40. Maksim
Maksim
The warehouse district is quiet when Sampson cuts the lights two blocks away. I get out of the SUV alone.
Damien is out of the passenger door before I’ve taken three steps. “Maksim.”
“Stay here.”
“That’s insane. You can’t go in there alone. He’ll kill you. We know it’s a trap.”
I turn and look at him. He’s my chosen brother. A man I trust with my life. And my wife’s life.
“I need you out here,” I say. “I need you alive and out here. You understand me? I’m trusting you to keep my wife safe.”
He stares at me as he works his jaw. “This is suicide.”
“Maybe.” I straighten my jacket. “Or maybe it’s the only play that works.”
“Maksim, please.”
“If I’m not out in twenty minutes, call Sergei and tell him everything.” I hold his eyes. “Everything, Damien. He’ll know what to do.”
He doesn’t answer. That’s as close to agreement as I’m getting from him tonight.
I walk toward the warehouse.
Two men are at the door. They see me coming, and neither one moves. They’re expecting me.
They take my gun, and I let them. They don’t find the blade in my boot. I probably won’t get to it fast enough, but it’s a chance.
They walk me through the warehouse. I count seven men positioned along the walls before they push me through a second door and into a larger space.
Arlind is standing near the center of the room.
Lila is on her feet against the far wall, with her wrists bound in front of her. There’s blood on her forearm, and her hair is loose and wild. Her chin is up. Her eyes find me as I walk through the door, and I see the moment she decides to be furious with me for coming.
I almost smile.
She’s alive.
Everything in my chest loosens just enough to let me breathe. Part of me expected to come here and find her dead, or close to it.
“Sokolov.” Arlind spreads his hands. There are three fresh scratches down his left cheek, red and raw. My wife’s work. My little wildcat. Something vicious and proud moves through me. “You came alone.”
“I came alone,” I confirm.
He looks past me at the door. Checking. He doesn’t fully believe it.
“My men are outside,” I say. “I told them to wait.”
“And they listened?” He sounds amused.
“They follow my orders.” I look briefly at Lila. Her eyes are burning holes in the side of my face. I look back at Arlind. “Let her go.”
He laughs a short, flat sound. “You walked into my warehouse to tell me to let her go.”
“I walked into your warehouse to make you an offer.”
He tilts his head. “I’m listening.”
I take a slow breath. I’ve been rehearsing this in the car. I need him to believe it. I need him to want it enough to make the trade.
“You want to win,” I say. “Killing her is personal. It’s not a business decision. No one will miss a single woman.”
“Asshole,” Lila mutters.
Arlind smirks. “Got a mouth on her.”
“She does, and we both know she’s more trouble than you want to deal with.”
"She’ll learn her place," he says nonchalantly.
“I can make you a better offer. You want to be the man who brought down a Sokolov.” I pause. “Take me.”
Lila makes a sharp, bitten-off sound that she tries to swallow.
“Let her walk out of here.” I train my eyes on Arlind.
“And you get me. Maksim Sokolov, in your hands, dead or alive. You choose.” I keep my voice calm.
“Think about what that’s worth. Think about what it says.
You took out a Sokolov prince. That’s not a territorial dispute anymore; that’s a legacy.
Every man in the bratva world will know your name. Miami will fear you.”
Arlind is quiet. He’s trying to decide if I’m serious.
“Don’t,” Lila whispers. “Maksim, don’t do this.”
I can’t look at her. If I look at her, I’ll lose the control I’m barely holding onto.
I see him considering the offer.
“You know what happens if you kill me,” I say to Arlind.
“My brothers come for you. Not just Sergei; Nikolai. Both of them. Every man loyal to the Sokolov name. You’re smart enough to know that a direct assault would cost you more than you’d gain.
” I take a step forward. “But if you have me, you have something to negotiate with. You have leverage you’ve never had. ”
“Or I kill you and deal with the consequences.”
“You could,” I agree, “but I’m offering you a cleaner option.
Let her go, and I’ll call Sergei right now, from this room, and tell him to stand down.
I’ll tell him it’s resolved. That we reached an agreement.
” I pull out my phone and hold it up. “You’ll have a window.
Time to move, reorganize, and get out from under whatever retaliation you’re expecting. That’s worth more than a body.”
“We both know your brothers will still come for you,” he says.
“My brothers respect me. We have an understanding.”
My plan is thin. Sergei will take revenge regardless of what I tell him to do, but it gives me time to get her out of the country.
Arlind laughs.
“Do you take me for a fool, Sokolov? I know how you operate.”
“You’re fucked either way,” I tell him. “Me calling my brother buys you time. Maybe I can convince him to let you live. You started this. I’m your only chance.”
I finally look at her. She’s so beautiful.
Her jaw is clenched so hard that I see the muscle jumping. She shakes her head. I see her eyes flash with rage.
“Don’t,” she says again.
I hold her gaze for one second. I need her to trust me one more time.
“Leave,” I say to her. “Right now. Walk out.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Lila.” My voice comes out harder than I intend. “Walk out the door.”
“No.”
Arlind watches this exchange with something approaching entertainment. He thinks he’s seeing a man fall apart. He thinks love has made me stupid and reckless. He’s not wrong, except he’s missed the part where it’s also made me the most dangerous version of myself that I’ve ever been.
I take my eyes off her and look back at him.
“You want the bratva off your back. I’m offering you that.
” I keep my voice even. “Or you can kill me right now, and before morning, Sergei Sokolov will have every man he owns moving toward Miami. Your operation in this city will be annihilated, and he’ll kill you slowly. ”
The room is quiet except for the buzzing of the overhead lights.
Arlind is thinking. I see the calculation behind his eyes. He’s not stupid. That’s what’s made him dangerous. Stupid men are predictable. Smart men weigh the cost of everything.
He takes a slow breath and looks at Lila. He nods once at the guard near her.
The guard moves toward her with a blade and cuts the zip tie from her wrists. She doesn’t move immediately.
“Go.” I put everything I have into that one word. Every promise I’ve made her. “Go, voinitsa.”
She takes one step toward the door, then stops.
“Maksim.”
I look at her and know I’m doing the right thing. Arlind pulls his phone and glances at the screen.
I hold her eyes and drop my voice so that it barely carries.
“Tell Damien to take care of Ember.”
Her breath catches, and something shifts in her face. The fury and the grief relax for a split second.
Hope blooms in her eyes.
She understands. She doesn’t know quite what it means, but she trusts me enough to believe it means something.
“I’ll see you soon,” she mouths.
I nod.
She doesn’t look back.
The door opens, and she steps through it.
I exhale through my nose and turn back to Arlind.
He’s watching me with something that might be respect if he were a different man.
“The call,” he says.
I look at the phone in my hand. I bring up Sergei’s contact, hovering my thumb over the screen.
I’m not going to call Sergei; I’m buying time for her to get away.