Page 69 of Shattered Empire (Shattered World)

Kirill brushed her off. “He is nothing,” he insisted. “Nothing but a disgraced outcast who hasn’t been heard from in years. I made sure he appeared to be nothing more than a disgruntled son after his father’s money. Andrei cut him off.”

“But he didn’t cut him from his will,” the woman pointed out. “Or from succession.”

Kirill brushed her off. “It is nothing. He is nothing.”

Or So Ivan led him to believe.

“You better hope so, Marius.” The venom dripping from the phone line was obvious. As was her disdain for him. “Otherwise, you might regret what is coming for you.”

“And what is that?”

“Ghosts of the past.”

“All my problems are dead,” he gloated. “Your legionnaire made sure of that.”

The woman hummed. “That may be so, but his wife sure is causing a commotion over here.”

Kirill grunted. “She won’t be a problem for much longer,” he dismissed. “Sulla will make sure of that. He took care of Elias with no problem; he’ll take care of her.”

“We’ll see,” the woman sounded skeptical. “As for your request, I’ll send 848 to take care of it. She’s proven to be efficient at taking out pests.”

“She did it in spectacular fashion for me,” Kirill agreed.

Kenzi. They were talking about sending Kenzi to take out Andrei.

“Get her on the phone,” I hissed at Mark. “Quick.”

Another beat of silence. Another moment of holding our breaths, waiting in anticipated suspense for Kenzi to pick up the phone.

Nothing.

“She’s not answering.”

Dima swore.

“Who are you trying to reach?” Ivan questioned.

“Kenzi.”

“Ward?” he asked incredulously. “What does she have to do with this?”

My forehead raised in mock surprise that my older brother didn’t know about the remaining Ward twin.

“Guess you didn’t do your research all that well, brother.” I snarked.

“Shove it and tell me what you know,” he huffed over the comm line. Dima laughed.

“Kenzi Ward was sold to the Dollhouse by her father,” I told him. “Convincing everyone that she had gone to college overseas instead.”

“She told you this?”

“Yes,” I responded. “Originally, she’d been tasked to kill Ava. Luckily, an old friend of mine had an interest in the Dollhouse as well and had been monitoring certain chatter.”

“The three of them had a strong bond,” Ivan stated. “Why would Kenzi willingly kill her sister? The Dollhouse must have known Kenzi wouldn’t follow through.”

“They twisted Libby’s death to make it appear as if Ava and I had her killed.” That organization knew no bounds. “It took some…convincing to get her to see the truth.”

“And you trust her?”

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