Page 104 of Deadly Secrets
“Did he kill the Dunkirks that night or did you?”
Uri cocked his head. “You were nothing to me.Arenothing to me. A gnat to be squashed. I only wanted Victor to return to his real family and help me run our empire. But he wanted to bring you into the fold. He was determined to kidnap you. Aurora interrupted him before he could snatch you that night. Why did he kill that family?” A shrug. “Who knows? Maybe he believed they were helping Aurora hide you. Maybe he was sloppy and one of them woke up. Who cares at this point?”
“I care.”
Uri rolled his eyes. “He went after her, your mother. You know what happened?”
Mikhail’s words rang in her ears and Brooke had to look away. “She killed him?”
A muscle in Uri’s face jumped. “His body turned up across the border six months later. Aurora and some of her Mexican dogs killed him and dumped the body in a remote area.”
“It’s been twenty years,” Roman said. He gripped her hands again, but his fingers ran around the plastic bindings at her wrists, feeling, searching. “Why come after Brooke now? She doesn’t know anything. It wasn’t her fault that Aurora duped your brother and killed him.”
Mikhail pushed off the wall. “It’s because of me. I was conceived when my father returned home after Uncle Uri got him out of prison. I never knew why he left my mother and four sisters again for America and ended up dead.”
“I continued to search for Aurora all these years,” Uri said. “But she’s hidden herself well. Mikhail will be taking over our North American operations soon. It was time he knew the truth.”
Mikhail puffed up his chest. “You played right into my hand, sister. The moment I saw you at the university, I knew it was time to make you and your mother pay. She will die by my hand.” His eyes flashed with hate as he put a fist to his chest. “And you will bring her to me.”
She’d always known her family was dysfunctional, but this topped the cake. “Screw you,” she said, glaring at her captives. “I’m not doing a damn thing to help you.”
“You don’t need Brooke,” Roman said. He tugged on Brooke’s bindings ever so subtly. She felt one loosen around her left wrist. What was he doing? “You have me. Like I told you, I have many resources, and the truth is, I already know all about Aurora. I have a contact number for her. Give me a laptop and let me make a few calls. I’ll have her here in an hour or two tops.”
What?
Brooke nearly turned her chair around to look at him, felt him squeeze her fingers.
He was making this up, right? This was just a trick to buy more time.
Except the conviction in his voice was so real.
He’s a damn good actor.
“No way,” she said, playing along. “We’re not giving my mother up to anyone, especially not these turds.”
“Do you think we are stupid?” Mikhail yelled, his gaze still on Brooke even as he spoke to Roman behind her. “We’re not turning you loose, Homeland. The only reason you are here is to make sure my sister cooperates. Aurora keeps tabs on her. It’s only a matter of time before she shows up.”
“Stupid? Nah,” Roman said. “I don’t think you’re stupid. But dead? Yeah, you’re about to be that.”
Before Brooke knew what was happening, Roman tipped her chair sideways and all hell broke loose.
Adrenaline was an amazing drug. Better than the pain killers Clarice had pumped into him in the ambulance. Those had worn off some time ago anyway.
And pain had always been his drug of choice. It fueled Roman’s body, always had. It was one of the things that had made him such a tough fighter.
Add to that the fact Brooke was hurt, and her own family was about to use her to lure her mother to her death, and he had all the stimuli he needed to kick some Russian ass.
While Brooke had impressed the hell out of him as she kept Uri and Mikhail talking, he’d managed to slip the zip ties from his hands, slide the tiny knife from the hidden compartment in his watch, and cut through hers. He’d had to dislocate one of his thumbs to get out of his plastic cuffs, but hey, that was the least of his physical pains at the moment.
And stupid? Yeah, he actually did think Uri and Mikhail were to leave him sitting close to Brooke.
His feet were still bound, but as Brooke screamed and toppled sideways, he jumped up and came down hard on the chair, busting the wooden legs into multiple pieces and freeing his ankles.
The impact jarred the hell out of his injured leg, but he didn’t have time to worry about it as Mikhail sprang and Roman hit him with a quick uppercut to the face that sent Mikhail sprawling and brought Roman great satisfaction.
Especially when he saw the amount of blood that came gushing from the kid’s broken nose.
Uri wasn’t leader of the Zion mafia for nothing. Before Roman could jump over Brooke, who had realized her hands were free and caught herself before she smacked her head on the floor and was now trying to free her bound ankles, Uri pulled a gun and pointed it at Brooke’s head.
