“This way,” he says, shepherding me forward. “And no funny business, got it?”
He adjusts his shirt, making sure I catch a glimpse of the gun in the waistband of his pants. I’m so used to being threatened at this point that it doesn’t really register.
“Yeah, yeah. Lead the way, cowboy.”
We set off trudging in the direction of the building. But as we approach, Demyan suddenly grabs my arm and pulls me around the back.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“We’re taking the back entrance in.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s Aleks’s side.”
“Sides? I thought this was a neutral meeting place.”
He chuckles again. “This world is going to be very cruel to you if you insist on being so damn naïve.”
I puff a stray lock of hair out of my face. “Excuse me for thinking we can all be rational adults about this.”
“The rules are different here, princess,” he says. “You need to learn that if you plan to survive it.”
“I don’t plan on staying in this world for long.”
There is something akin to pity in his expression, if a man like him is even capable of such an emotion. He sighs. “Like I said: cruel awakening in your future.”
I can’t ask him to explain because we walk through the back door just then and I catch a glimpse of Aleks’s back. Jesus, the man has broad shoulders. Like Superman, if Superman abandoned all sense of morality and decided to start wearing Brioni suits.
Then Aleks moves to the side and I see my brother.
“Rob!”
He looks tired. Dark circles burn around his eyes and he’s lost weight since I last saw him.
I move forward, ready to run to him, but Demyan grabs my arms to hold me back. “What did I tell you?” he growls in my ear. “No funny business.”
I stand there, wedged between Demyan and Aleks, but my eyes stay fixed on my brother. I’m hoping he’ll see that I haven’t been hurt. That I’m okay.
All I want is the same assurance from him.
“Rob,” I gasp desperately. “Are Mom and Mia okay?”
He doesn’t budge from where he’s standing, but he looks me over for damage. Then he nods. “They’re fine. Both being looked after.”
Relief floods through me. “Oh, thank God.”
“But they’re worried about you,” he adds. “We all are.”
I glance towards Aleks, realizing that I’m up. Next on the docket. I have to make good on my part of the bargain.
“Rob,” I begin, “he’ll let me go. He’ll let me leave with you if you just drop the investigation.”
“The case is dropped,” he says. “You can release her to me, Makarova.”
Aleks hasn’t said a word since I got here, and now, I’m scared of what’s going to come out of his mouth. From the calculating glint in his eye, I already know it can’t be good.
“You keep saying that, Agent Lawrence,” he sighs. “You keep saying you dropped the investigation, that I have nothing left to be concerned about. Just like you insist you came alone.”
“Because I did drop it. And I did come alone,” he says.
But I don’t miss the way his eyes go wide. It’s slight, but it’s there. And a strange feeling spreads through my chest, like a cold breeze only I can feel.
Aleks exchanges a glance with Demyan and then shakes his head. “Then why are there ten unmarked FBI vans in a quarter-mile radius? Why have they formed a circle around us? Why are you using private government radio channels to communicate with them?”
I turn white as a ghost. “Rob, you… you brought backup?”
I can see the truth on his face: he’s not here alone like I thought he was. Like he swore he would be.
In this, at least, it seems Aleks was right. My valiant defense of my brother has proved to be hollow.
He takes an uncertain half-step forward, hand stretched out to me in silent apology. “I’m sorry, Liv,” he says sincerely. “But I couldn’t risk coming here alone. This man… he’s dangerous. More than you know.”
“Compliments aren’t going to help you now, Robert,” Aleks remarks. “We had a bargain and you broke it. I told you when you last left that the only way you’d get your sister back is by ending the investigation and following my instructions. You chose to ignore me. There are consequences for that.”
“This is a whole lot bigger than my sister, Makarova,” he barks. “There are more lives at stake.”
I blink at him, not fully understanding. Or maybe just not wanting to understand. “Rob, what do you mean?”
Rob looks over, his eyes pleading for me to understand. “He has taken multiple women, Liv. I don’t know what he does with them. But they disappear without a fucking trace.”
Frowning, I glance at Aleks to see how this accusation is sitting with him.
He looks almost bored.
“You’re starting to imagine things now, Robert. Delusions aren’t very becoming of a federal agent.”
Rob shakes his head. “It’s not my imagination,” he insists. “I have evidence placing at least three different women who are now missing persons in and around your properties. They all have ties to your people.”
Aleks narrows his eyes. I feel Demyan stiffen behind me. I have no idea how to read their body language. It could be denial or anger. But it could just as easily be read as acknowledgement.
That probably shouldn’t shock me, but it does.
Because somehow, I’ve allowed myself to be convinced over the course of the last few days that Aleks couldn’t possibly be guilty of doing what Rob thinks he’s done.
Ironic, I know, considering he abducted me.
Am I really so weak that my opinions can be so easily changed? That my perspective can be so easily manipulated?
Maybe it’s true what Demyan said earlier—that confidence makes it more difficult to be manipulated. Which would explain why it’s taken no effort at all for Aleks to mold me to his liking.
All it took was a little bit of attention, and I found myself making excuses for him. Bending over backwards, both literally and figuratively.
“Is that true?” I ask, turning to Aleks.
He doesn’t even look at me. Instead, he keeps his gaze fixed on my brother. “You have evidence?”
“I do.”
“In what form?”
Rob narrows his eyes. “What does that matter?”
“It matters because whatever evidence you’ve been given is a fucking lie,” Aleks snarls. “It’s planted. I’m being framed.”
“And who would want to do that?” Rob scoffs.
Aleks throws Rob an incredulous look. “Do you know who I am? I have a lot of enemies. Many of whom fight like cowards.”
I study Aleks’s features, trying to determine how much of this is just an elaborate ruse and how much is true. He looks sincere. But then again, I’m sure he’s a brilliant liar when he needs to be.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t expect anything from you,” Aleks says. “Especially not after today.”
“My sister’s done nothing—”