Page 130 of Blood & Snow
The Sokolovs are done hiding, ready to bring the war into the open.
It seems a little late now, but some men take longer to rouse from their slumber.
"Fresh blood?" I ask.
"Still wet when our patrol found it. They're making their move tonight, Boss."
His tone is clipped and impatient, and I have enough of his message to know what's going on.
I don't have patience for dramatics, so I hang up.
The line goes dead, leaving me alone in the back of the car with the driver's eyes watching me through the rearview mirror.
I motion for him to pull over, needing time to think without the motion of the vehicle adding to the chaos in my head.
We stop beneath a streetlight, engine idling while I stare out at Moscow's empty streets.
The city sleeps around us, unaware that blood will flow before dawn breaks over Red Square.
But my thoughts keep circling back to the woman who just walked away from me.
The scent of her still clings to my clothes, and I haven't even zipped my pants up yet.
She thinks leaving will save her family.
That distance will protect them from the violence that follows me everywhere I go.
But she's wrong.
The moment she stepped into my world, the moment she started cleaning up after mykills, she became part of this war whether she wanted to or not.
The Sokolovs know about her.
They've watched us together, seen her enter crime scenes and emerge hours later with blood scrubbed from her hands.
To them, she's not an innocent caught in the crossfire—she's my accomplice, my weakness, my most vulnerable point.
And Leonid knows about her.
He's already warned me, told me to eliminate her the first sign of weakness.
And I'm stuck right the fuck in the middle.
If Sokolov doesn't hurt her, Markov will, and where will that leave me?
I pull out a cigarette and light it and suck in a deep breath of the sweet tobacco.
The flame briefly illuminates my reflection in the window, and I see a stranger looking back.
When did I become the type of man who falls for someone I should have eliminated the moment she became a liability?
When did I become so fucking weak to let anyone think they can shout at me or refuse my orders?
Leonid warned me this would happen—that keeping her around was a mistake that would cost us both.
But I couldn't listen, couldn't accept that what I felt for her was anything more than possession and lust.
Now I know better.
