Page 21 of Ruthless Bonds

“How far are we?” I barked.

“We’re here.”

The car stopped in front of a cement building I recognized. We’d had to pull information out of some members of a cartel here a few weeks ago. One of my soldiers was standing out front and nodded as Iapproached.

“Kreos, you know her?” Gavriil called after me, but I was already going inside.

Inside, her screams drifted through the cracked basement door. A red haze clouded my vision as I stalked down the steps and picked up the silver hook from the table.

Sergei didn’t hear me coming, probably because he was focused on putting his filthy fucking hands on what didn’t belong to him.

Alora though, she saw me coming. Her eyes widened as I raised the hook and, in one fluid motion, slit his throat. I’d never liked that piece of shit anyway.

His body dropped to the ground, and I stepped over him without another look. Drops of blood had splattered across her cheek, making her look even more beautiful.

“Hello,kotic,” I murmured.

Her lips parted, her breath warm against my fingers. “K.”

I pulled out my black handkerchief and wiped the blood from her cheek, making her shiver.

“I think it’s time to call in that favor,” she whispered.

I don’t think so.

I think this time, I’m going to keep you.

Chapter Four

Alora

6 years ago

“What the fuck is taking you so long?” Ray’s gruff voice echoed through my earpiece.

I wanted to say, “Why don’t you try squeezing your big fat ass through this air duct and see how long it takes?”

But I didn’t.

Getting mad wasn’t going to get the job done. Neither was pissing off Ray. But I was getting sick of this. Of stealing. Of constantly worrying if I was going to get caught. Of being under Ray’s thumb.

This wasn’t how I’d planned to spend my nineteenth birthday. Not that I liked to celebrate, anyway. Today was the anniversary of my brother’s death. So, when Ray had demanded I come with him to Albany, I hadn’t put up too much of a fight. Because it was better than wallowing in self-pity and doing something destructive.

Dust covered my body as I crawled on my stomach through the storage facility’s air duct, a bag of knockoff watches dragging behind me.

I came up to a split in the duct and went right. “Two minutes. Be ready,” I hissed.

This was supposed to be a big job, but Ray hadfucked up. Like always. Instead of finding a case of vintage jewelry like I’d been told, I’d found cases of knockoff Rolex watches. The good thing was, there were a lot of them. Easily fifteen thousand dollars’ worth.

Split between the two of us, that was more than enough money to get a new apartment for me, Dove, and Dylan. It would pay the security deposit, first month’s rent and anything else we needed. Excitement surged through me. I was getting closer to living the life I wanted, not the one Ray was forcing me to.

I reached the end of the shaft and looked down at the underground parking lot below me. “Where are you?”

A cold sweat broke out across my forehead, making my ski mask stick to my skin. Why wasn’t Ray answering?

Fuck. Where was he? Had someone caught him?

A moment later, he pulled up just underneath the vent, and my heart slowed down. He stepped out of the car and held out his hands. “Drop the bag.”

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