Page 137 of Wicked Vows (Suvorov Bratva 2)

His fingers drift up the back of my neck and wind into my hair. As he massages my scalp, he asks, “What do we know?”

“Nothing.”

“None of that pessimism,Lisichka. Where’s my clever fox?”

Through the comfort his fingers provide, I see a sliver of information. “Joao.”

“What about him?”

“He was dead?”

“Yes.” Pavel nods. “And what does that tell you?”

I squint at the ceiling. “If he was approached by Cardona’s men, then he probably didn’t play ball.”

“Exactly.”

“He might have stayed loyal to us.”

He nods. “To the Bernadettis, yes.”

“Then he must not have been the one who told.”

Pavel rubs my scalp with lighter strokes. “What did Willow’s father say to you?”

I tremble. “A lot of things.”

“Did he say how he knew?”

I frown. “No, he didn’t mention how he found out. Just that he knows.”

“Someone must have called him. He may have received the same picture I got.”

“I got the picture too,” I say.

He nods. “We need to talk to him.”

My stomach flips. “I can’t do that, Pavel. I can’t face him after…” A hiccup cuts me off.

Pavel rubs my scalp a little harder. “If someone contacted him, then he has information. A phone number, a voice mail, a note—whatever it is, we need to know about it.”

I sit up straighter. “It’s a lead.”

“There’s my clever fox.”

“If Joao didn’t talk, then someone must have known that Willow and Zoya were heading to New Jersey.” I search my aching head for answers. “Not Janine. Or Dmitri.”

He shakes his head. “Probably not the NYPD either. Janine didn’t hear our plan unless she had that office bugged.”

“She wouldn’t have been smart enough to do that.”

“Zoya was in disguise. Or at least enough of one.” He pauses, his fingers halting on my scalp. “Which means someone knows what Willow looks like.”

The announcement makes me freeze. The logic tracks.

And it’s terrifying.

Someone who knows what Willow looks like.That means it’s someone who knows her…

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