Made in Vengeance

He held me close the entire night, and still, it did nothing to keep the nightmare away.

I didn’t want to lose any of them.

* * *

The flightto Utah was uneventful.

But I was happy to leave Sin City. For some reason, it felt like a heavy fog was pushing me down since we’d landed there, but that seemed to abate marginally the further we got, and I couldn’t wait to get to New York. To see their penthouse, to start my new life.

But first, we would get to see Mikhail’s mom.

Mikhail had been quieter than usual all morning, and everyone tended to leave him alone with his thoughts.

As usual, Kirill took the driver’s seat, and this time Leo was in the passenger seat. Maxim had gone back to New York to help oversee the business. I didn’t ask if it was the legitimate side of their business or one of the shadier ones.

I grabbed Mikhail’s hand and held onto it tightly, my other hand playing with the seatbelt. We were sitting in the far back of the car while Damien and Nikolay took the middle seat.

Mikhail turned to me, smiling a little—though his eyes still looked a little dim—then looked back out at the mountainous scenery Utah had to offer.

We pulled up to a small, isolated cabin shortly after climbing up a bumpy trail of dirt road.

My hand tightened around Mikhail’s.

What if this was a trap?

“Stay in the car, pet,” Damien said when I moved to unbuckle my seatbelt.

I looked at all three of them.

I grabbed Mikhail’s arm when he moved to get out of the car. He looked at me.

“We don’t know what we’re heading into, and I don’t trust Ricci. He could be leading us into a trap.” Frustration tightened around his eyes. “We should have sent you home with Maxim.”

I scowled up at him for that statement, and for the first time all morning, he looked a little like my Mikhail once more.

He moved his thumb down between my eyebrows, smoothing out the small frown there.

“Be good.”

With that, he climbed out of the car after Damien and Nikolay. I didn’t miss the nod he exchanged with Kirill. I knew if anything went wrong, they wanted Kirill to take me out of there.

Over my dead body. I moved toward the door, letting my legs hang over the seat and touching the ground.

“Miss, maybe you should come back to the car and close the door,” Kirill said.

I shook my head, ignoring him and keeping my focus on the three men as they made their way up the walkway.

Damien and Nikolay veered off to the side of the house, pulling out their guns as Mikhail went to the porch and rang the doorbell.

I held my breath.

I didn’t think anyone was going to answer, but as soon as I thought it, movement from the window caught my attention. Then the door opened, and an older woman with blond hair the same shade as Mikhail’s answered the door.

They talked for a few minutes, and eventually, he looked back at the car. His eyes found me right away.

He crooked a finger at me. Slowly, I climbed out of the car and walked toward them. I pretended not to see Damien and Nikolay putting their guns away and coming into view. The woman took a step back at the sight of the two men, but she held her ground.

I thought I saw movement around a nearby tree, but when I turned toward it, there was nothing.