Page 67 of The Payback

“The question is, why didn’tyoutell me?” he asks.

“That she’s an Emerald Sabre mail-order bride Sergei brokered for you? I knew about as much as you did when that was happening.”

He levels me with a severe look. “A time is coming, Nik, when your loyalty will be tested. I know my uncle holds a special place in your life, having been your contact when you were away. But I am warning you now, if you feel even an iota for Ellie—for your past—you will get your shit in line and get on the right side of this. This is the only warning I’ll give you.”

The pieces all click together. He brought her here. Dimitri is an asset and plans to take down this chapter. Fuck, what if he signed on for more than that? Promising them my cousin and the reach she has?

“It’s happening, then? Call it off! Do you have no loyalty? How was she even sent here with who’s waiting for her at home?” That’s the closest I’ll get to revealing she has a child if he doesn’t know it yet.

“I didn’t know that until she was here, and it’s none of my business. And anyway, it’s too late to stop it, especially since we learned about the girls coming over in containers.” Before I can ask about it, he continues, laying out his cards. “The girls are being returned safely. They should have never been taken. And my loyalty died a long time ago, Nik. You know that. You were part of it.”

Memories wash over me; his father screaming at the two of us, the fear gripping me as a man I admired—who took me into his home—threatened to kick his own son out and turn me out onto the streets with nothing more than the clothes on my back. All because we had fucked up, and our friendship meant letting things slide. Danil would have cut me off from the only family I had left. The devastation on Dimitri’s face when his father handed down orders, expecting them to be obeyed without question, was impossible to watch. So I took those orders and did it myself, driving a wedge between us for the rest of our lives.

“How did they even turn you?” I spit out.

“I went to them.”

The words land like a heavy stone in my gut. They didn’t even have anything on Dimitri, yet he sided withthem. He brought them into our home, lining up all his little chess pieces and preparing to knock the rest of us down.

“You can’t be surprised, Nik. My reasons were different at the start, but now? Now I won’t let it go. You saw the shipping container. Natasha didn’t sanction this. If she catches wind of it, she’ll kill us all, and I don’t want needless bloodshed.”

“Then shut it down yourself,” I counter.

“You don’t think I’ve tried? Who do you think the shipment of girls went to? I learned about this before the wedding and purchased all the cargo since. This is bigger than Sergei, and I’ve been following the crumbs, but I can’t get to it all. Not without alerting the twins or Sergei himself.”

“The twins are your spies,” I remind him.

He just lifts a brow and shakes his head. “Not anymore.” He drops his feet back down and rests his elbows on the desk. “The question is, why didn’t you do anything about this? You’re close to Sergei. You had to know about this, and you, above everyone, should know the pain of being ripped away from everything you know.”

“My situation was not the same as these girls,” I counter.

“Wasn’t it?” He raises a brow. “Loss of your parents, suddenly shipped off to Russia, leaving France and everything you know behind. Abuse at the hands of your new ‘family’?”

Memories of my first year with the Aslanov family crash over me like waves breaking on the rocks, pelting me with everything I’ve kept buried. Since finding Anya in the junkyard, those memories have been floating near the surface, just deep enough not to hinder my daily life, but every night, I wake up drenched in sweat, unable to calm my racing heart.

“I found out six months ago. Sergei waited to bring me in on it until he was sure I had let go of the ethics Interpol had drilled into me.” I rake my fingers through my hair, itching for a cigarette to occupy my mouth instead of this conversation. Taking my lighter out, I flick it open and shut with my left hand as the right clutches the chair’s armrest. “I have some information, but not enough to do anything with it.”

“And your thoughts on the girls being shipped here like chattel? Sold off to the highest bidder and used until they’re dead?” Dimitri asks.

“I fucking hate it. They don’t deserve that.” I drop my voice to a whisper. “No one does. But what can we do, realistically?”

“Imagine if it was Ellie’s child who was taken... what would you do then?”

Without thinking, the words fall from my lips. “Everything.”

“And that’s how most of the parents of those girls feel. How can we not do something if we have the means?”

“Most of the parents?” I ask.

“Some were sold by their families.”

Red-hot rage rises within me. “Who?”

“Calm the fuck down. We’re gathering names for the agency to handle. I can’t have you flying off to Russia to go on a killing spree.” Dimitri adjusts his cufflinks in a move so commonplace I know he’ll only leave them alone once they’re parallel to the hem. “So, I put it to you again. Are you in?”

“I’m in,” I say.

“That means turning on Sergei. Are you prepared to do that?”

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