Page 85 of Lethal Alliance

I take a deep breath.

The truth is, the thought of facing Mickey with this scares me a whole lot more than I’m willing to let on, even to Dimitry. News like this, when his sisters are still missing? So soon after the DNA test results, and after getting Darya back? There’s every chance Mickey will throw Mak’s cognac right in my face.

And I wouldn’t blame him. Not at all.

Oh, well.It’s got to be faced eventually. And after this thing is done, I might not be in any shape to take the fist he’s probably about to plant in my face.

I open the door.

A white-faced Mickey stares at me, clearly dreading the worst. My levity disappears immediately, along with my hesitation.

“It’s okay, Mickey,” I say calmly. “It isn’t anything to do with the girls. Our plans are still in place. We’ll get them back. I promised, remember?”

He frowns, his eyes dropping to the glass in my hand. “Then what’s that all about? Some kind of Dutch courage ritual thing?”

“Not exactly.” I put the glass down on the table and face him squarely. “I wish this news was coming at a different time, Mickey.” I hold his eyes, steadying myself. “I just found out that Darya is pregnant.”

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but his stark, horrified face definitely isn’t it.

“Hey.” I grip his shoulders, holding his eyes. “You can hit me if you want. I’d understand. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have told you—”

“She was going to run while she waspregnant?” The terror in his eyes cuts me off. “With theOrlovscoming after her?”

I close my eyes reflexively.

I’ve done my best not to think about that from the moment I saw the white stick. I don’t want to be angry at Darya. And I wasn’t lying to her earlier. Logically, Idounderstand why she didn’t tell me before she ran.

But that doesn’t mean that the thought of her on the run, alone, pregnant, and hunted, doesn’t strike my heart with the same stark terror I can see in Mickey’s face. The same hideous, sickening horror I felt when I knew the girls had been taken.

It isn’t until I open my eyes that I realize I’ve been gripping Mickey’s shoulders hard enough to leave marks. He hasn’t moved. But perhaps my touch communicated more than words could, because his eyes have softened slightly when I meet them again.

“At least she’s home now,” he says quietly.

I nod, my hands still on his shoulders. “Thanks to you, Mickey. And when we get Ofelia and Masha back, that will be thanks to you, too.”

Dimitry pushes past me, thrusting a glass of cognac into Mickey’s hand. “We waited for you until we raised a glass to the latest Stevanovsky to enter the world.”

Mickey takes the glass and turns it slowly in his hand, staring at it. When he looks up again it’s with the crooked smile that I find all the more precious for being so rarely seen. “Not a Stevanovsky.” He raises his glass to me. “To the latest Borovsky. One I will be proud to call family, as will my sisters.”

Dimitry grips Mickey’s shoulder with a bear-sized hand. Mak nods approvingly. We clink glasses, and I swallow, not least to hide the lump in my throat.

Then Mickey coughs, his eyes streaming, which makes us all laugh.

He frowns at us all in bemusement. “What kind of psycho actuallychoosesto drink this stuff?”

It’s past ten p.m.,and apart from the brief cognac pause at the beginning, we’ve been refining plans all evening. Bryce, Luis, and Pavel have joined us in the secure room.

“The jet is fueled and waiting.” Pavel glances briefly at me then back at the large screen in the secure room. “Zurich is two and a half hours away. The flight logs will be hidden from public view. Nobody will track you.”

“Good.” I look around the faces at the table. Bryce, Luis, Dimitry, Pavel, and Mickey are all tense and alert.

Mak, on the other hand, could be on holiday at the fucking Ritz, the way he lounges against the wall.

Fortunately, I’ve seen him in action enough times to know the lethal capability his insouciance disguises.

“Once our business in Zurich is done, I’ll fly to Miami with Mak’s people, as discussed.” I nod at Bryce. “You and the rest of my personal security detail will remain with Darya.”

Mak tilts his head at Dimitry. “Except for him, obviously.”

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