Page 130 of Wicked Vows (Suvorov Bratva 2)

“Don’t fuck withyou?” He laughs bitterly. “I allowed you to sleep in. Don’t tell me you squandered your time with other activities.” He lowers his voice. “Am I interrupting something important?”

Irritation lashes through my system, erasing all memories of the vodka that took over my body last night. I’m awake. I’m sober. And I’m fuckingpissed.

I square my shoulders while gathering my briefs from the ground. “I won’t repeat myself, Felix.”

“Yes, of course, dear Pavel. Pride and all that.” He coughs and then sighs. “Kiril and I had a deal, you know.”

Yes, I know.

No, I won’t admit it.

My silence encourages him to explain. “It was about how sweet, pretty Zoya would be brought in. Unfortunately for her, Kiril couldn’t fulfill his obligations.” He sighs. “And unfortunately for me, the NYPD wasn’t able to either.”

That won’t stop him from doing what he planned on doing. My eyes cut to Liya. She doesn’t need to hear that. “Is that so?”

“I should congratulate you on doing what the other bosses couldn’t accomplish,” he says with a sinister chuckle. “You got balls, kid. And it’ll be a damn shame when I cut them off and feed them to you.”

Again, my eyes flicker to my wife.

A small balloon of pride expands in my chest.

That’s all her doing.

Her clever and cunning mind has stumped Cardona. He’s done something rash. Which means he’s scrambling just as hard as me.

“I found Zoya.” He doesn’t wait for me to reply. “And the other girl.”

The vodka doesn’t entirely recede. As I try to access my memories over the past few days, my skull aches with a pending hangover. Turns out I’m still slightly intoxicated.

Other girl?

Then it hits me.

Willow.

I stare at Liya, noticing her slow and sluggish motions as she puts on her clothes.

Willow was supposed to take Zoya to New Jersey.So much for that plan.

Within seconds, I recover my silence. “You’re lying.”

“You little shit!” Something slams in the background. “Don’t doubt for asecondthat I’m not a man of my word, that I won’t do what I must to make sure your wife understands the situationshegot herself into.”

I remain quiet.Let him rant and rave.The loud man puffs himself up to make himself look scary. The silent man is the one you ought to fear.

“Now, I understand that they’re not important to you,” he snaps. “But to little naïve Liya? They’re her entire world.”

Liya looks at me. I betray nothing of my conversation with Felix. Not yet.

“You have twelve hours,” Cardona announces. “Before something bad happens.”

And then the line clicks.

Silence echoes through the room. It’s eerie to hear it after listening to that pig drone on under the rhythm of my racing heart. Calm and certainty are my usual routes.

But when it comes to Liya, I can’t help getting nervous.

I care about her. I care more than I dare to admit.

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