Page 125 of Twisted Little Game

“If the doctors are trying at all, that means that the bullet didn’t hit him fatally. Roman has been shot before. I have. This is going to be okay.”

“That’s what people keep telling me. But it’s fucking scary. Maks, what happened with Yegor? With the others at the house? I was with Roman until the ambulance arrived, but I heard bad things behind me.”

He sucks in a breath of air.

“Yegor is insane,” Maks says, his eyes looking far off into the distance. “On our side, apparently, but still insane. Tackle regained consciousness and lunged at me with a knife, and I had no choice but to kill. Yegor shot Lucian and Benny gleefully, then the driver of Natalia’s car.”

“Holy shit.”

“We checked the driver’s wallet. He was a Maletti. Not just paid by the Malettis, but a true member of the family.”

“That is terrifying.”

“Right after the ambulance left, Yegor told me he was going to call his friend for a ride to a private medic he trusts. It turned out to be bullshit.”

I frown. “Is Yegor okay?”

“I pretended to leave. I drove off the property in Roman’s car, then walked back onto the edge of Yegor’s land on foot. And I saw him untying the rope binding Natalia.”

My spine tingles. “He is on her side after all of this?”

Maks shakes his head. “He handcuffed her and managed to get her into one of his vehicles.”

“He is doing all of this with a shot knee?”

“Roman is a very, very good shot. He hit Yegor somewhere that makes him bleed, but doesn’t kill. He will get an infection if he doesn’t treat it, but he is very much alive, and dead-set on revenge. He is taking Natalia as a hostage, back into New York City. I am almost certain of it.”

I swallow hard. “And what is he planning to do?”

“Your guess is as good as mine at this point, Tate. We knew Yegor was a problem, but this is very different.”

I walk over toward an open row of chairs and sit down, gripping the arm of my seat because I feel like I’ll be dizzy without it.

Maks comes over to sit next to me.

He doesn’t say much, for a while. But he’s there. It’s the most I could ask for right now.

“I still can’t believe I was just a pawn in their game,” I finally say. “The day at the beach, I was so close to being kidnapped, and I didn't realize it. Even me coming to Crimson College, and Roman being hired to watch over me, was part of Yegor’s grand plan. I’m a person. I’m not just a lure for the fish Yegor wanted to catch.”

“Now you sound like Roman,” Maks says softly.

I turn to him. “How?”

“Roman has felt like a pawn for his whole life.”

I frown. “He isn’t a pawn at all. He’s so… powerful. So steady.”

“You haven’t seen him with his father. He feels like a pawn, only with him.”

“Roman doesn’t even seem to talk to his father very much.”

“It’s by design. While he’s at Crimson, he separates himself from every aspect of his real life. He used to go to Sunday dinners with the family each week, but since you arrived, he doesn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Watching over you was more important,” Maks says.

His expression is gentle.