Page 82 of City of Salvation

“Who the fuck is this?” I asked again, waving a hand at Gunner to be quiet when he asked me what was going on. Waiting for the unknown caller to answer my question.

“Watch your fucking tone,” someone else said. The statement sounded like it came from someone farther away from the phone though. “Kenji, down boy,” the female voice said with a chuckle. “This is Scarletta. I’m friends with Ryan. We’ve spoken once before, Dex. Sort of.”

As soon as she said her name I pressed speaker so Gunner could hear as well, and she instantly said hello to him. “Now that you’re done being paranoid, you can listen. Nikki is on her way to New York.”

Dread filled my body. My hand vibrated as a text came in with a picture of Nikki in the same wig she’d worn the night she’d gone to the Reapers’ club. The second photo was a security cam shot of her sitting at an airport terminal.

“Why’s she going to New York? She going to see you?” I asked, staring at the side of Nikki’s heart-shaped face.

“I don’t know yet, but I doubt she’s on her way to me. If she is, she’s dropping in unannounced, because I haven’t heard a peep from her.”

“Well, find out,” I bit out, still studying Nikki’s face. Thepicture was too grainy to tell if she was injured, or what her emotional state was.

Scar said something else to someone in the background. It sounded a lot like“Let him be.”Then she was back in my ear. “I’ve got connections everywhere, but I’m not god. There’s some shit not even I know. That was from about thirty minutes ago. Plane’s already taken off, and I won’t know more until she lands here.”

I moved toward the door, yanking it open, Gunner following close behind. “You’re going to go pick her up, right? I want her ass somewhere safe as soon as that fucking plane lands.”

“What do you know about her?” She asked, ignoring my demands. Gunner cut in when it was clear that I was too upset to answer.

A large hand landed on my shoulder, and Gunner pressed the mute button. Which probably wouldn’t work on Scar, but I didn’t voice that.

“Hey, whatever the fuck you’re telling yourself in your head about her, don’t. As someone who had to lie about who they were to the person they loved, sometimes we have our reasons, and it’s only because of shitty timing that we aren’t the ones to break the news. Ryan stillknewme, even if she didn’t know my legal name,” he said, his eyes pleading with me.

“He’s right,” Scar added.

A sigh left my lips as I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “How did I know that muting wouldn’t do shit for you. Okay, clearly you know more than we do about Nikki, so just lay it on me.” Even to my ears, I sounded tired.

“Nikki Adams is actually one Natasha Petrov, born and raised in St. Petersburg. Her daddy was a high-ranking member in the St. Petersburg Bratva.” Gunner and Iexchanged looks. “Yup, the same Bratva led by one Yuri Sokolov. Here’s where it gets particularly interesting: Natasha, aka Nikki, was gifted to Yuri as a bride in exchange for power for her father, and then she went missing.”

The puzzle pieces began to click into place. I’d always knew she couldn’tonlybe another woman, but his fiancée? That one hit like a sucker punch.

“Her fathergaveher away?” I bit out, barely containing my anger at the idea of her being traded like a fucking piece of meat.

“Yup, and before you ask, he’s deceased,” Scarletta commented.

A million and one questions swirled in my mind. Luckily, Gunner was more level-headed as he furiously sent off a text. I assumed to Ryan.

“How the fuck do you know all of this?” I asked.

“I told her,” answered someone with a deep voice. “Imagine my surprise when I spotted the infamous missing Bratva bride dancing at Lotería.”

Scarletta cut back in. “Niko saw her when we visited Lotería a few weeks ago. Thought she looked familiar, so he started looking into her. Nearly beat his ass, thinking they’d slept together. Turned out he knew her because he’d been at their wedding-turned-massacre. So I dug up more information on her, since it didn’t seem like Ryan knew she was harboring a missing person. Too many coincidences for my liking, with us killing Maxim, and then Ryan taking out Mario due to his new dealings with the Russians, then Nikkihappensto be in the middle of this? Ironically, though, it is a coincidence. Nikki picked the wrong place to hide out—Yuri was looking to expand his skin trade with my uncle in New York. Mario wanted in on the action, and the dumbfucker fell into someluck when he discovered Nikki had a husband looking for her.”

“Offered her back to Yuri in exchange for power,” I said, filling in the missing pieces. “That’s why they want her so bad.”

Gunner piped up from beside me. “Her past is catching up to her.” His eyes met mine. “The Russians want her, and the Reapers saw an opportunity like Mario had,” he said.

“And like Boe did.” My fist hit the cinderblock, knuckles splitting. I needed the physical pain to distract my mind from the emotional pain. “She probably thinks the Skeletons are taking advantage of her, too. I left her alone, Gunner. I was supposed to protect her, and I turned my fucking phone off and left her. Boe fucking told her I said for him to follow her. What if she thinks—” I couldn’t even voice the possibility that she thought I’d sold her out.

Gunner grabbed my arm when I raised it to land another punch. “Or, Nikki probably doesn’t see any other way to end this than to run. Figures if she’s out of the picture, then the Reapers lose their meal ticket. Skeletons and Los Muertos are safe,” he said. “Ryan did the same thing. These women are fiercely independent and love with their whole fucking chest. Even if they don’t realize that’s exactly what they are doing. She’s not stupid, or even reckless Dex, but she’s used to surviving.”

We stood in the hallway of the shed, locked in a stare-down that felt like déjà vu. I gave my friend a weak smile. “Gunner, for a cocky asshole, you sure do have a warm and gooey center.”

“Please don’t use the wordswarmandgooeyin the same sentence as my name ever again.”

His jab did the trick, allowing my mind to relax enough to act objectively.

Scar cleared her throat. “Well, now that we have all of that taken care of, we can talk about the load of shit we are all in. Since the Reapers royally fucked up on getting Nikki, I killed Yuri’s right-hand man when I offed Maxim, and apparently, he had another employee named Jardani go missing in your area—it was too much for him to ignore. The Boogeyman is on his way here.”

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