Page 45 of The Bratva’s Monster

I have to pause. There’s no easy way to answer that. He hasn’t given the order yet, but honestly, it’s only a matter of time.

“He doesn’t know enough to want you dead,” is what I say. She doesn’t respond to that. She goes quiet. I hope that’s enough for her.

“He’s innocent,” she says after a while. “I don’t have the proof yet, but I know that he is.”

I take a breath. “Instinct isn’t going to be enough.”

“I know.”

We both go quiet again and I start wondering. “How could you possibly be so sure?” I ask her.

“He was your friend. How are you not sure?”

I pause, debating whether or not to tell her what I already know. “He was in debt,” I say instead. “You know that. Did you ever wonder where he got the money to pay back the account?”

She sighs. “You don’t understand, Rikki.”

“Then help me understand.”

She lifts her head and looks at me. Her golden hair is tousled and her eyes as blue as rain. “Gedeon was a terrible husband and an even worse gambler, but he was loyal to the Rostovs. To his bones. I know he would never betray you or your brothers. He owes you all too much.”

I take that in. Gedeon is my oldest friend, one of only two people outside of my family that I’ve ever fully trusted. And it’s because he’s always shown his dedication to us.

But the video that Kostya showed me, the one of him meeting with Stefan… If he were desperate enough and Stefan was offering him money for deeds, could he continue to stay loyal to us?

“Besides,” she says as she rests her head on my chest again, “if I can’t prove that he’s innocent, then what does that mean for me? Marius says that we were like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, apparently.”

I have heard that about them… and I see her point. It’s more than just the mishaps that have been going on with our safehouses. She’s the most logical answer in everyone’s mind.

She takes a breath, nuzzling up a little closer. “Help me, Rikki.”

“Liz—”

“I’m not asking you to compromise your loyalty. I’m just… I’m asking you to help me save my own life.”

I look down at her, at her messy blonde hair, and I realize…

I realize that if I don’t help her, then I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.

“You need to talk to Kostya,” I tell her. “Before you or I go any further, you need to ask him what he knows about Gedeon.”

She lifts her head and stares at me, her water blue eyes studying my face. “What does that mean?”

I take a deep breath. “There’s a video, Liz. You ought to see it before you go any farther.”

18

LIZ

Avideo. I’m still not sure how to wrap my mind around that.

In a sense, it makes sense. It’s not that I thought that Alex and Rikki had been working with assumptions all this time, but…

A video is a different thing. That means there’s something confirming his betrayal out there. God, what if I’m wrong?

Rikki called Kostya a little while ago, asked him to come over without telling him that I was here. Guess that’s smart, considering I’m also an enemy of the Bratva State. And Kostya has the ear of the Bratva king. For all I know, there could be a hit out on me right now.

I’m sitting in the bedroom, waiting for Rikki to call me out to the living room. When the doorbell rang, he told me to wait here for him to call me, for my own safety, I suppose. Or at least I hope. What a rotten thing it would be if Rikki decided he was going to kill me right after having sex with me.