Chapter 11 #2
“Shit? That’s the best you can do? Fuck you, Simeon.
You don’t realize that you’ve been played, do you?
Your father knows your plan now. There is no reason to bring me back, to suggest inviting my father, unless it’s to overtake him.
You might as well have announced it on a fucking billboard.
” I throw my hands up, the urge to slap some sense into him is strong.
“Timur’s probably fucking relieved that you’re finally going to try and take him down,” Zakhar points out. “I mean, that fucker’s gone soft for a while, so maybe something like this will get his rocks off one more time before he dies.”
“Is there any chance that he knows that you and I have been talking?” Ilya asks, giving Simeon a cool stare.
He shakes his head, but I can see the doubt in his eyes. “I’ve only spoken about this to my closest friend, and I have the burner phone for any calls or discussions. And we sweep for bugs and cameras all the time.”
“How many times do you two meet in person?” I ask. Let’s just see how smart these guys really are.
“This will be our third meeting,” Ilya answers.
“And do you always meet here? And have you both checked your planes for trackers?”
“My plane is one I bought on my own that my father doesn’t know about,” Simeon answers with a scowl. “His is sitting at the airfield on the far reaches of our territory where I told him I would be, and I took mine from there.”
“One that you store there, where he probably has cameras and guards watching everything, reporting back to him?” I ask sweetly.
He blinks. Yeah, idiot. “You know, I thought you would have gotten smarter over the years, Simmy. You’re making rookie mistakes, and I’m wondering if that means you taking over for your father is all that wise.
” I glance at Ilya. “And I also wonder if aligning yourself with him lumps you into the stupid category as well.”
Ilya ignores me and focuses on Simeon. “That means we don’t have a lot of time to get our plan into action. If your father is on to us, and the Butcher is coming and planning to cause problems, then we need to pivot and make a new one. We need to beat them at their own game.”
Simeon nods, and the two of them start talking, strategizing, while Zakhar listens and adds his own points when asked. None of them notice or talk to me about any suggestions. You know, the person they want actually to do the damn job.
Predictable.
None of the ideas they give each other actually sounds like something that will work.
Hell, the only thing that will happen is a bullet to the head, for me and Simeon.
Timur isn’t going to sit back and let his son kill him and take over the empire he’s grown and expanded since his father took power.
Especially if he’s working with another Pakhan to make it happen.
If they really want to make this work, I’m going to have to figure this out myself. I also need to contact Tatiana and get all the information I can from here, since these blockheads haven’t considered even the basics.
I’m still trying to figure out why she wants me to handle this. Is this her way of punishing me for some slight I gave her when we were kids? Why is she letting Simeon do this in the first place? Taking out the Butcher is a trophy all of us who were in that school have wanted since the first day.
So why isn’t she handling it herself? Out of the two of us, she’s the one who will succeed the most. Unless she’s got something going on with my father. Some kind of arrangement that will benefit them both.
Shit, if that’s the case, then we’re all fucked. Dread curdles in my gut.
I don’t like all these options and unknowns. Nothing good is going to come out of any of it. Grief hits me hard and sharp. This entire situation is going to end with me dead or on the run, delaying the inevitable. I’ll never see Hades again, or Sienna. Or Alonzo and the others.
Why does that hurt more? Knowing that the man who made me fall for him will eventually have no choice but to move on with someone else. Marry, start a new life with children, and forget me.
Maybe that’s what I deserve after everything. I’ve had a great life up until now, and maybe that was just fate’s way of teaching me a hard, cruel lesson.
The door to the room is thrown open, startling everyone except me. I just turn and stare at Oleg as he pokes his head in with a grim look on his face. “We got a problem out here you’re going to want to see.”
“Zakhar, watch her,” Ilya orders, he and Simeon already rushing for the door.
“No, you’re going to want her out here,” Oleg quickly interjects. “It has to do with her.”
“What?” Simeon barks.
“Just bring her,” Ilya snaps, nodding at Zakhar.
Zakhar reaches for me, but I pin him with a look that warns him it would be a very bad idea, and he drops his hand, giving me a wry smile. He gestures for me to go ahead of him, and I slip out the door behind Ilya and Simeon. Both of them walk stiffly, neither of them liking me at their back.
I don’t bother to hide my smirk. Serves them right.
I hear the sharp order first, and it takes all my self-control not to react to the shock. When I round the corner, I see a sight I never thought I would see in my life. My dog is facing off with a wolf, teeth bared, and behind him stands the very man who should not be here.
How did they find me?