Page 54 of Kept By The Agents

"Fine." I nodded. That wasn't exactly true. I was sweating. The way you did right before you threw up. Somehow, in a matter of days, this woman had crashed into my life and made me care about her. No fucking wonder Suave was twisted up in knots over her. He'd been carrying a torch for a long time, and now was his opportunity to fix things with her. "You need to talk to Cat."

"Jesus. You too?"

I chuckled and nodded, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jacket to keep them warm. "Yeah." We walked along without speaking for a bit. "It's important," I finally added.

"I know," he sighed. "It just seems like every time I open my mouth, I fuck it up."

"Makes sense. You're behind the curve." He shot me a questioning look. "She's had years of resentment building. So you're not just apologizing for leaving her at the altar. Which, by the way..." I shot him a disgusted look.

"I know." His shoulders hunched a little and I almost felt bad for him. He looked so damn dejected.

I tried to think back to the last time I saw him like this, but really couldn't form a memory. Suave had always been a loud, jovial—unless you pissed him off—life of the party kind of guy.

"You need to make it right," I told him. "And you need to do it soon. Once we take the Raleka down, she's going to need you."

"What do you mean?"

It killed me to even suggest it, but the thoughts had been in my mind since she told us about Alyona approaching her, and asking for her help. "What do you think the odds are that we find Elena?"

He groaned. "Shit. I've been thinking the same damn thing."

"Slim to none," I answered, needing to get it out. "Her friends were sold off right away. Both to high end clients. Why would they do that with the friends, but not with Elena?"

"They wouldn't," he said, voice grim.

"Which means we're not going to find her in some warehouse here in Russia."

"No, we're not." He sighed again as he stopped outside of our safe house. "I'll talk to Cat when this is all over."

"You need to do it before," I told him as I put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from going inside. "She's going to be gutted when we don't find Elena right away.”

Suave dropped his head back, groaning because he knew I was right. It was his only response.

"Cat's never met her, right?" I asked.

"No, but she's known Alyona her entire life. Once Elena was born Alyona was always showing her pictures and talking about her.”

"How did she end up being friends with Cat's family?”

"She'd just moved to the US. Ended up meeting Cat's mom at a Pilates class." Suave shook his head. "Claimed they bonded over the bitchy instructor, or some shit.”

I let that sink in before asking, "Why Cat? Why go to her?"

"She's smart," he answered. "Observant. Not to mention she's bound to have contacts and informants. And Alyona was likely desperate. Cat's also empathetic," Suave added as an afterthought. "Alyona knew Cat would do anything she could to help."

"I'm sure Alyona never expected that Cat would end up in danger," I murmured.

"Doubtful, or she wouldn't have told her anything,” Suave said in agreement. "She loves Cat. She just didn't know where to turn.” When I raised my brows he shrugged. "She's a good person from what I remember.”

I nodded in understanding and remained silent.

"Alright," Suave grumbled. "I'll talk to her again tonight."

We walked into the house and heard pots and pans being slammed around in the kitchen. Brando was sitting in a chair at the table, grinning, as Cat went to war in the kitchen. She looked over her shoulder at us, her expression a mix of confusion and anger. It settled over her features like a storm cloud.

"Tomorrow," Suave said in a low voice.

"What?" I asked.

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