Page 19 of Golden Atonement

Time was on my side.

Montana’s days were numbered.

I would make sure of that.

“We need to bring you up to speed as soon as you’re ready,” Montana stated cautiously as I removed items from my bag, laying them out carefully, as if they were the most precious items in the world.

“Speak.”

When Montana stayed quiet, Maxim quickly spoke.

“You were right. Sergio Pavlov worked under Petrovitch. You were right about everything. Petrovitch, Capribella, and Bianchi were all working together. The orphanage you had us look into was a front. Owned and operated by Petrovitch. Capribella sold the babies to the highest bidder. Petrovitch shipped the mothers to Bianchi’s in Italy, where he used them for his breeding farm. All three of them used Pavlov’s connection to Reynoldsto smooth the way. With Benson Graves working the numbers, they had everything wrapped up tight. No one was the wiser.”

Of course, I was fucking right as I stood there waiting for them to tell me something I didn’t already know.

“Maxim’s right,” Montana cautiously added. “Everything you suspected has come to fruition. Thanks to Graves, Petrovitch knows everything about all of us. He’s been biding his time, waiting for the perfect time to attack. Well, he struck. He took Illyria and now has eyes on your wife. She’s the only puzzle piece we couldn’t figure out. There is much about her past that we don’t know. But we think it has something to do with her birth parents. Only there is nothing on them. They were fucking high school sweethearts, for crying out loud. They came from normal, everyday families. They were nobodies. So fucking far off everyone’s radar, they should have lived a relatively normal existence.” Montana growled, frustrated.

Fucking stupid idiots. They still knew nothing.

Then again, I knew they would never figure it out.

My woman’s past was buried so fucking deep in the bowels of hell that not even the Devil himself would learn the truth.

I ensured that.

There was only one fucking person on this planet besides me that knew the truth about my woman. Someone who had a stake in her survival, just as much as I did. I fucking knew that bastard would eat a fucking bullet before he ever uttered a word.

He was my wild card. The one person I knew, if these fuckers failed to keep their promise, would move heaven and earth to ensure she lived when others didn’t.

“To make matters worse, if that wasn’t enough, Petrovitch discovered our mole’s identity. Last we heard, he was close to finding everything out when we received his distress signal tonight. By the time our men got to the extraction site, he wasnowhere to be found. All they found was this,” Maxim said, handing me a familiar patch.

I said nothing as I took it from him.

My fist gripping it tightly.

“Is he dead?”

“We don’t know.” Montana sighed, running his hands through his hair. “I’ve got my clubs out searching for him. He’s been under since the wedding. He could have gone native for all we know. Until we find him and he tells us what happened, we’re in the dark. Let’s hope your boy knows how to lie low. But we think he’s going for reinforcements.”

“Which means he’s putting everyone in danger,” Maxim stated, adding, “I’ve sent a message and alerted them, but after everything they’ve been through, they won’t survive another attack.”

That’s what they thought.

My fucking brothers didn’t die easily.

Enough of this shit.

I’d heard enough.

Throwing on a clean shirt, I tucked it into my jeans.

Reaching back into my bag, I pulled out my leather cut. Shaking it out, I quickly put it on. After pocketing the picture, I reached for my blades, slipping them into the leather holster on my back. After securing them, I picked up my two Glocks and checked the clips to make sure they were full.

Ready for war, I zipped up my bag. Holding the handle, I threw it over my shoulder as I walked past them, heading for the door.

“What are you going to do?” Montana asked.

I stopped, turned and looked at the both of them and said, “What I should have done in the first place.”

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