Page 25 of No Promises, No Lies

Good. Easier to break.

I lunge forward, dragging her up. She tries to resist, but it’s no use.

I drop her back into the bolted chair in the middle of the room. She lands with a groan and then freezes when I move in on her, stopping inches from her face. I’m so close I can smell her flowery scent, salty with the tears she’s tried her best to hide from me.

I use the tip of my gun to push an errant strand of hair out of her eyes. She shivers at the touch of the cold metal against her skin. I trace the barrel down the side of her cheek and watch as the tip of it pulls against her bottom lip.

There’s no crying, no pleading; she doesn’t beg. My gun digs into the hollow of her cheek, and Rory just scowls at me. The blue-gray in her eyes shimmer in the bright overhead light like polished silver.

“Tie her hands.”

Liam lingers in the doorway behind me. I don’t need to look to know he’s there. Without a word or argument, he circles around behind the girl.

To her credit, Rory doesn’t take her eyes off of me or my gun when he drops to a crouch behind her. Pulling her wrists together, he pulls out a pair of handcuffs and cinches them tight. She winces as the metal pinches against the already-abused wrists.

I crouch down until I’m at eye level. “Who are you?”

She blinks wearily at me. “I already told you?—”

“You told me nothing,” I cut her off, scowling at her. She’s got to give me something. “People don’t accidentally stumble into the Russian Pakhan’s office. You know something.”I nudge her head again with my gun. She’s afraid of it, but notthe normal kindof afraid. Any other girl off the street would be in tears right now. Rory’s panic has ebbed away into anger. Her eyes darken to a stormy grey. She lifts her chin, holding my gaze.

“Rory Collins. Grew up in Canada. Graduated from Northwood Academy. I came to Boston to train with Karina Valgova and the Boston Belles, both of which you already know train out of the Breakers’ practice pavilion. You can check it.”

Her sass pisses me off. “Oh, I will.” I yank her up. “But until then, we’re going on a little field trip.” I shoot Liam a look, letting him know to go ahead and fact check the information Rory just spat at us.

I want to push her more, but Koen called a few minutes ago. A new shipment is coming in, and the warehouse will be buzzing in only a few hours. Rory can’t stay here.

A few of our guys have already arrived, prepping for the delivery.

I drag Rory out of the lockers alongside me as we walk down the hall. Her head darts back and forth, noticing the new guys. Her eyes plead with them for help, but she doesn’t call out, yell , or scream, realizing too soon there’s no help for her here.

They’re all on the O’Rourke payroll.

We step outside and her eyes close tight against the bright sunlight. I nudge her forward, opening the door to Liam’s SUV, and push her inside. With her hands bound behind her back, she has to shuffle awkwardly across the car seat.

Sliding in beside her, I watch as she stiffens in my close presence and then inches a little further away to put as much distance between us as she can.

Liam’s at the wheel, and in another moment, we’re on the road.

Pulling out my phone, I read over some new intel coming in after the hits we made on the Russian properties.Adrik has been rapidly expanding through the city, encroaching further and further into our territory. What we haven’t been able to figure out is where the fuck the money is coming from.

All signs continue to point to Adrik as the one who ordered the hit on our father. But I don’t have my smoking gun yet;The one we need in order to light them the fuck up. If I can prove the Russians are responsible, there won’t be a safe place in the city for them to hide.

I’ll take them all out.

Starting with the Kostalovs.

My frown deepens when I read the update I get from Jimmy. The Russians have not taken our hits lying down. Oh no, quite the opposite. They’ve been on an absolute rampage for the last eighteen hours, forcing us to pull in most of our guys, especially since the Italians appear to be helping the Russians. An unlikelyturn of events none of us planned for.And one I’m still trying to figure out.

The relationship between the major players of the city has only been growing more tense as both the Italians and Russians are making plays to expand their territories. There are no alliances. The city is on the edge of war.

Stealing a glance to the side, I find Rory staring listlessly out the window, fighting sleep. She probably didn’t sleep at all in the lockers. I hold back my questions despite the prime opportunity to grill her on her story.

It’s not long before we pull into the underground garage of our destination.Opening the door, I escort the little Bratva mystery to the elevator, nodding at security as we pass by. She makes eye contact with him but stays quiet.

I’m not worried. He’s ours too.This entire building belongs to us.

We ride up in silence to the top floor. The private elevator opens right into the loft with a turn of my key.

---