14. Carina
CARINA
Iheld my breath as I dropped down hard. Gravel and hard, sunbaked dirt gave me no cushion as Maksim tackled me.
I grunted at the impact and kept my head up to avoid smacking it.
His arms were locked around me as we rolled, and I clung to him with my arms around his neck to brace his head from hitting any surfaces either.
Fuck. What the fuck was that?
The runners had left not even five minutes ago. They’d handed over the crate. They waited while Dean and Maksim checked the contents of it, then they left with the confirmation from someone on their end that the money had been sent and verified.
One second, Maksim and Dean were discussing how soon they’d sell the chips, and the next, a car was speeding up close and firing at us.
They’d come out of nowhere, but they’d been clearly heading somewhere.
Rattled by the adrenaline rush, I held on to Maksim as he rolled us under the car. Since we were on the driver’s side of the vehicle, the speeding car couldn’t get any shots at us. Dean crouched over and fired at the sedan that zoomed by.
They didn’t stop.
They didn’t say anything.
They’d come and gone, firing like hell.
And there was no possibility that it was random.
“All clear,” Dean said after a long moment.
We hadn’t needed him to say it. Maksim and I both had a clear view of the road as we held each other on the ground. Through the clearance of the car to the pavement, we watched the car speed out of sight, miles and miles away.
“What the fucking hell was that about?” Maksim asked as he gestured for me to get up with him. Before he was fully on his knees to get up, he paused and searched me with concern in his eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Was there a leak?” I answered with a question, dismissing his worry about me. I was fine. Naturally, I was fine. He’d been here and he’d protected me. It was ironic, though, that I had been the one to pull him down, wanting to keep him safe.
Not because I loved him.
Not because I was obligated to want my husband to stay alive.
But because… I cared.
He’d given me the permission to matter. To contribute and to use the skills and wealth of knowledge my father had instilled in me all my childhood. It felt damned good to do what I was supposed to do, at last.
I cared that he desired me too, and that he wanted to please me. It was only physical, but yes, I cared. Enough that I wouldn’t want him shot up and dead. Not even hurt.
“Was there a leak?” I asked again as he held my elbow until I stood again.
He shook his head, not in denial, but anger. “I can’t see any other way that could’ve happened like that.”
“Did you know about this handoff?” Dean demanded.
I furrowed my brow at him while Maksim gripped the front of his shirt.
“Don’t fucking say shit like that about her,” he growled.
“I have to wonder,” he protested, holding his hands up in a truce.
He didn’t release him, his right-hand man and go-to runner. “Don’t fucking accuse her of being behind a leak. Who’d she fucking hear it from? Who’d she leak anything to?”
“I wasn’t told about this handoff until I got in the car with him,” I told Dean, wanting to defuse the anger between the men.
Using the don’t fuck with me tone I’d employed on the men in my Cartel, I shook my head.
If they needed someone to referee, I would do it.
Of course, the Bratva men would suspect me of being a spy or traitor. I was an outsider expected to fit in.
But arguing about whether I could’ve been behind a leak was a waste of time. “They came here and were ready to fire. Someone knew we were out here.”
Maksim released Dean and stared at me. “We,” he said, swallowing hard. “Could someone have wanted to take you out?”
I scoffed, shaking my head. I saw where he was coming from, but that was ridiculous. “Me? I’m not in power. If anything, that was set up for someone to take you out. You outrank us.” I jerked my thumb at Dean.
Since he said it, though, the words reverberated in my mind.
I couldn’t see why anyone would want me dead.
But I dreaded that I could be embroiled in more danger than ever by assisting Maksim and being increasingly tied to the inner workings of the Bratva.
Bothered by how the handoff could’ve failed and how any one of the three of us could have been blind-sided and killed by that drive-by out in the open, I stepped back as Maksim and Dean argued and discussed who had been informed about this handoff.
The list was small, and neither man had any idea who to look at for why this had happened.
Taking a step back and letting them get into it as they retraced the planning of this handoff, I grew worried. I wanted to understand what had gone wrong. This was set up before I’d been involved, and I wanted to see where things had failed, why a leak could have happened.
Maksim liked to solve problems.
He got things done.
I realized that dynamic early on and I witnessed how Adrik counted on him to do just that.
I was like that too, though, and right now, I reeled with the questions that flooded my mind and had to be answered so I could help solve this.
What if someone was tracking me and wanted to aim at me?
They had routine handoffs and runs and no one suffered the risk of a drive-by. But it happened today, when I’m here. Is that the variable that matters?
What if this is because of someone against the Cartel? Someone who was wronged by Arturo because of some stupid decision he’d made?
Dread filled my stomach and I winced.
What if he screwed someone else over and they’re trying to take me out as retaliation because they can’t get to him at the compound?
“Let’s go,” Maksim said at last, turning to me.
Dean nodded at us and moved to get into the car. “I’ll follow you.”
I went with Maksim, wishing my thoughts weren’t swirling like an angry, chaotic mess in my mind. He held my hand, covering my back as he got me back into the car, and that jarred me out of my thoughts.
I didn’t want his protection when he needed it too.
I didn’t want to be a thing to shelter or guard.
I wanted to help solve this, dammit.
But I didn’t push it. I didn’t protest or fight back like I normally would.
“Wait.” He frowned, studying me as he stood at the passenger door. “Slide over. You drive.”
I didn’t argue, bothered and too deep in thought.
I moved over behind the wheel and he got in on the side.
Keeping his gun in his lap, he indicated that he intended to be the lookout while I drove.
Once we got going, with Dean following us, he got on his phone and began relaying the details of this incident.
First, he spoke with Adrik. Then Alexei. Another call on speaker with Alexei and Viktor.
They all worked as a team, never letting egos get in the way.
Concentrating on driving while he kept his eyes open for a threat, I was treated to another example of how the Volkovs weren’t structured as lawless men, but a sterner unity than what I ever saw in the Cartel.
These Volkovs ran a well-oiled machine of violence and power, and they did so with the greatness of loyalty behind their decisions.
Maksim’s coldness and aptitude for focusing on his job weren’t cruelty. It was discipline. And that was something I’d never be able to say about my brother and how he ran the Cartel.
My father had been a follower of the same beliefs that the Volkovs exhibited.
He stood on the principle of loyalty. But with his death, my brother was letting the unity and brotherhood of the Cartel lapse and go to waste.
I sighed, knowing we were closer to Maksim’s house. Not a single threat had appeared on the drive, which was a relief. But I couldn’t lower my guard at all.
With my brother on my mind again, I dismissed that he could’ve been in on that drive-by attempt at that handoff.
He hasn’t checked in with me once.
All this time, he had been without any communication. Not even a standard congratulations had been formally issued after the wedding over a month and a half ago.
Arturo and I had never been close, but since our parents were killed, we’d been forced to work together. He’d never admit it, but he had leaned on my expertise and judgment to keep the Cartel going.
And now?
I shook my head, lost in my thoughts while Maksim continued to speak on his phone.
Now, I’m gone.
The truth hit me with the effect of a punch to the gut.
He removed me.
He ejected me from the family. From the Cartel.
I should have seen this arrangement to marry into the Volkov Bratva for what it was. Not a sign of good faith, but the means with which he would dispose of my being in his life.
That was how entrenched he was in this power trip. To call all the shots and deny my advice and help as his sister.
It can’t end well, though. It won’t.
I wasn’t a pessimist by nature, but I simply had to admit that was true.
Arturo was too impulsive and easily persuaded by others who preyed on his goodwill and consideration. Without me around as the voice of reason anymore, I had a hunch the Cartel had to be weaker than ever.
The heartache of that outcome pained me, and the disappointment of such a result crushed my soul.
I’m not there anymore, though.
I’d reached the house I was supposed to call home and sighed. Setting the car in park, I waited for Maksim to end his call.
He frowned, still listening to another informant who’d been involved with that handoff. Lifting his head slightly and seeing that I’d parked already, he gestured for me to head inside. “I’ll be in after this call,” he said as he covered the mouthpiece.
I nodded and exited the car. He wasn’t sending me away, but deep down in my heart, I had to war with the reality that I had been sent away.
Arturo wasn’t going to contact me for any intel.
My brother had taken a chance to get rid of me.
Almost as if the universe were mocking me, my phone rang.
I sighed and pulled it from my pocket.
Unknown: I need to let you know that he’s rerouting business to a third party.
I stopped in my tracks.
Unknown: A contractor who controls him with blackmail and blood.
I spun to stare at where Maksim was sitting in the car. My heart pounded with the hope that this could be a lead, a clue, a direction.
Unknown: And he’s going to ruin all that your father worked to build. E-
E-?
Enrique?
It had to be him. He’d always signed off like that, as though it were his signature in digital shorthand.
Maksim had noticed me staring at him. At the quizzical expression he wore, he had tuned in to the possibility that something was up.
I licked my lips, eager to see if I could bridge my past to my present and prevent my brother from destroying the Cartel my family had ruled for generations.
Arturo might never contact me. But this old Cartel contact was. And I’d take it as a step in the right direction.