Page 41 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

This. Cannot. Be. Happening.

I put the pregnancy test down and start pacing.

The instructions tell me to wait five minutes, so just to make sure, I wait ten.

When the time is up, I turn and face the sink.

It feels like I’m walking to my death.

Three steps.

Two steps.

One step.

My hands grip the edge of the sink but I’m still not looking at the test. I can’t bring myself to.

Breathe, Esme. You can do this. You have to.

So I look down.

And just like that, my life changes forever.

12

Artem

The Moreno Compound, Mexico

The compound is lit up like a jewel.

Guards with automatic rifles patrol the tops of the encircling wall and man each of the two security posts outside the perimeter.

Roving floodlights, cameras at strategic locations, and a swath of clear land so the forces can spot intruders coming from a quarter mile away.

It’s Fort fucking Knox.

And I’m about to burn it to the goddamn ground.

I’m lying belly-down on a large hill in a rocky outcrop far enough away from the compound that my men and I won’t be visible.

We don’t actually have to worry, though.

Not a soul knows we’re here.

“What’s on your mind?” Cillian asks, as he sits down next to me and passes me a bottle of water.

I crack it open and take a sip, but what I’m really craving is something much stronger.

“Just game-planning.”

“The game has been planned for a while now,” Cillian says. “There’s nothing to think about. Quit overanalyzing.”

“Nothing can go wrong. Quit bitching.”

“Nothingwillgo wrong,” Cillian says. “We’re prepared.”

“That’s not the question. The question is… aretheyprepared?” I point at the top of the compound wall, where a pair of burly men clad head-to-toe in black tactical gear are patrolling.

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