“Alone? That’s foolish, brother.”
He shakes his head. “Not now, Aleks.”
I nod. I won’t lecture him now. Something is wrong.
“Did you find him?”
“I did.” He doesn’t have to tell me how or why. I can tell by his grim expression that he found nothing good. I wait.
He sighs. “He was hanging from a beam in the basement,” he says. “Left a note. Hung himself.”
“Motherfucker.” I close my eyes while I absorb this. He took his own goddamned life.
“You tell Tomas yet?”
Yakov shakes his head. “No. That’s why I came to get you. Thought we could go together.”
“Of course.”
“I don’t suspect Tomas will care much,” he says. “He said he wasn’t going to induct him.”
“Right,” I say, pulling on a t-shirt. “Which is probably why Erik killed himself.”
“Yeah.”
I look over to Marissa. She’s paled, the sheets pulled up to her chin as she watches us in silence. She’s heard it all but doesn’t react.
“I have to go with him,” I tell her. “You are not to leave this room.”
She holds my gaze for a moment before she nods. “Yes, sir.”
I walk over to her and sit on the edge of the bed. Gently, I hold her face with both hands and capture her gaze. I can’t speak freely for Yakov to hear, but I can show her what I need to say. I lean down and brush my lips against hers before I hold her to my chest. I release her with reluctance and get to my feet, then nod to Yakov.
“Let’s go.”
The meeting with Tomas is brief. He doesn’t even flinch when we tell him but nods, then picks up his phone and orders the body disposed of in rapid Russian. Before we leave, he calls out to us, though he’s already focused back on the computer in front of him, typing away and trying to finish some bookkeeping.
“Visitors tonight,” he says. “Bring your women to dinner. Well done with the interrogation.” He gives us a small smile.
Fuck. I nod, and leave with Yakov.
“You don’t want to bring her,” Yakov says when we’ve gone a few paces down the hall.
“Fuck no. Do you?”
He smiles. “Well, yes.”
I look at him incredulously. “Really? Why?”
He rubs his chin while he walks. “Because she’s beautiful and mine, and there’s no better way to make that clear than in front of the other brothers.”
“Understood.”
“And why don’t you want your woman to come?” he asks curiously.
“Because I don’t want them to even look at her. If someone touches her, I’d have to kill them, and that wouldn’t be the best way to solidify my new induction into this brotherhood.”
He laughs out loud and punches my shoulder. “True.”
God, it feels good to have the companionship of a brother again. I hated that Myron forced me out of my father’s Bratva group. Hated it. I had long-term friends I’ve known for years, men I’d give my life for. Men who now think I’m dead. A sister. And Yakov, though brutal and fierce, is a good man.
But I can’t stay in this brotherhood. I will find a way to get her out of here.
Then what? Will we run and hide for the rest of our lives?
When we reach the door, we freeze. The sound on the other side is so foreign, it takes me a minute to realize what it is.
Marissa isn’t alone. She’s giggling.
I give Yakov a curious look and open the door. Marissa and Yvonne sit on her bed, and both girls look up at us with wide, curious eyes, like they’ve done something wrong and they’re wondering if they’re in trouble.
“They look guilty to me,” I say to Yakov, my voice teasing but stern. “Don’t you think?”
He crosses his arms on his chest and fixes them both with a serious look. “Very. Did you girls misbehave?”
“No,” Marissa says, shaking her head. Her hands are in Yvonne’s hair, and she’s halfway through braiding it. “We just… well, we weren’t totally sure we were allowed to come into each other’s rooms, but you didn’t say we couldn’t…”
She bites her lip and her voice trails off.
“We didn’t give them permission, did we, Yakov?” I keep my face impassive, though truthfully I find them adorable.
“We did not.” Yakov crooks a finger at Yvonne. “Come here.”
Marissa releases Yvonne’s hair, and it tumbles down around her shoulders in waves. She’s more timid than Marissa, smaller. When she reaches him, he grips her arm and leads her to the bathroom. He looks over his shoulder at me. “See me before dinner tonight?”
I nod, then the two of them are gone.
I turn to face Marissa. “Do you think I would want you taking any risks?”
Her eyes go wide. “No, sir.”
I shake my head. “I told you what would happen if you disobeyed me. I told you I would punish you.”
She swallows and her eyes widen, but her cheeks are a pretty pink.