Page 161 of Ruthless Sin
The man in tactical gear has turned. He has seen us. He starts toward us. He’s bigger than I am by two of me. He closes the distance fast. His right hand goes for Oksana. The easy one. The slow one.
I have time for one motion.
I slip the blade up under his sleeve at the wrist and across. A scrap of his sleeve comes away on my blade as he pulls his arm back. The blade catches the pad of my thumb on the way back. A thin line. I do not look at it.
He swears. “Suka.” Bitch.
One of Alexei’s.
He grabs Oksana with both hands. I lunge again. I don’t get him. He’s gone down the hallway with her in his hands.
“Mila!”
The hallway is empty in a breath.
Failure. I let her go.
Sofia is bleeding behind me. She came because I came. I turn. Sofia is sliding down the wall. Slow. Her left side is wet. I getmy right hand on her left side. Below the ribs. The blood is the wrong color.
I press flat. The cotton of her dress under my palm.
Sofia’s eyes are open. She’s looking at me. I say her name.
“Sofia.”
She doesn’t answer.
Footsteps in the corridor. I lift the folding knife.
Renzo. Tactical gear. Black shirt under the vest. Blood on his right sleeve that isn’t his.
“With me. Now.”
I push Sofia out toward him. Renzo lifts her in one motion. I keep my right hand on the wound as he holds her. We move together. Renzo lifting Sofia at his chest. My hand at her left side keeping pressure. My left hand still on the open knife.
We walk the corridor. Renzo, English, low.
“Easy. We’re out in thirty seconds.”
I don’t answer. I keep pressure.
We come out the front entrance. The sun is up. Sirens distant. Marco’s men at the perimeter. One of his soldiers at the curb with a black SUV idling. A different SUV. The motor running. The back door open.
The SUV Nico parked is gone.
I stop. Renzo stops with me. Sofia in his arms.
The curb is empty. The SUV isn’t there. Renzo grabs my elbow.
“Mila. Move.”
“Where is Nico?”
“Move first, Mila.”
He pulls me toward Marco’s SUV at the curb. The wrong SUV. The Santoro driver in the front seat. Marco’s soldier at the back door. I look back at where the SUV was.
There’s a tire mark on the curb where the SUV’s right wheel was. The mark is fresh. Black rubber on the concrete. There’sbroken glass on the asphalt three feet from the curb. The glass is from a driver-side window.
