Immaculate Corruption: A Russian Mafia Romance by Nicole Fox

Author:Nicole Fox [Fox, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-21T16:00:00+00:00

25

Arya

As soon as we get to the new hotel, Ernestine wants to be in a room alone with June. The rest of us—Gennady, Dima, and myself—get a different room.

I’m proud of June for doing so good on her own. We left her alone with strict instructions while we went to investigate the tracker beacon. But they both break out in tears when they’re reunited.

I think Ernestine is badly rattled by everything that’s happened. If anyone can understand that feeling, it’s me.

“Fuck the Trials!” I say as soon as we shut the door. “I don’t give a damn about the Bratva or any of it. We need to find Lukas. That’s the priority.”

“Obviously that’s the priority, Arya,” Dima snaps. “Lukas has always been the priority.”

“Not always,” I mutter. “Not for you.”

The look on Dima’s face is murderous, but he doesn’t say whatever he’s thinking.

He’s been doing that a lot lately—staying quiet. He doesn’t seem to know what to say to me or to anyone. And that breaks my heart in a whole new way.

I sigh and drop down on the bed, slowly unwrapping the bandage around my arm. The blood has only soaked through half of the layers, which is a good sign. It should heal up on its own without stitches.

“I’m just saying, we need to focus on finding out where Ilyasov is and getting Lukas back. We can’t be worried about the Trials right now.”

“They are one and the same. If I win, then—”

“Then your brother still has our son and absolutely no reason to give him back,” I finish. “Lukas is blackmail. A final chip Ilyasov plans to play in case all else fails. We need him back with us now.”

Dima’s jaw shifts back and forth, his teeth grating together. “You’re not wrong, but I still think it will pay to play his game at least a little bit. If I disregard everything—”

“We’ve been unknowingly playing his game for weeks! How many men did you kill on his call? How much time did we waste helping him take over your Bratva?”

“If I disregard everything,” Dima continues as though I never interrupted, “Ilyasov may think I don’t plan to follow protocol, and he may pull the Lukas card way earlier than he would have otherwise. We don’t want that. We want Lukas to be safe.”

The Lukas card. As if my baby is nothing more than a pawn in this sick game.

This is what I wanted to avoid. This is what I wanted to escape from.

“We don’t even know if he’s safe now,” I say. “He could already be—”

Dima stands up, head shaking violently. “Shut up!”

I freeze at Dima’s outburst.

“Just… don’t,” he says, softening. “Don’t. Lukas is fine. My brother is a lot of things, but he isn’t—”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “A murderer? I beg to differ. A liar? Again, he has a track record. We can’t trust a single thing he says. If he tells us he has Lukas with him, we should assume the exact opposite.

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