Page 140 of Caged

Tugging on Nikolai’s elbow, I raise on my toes to whisper to him. “He knows my full name.”

Niki nods. “That’s Enzo. He’s our personal Wizard of Oz. He sees everything behind the curtain.” He puts his hand on the small of my back and leads me to an overstuffed couch.

Enzo unfolds himself from behind the laptop and extends his palm. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Your tech guy is quite good.”

His piercing blue eyes beneath his dark hair throw me off. “Oh, you must be talking about Tyler.” I shake quickly and interlace my fingers with Nikolai’s on my lap.

It hurts to think about Tyler.

“He didn’t make it.” Nikolai finishes for me.

Enzo rakes his gaze over me before returning to his computer. “I’m sorry. I just have a few questions before I give you a copy of the drive.” His jaw tightens as he clicks on the keys.

“What importance is this information to Tatiana?”

I feel my pulse in my temples. “I have no idea. It’s not my job to ask those kinds of things. She paid me to pick it up, not to read it. Shit, she’ll probably kill me because you did.”

And I thought Ivan was bad. Tatiana has made quite the reputation for herself at retaliating against her enemies.

Ivan is like a bear, charging in and leaving a wake of destruction.

Tatiana is a snake. Silent, deadly, and nearly impossible to see coming.

Enzo leans around the side of his screen, fixing me with his eerie eyes. “Fine. We’ll switch gears. Fill me in on all of your aliases.”

That should be expected, but it still makes me swallow hard.

In my line of work, anonymity is often the only thing that keeps me alive.

“You know what telling you means?” I glance at Nikolai.

This is the ultimate vulnerability. He’ll know everything.

Mikhail crosses his arms. “You either trust us, or you don’t. There’s no middle ground here for you.”

Fuck.

“Milania Sodovich. Melanie Smith. Natasha Pushtriv.” I’m wracking my brain, but I think those are the ones I can remember.

Enzo’s fingers fly over his keyboard, but the only expression he gives is just the occasional raising of one brow.

Mikhail growls, and the next thing I know, his fists are braced against the table in front of me and his masked face hovers just inches from mine.

“What—” he growls. “—was the last name you just gave?”

Not good. I have a feeling I know where this is going.

“Natasha Pushtriv.”

As soon as the words leave my mouth, he turns and smashes his knuckles against the closest wall.

Nikolai jerks forward, throwing one arm across my chest.

Cute, but I don’t think he’s a match for his own brother.

Mikhail’s cheeks are red and a vein pulses in his forehead as he turns back. “I know what you did!” He grits. “You killed Malachi!”

My heart races. “Yes. He deserved it.”

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