Page 70 of The Devil's Thorn
His voice is sharper now. Confused.
Rafael doesn’t even look at him. He’s still watching me.
“I said let him go.”
Another beat. Then, reluctantly, Nikolai lowers the blade.
Ash steps back, rubbing his jaw as if he hadn’t just had death kissing his skin.
I blink once. Because I didn’t expect that. And judging by the stiffness in Nikolai’s stance neither did he.
“You’re letting themgo?” Nikolai snaps. “After everything?”
Rafael finally turns to him.
“They’re not going anywhere. I didn’t say they were free. I saidyou’redone for the night.”
Nikolai’s mouth opens like he’s about to protest. But Rafael cuts him off with a look so cold it could snap bone.
“That’s final.”
Nikolai straightens. His jaw clenched. Fury burning in his eyes.
“She’s going to be the reason we bleed,” he mutters. Then he walks past Rafael without another word.
“You always said it’d be a woman.”
And with that, the door slams behind him. Leaving only the four of us.
The truth still unspoken. The storm only just beginning.
Rafael doesn’t speak right away. He just watches us—like he’s reevaluating the pieces on a board he thought he’d already won.
Ash paces now, jaw tense, fists still curled from the rush of it all. Kellan stands just behind me, close enough that I feel the heat radiating off him—still on edge, still ready to move if Rafael does.
But Rafael doesn’t move. He just turns his glass in his hand, slowly, the ice clinking as it melts into the whiskey.
“Let’s try this again,” he says, calm and cool. “What were you doing in my casino?”
His eyes land on me now. Pinning. Demanding.
“And this time, make it worth my mercy.”
I meet his gaze without flinching. My arm throbs. My throat feels tight. But I speak anyway.
“We wanted in.”
His brow lifts slightly, not in shock—but in interest.
Kellan shifts beside me. Ash says nothing, but I feel his stare on the side of my face.
I don’t look at them. I keep my eyes on Rafael.
“Into your world,” I continue. “Into the Bratva.”
Rafael stares at me like he’s trying to figure out which part of me is real and which part is bait.
“Three nobodies,” he says, voice smooth. “No names. No ties. No lineage. And you thought you’dinfiltratethe Vory v Zakone through a waitress shift?”
