Page 157 of Bratva's Vow
“Hey, how’s he doing?” He’d asked me that half an hour ago when he called. Between him, Nik, Jess, and even Dezi, I felt like I was repeating myself.
Without realizing it, Wren had wheedled his way into everyone’s heart.
“Slightly better. They’ve started him on Prussian blue.”
“What’s that?”
“Some medication to fight the poisoning.”
“So they’ve confirmed it’s poisoning?”
“They said results will be ready in a few hours, but it’s best to start treatment the moment thallium poisoning is suspected. To minimize damage to his organs.”
“What’s taking them so long?”
“They’ve already expedited testing due to me moving Wren to a private suite.” I clenched my hands into fists at my sides. It wasn’t fast enough. Nothing ever was when it mattered most. “Did you find anything out?”
It’d been almost twenty-four hours since Wren was in the hospital. Enough time for him to confirm our theories.
“You were right,” Sergei said, voice grim.
One glance told me everything. His jaw was tight and his posture stiff.
I stood slowly. “What happened?”
“We searched Pilar’s home yesterday, but she disappeared with her husband. From the way she left, it was sudden. I deployed everyone I could think of to find her.”
“And?”
“An hour ago, one of our guys monitoring the police frequencies picked up a call from dispatch.” Sergei’s voice was tight, almost clipped. “They were reporting threebodies found in a home outside the city limits. Two women and a man. I followed up with our contact at the police station and confirmed one of the women is Pilar. Seems she fled to her sister’s along with her husband. They had passports on them and plane tickets for later today out of the country.”
My stomach dropped. “Fuck.”
“The house was ransacked and money stolen, so the police are calling it a robbery gone wrong.”
Of course. Tie up the loose ends. Just like Vova. Just like Stone. Just like anyone who came too close to the truth. And I knew deep down that very few people could be that meticulous. I’d worked with Archie long enough to know he was a stickler for details.
I looked at Wren, then back at Sergei. “Archie?”
“We’ve been watching him, like you said. He left the house this morning and went to the office as usual.” Sergei hesitated. “He stopped by your house, Maxim. Was inside for about twenty minutes. Came out with two duffel bags.”
“You let him go into my house?”
“If I’d stopped him, he would have figured out we were on to him. Better to give him the space to slip up now that we have eyes on him. I know it’s hard, but we can’t be wrong about him. It’s better to be patient to know for sure. We want to catch the right person and ensure there’s no one else behind this.”
I exhaled hard through my nose. My chest ached like I’d taken a bat to the ribs. “What did he take?”
“We don’t know yet. He went to your bedroom, and the security footage doesn’t go quite that far.”
“It does,” I said quickly.
Sergei raised his brow. “Didn’t know you and Wren were that kinky.”
I scowled. “It’s from the time we locked him up afterBradley died. I had the camera installed to monitor him then, but we didn’t remove it.”
Wren shifted, and I held my breath. He seemed more peaceful when asleep. When he was awake, he complained of the pain. When he settled down again, I turned back to Sergei.
“Tell me the truth, Sergei. Is it really him? Did Archie poison Wren?”
