Page 68 of Disguised as Love

“You’re not family,” I reminded him calmly.

“Let them in,” Malik said behind Yano.

Yano turned and shot Malik a look and said, “That’s not what you wanted.”

He looked at Malik as if he was a toddler needing to be reminded, and the hair on my arms that had already been at attention practically jumped from my skin.

Volkov narrowed his gaze at Yano and said, “If you do not step aside, Antonne here or one of my men will make you.”

Yano flushed, pushed up his glasses, and twisted on his heel to join Malik on the seat in the limo across from Raisa and Manya. Before Volkov could get in, one of his men approached, and Volkov bent his head to listen. I climbed into the limo behind Yano. If I hadn’t been right on his heels, I wouldn’t have heard his hissed whisper to Malik, “This ruins everything if he’s here instead of in the car behind us.”

Malik glared and shook his head. “I already told you, I just want us to be able to mourn in peace.”

“It’s already in place.” Yano's voice was quiet, and Malik looked like he was ready to strangle Yano.

“Idiot. Don’t you dare do it now,” Malik growled.

“What’s going on?” Raisa asked, eyes drifting from Yano to Malik and back.

But everyone went silent as Volkov joined us in the limo, sitting next to Manya. His arm went behind her as if to comfort her. She stiffened under his embrace, but he didn’t even seem to register it or didn’t care if he did.

The princes and lords of the underworld filed into the waiting limousines behind us. The bells on the cathedral rang out, music started at the head of the procession, and we began moving at a slow pace as we followed the hearse and the horses. Ilia and some of Malik’s and Volkov’s men jogged alongside the limo, looking very much like secret service.

My stomach was tight, twisting in knots because I was damn sure we’d missed something. Yano was next to me, and I could feel the energy wafting off of him. It was expectant, like I’d been many times, waiting for the final parts of an op to drift into place, for the takedown to occur, and my body grew tenser by the moment.

We’d made it to the bridge and were about to cross when I felt him dig in his pocket.

It clicked into place in my mind too late. The missing carrying cases. The bombs. It was yet another moment I’d failed in a series of failures on this damned trip. I lunged across the limo toward Raisa just as an explosion tore through the air, shaking the ground and flipping a vehicle two back from us so that it landed on the one right behind us. The screech of metal and the screams of onlookers faded behind the ringing in my ears. Fire and debris crashed through the air as I shielded Raisa and her mother as best I could with my enormous body just as a second explosion went off, and another vehicle farther back in the procession was torn apart.

Chaos broke out. People were running from the streets, horses were rearing and stampeding as soldiers turned to face the attack. Ilia and the other bodyguards scrambled toward our vehicle, wrenching doors open and pulling Malik and Volkov out. Ilia reached for Manya as I dragged Raisa from the seat onto the street. A third explosion, even farther back, shook the ground, tossing us down, and I twisted so I wouldn’t land on Raisa while still trying to protect her from the debris.

Smoke and ash tumbled around us. Sirens roared in the distance.

Volkov stood, blood dripping down the side of his face, and he pointed a finger at Yano and Malik. The snarl of his voice was muffled behind the ringing in my ears but still deadly. “This. This is why you wanted me in the car behind.”

Yano blanched, and Malik stiffened.

Volkov growled as he took a step toward them. “I will dismember you both with my own hands, and then I will kill every member of your families until there is nothing left of the Leskov or Yano names.”

Volkov spread his arms wide, taking in the men who were staggering toward the vehicle?security teams and what was left of the Russian underworld. Fire blazed behind him and created a devilish sight. My arms around Raisa tightened, preparing to move as Volkov’s deep voice screamed over the wreckage, “Whoever stands with the Leskovs is also dead!”

Malik’s men didn’t even hesitate. They threw their weapons down as a sign of allegiance to the Volkov king. Yano reached for Malik, but Malik shoved him back. “Get away from me. You’ve killed us all, you imbecile.”

It was Ilia who moved first, grabbing Manya, lifting her over his shoulder and running. I bent at the knees, doing the same with Raisa, and as I came up, my eyes caught Yano’s just as a bullet pierced his forehead.

His eyes went wide, and then he was falling forward, hitting the pavement face-first. I flipped around to Volkov, but there was no gun in Rurik’s hand. Instead, it was Ito-san who appeared from nowhere with the raised weapon, striding toward us calmly as the world trembled and a handful of mafiya lords stared in astonishment.

When she reached us, she shoved a frozen Malik in the back and barked, “Move.”

I didn’t wait a second more. I took off with Raisa, heading in the direction Ilia had gone with Manya and trying to melt into the crowd that was screaming and running with panic fueling them. Trying to get lost in the pandemonium with Volkov’s men already chasing us was almost impossible when there were six of us. Add to that my size and the color of my skin that drew eyes like a bull’s-eye, and I knew we were in trouble. We needed to get off the streets.

Ilia led, weaving us through the throng, ducking through streets and rounding corners until he finally pushed through the doors of a department store. He set Manya down in the middle of the women’s department and dragged the hat from her head as she stared at him in shocked silence.

Raisa was pounding me on the back, telling me to let her down, but there was no way she could run fast enough in her spiked heels. Then, Ilia yanked a purple coat from a rack and pushed Manya’s arms into it, and I realized what he was doing.

A disguise.

“We need to split up,” I said as I pulled my phone from my jacket, ripped it off, and dropped it on the ground. I pulled a blue coat off a hanger and shoved it in Raisa’s direction. “Put this on.”

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