Page 4 of Emerald Vices

“She had a gun,” Misha continues. “But she dropped it, and then… did… did Natalia pick it up?”

I don’t say a word. It takes only a few more seconds before the memory clicks into place. Misha’s eyes flare as he remembers.

He stares at my arm. At the bandage similar to the one wrapped around my torso. I’ve got a matching set.

“You killed Yelena,” he wheezes. “And Natalia… she shot you.”

“She was scared, Misha. I’d just killed an old woman—one that we knew and loved—in cold blood. I don’t think she could process the brutality of it.”

I’ve had ninety minutes to come to terms with what happened in the living room, including my role in it. I should’ve done it differently. I should’ve knocked Yelena out and killed her later, somewhere far from Natalia. I was a fool to think that whatever feelings she had for me would override her trauma.

Then again, I wasn’t thinking at all when I took that knife to Yelena’s throat. My instincts were simple: Kill the bitch before she hurts my woman.

Misha shakes his head. “But to actually shoot you…”

“I don’t think she meant to shoot at all.” I saw her face just before she pulled the trigger. She wanted me to stay away from her. When I didn’t, she panicked. “It was an accident.”

A single tear slides down Misha’s cheek. “Where is she now?”

Great fucking question. In the chaos of the moment, she slipped through the cracks and out into the city. She could be anywhere, for all I know.

I settle on the only thing I know for sure. “We’ll find her.”

Misha looks skeptical, but he swallows and nods. I pat his good shoulder. “Dr. Abdulov will be in to check on you soon. Until then, get some rest. That’s an order, soldier.”

Misha’s eyes spark with life. “Soldier?”

“You proved yourself today, Misha. If that doesn’t make you part of the Bratva, I don’t know what does.”

Stepping out of the infirmary, I come face to face with Shura. His face is set in hard, grim lines. “Have you dealt with her body?”

“The old bitch has been taken care of,” he snarls. “The living room has been stripped down and wiped clean. There’s no sign she was ever there.”

“Good. Now, we have to purge the whole damn manor of her.”

I can tell by the dark look in Shura’s eyes that he’s taken Yelena’s betrayal just as personally as I have. “I’m on my way to her room now.”

“No,” I say. “I want to look through it myself first.”

“We’ll do it together. By the way, I—” He pauses for a split second. “I know it’s not a good time but there’s something else you should know.”

Fuck. Already, this new information smells of Slavik. “What is it?”

“Vaska and Yuri sent in their daily report. The old man was just seen meeting with the Halcones.”

“The fucking Halcones? He must be desperate.”

“It might be a desperate move,” Shura agrees. “But it could also prove to be an effective one. The Halcones have no code of honor. That makes them deadly.”

“Spare me. I know the kind of scum they are. Let them come.”

I brush past him. On any other day, this information would have demanded my full attention. Right now, it feels like a fly buzzing stubbornly around my ear.

The smell of gunpowder and bleach stings my nostrils as I pass the living room, but I keep moving.

“Andrey!” Shura grunts, rushing to keep pace with me. “I know you’ve got a lot on your mind right now, but we can’t just ignore this. The Halcones are a dangerous new piece on the board.”

I’m in full view of the pool house when I stop short. “Need I remind you that I’m the reason those scum retreated into their holes in the first place?”

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