap open.

A man in a black bomber jacket and dark, wavy hair climbs out from the passenger seat while another man stays behind the wheel. He hitches a thumb towards the backseat. “Get in.”

Elise grabs the back of my shirt and tries to pull me away.

“It’s okay,” I reassure her, even though this wasn’t supposed to happen quite like this. We’re still too close to Nikolai’s house. He could see us.

I turn to the man. “Who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am,” he says. “It matters who you are. Belle Dowan, right?”

Elise gasps behind me. “How does he know who you are? What’s happening?”

I ignore her and nod. “That’s me.”

“Get in.”

“No,” I say, straightening my spine. I try to keep my voice steely and steady. Elise needs something she can lean on. I want so, so badly to be that something.

The passenger gets out and comes around the back of the car. He’s an entire head taller than me, and he reaches for my purse. “Get in, girls. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

Elise is breathing heavily behind me. “Belle?”

I want to pull her into a hug, but I have to stay focused. This isn’t exactly how I thought it would go, but I can improvise. But if we’re going to do this directly in front of Nikolai’s house, we need to move faster.

“We aren’t just going to climb into your car,” I say, playing my part as well as reminding these men what their job is. Kidnappers aren’t supposed to ask nicely, and the cameras are watching, so they need to read their lines right.

The tall man grins. “Then I’ll throw you in.”

He grabs my arm and pulls me towards the car. Elise yelps and grabs my other arm. I fist my hand in the sleeve of her sweater. She can’t run away. She has to stay with me. For this to work, she has to stay—

A gunshot echoes down the dark street.

My heart leaps into my throat. I turn around just as the man next to me drops to the ground…

With a gaping hole in the side of his head.

Before I can even process it, another shot rings out. The driver slumps down, bashing his chin on the top of the car door before he collapses back into the front seat. Every bit as dead as the first.

“Oh my God!” Elise screams. She grabs my arm and reels me away.

This time, I go with her. I’m too stunned to argue. None ofthatwas meant to happen.

“Who did that?” I whisper, looking around.

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