20. Chapter 20

20

Leonid

S ix lanes of traffic, and somehow these sukas still find us. The black SUV edges closer, inch by fucking inch, until—

“ Blyat ,” the word slips out before I can stop it.

Clara’s head snaps up. “What?”

But she sees it too—my own face staring back at us through the tinted window. Ludis’s lips curl into that familiar grin, the one that always meant blood was about to spill.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Clara mutters.

The SUV edges closer. Ludis rolls down his window, silver Desert Eagle glinting in the sunlight. “Miss me, brat ?”

“Maksim.” One word. He knows what it means.

“On it, boss.”

Clara’s nails dig into my thigh as Maksim cuts across three lanes. Horns blare. Brakes screech. A semi swerves, its horn blasting like an air-raid siren.

“Pull over!” Ludis’s voice carries over the chaos. “Or I’ll make sure your pretty little suka gets a bullet first!”

I feel Clara’s whole body go rigid. “ Pretty little — Oh, I’m going to enjoy shooting him.”

“Not if I shoot him first.”

“You had your chance.” She twists in her seat, eyes locked on the side mirror. “When were you planning to mention the evil twin?”

A bullet pings off the door. Clara doesn’t flinch.

“Busy day.” I grab her shoulder as Maksim swerves again. “Shopping. Car chase. Family drama.”

“Cute.” She shoves my hand off. “Your brother’s a better shot than you.”

Another bullet hits the window. The bulletproof glass holds, but spiderwebs crack across it.

“Takes practice,” I tell her. “Shooting your own reflection.”

She laughs. “Poor baby. Must be hard, having an evil twin trying to kill you.” She pauses. “Though looking at your face, I get the urge.”

“Poshol na khuy!” Maksim curses. Red and blue lights flash behind us. Perfect. Now we have cops to deal with.

“Options?” Clara asks, all business now.

“Working on it.”

“Work faster.” She points ahead. “They’re setting up a roadblock.”

Sure enough, police cars stretch across the highway like a metal wall. Ludis’s SUV pulls even with us again, boxing us in.

“Maksim…”

“I see it, boss.” His knuckles are white on the wheel. “Hold on to something.”

Clara’s hand finds my arm. I pretend not to notice.

Maksim hits the gas. The engine roars. We’re doing ninety, ninety-five, the speedometer climbing as Ludis’s laughter echoes across the gap between cars.

“Last chance, brother!”

“Maksim, now!”

Everything happens at once. Maksim cranks the wheel hard left. Metal screams against metal as we clip Ludis’s SUV. The impact sends them spinning.

Right into the path of an eighteen-wheeler.

The crash is spectacular. But we’re already gone, Maksim reaching the exit ramp at speeds that would kill us in any other car.

“Holy shit,” Clara breathes. Her fingers are still digging into my arm. “Is he—?”

“Not dead.” I catch one last glimpse of the wreckage in the mirror. “Takes more than that to kill a Kuznetsov.”

“Noted.” She finally lets go of my arm.

The smoke from the crash clears just enough for me to see Ludis kick out the crumpled door of his SUV. He drags one of his men out of a black Audi that stopped in the chaos, tossing the driver aside like garbage.

“ Blyat .” I watch him slide behind the wheel. “Stubborn suka .”

“What?” Clara twists in her seat, then curses. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The Audi’s engine revs—that distinct sound that means Ludis just floored it.

Maksim takes the exit at ninety, tires screaming against asphalt. The sirens fade behind us—all except one persistent helicopter still circling overhead.

“Next tunnel’s half a mile,” Maksim calls back, still gripping the steering wheel like a lifeline. “Better make it count.”

Clara’s hand shoots out, grabbing my Glock from its holster before I can stop her. The metal looks wrong against her manicured fingers—until she checks the magazine with practiced ease.

“You’re going to shoot me?” I should probably take the gun back. I don’t.

She ejects the magazine, counts bullets. “If you survive this? I’m putting one right between your eyes.” Her fingers slide the magazine back in with a click. “But first, we deal with your psychotic twin.”

“So thoughtful of you to wait.”

“Shut up and give me your spare clip.” She holds out her hand without looking at me. “Do I have to do everything myself?”

The helicopter spotlight sweeps across us. Clara leans forward, squinting through the windshield. “Maksim, when we hit the tunnel, cut the lights. Hard right into the maintenance bay.”

Maksim’s eyes meet mine in the mirror. I nod once.

“How do you—?” I start.

“Because, unlike some people, I actually do my homework.” She checks the spare clip I handed her. “Three maintenance bays in that tunnel. First one’s twenty yards in. Your brother’s men will expect us to take the second or third.”

A bullet pings off the trunk. Clara doesn’t flinch.

“If we live,” I tell her, “we’re discussing how you know the tunnel layout.”

“If we live, you’re explaining why you never mentioned having an evil twin.” She shifts in her seat, angling toward the rear window. “Though the whole ‘trying to kill you’ thing tracks. You’re not exactly lovable.”

The tunnel mouth looms ahead. Maksim kills the lights. Darkness swallows us whole.

Three seconds of pitch black. Four. Five.

Maksim cranks the wheel. Inertia slams me against the door. Clara’s shoulder digs into my ribs as she steadies the gun.

Light explodes behind us—headlights from Ludis’s convoy hitting the tunnel. Clara’s finger tightens on the trigger.

“Wait,” I mutter.

The first SUV roars past our hiding spot. Then, the second.

Clara exhales. Squeezes.

The third SUV’s back tire explodes. It fishtails, taking out the fourth car. Metal screams against concrete. The tunnel fills with smoke and chaos.

“ Blyat .” I can’t keep the appreciation out of my voice.

“Your Russian sounds better when you’re impressed.” She drops the gun in my lap, barrel still warm. “Now, get us out of here before your brother figures out where we are. I have a kid to get back to.”

“You just shot up half a million dollars’ worth of cars.”

“Bill me.” She slumps back in her seat. “Though technically, I just saved your life. So maybe we call it even?”

I shouldn’t find this attractive. This woman has tried to kill me. She’s probably planning attempt number two right now.

But watching her handle that gun… There’s something wild in her, and fuck me, I like it.

“Mitch and Elijah,” she says suddenly. “That’s the only reason I didn’t put that bullet in your skull instead.” She gives me a sexy side glance. “Remember that.”

I catch her wrist before she can pull away. “I don’t expect anything less from you, malishka .”

Blyat . The way she threatens to kill me shouldn’t make my cock this hard.