27. Maksim

27

MAKSIM

" Y ou're driving too fast. We could pass her and not know it," Anthony says, gazing out the passenger window at the pedestrians on the sidewalk.

My foot feels heavy as a brick on the gas pedal, but I ease up, knowing he's right. It feels hopeless. I'm not even sure which her he's referring to, but if either Anya or Elira were stupid enough to walk along the sidewalk when they believed a hitman was coming to get them, I might kill them myself.

Still, my search shows just how reckless they both are. Anger tightens my grip on the steering wheel, bulges the vein in my neck. The lump on the back of my head feels hot and swollen.

Fear came and went hours ago. About two hours after I came to, Alik confirmed that the hit was put on Elira's family. He was able to find a contact in Albania who went to Elira's childhood home to find it torn apart, as if someone was either looking for something or putting up a struggle. My whole body had frozen listening to that piece of news, and I held my breath for the next half hour until he called to tell me the family was found hiding in a nearby root cellar.

The hit was on them. I am… I have so much making up to do. But with them safe, my anger at both Elira and Anya is barely contained.

They fucking ran. Both of them, like stubborn sheep desperate to be eaten by wolves. Bailey said she went outside while Anya claimed to be right behind her, but Anya must've slipped away because she was gone before I woke up and could warn her of danger. It doesn't get her off the hook. Her free reign with piece of shit men ends today.

And Elira…

I have men at the airport. The bus station. Men speeding up and down the highways searching for my car and staking out every hotel in the city.

She has no ID. No passport. No means of leaving the country. Her fucking phone isn't even on. If she would've just stayed with me, we could be finding Anya together and on a private plane to meet her family tonight.

Stubborn, stubborn fucking sheep.

Or she hates me so much she'd rather die than be near me.

Pushing away that thought, I look at the people on the sidewalk even though I don't expect to see either of them there. Anya's phone is off, and no one even remotely connected to Tanner knows where he is, so they obviously don't want to be found.

My phone rings, and I snatch it from my cupholder. No part of me thinks it will be Elira or Anya, but my heart quickens anyway.

"Yes?"

"Still looking for the hitman's ID," Alik tells me. "Shouldn't be much longer. I'm tracking the financials to an organization. Doesn't look freelance."

My teeth grit as I turn a corner. I'm running out of places to drive.

What if she isn't in Vegas?

Where else would she go?

"You called to tell me no news? Why are you not getting all this out of the wife?"

"Lev went to Bakersfield, but she wasn't home. She's at her mother's home in New York, according to a neighbor. The Koslov Bratva is looking for her for us."

"I told you to find her," I growl, although I don't know why I care. I'm just angry. Especially at Alik for being right and knowing it.

"In the middle of the day? I'm more memorable than Lev, boss. Easier to pick out of a lineup. But uh, sorry. Did you want me to go to New York myself, or do you want me to track the payment? I can't do that on my phone."

"Just shut the fuck up, Alik." I lean forward to look down an alleyway when I see someone, but it isn't Elira.

He starts to say something else, but I hang up, my heart hammering as I slow the car to a crawl and look around.

Anya will turn up. She always does.

But Elira…

I may have lost her.

"You all right?" Anthony asks.

I don't answer. Don't know how. It's been too many hours without any sign of her. She could be long gone by now.

And if she is… What am I going to do about it?

Nothing.

She isn't in danger. The hitman is in Albania, and he'll be taken care of soon enough. The wife is in New York. The organization is paid off. She's … free.

I pull over to the side of the road, my face hard even while my insides turn. After putting the car in park, I just stare out the windshield, unable to look Anthony in the eye. "I think it's time to call off the search."

It's quiet for a full minute while he waits for me to change my mind. But I won't.

I meant it when I said that I loved her. That she wasn't my prisoner.

But… But what?

Anthony makes the call to send his own men home, and I shoot Hugh a text to do the same. I'll keep looking for Anya, all night if I have to. But I'd rather do it by myself.

"I'm sorry, man," he says, letting that hang in the air for too long. "Just give her some time. She'll be back."

What he's saying could apply to either Anya or Elira, but I don't have to guess who he's talking about.

I shake my head. "I wouldn't come back. Would you?"

"No. Fuck no. But she loves you, so… Love will do shit to you, you know?"

I laugh dryly. "She doesn't love me."

"She said that she loved you."

My eyes narrow as I turn to look at him.

He gives me a nervous, lopsided grin. "You're about to be really pissed at me."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He rubs the back of his neck and sucks in a breath through his teeth. "So, Bailey didn't really go back outside. She and Anya heard you and Freaky-eye and went to spy on your conversation through the window. You know how Bailey is."

I just stare at him.

"Anyway, after Elira knocked you over the head, I guess she, like, kissed you and told you she loved you. Either fucked-up or cute, I'm not sure which."

My face doesn't crinkle, doesn't soften. As far as I'm aware, I show no signs of being affected by what he just said.

But inside…

This changes everything.

I clear my throat. "So Anya…"

He flinches. "Heard everything… Sorry."

A sigh blows out my mouth while I close my eyes and lay my head back.

Well, that better explains why she's hiding.

"Just wait for them to turn their phones back on. They will at some point."

I huff and don't open my eyes. They're both clever enough to figure out that's how I can track them. Phones are a convenient means of tracking someone but too obvious and have their limitations.

Alik standing in Hugh's backyard comes into my mind.

My eyes shoot open.

He wasn't tracking me by my phone.

He was tracking me by my car.

I hurry to put the car in drive then peel back onto the road.

"Woah." Anthony grabs the center console. "Did you think of a place they might be?"

"No." I step on it to get through a yellow light, Alik's apartment my destination. "But I know how to find Elira."

My fist pounds on the chipped door to Alik's apartment, startling the woman across from him trying to get into her own. "Open the fucking door!"

The woman fumbles with her key in her lock while I ignore her gasp, and a few moments later, her door opens and shuts. I can feel her watching me through the peephole.

How does a Bratva enforcer manage to live in a shitty apartment building on the Westside? Does the kid need a fucking raise?

The door swings open, revealing an expressionless Alik, neither surprised nor bothered by my presence. "Hello."

I shove past him into a living room with old, brown carpet that might've been white once and catch sight of the tiny, depressing kitchen table with one chair. There are three holes in the walls beside the front door that I linger on for a half second before snapping to him as he waves my way.

"Please, come in," he deadpans, shutting the door.

I grab him by his shirt and throw him up against the wall, caving the drywall in farther where one of the holes is. "I should fucking kill you."

His jaw clenches, but he merely raises his chin. "For?"

"You let me unleash a search party on Elira when you knew how to find her this whole goddamn time."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I would never go against a lieutenant's orders. You think I would stop your search?"

"Shut up!" I lift him before slamming him back into the wall, making his nostrils flare. "You know she has my car. Have you known where she was this entire time? You little shit."

"No," he says through his teeth. "If I knew where your whore was, I would tell you."

My grip on his shirt tightens. " Don't call her that."

"Just trying to be consistent, sir . That's what you've been calling her."

The smug look that crosses his normally expressionless features pushes me over the edge, and I rear my fist back before landing a blow to his jaw.

His head whips to the side, and there's a split second of shock before anger starts to emanate from him. I remember this. This lack of control, always answering to someone else, taking someone's shit. It's how you pay your dues. Alik will never move past a smug soldier.

I pull him away from the wall to shove him in the direction of the computer desk occupying a corner of his living room. Three monitors all play the same colorful display of ribbons forming as the computer sleeps.

"Find her. Now."

He saunters that way, his shoulders straight even as he mouths off. "How exactly am I supposed to do that?"

" Do not play stupid with me," I bark, stomping to the computer with him. "Just do it."

He sits down at the computer and jiggles the mouse to wake it up. A spreadsheet of numbers appears, and he minimizes the page.

"You know, I liked you for a minute there," he says. "You had me convinced you had more character than … others."

Others. As in Nikita.

"Yeah? You had me convinced you weren't a conniving cunt."

He brings up a program then types in his credentials. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"This entire time Nikita has been punishing me, I figured he had some rat following my every move, watching to check up on my loyalty. That was you, Alik. For months, you've been tracking me and running to Daddy every time you find something you deem interesting. I've been loyal to the Bratva my entire adult life. Go fuck yourself." I shake away the betrayal. "Just find the car."

"But you're not loyal to the Pakhan."

My spine stiffens as I glare at Alik's head. He stops typing to turn to me, his expression serious.

"I'm not sure what it is you want me to do, Mr. Sokolov."

"Find the car."

"I am not Nikita's pet," he says as if he can read my mind. "I am no one's pet. I follow orders. His, yours, Roman's… You think you're the only one being watched? Everyone is being watched. I found the same bug on my car that I put on yours, Roman's, and every other lieutenant's. It isn't personal. It's Petrov paranoia."

Petrov paranoia.

I can see Nikita doing this, and hearing Alik say it calms the anger I've had for him.

He's right. I'm not loyal to Nikita. I try. I try to follow his orders, respect his wishes, but… Leadership like Nikita's isn't sustainable. We've already been to war. One day, the Petrov Bratva will fall. Nikita's paranoia isn't paranoia, it's intuition.

After a few seconds, I look away, Alik's intense gaze unsettling.

"Are you loyal to the Pakhan, Alik?"

He takes his time responding, as he should. I asked him a dangerous question.

"When Nikita gave you that girl, he had me follow you. I know you took her to the desert, and I know what you planned to do. I wasn't close enough to see, but I know something happened there, and I know you wound up pawning his gift to you off on Hugh. I know a lot of things."

"What's your point?"

"I reported none of this. I've never reported anything that would result in me being given the order to put a bullet in your head, and do you know why?"

I stare at him and wait for him to continue.

"Because I'm stingy with my loyalty, and I've respected you since the day I joined the brotherhood. Does that answer your question, dickhead?"

Silence.

It's possible I've been an asshole.

My jaw ticcing, I nod. When my eyes get the urge to wander, I find the computer screen. Guilt is an uncomfortable thing.

A red dot flashes on the screen, and I lean in to take a look.

"Looks like she's just outside of Vegas," Alik says. "Your car stopped fifteen minutes ago."

"Where the hell is that?" I squint at the area surrounding the dot.

"Residential area, it appears."

Whose house would Elira have gone to?

"Here." Alik grabs a pen and scribbles the address on a scrap of paper before handing it to me.

I glance at the paper before tucking it in my pocket. "Thanks," I mutter and start toward the door but stop when I remember I drove here in Anthony's car. I need to do this alone.

"One last thing," I spin to face him. "I need to borrow your car."

He's already standing as he reaches into his pocket, pulls out his keys, and tosses them to me before heading for the door. "Good. You drive."

"What?" My face pinches.

He looks at me like he's the one who should be confused. "You could need backup."

"The hitman is in Albania."

"Sure, but?—"

"Alik, you're not coming with me," I interrupt, suddenly anxious to get out of here. "Watch the monitor and tell me if she moves. I'll bring your car back in one piece. I promise."

Alik doesn't say another word as I leave, my anxiousness growing with every step.

I don't know what I'm going to say to Elira. All I know is I need to convince her to stay.