Page 90 of Dark Deviant

Hadeon lets out a shaky breath, grunting when he tries to lean back against the seat. “I went down to the beach for a while then stopped to grab some food. I knew I had time before Rysa’s show. The guy cornered me when I went back to my rental car, said his guys took Petro and my uncle from the house. That he’d kill them unless I got into his car. He snatched my phone, held a gun to my head, and shoved my ass in. Next thing I know, we’re on our way to the concert hall.”

“He didn’t tell you anything?”

“Just that he’d kill us all if I tried to run.”

I let out a sharp hiss of air, and stab Tori’s number into the screen. She answers om the first ring.

“We’re having so much fun with little D,” she gushes. “We’re making scrambled eggs for dinner because she said—”

“Tor, we have a problem.” I quickly fill her in on what I know, which is more than enough to make my skin crawl.

“Let me take a look.” Some muffled sounds follow, and then her voice comes back on the line. “I don’t see anything weird out there. We’re so off the beaten path. Maybe he was just fucking with you.”

“These guys don’t waste time with bullshit threats. They’re watching, and you and Konstantin need to be ready for them. You have my little girl in there.”

“There’s also an arsenal here, D. If anyone is stupid enough to come for Daniela, they are dead. Dead in the most horrifyingly, torturous kind of way.”

“Just keep your eyes open, be careful, and let the others know what I found out. I’m going after Larysa. They’re taking her somewhere, and I have to stop them.”

“Yeah, you do. A family doesn’t work without the mother.”

I squeeze the steering wheel tight and swallow past the golf ball-sized lump. “I know.”

“We’ve got this. Go and get your baby mama.”

“Sure doesn’t seem like you hate her anymore.” Hadeon waggles his eyebrows at me. “Guess you got kind of comfy shacking up for the past week.”

I don’t answer. My shoulders tense and I slam my foot on the gas, swerving in and out of lanes.

The Range Rover jerks left and right as I speed down Biscayne Boulevard.

“Malikov, you’re gonna put me in traction before we can even get to those assholes.”

A buzzing sound jolts me. Luka’s name flashes on the screen. I accept the call and click back onto the map. My eye is still on the moving car.

“Word travels fast.”

“Yeah, well, there’s more. I have Alek here and I’m putting you on speaker. Alek’s guys did a trace on the phones you gave him. All three of them reference a plan to take Larysa to the Bahamas. There’s some safety deposit box down there that only she has access to. Christ only knows what’s in it.”

I grit my teeth. “And what about Adrian Ivanova? This guy appears out of nowhere. Alek, how the hell didn’t we know about this guy? I thought we were just battling his brother Branko.”

Adrian’s reference to the heads of the hydra makes so much sense.

Screw cutting off the heads. I’m gonna obliterate the whole damn thing with a machete.

“Adrian supposedly had a secret identity, one he’s only shed in the past few weeks. Nobody knew he existed before then. There was no trace of another Ivanova. Branko must have pulled him in for a reason,” Alek says. “They’re heading for the Miami Executive Airport. We’re on our way.”

Rage boils deep in my chest.

He showed up to kill me the night of the wedding, to start a war between my family and the Moroz family.

I can still hear the exploding gunshots.

I can still see my mother lying in a pool of blood, her beaded gown pooling around her lifeless body.

I can’t let them take Larysa from me and Daniela.

“Whatever is in that safety deposit box is something Olek was trying to hide for your father. It might be the final piece we need to slam the nails in the Ivanova coffins.” Alek’s voice is grave. “Everything Val has been doing over the past couple of years has led us here. The codes she’s collected will open a world of secrets that the Ivanovas, and all of their associates, are desperate to bury. But Larysa isn’t the only thing they need to get into that safety deposit box. She can’t get them what they need. And when they find that out…”

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