Page 107 of Lethal Alliance

Flesh that I’m only minutes away from destroying.

“Your cell phones, if you don’t mind.” Vilnus gives us a shit-eating grin. He’s clearly enjoying his moment of power.

We hand them over. I notice my screen is showing a missed call from Spain. Odd, given how late it is there. But Darya is in London, so there’s nothing in Spain that can’t wait.

“I expected Darya Petrovsky.” Vilnus sucks on his cigarette, still smiling. “I was looking forward to seeing her again. It’s been too long since we spent time together.”

I smile coldly. “You won’t ever see Darya again, Orlov.” I throw the gel imprint down on the table. “Her fingerprints are the only part of her you will ever lay eyes on in this life.”

“Strange time to make threats, Borovsky.” His smile has faded. “Gel imprints of the fingerprints haven’t worked in the past.”

“And you know as well as I do that is because you need three sets, not two, or you wouldn’t be holding my children. The imprints will work.” I give him a hard smile. “Or do you think I don’t know how to open my father’s vault?”

His eyes narrow even further. “They’d better work, Borovsky. Because if this is some kind of trick, you’re a dead man.”

“Are we going to do this?” I look around the room. “I don’t see Alexei Petrovsky’s face among your goons.”

Vilnus’s lips curl. “You don’t need to worry about Petrovsky. I brought him to heel long ago.” His smirk becomes unpleasant. “He’s been enjoying getting to know your daughter. I let him practice his knife skills on her. She has more in common with Darya than you might imagine. I think Ofelia enjoys the touch of a blade almost as much as Darya used to.”

The blood pulses slowly through my brain. I almost relish the spread of red fury through my body.

Vilnus Orlov is going to die. Very soon.

Followed by Alexei Petrovsky.

But not until I have everything I came for.

“If you’re done playing games, I have a plane to catch.”

Vilnus’s expression grows sour. He clearly expected me to take his bait.

He thinks he can anger me, throw me off-balance.If I wasn’t so coldly furious, I’d find it insulting.

He nods to the men behind us, and I feel the cold muzzle of a machine gun in the base of my spine. “Walk,” he barks. “And don’t even think about trying anything.”

“Really, Vilnus?” I give him a contemptuous smile. “We’re in your house, with your guns all over us, and you’re still worried?” I shake my head in mock disappointment. “Then again, you always have liked to stack the odds. How many men were there the night you came for my father? Half a dozen, wasn’t it—against one old man and a little boy?”

Vilnus stares at me. “You were there,” he says flatly.

“I was there.” I almost enjoy his shock. “Watching through the kitchen window. And afterward, I was in Miami the whole time. Did you know that, Vilnus? All the years you searched for me, I was right under your nose. What was it you said—that there isn’t an inch of the city you don’t have eyes on? Forgive me if I find that difficult to believe.”

The first flicker of unease crosses his face. Maybe I shouldn’t taunt him. But now that I’m here, standing in front of him, any trace of trepidation is gone. He can’t hurt the girls, not anymore. I have too many men here, too many guns trained on every corner of this property. All we’re doing now is playing the game, just long enough to smoke Fedorov out.

“Walk,” he says again, but this time there’s a slight tremor in his voice, and the way he looks around warily doesn’t escape me.

If Fedorov is here, I’m guessing Vilnus is starting to wish he’d show himself.

He’s not the only one.

We walk through the long corridors and pass through several heavy coded doors. There are too many of us for the elevator, so we take the stairs down to the basement.

It smells dank, the air close and unpleasant. Low light glares from stone walls, and our footsteps echo against them. It sickens me to think of the girls down here.

To think ofDaryadown here.

We round a corner into the most heavily guarded corridor we’ve been in yet. The men are clustered around a closed door, beside which is a darkened window. Vilnus halts in front of it, grinning evilly. “Feast your eyes, Borovsky.”

It takes all my restraint not to smash through the window the moment I see Ofelia and Masha. They are huddled against the back wall, their faces white with fear. Ofelia has her arms around Masha, hugging her sister close to her chest. She’s still wearing the ball gown she was in the night she was taken, but now it’s torn and dirty, hanging in bare rags from her body.

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