Page 100 of Ace of Shadows
I failed her. They kicked the shit out of me and I couldn’t save her. The last time I saw Ivy was five hours ago as she was dragged into Alexei’s car and driven away, while all I could do was crawl. I crawled until darkness took me, and Valentina’s team apparently found me thirty seconds later. Since then, I’ve been cleared by the doctor of anything life-threatening, although advised not to engage in any strenuous activity since those bastards cracked a couple of my ribs, kicked a tooth right out of my jaw, and bruised enough internal organs that I’ll be pissing blood for a week.
“Hey.” Raven appears in the doorway of the medical wing and I nearly surge upward.
“Have you got something?” I demand.
“No, sorry. But Kraven wants to talk.”
“Kraven,” I spit, shaking my head. “He’s lucky I don’t kill him.”
“It’s not the first time someone’s let the world burn for their son,” remarks Cassian as he follows Raven inside. “We can’t blame him.”
“I can,” I growl. “That fucker knew where his son was and didn’t want to tell us. The only reason he told you, Cassian, was because he realized his son wasn’t being a good boy and hiding until all this blew over.”
“What does he want to talk about?” Bradley asks, ending my tirade by cupping my jaw so he can clean some torn skin under my chin.
Raven sighs. “He’s pissed that we’ve broken a few rules and involved ourselves so deeply in a family matter.”
“And he’s right,” Cassian adds. “We never ordinarily would have been involved in something like this.”
“Seriously?” I drag my face out of Bradley’s grip. “Maybe we need to change those rules then because without me and Ivy, how many Italian families would have borne the brunt of something they had no involvement in? How much blood would have been spilled while Kraven got his revenge? And Ivy’s family? They were innocent. They weren’t even part of our world. They all would have been slaughtered and forgotten and Kraven would have no inkling of his son’s hand in any of this if we hadn’t done such a good job protecting Ivy. This shit is the shit weshouldbe doing.”
“As much as I was against this in the beginning, he has a point,” Valentina agrees. “How many times have we witnessed carnage because some asshole got jealous? How many times have we stood by because we’ve deemed an issue not big enough for interference?”
“Where’s the balance?” Raven asks, perching on the table. “There’s a fine line between helping people and being overbearing.”
“Maybe there’s no magic line,” Cassian adds. “Maybe we just have to pay attention to the bigger picture and step in when we need to. You have a good point, Ruslan. Without our protection covering Ivy, Alexei would have killed her and Kravenwould have torn through the Italians seeking retribution for a destroyed deal. And we would have thought him justified.”
“Love makes things messy,” Valentina remarks, peering over Raven’s shoulder. “Make you wonder how many things the Suit has overlooked as business when really, it was about love making someone crazy.”
Love.
My attention drifts to Valentina.
Is that really what this comes down to? Alexei’s obsessive, jealous love for Florence. Florence’s love for Camden. Camden’s love for his daughter.
My love for Ivy. The moment I think of her, the moment I know I wouldn’t have tried this hard for anyone else.
Because I don’t love anyone else.
I love her.
And she’s gone.
Shit.
“This isn’t the time for this,” Bradley interjects. “I hear you all and I understand. But right now, we have more pressing matters.”
“Ivy,” I say, and her name turns sour against my tongue. I let her down. How could I do that? How could I let them take her? “If he’s killed her already, Alexei is a dead man walking.”
“Let’s not make assumptions,” Bradley says. “Lie back. That wound on your abdomen needs a stitch.”
“Fine.” Slumping back, I gaze up at the ceiling I studied so often while resting next to Ivy as she battled her fever.
This is the first time she hasn’t been with me in months and emptiness is glaring. As Bradley starts working on the gash across my abdomen from where broken glass from Alexei’s cars cut into me as they dragged me across the ground, I mull over Kraven. Whatever information he has had better be worth its weight in gold or I’m going to kill him with my bare hands.
Not gettingto see Kraven until early the next morning was the most painful part of my night. Bradley must have slipped a sedative into my coffee because sleep came quickly. Still pissed, I glare at him from the edge of the room while Bradley stands before Kraven. It’s the first time Kraven’s ever looked small.
“I’ll only ask this once,” Bradley states, his voice deep and flat. “Where is Alexei?”
