Page 88 of Shadows of Obsession

That call wasn't about him, but about me. And then some pieces of this puzzle start to fall into place.

"You're the one who sent me the anonymous tip about the truck driver," I say.

His sly smile and the glint in his eye are all the confirmation I need.

"Ro, come on!" Niko's voice breaks my train of thought.

"This discussion is far from over. I assume you know where our offices are. Tomorrow morning, I expect you there," I say, and with that I grab Luna's hand and get the hell out of there.

?

All the tension from the last few hours has gathered in every muscle in my body, and I feel tension in my posture as I drive us out of the forest.

"Roman, are you okay?"

Luna asks the question almost in a whisper, and when I glance at her in the rearview mirror, I see so much sympathy…and something else I don't want to define yet, afraid to name feelings I don't know much about.

"Now that you're a few inches from me, yes," I say and see a smile curving her lips. It's the type of smile that reaches her eyes, and I’m consoled by the fact that we didn't have to massacre anyone to recover her.

"Niko, I need details on what the hell happened at the warehouse, but first I want to take Luna home."

Niko still seems lost in thought, but he pulls out his phone and starts firing off messages.

"What did he say his last name was?" my younger brother's voice sounds throughout the car, and I look at him, trying to remember.

"Rastovski," Luna answers.

That's when both Niko and I realize that this is the same last name as the man from Russia who Ilya suspects is backing the Irish. We'll have a lot to discuss tomorrow.

"Why did he need you, Luna?" I ask, because I can't wait another second without knowing.

I see her face go pale, and taking a breath, she answers so quickly I almost don’t understand.

"He needed me to kill someone."

My intense focus on driving is the only thing that keeps me from swerving across the road, but I register Niko's shock at Luna's statement.

I give her time to find her own words, and after a few moments, she continues in a more normal tone.

"My former job was at a company that produces internal cardiac defibrillators. The company never deletes digital signatures from the system. It's an error in their security. He needed me to go in and deactivate one of these devices," she says, and the words slip easily from her lips, but I know Luna.

It wasn't a decision she made lightly. Something convinced her to do this.

"Why?" I ask, and I know she understands the meaning behind the question.

How did he manage to convince her to do this? Because I know deep down to the marrow of my bones that she would have preferred to be killed than to be made to kill an innocent person, so clearly that person did something to deserve death.

"He's Maksim's adoptive father. Apparently he's involved in human trafficking, and when Julia mentioned what happens to little girls and boys around him...and then when I looked at Maksim…" she answers, her voice trailing off to a whimper and tears gathering in her eyes.

"Piece of garbage." Niko's voice is a murmur.

I know I'll learn more tomorrow, but it's enough for now. I don't know Maksim, but I can tell he went through torture just from looking at him.

The fact that that trash abused him has me seeing red again, and I feel the need to breathe deeply, so as not to do something stupid.

After driving for several minutes, my gaze returns to the rearview mirror, to Luna sitting in the back seat. She has traces of tears on her cheeks and seems tired, but apart from that, I don't notice any physical injuries. Still, I feel an unease that doesn't let me relax. I use my phone to send a quick message to Kai to come to my house for a consultation.

Luna and I need to discuss everything that happened today, but the explosion is my priority now. I already know it's Devin's work, probably in retaliation after failing to kidnap the woman behind me.How the hell does he always manage to attack our warehouses?We have soldiers and state-of-the-art technology monitoring the entire perimeter.

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