Page 61 of Immaculate Corruption (Romanoff Bratva)

Zotov knows I left Lukas with Ernestine.

How?

I tell myself it doesn’t mean anything. It’s a bluff.

But it’s never a bluff. Not really.

This is bad.

“Whenever you’re ready,” he urges. “Take your time.”

I don’t lower the gun, but I use my other hand to reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. Ernestine’s number is programmed as the first setting. I hit the button and wait.

“Arya?” Ernestine’s voice is high-pitched and panicked. She is breathless and I can hear murmuring in the background behind her.

“No, it’s Dima. What’s going on?”

She exhales loudly. “I don’t know. I don’t know. They knocked on the door and then, I don’t know what happened. June is gone.”

“June? What did they do with her?”

“I don’t know.” Her voice breaks. “They won’t tell me anything.”

“Who won’t?”

“I don’t know!” she cries. “I don’t know anything. Lukas and I are being held somewhere. June is gone. I don’t… I don’t know what’s happening. You have to do—”

Before she can finish, the line goes dead.

And my body goes cold.

“See?” Zotov asks. “Aren’t you glad you didn’t act rashly? If you had killed me, your son would have been in serious danger.”

“Where is he? What do you want?”

“Me? What do I want?” He tips his head up, lips pursed. “Ultimate power, endless money, beautiful women. The usual. I suppose I’m not very original in that regard.”

“And what does my son have to do with any of that?”

He smiles at me. “I can’t have any of those things if I’m dead. Holding onto your son ensures you don’t make a poor decision.”

I grit my teeth. “Why not just kill me? If you have the man power to kidnap my son, why not just have someone end it all now? You don’t need to bother with him. Let him go. Let them both go and we’ll settle this ourselves.”

Zotov folds his hands behind his back and looks over at Giorgio. “Look, Giorgio. I told you he’d come around. We are already moving on to negotiations.”

I want nothing more than to choke the life out of this smug son of a bitch.

But if I kill him, Lukas could be hurt. June could be hurt. Ernestine could be hurt. Arya could be hurt.

I lower my gun to keep myself from doing anything reckless.

As soon as I do, Zotov pulls out a gun of his own.

“Unfortunately,” he says, “the only thing I really want is your head on a silver fucking platter.”

21

Arya

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