11. Tamara
TAMARA
“I’m coming with you.”
Andrej is preparing his weapons to head out to the port. “You’re already on their radar.” He glances at my bruised face while checking the ammunition in his revolver. “You should stay here.”
“Leonid?” I turn my attention to my Pakhan. “I should be there.”
I don’t add that I’m worried Ivana is being held by the Petrovs; I don’t need to. Leonid understands my thought process.
When I returned from the port with my injuries and minus my gun and daggers, I told him what had happened. I explained about the woman with the white-blonde hair I’d seen fleeing the other quayside the day before, and again immediately before I was captured.
“I believe she was trying to warn me. She might know where Ivana is.”
I’d also told him about the Russians with the serpent tattoos. He didn’t react, but it was obvious that he was aware of them and their Bratva history.
“I think it was she who released me from the container and helped me to escape.”
He didn’t try to convince me otherwise. He had my wounds checked by a doctor and ordered me to take some time out, to forget about the port, as he had all areas covered, and I would be the first to know if anyone spotted my sister.
And I didn’t question his orders.
I slept for twenty-four hours, and when I woke up, the weight of missing Ivana pressed heavily on my chest, but my first thought was Finn.
My body ached for him. I missed his easy smile, his dimples, and the way his hair curls at the nape of his neck.
I rolled over in my bed, closed my eyes, and pretended that he was curled up behind me, protective, gentle, affectionate.
He hadn’t spoken the words out loud, but I understood that, in his eyes, it was simple: if I wanted to spend time with him, then I would.
But he has no clue about my life. When my parents died, my sister and I were taken into the orphanage where our lives were in the hands of the matron.
She could influence a potential adoption with a few carefully chosen words, and a child presented in pristine clothes and a glowing report to match the requirements of hopeful visitors.
She could also sell the children who had no chance of being chosen and line her own pockets with the proceeds.
Then, when Leonid found us, he gave us a home, but he expected loyalty in return. And we were happy to give it.
We’ve always been happy to give it.
But now I realize there is only so much loyalty one person can give, and I’m not prepared to cut it into portions and serve it like slices of cake to anyone else who happens to want a piece of me.
Also, I didn’t want him to see my bruises. I couldn’t have borne the pity on his face when he looked at me.
So, I obeyed Leonid’s order by day and ventured down to the port at night to look for the woman with the white-blonde hair.
And now shit has gone down while we were conveniently in a meeting with the Irish.
“If they recognize her,” Andrej says now, facing his brother squarely, “we risk the entire team. Let me scope out the damage first.”
I straighten my spine. “You’re forgetting that I’ve seen them. I know who they are, and I would recognize them again.”
“They tried to kill you last time. We’ve already lost Ivana.” Andrej shakes his head at his own lack of sensitivity, his expression softening. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded, but with her injuries…”
“Please, Leonid.” I ignore his brother. “I’ve seen their ships.
” I swallow bile as the image floods my mind.
I can’t lose my shit now or Leonid will never agree to letting me accompany Andrej.
“If they’re behind this incident, it will be a deliberate distraction from their operation, and they would only need a distraction if things are not going according to plan.
I think the woman I saw is getting too close to taking them down. ”
“Singlehandedly?” Andrej furrows his brow. “Either she has a death wish, or she knows something about them that we don’t.”
I turn on him with a scowl. “What if she does? Shouldn’t we be working together to stop them?” I know I’ve crossed a line when Andrej’s eyebrows slide upwards, but I don’t take the words back.
“She has a point.” The interruption comes from Victoria, who has remained quiet until now.
I like her. She isn’t loud and arrogant the way her brothers can be sometimes, but she has a quiet calmness about her that makes people pay attention whenever she chooses to speak.
“The Petrovs are arrogant because they’re winning right now.
They’re playing the authorities by offering them more than we are paying them, but they’ve covered their tracks so well, I haven’t found a fucking thing to hold against them. ”
“Yet,” Leonid adds for her.
“Okay, fine.” Victoria shrugs. “I’ll keep digging and maybe I’ll find treasure, but in the meantime, the Petrovs are trying to bury you in the fucking shit they’re creating, and it’s working.”
I don’t know how they are doing it, but Andrej is unfazed.
“They can try,” he says, “but we’ve been around a lot longer, and while we’re standing here discussing the merits of Petrov shit as opposed to Ivanov shit, the Iroquois Landing is on fucking fire, and they’re walking away scot-free.”
“The Irish have already been sucked in.” Victoria holds his gaze but addresses Leonid.
“I can handle the Irish,” Leonid says. “Once the Petrovs have been dealt with, the Irish will bend over backwards to lick my ass.”
My pulse races. Is the Irish mob involved with the Petrovs? Was Finn at the docks the night we met because he was acting as look-out for Leonid’s Russian enemy?
Disappointment and anger swirl around my gut like oil in water. He’s been lying to me this whole time. He never intended to help me find Ivana, he was tracking me to report our movements back to his boss and fucking me was just a pleasant interlude for him.
“I’m going with Andrej.” I go to the door and hide my face before Leonid realizes that this is personal.
A couple of beats pass, and I sense the siblings communicating silently behind my back.
Then Leonid says, “It’s fine. Tamara knows the layout. I’ll be at home when you have more information for me.”
Andrej and I don’t speak on the journey.
Maybe when his child is born in a couple of months, he will melt in the same way his brother has, but for now he is in full-on alpha protective mode, and he is angry with me for persuading Leonid to overrule him on this.
I don’t give a fuck.
I’ve wasted too much time thinking about Finn when I should’ve focused on finding my sister. I dropped my guard for a moment and let the wrong person in; this is what Leonid meant when he said that love is a weakness. I let Finn get under my skin, and he used me to reach my Pakhan.
My disappointment is slowly consumed by rage.
If they’d killed Leonid because of my weakness…
The Iroquois Landing is a mass of flashing neon lights when we arrive. The CPD, the fire department, paramedics… all are in attendance as Andrej parks up at a distance and we approach the scene on foot.
Smoke billows from one of the warehouses serving the dock.
Several police trucks are parked up outside, firefighters still working to contain the flames and prevent them from spreading to the surrounding buildings.
But it’s the forensic team erecting tents around a crime scene on the quayside that has my stomach churning.
The paramedics are treating several workers on the steps of the ambulances nearby, but the tents can only mean one thing: there were fatal injuries.
Ivana!
I have no evidence that my sister has been here, but my gut is telling me that she is in danger, and I can’t ignore it.
I don’t wait around for Andrej’s orders. I’m sprinting down to the containers where I was trapped less than a week ago, navigating as close to the crime scene as possible.
“Tamara!” he yells, but I don’t acknowledge him.
I’ve circled them and am emerging onto the dock between mountains of coiled ropes, empty pallets, and unused machinery, when Andrej grabs my arm and swings me around to face him.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” His eyes are like cold bullets. “What part of stay out of sight did you not understand?”
“I’ve been here every day since Ivana went missing.” I try to wrench my arm free, but he isn’t letting go.
“And you almost got killed in the process.” His eyes slide to my bruised face. “Or have you conveniently forgotten about that?”
“The place is crawling with cops tonight, or have you conveniently forgotten that?” I’m pushing my luck, but I’m beyond thinking about consequences. “The Petrovs would be idiots to attack me in full view of the police department, and if this incident is down to them, they’ll be working elsewhere.”
He knows I’m right. I watch his thought process play out behind his eyes and wriggle my arm from his grip as he reaches the same conclusion.
“Stay close,” he says. “We’ll find out what we can and get the fuck out of here.”
I hold his gaze for a few beats and then follow him down onto the dock.
Leonid wouldn’t let me out of his sight if he thought I was a liability, but Andrej makes it too easy for me to slip away.
I steal a hard hat from a forklift truck, and a hi-vis vest hanging like a tail from the back pocket of a worker milling around waiting for orders.
Then I worm my way through the groups gathered around the forensic tents like this is a stadium crowd and I’m trying to get prime position in front of the stage.
The dock workers are so distracted that they give me space without even thinking about it.
When I’m close enough to the forensic team to watch them work without drawing attention to myself, I start a conversation with the large-bellied man standing beside me silently thanking Leonid for the lessons he insisted Ivana and I take to perfect our American accent.