27. Alik

27

ALIK

I stand outside Olive’s parents’ house, my hands tucked inside my jacket pockets. I told myself I wouldn’t do it, but I find my eyes drifting to the windows anyway, searching for Olive watching me the way she once enjoyed.

Those days are over.

Arthur Solace opens the door dressed in a suit like he’s planning on going into work on a Sunday. Or church, I guess.

Blood drains from his face, and his hand pats his side where his gun would be if it wasn’t eight thirty in the morning on a Sunday.

“Hi,” I say, my lip quirking with just a shred of amusement. Obviously, he knows who I am. I’m not surprised. The red eye is a bit of a conversation starter.

Or did Olive tell him?

My smile falls.

“What are you doing at my house?” he asks, fumbling with thinly veiled panic as his eyes try to search for my hands. I pull them from my pockets and lift them up so he can see I’m unarmed.

“I take it you know who I am?”

He turns his head to quickly look inside before whipping back to me like he’s afraid to take his gaze off me for even a second. His eyes are frantically wide as he goes to slam the door on me, but I catch it with my shoe and push myself inside. He already has his cell phone in his hand, ready to call his friends for backup when I press him against the wall and put a hand to his mouth. He doesn’t make a sound or even move, which makes me think he’s heard great things about me.

When voices drift down a hallway behind me, I turn my head that way.

Or maybe he’s quiet to avoid calling attention to us.

He kicks my shoe to bring me back to him, arching his dimpled chin for me in a challenging gesture. He’s also exposing his neck in the process. It’s like he’s saying, kill me already .

Wow, so brave.

I nod outside then take a step back, removing my hand from his mouth. He straightens his jacket but otherwise doesn’t budge, flicking his eyes to the door in a gesture for me to go first.

Maybe not so brave.

I lead the way outside, Arthur shutting the door behind us.

“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are coming to my home, but?—”

“What do the Irish have on you?”

His jaw hangs open as he looks at his window for the same sight I searched for earlier.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he grumbles, turning back to me.

My expression remains neutral as I stare at him, unflinching. I don’t speak until he starts to visibly sweat.

“Arthur… You’re playing a dangerous game here. Surely by now you know that the Bratva isn’t going to lay down while you beat us into submission. You know who I am. You’ve seen the work I’ve done… Whatever it is you think the Irish have on you isn’t worth risking your family’s lives over.”

He scoffs, turning his head away and tucking his hands in his pockets. “Well… I guess it’s a good thing you’re looking out for my daughter, then.”

My forehead wrinkles.

He knows.

She told him?

“I thought she was dead,” Arthur says, his voice full of emotion. “I almost killed you all myself.” He turns back to me with pure hatred ignited in his eyes. “Cormac told me about you and her. If he hadn’t shown me pictures, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

My eyes narrow to slits.

Cormac showed him…

Finn . He must’ve been following us.

Fucking asshole.

“I’m looking out for her, but I’m just a soldier. Nikita won’t be behind bars forever.”

Arthur laughs dryly. “If I have anything to say about it, yes, he will.”

“No, he won’t because you’re going to be the one to release him.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been blackmailed enough by pieces of shit like you.” He waves a hand dismissively and goes to turn. “I’m not interested in your threats.”

“It isn’t a threat,” I say.

“Oh, what? It’s a promise? Grow up.”

He reaches the door as anger heats my ears. I understood when I showed up here why he would be afraid to see me, of all people, knowing the things I’ve done to his colleagues. I understood he would see us as enemies. I knew it would take time for him to wrap his head around the fact that we want the same things, that I may be Bratva but that I’ve turned my back on my own family to protect his daughter. I came here with patience, but my patience thins.

We’re on the same god damn side.

“ I love her .”

He pauses with his hand on the doorknob, his back stiff.

I step toward him while he stays facing the door.

“I will do anything it takes to keep her safe, but I can’t do that if you’re constantly sabotaging her life behind my back. The Bratva wants her dead because of your actions. Only your actions can fix that. I will go to Nikita today and tell him his arrest had nothing to do with you, but if we agree to lift the hit off your daughter, you will dump the bullshit evidence we both know you planted. You’ll slowly remove the agents you have infiltrating our organization and shift your focus elsewhere. We’ll go back to coexisting like we did before.”

Arthur turns to face me, appearing years older with his sunken, defeated face. He drags his hand over his neatly groomed beard and closes his eyes. “If only it were that simple.”

It never is.

“Why isn’t it?”

He shakes his head.

I already know. All this bullshit with the DEA, all this cleaning up the streets nonsense and wasted lives weren’t Arthur’s doing. They were the Irish’s. Cormac’s . It was just a ploy to tear us apart, drive our organization into the ground until we no longer saw our leadership as worthy.

I almost laugh. I always knew there would be an assassination attempt on Nikita one day. I just didn’t know it would be so well executed.

“Do they have something on you , or do they have something on Olive?” I ask, but I know the answer to that too.

When he doesn’t answer, I sigh. “Do they know she killed her ex-boyfriend?”

His eyes widen as he finally looks at me. The question is apparent in his eyes. She told you?

He takes his time answering, and I let him. I don’t have any more guesses to prompt him.

Finally, his Adam’s apple bobs, and he nods. “They have a video.”

A video.

Ouch.

That’s a slam dunk for the Irish. Lights out for Olive. And Arthur, for that matter.

“I just want to protect my family,” Arthur says, his voice cracking. He rubs his face when his eyes water. “Olive is a danger to society, I know that. But if this gets out, it isn’t just her life that’s destroyed. You don’t know what this has done to my wife. I couldn’t even tell her that her own daughter was in the hospital without worrying she’d be stuck in bed for days. If Olive went to prison…” He shakes his head. “It’d kill her.”

I frown, but I don’t quite feel sympathy. Perhaps it would be challenging having a murderous child. Perhaps that’s why my mother left me; maybe she could tell what was inside.

I don’t know. I don’t really care.

Olive isn’t an animal to be caged. She isn’t a menace to be kept from society.

She’s perfect. It’s too bad Arthur can’t see it.

“Your family will be fine,” I reply. “Work on getting Nikita out. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“But the video…”

I backstep off the porch. “I’m on my way to handle it now.” Spinning, I head to my car, forcing myself not to look back at the window. She wouldn’t be there anyway. I’m not sure what would hurt worse, seeing the face I want so much or coming up empty on my search.

I get in my car and dial Finn.

Finn is the first to appear, coming down the ladder to the tunnel. He sports a smug smirk as his eyes meet mine, and my lip twitches, desperate to curl. I force my expression to stay neutral, not giving him the satisfaction he’s after.

“Hello, friend,” Finn sings while his boss climbs down the ladder.

When Cormac sees it’s just me, he glares. “All right, what the hell do you want?”

I say nothing, just point my stare at him.

His arms cross over his chest as his nostrils flare, and I think we both wait to see if he’ll deny the accusation before it’s even out. But no. After a few seconds, he sweeps his arms at his sides and grunts.

“Okay, fine. You figured it out. Good for you, kid.” He motions for Finn who smiles at me before taking out his gun. As if killing me could ever be that simple.

“You’ve done a great job of weakening our loyalty, Cormac, but can you imagine what would happen if the Bratva found out you were a snitch? Can you imagine how close it will bring us when we realize we have one common enemy, and that enemy is you?”

I turn my eyes to Finn whose gun is aimed at my head. So much for friends. “Do I really need to tell you that if you kill me, that’s exactly what will happen?”

“Who did you tell?” Cormac asks through gritted teeth.

I reach into my jacket to pull the disk full of all the information I gathered last night before I even knew what Cormac had on Arthur. Call records, mostly. A few pictures that, I’ll be honest, I doctored. Enough .

I fling it at his feet, sending dust billowing up his gray slacks. He looks down with his jaw clenched.

“There are ten copies of that laying around the warehouse. One on Nikita’s desk. Several in my apartment. And then a few places you won’t think to look. If I leave soon, I can gather them before anybody gets curious enough to find a computer. Eventually, somebody will stumble across it and figure out the same thing I have.”

I’d like to think I’m smart enough to have come up with that all by myself, but I did have Crazy Olive on my mind as I was leaving behind my trail of treasures. Thanks, Crazy Olive.

“Do you think I’m afraid of the Bratva?” Cormac laughs as he stalks my way. “I’d like nothing more than to slit every one of your throats myself.”

I shrug. “We’re going to slit a whole lot of your men’s first.”

He steps close enough that our foreheads are nearly touching. “Do it. We’ll be ready.”

Finn clears his throat. “Ahem, gentlemen. Sorry to interrupt, but may I remind you both that Alik is not here on the Bratva’s behalf but on the behalf of Miss Solace.” Finn leans so he can see me around Cormac’s large form. “Or am I wrong?”

I just glare at Finn. He isn’t wrong, I’m just tired of his smug face.

“And,” he raises his hands, “correct me if I’m wrong again, please, but if they were to know that you were here on behalf of the girl you were ordered to kill but instead have been hiding from them, they would…” He looks at Cormac and lifts his shoulders, although Cormac doesn’t even turn. “Well, if it were me, I believe I’d be executed… Is that safe to say, boss?”

“Yes,” Cormac deadpans.

Finn hums. “I thought so.”

My hands are clenched into tight fists, but I force them to open while I step back from Cormac.

This is like Arthur.

In a way, we want the same thing… In a way.

“My goal isn’t for the Bratva to find out about your arrangement with the special agent. I don’t want a war. I want peace .”

Cormac glares. “You want your girl off your hit list, and you want to save your own ass.”

I nod. “That too.”

He huffs and turns on his heel, wandering a few steps while tucking his hands in his pockets. He stares at the wall while he thinks for a full minute. Eventually, his chest lifts with a breath before he lets it out on a deep sigh.

“That leader of yours will be the death of you all. I hope you know that.”

I don’t respond.

He’s right. It’s inevitable that Nikita will run us into the ground with his tyranny. Too many of us die at his hands, too much of it depends on his moods. He’s a ruthless, cruel dictator.

It’s unfortunate that the alternative, Vitaly, is worse. Was worse. He’s no longer an option.

“I want the tape of Olive delivered to my apartment by the end of the day. All copies.”

Cormac’s jaw is clenched, but he nods. Without another word, he heads for the ladder. Finn looks after him, but I can see the excitement flashing on his face as his feet move toward me even as he watches his boss. He just can’t help but gloat.

When he turns to me, he grins. “You don’t know how badly I wanted to tell you. I’m the one who found the tape.” He chuckles but keeps it quiet. As if Cormac doesn’t know what Finn’s doing. “I had to search her gangbanger ex’s place for our supply when he died. I found a camera set up in the bedroom, and I thought for sure it was just a sex tape, but…” He shakes his head. “He’s fucking your girl, right? And then, in the middle of it, she climbs on top and starts talking about herself in third person and about how he’s wronged her. When he pushes her off, he starts railing on her, and I think he’s gonna knock the bitch out, but she pulls a knife from beneath a pillow and?—”

“I get it.”

“It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen.” He laughs.

“Finn!” Cormac calls.

Finn slaps my arm and winks. “Good luck, friend.” He skips off and scales the ladder, leaving me alone.

I close my eyes and let out a breath. Two problems down. One to go. If all goes well…

Nikita should be out by tonight.