Page 88 of Ace of Shadows
I do the same. We came here without security, but knowing Ruslan, we’re definitely not alone.
“I came here as a courtesy,” Nico remarks. “For the six of you.”
My heart jumps suddenly into my throat. Ruslan doesn’t move a muscle.
“To a graveyard?” Bradley’s deep voice lowers like a rumble of thunder. “There’s no courtesy to be had here and you know it. And to arrive with them?” He jerks his head back to the group of tattooed men and women lingering around the second set of cars. “The fact that you’re not trying to kill each other tells me all I need to know.”
“We’re not here to start a fight,” a voice laced with a Russian accent speaks up. I quickly scan the crowd but can’t locate whoever spoke. “We got no issue with the Suits.”
Bradley doesn’t even look their way.
“I don’t have an issue with you either,” Nico says. “But I wanted to tell you in person that my family have found common ground with the Sidorovs.”
“Does that common ground equal peace?” Bradley asks. Despite the threat, his stature remains relaxed.
“Yes,” Nico replies. “Peace is the new way forward on one condition.”
Ruslan’s grip grows painful with how tightly he holds on to me.
Somehow, Nico’s eyes dart to me and lock on even through the wall created by Valentina and Cassian. “We want the girl. And we want her dead.”
29
RUSLAN
“How does this just happen? They spend all this time at each other’s throats, blaming one another for the plane crash and every other fucking thing that’s happened, only to turn up at the funeral asallies?”
“Ruslan,” Valentina warns, grabbing me by the arm. “Lower your voice!”
“Why?”
“Because Ivy has just fallen asleep. She’s had a tough enough day already, don’t you think?”
Another wave of fury almost overwhelms me, but at Valentina’s scolding, I snap my mouth shut and allow her to pull me from the hallway and into the kitchen. My mind races, thoughts tripping over themselves as I replay that fucked up display at the cemetery a few hours ago.
Russians and Italians side by side by side calling for Ivy’s head.
“Drink?” Valentina’s at the fridge pulling out a bottle of wine. At my nod, she grabs a beer and offers it to me when she sits at the table.
The cap crumples in my palm, and I take a long, deep drink, focusing on the chill malt flavor and then savoring the ever-so-light burn of alcohol that follows.
“Ruslan?” Raven enters with a yawn and rubs at her eyes. “I’ve got something.”
“What is it?”
“Bradley’s spent the past hour speaking to the respective Pakhan and Don of each family, and long story short, they’ve both completed their own investigations to prove that Ivy isn’t one of theirs. And those investigations seem to be enough to satisfy both parties so they’re now claiming Ivy is a member of a third party trying to bring them down, and they want her dead to send a message to whoever she works for. Here.” Raven offers me her electronic tablet. “It’s all on there.”
Taking it, the screen lights up at my touch with a transcript from Bradley’s meeting. “We all know this is bullshit, right?” I glance up between Raven and Valentina. “There’s no way this is real.”
“You think someone fudged a report?” Valentina asks.
“Of course they did,” I snap, unable to restrain the surge of annoyance that rises. “We’ve been through her life with a fine toothed comb. This?” I brandish the tablet then toss it onto the table with a clatter. “One of them is lying and the other is too dumb to see through it.”
“Just so we’re clear…” Raven’s lips purse. “We’re not handing Ivy over, right?”
“Of course we’re fucking not!”
“Okay!” She raises her hands in defense. “I needed to hear you say it, that’s all.”
