Page 79 of Skin Deep

I looked back at Pax who gave a single nod.

“Then we’ll come,” I said.

The guest bedroom door opened and Scarlet poked her head out. “Daddy?”

“Go back in your room,” Pax said, pointing at her.

She frowned and started to come out into the hall. “What’s going on?”

“I said go back in your room!” Pax’s voice boomed loud enough that even I flinched.

Her eyes widened. She glanced around quickly before running back into the room and slamming the door shut.

“Come on,” Aleksi said. “Let’s go.”

“Please, Aleksi!” Tatty’s pleading became more desperate. She grabbed my cousin’s arm, tears threatening. “He’s my son. My only son…”

I pulled on a T-shirt that Pax tossed to me and put my hand on my mother’s shoulder. She immediately turned and threw her arms around me, sobbing into my shoulder. “It will be all right,mamolychka,” I told her. “Look after the girls. Take them to Liar’s Corner. Be strong for them.”

She nodded and squeezed me tight.

“Come on. No tears.” Aleksi put his hand on Tatty’s shoulder to pry her off of me.

She spun and slapped him so hard the sound echoed. His head jerked to the side, blood dripping from his split lip. Several of the men at Aleksi’s back reached for their weapons until Aleksi held up a hand.

I pushed through the door before things could get even more out of hand, pulling Pax along behind me. “Let’s go,” I said, leveling a hard look at Aleksi as he dabbed at the blood on his bottom lip.

ThedayIgavethe Bloods of Columbus my oath and picked up a gun for them was the day I accepted I’d die a violent death. That had been over a decade ago, and I thought I’d left that life behind. Even back then, though, I never thought it’d be a Russian mobster pulling the trigger.

War’s cousin, Aleksi, herded us into a black van surrounded by armed mobsters. They bound our hands tightly with plastic zip ties and we drove for what felt like hours with War’s eyes boring a hole into the back of Aleksi’s head. I tried to watch out the window, searching for landmarks in case we were somehow able to get away. The fact that they hadn’t blindfolded us, however, didn’t bode well for us.

At least Lettie and Charlie would be okay and taken care of. I hoped. I had a little money hidden away for them. If anything happened to me, they’d be taken care of financially, at least for a little while.

To say I wasn’t afraid would be a lie. I was terrified. Who wouldn’t be with a bunch of Russians breathing down their neck? Fear wouldn’t help me, though, so I pushed it aside and tried to focus on possible escapes. Our best chance would be once they got us out of the van. Maybe I could take a few of them, hold them off so that War could run for safety.

I looked over at him and realized that would never happen. He’d never run from a fight, even one he thought he couldn’t win.

We’re probably going to die, I thought.What’s the silver lining in that, Maya? That we get to die together? I suppose at least we won’t go alone.I leaned over and put my head on War’s shoulder. He turned cold eyes on me and I almost shivered. There was no fear there, no humanity. Just a rage as sharp as jagged ice.

That’s my man. Bitter to the end.

The van took a sharp turn, pulling into what looked like an abandoned industrial park. The windows on the nearby factory were brown and grimy, and there were no lights on anywhere.

My heart jumped as the van slowed, the fear spiking again. “I love you, Warrick.”

He let his head fall on mine. “I know.”

“Fucking faggots,” one of the Russians spat.

Aleksi turned his head. “Enough. We’re here.”

The side door to the van rolled open and they grabbed us, dragging us out. War pulled away as soon as he found his feet. “Get your filthy hands off me. I’ll fucking go, dammit.”

“Let him walk,” Aleksi said, drawing his gun. “But if you run, War…”

“Fucking traitor.” War spat on Aleksi’s shoe.

Aleksi shrugged. “We are what we are.” He gestured to a patch of dirt a few feet ahead. “We’ll do it there.”

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