Gabrielle forced Deva to take a quick shower and change into clean clothes before joining the group in the living room. Aleksei hadn’t said anything about her declaration. He had fastened his pants and pulled his cell phone to make a quick call instead.
She wasn’t expecting the same declaration from him, but not exactly a swift escape either. As she dried off and pulled on Evan’s sister’s clothes, she decided that if Aleksei returned her words or not, she was at peace with it all. So be it.
As she rounded the corner to go into the living room, she realized that the group had moved into the kitchen. On the table was a pile of pastries, and from the discarded bags, it seemed that someone had made a trip into the nearest town. Lance and Damon were scarfing down donuts as if there was no tomorrow as Lazarus was pacing the room, a haunted look on his face. Gabrielle was on the phone and Aleksei leaned a hip against the counter, a cup of coffee in his hand.
When she approached, he handed it to her. His expression was guarded, but his eyes blazing. Damn it, he was a hard man to gauge. Giving him a half smile, she returned her attention to Gabrielle, who growled as she ended her call.
“So? Any news about Sasha?”
Lazarus groaned as he continued pacing, and Gabrielle sighed. “It’s difficult to pinpoint her location, or even know exactly who took her.”
“There are rumors, but nothing solid. Liam is supposed to call us back, he said he might be on to something. Kai is still following Semyon, but so far the man is sketchy.”
Aleksei pushed himself from the counter and went to take a muffin. “But as we are closing in on that front, we have news about the other one.”
Deva froze. “About Finch’s inside job?”
It was Aleksei who spoke first. “I made a couple of phone calls on my way here after we spoke to you. Hector, Andy, but a few more too. They all told me the same thing. None of their lieutenants have been picked from the old guard. They are men that came into the organizations no more than five years ago and who made such an impression, who produced such exceptional results, that they easily grabbed the second-in-command position in each of the syndicates.”
Aleksei unfolded a piece of paper and placed it in front of Gabrielle. “Here are the names. And you can see that Semyon Kuznetzov is part of that pack.”
Everyone leaned forward to look at the names. Damon whistled. “That’s bad. I’m starting to feel paranoid myself, and I would be worried if my lieutenant wasn’t a childhood friend.”
Lance shook his head. “And what about others hanging around you? Until we have some sort of confirmation from Finch himself, I would doubt anybody and everybody.
Deva rubbed her face. “That’s all good, but I don’t see how we can act upon it. How can you go in front of the mob bosses and tell them that? We have no solid proof.”
Gabrielle checked the list and took a picture of it with her phone. “We don’t have a proof yet. I’m sending it to a friend of mine. If there is a possible link between any of them and Finch in this universe, she’ll find it.”
Lazarus emitted a low growl, putting his fist through the white wall before resuming his pacing.
Damon shouted. “Man! This is my sister’s house... you better have carpenter’s skills or money, because I’m not explaining this to her.”
Lazarus whipped a deadly stare in his direction before growling some more. “Why isn’t Liam calling?”
Deva put her untouched coffee mug on the table and stopped Oz in his tracks by a hand on his forearm. The man was so tense and tormented, it was no surprise when he exploded right in her face.
“Why did you bring her with you? You brought her into a risky situation!”
Unfazed, Deva didn’t move when he grabbed both her arms and lifted her off her feet. The sheer strength of the man made her gasp. Despite the violence, he didn’t hurt her.
Aleksei moved fast, followed by Lance and Damon.
“Lazarus put her down. Now!”
Blinking, as if returning to himself, Lazarus exhaled and lowered her gently to the floor. “I’m sorry, Deva.”
The men behind her relaxed, but Aleksei stayed close.
Deva didn’t move away from him, being the one now to grab his arms. “Do you think that I don’t feel guilty about involving her? If I had known her life would be in danger, I would never have called her. Sasha is the only one who supported my decision to leave, to disappear. She had been my closest support when my brother died, my only friend.” As she said the words, the tears she had believed had died off earlier started falling once more. “If I could, I would take her place, I would die for her. Do you understand?”
“Oh, Deva.” Lazarus shook his head before putting a hand on her shoulder. “If I had known the danger, I would never have allowed Beatrice to ask for your help. I would never have enforced the debt Bea had on you. And now your life is in jeopardy with the alliance you had to make with Evans. Your life isn’t worth that sacrifice, Deva.”
“What alliance?”
Deva’s heart dropped at Aleksei’s question when she realized that he didn’t know what had happened when Damon came to save her. How would she be able to explain that?
She started to explain her abduction and the sudden appearance of the Storm Wayfarers president. She opened her mouth, scrambling to find the smoothest manner of explaining who he was, but Lazarus beat her to it. “Damon Evans was the man Mex Johnson had arranged for Deva to marry all those years ago, isn’t he? Finch already had Johnson and the Rows in his pocket, and he saw in Deva’s abduction a way to have a hold on the Wayfarers.”
Damon stood on the other side of the table from Aleksei, and Deva was deeply aware of the rising danger. Especially with what was next. Damon Evans was the kind of man who didn’t shy away from anything, continued. “When I received the call, I thought at first it was some sort of prank, or worse, a trap. It took a few reassurances, but when they sent me pictures of someone who appeared to be Deva in a cell, I knew I had to act. When I got there, and they lead me into Deva’s cell, we had little time and opportunity to escape. Deva understood immediately what needed to be done and she was a champ. We had to convince those Russians that she had submitted to her father’s decision from all those years ago. It took some work as showing intimacy is never easy, but we succeeded. And she also knew that we had to form some sort of alliance too. Johnson needed to be brought down one way or another, and as his daughter, Deva is my ace in the hole. With her by my side, I’m certain I can bring back some sort of balance between the MCs.”
As Damon spoke, Aleksei looked at her and took a step back as if he’d been slapped. Deva frowned, not understanding Aleksei’s reaction and when she tried to reach for him, he evaded her touch as if she had the plague.”
“Was everything you did, or said, even real? Or were you only waiting for what you really wanted?”
Deva replayed what Damon had just said, placing herself in the Russian’s shoes, and understood that Aleksei was making awful assumptions about her and Damon and what had happened. Worst of all was that his belief was etched clearly on his face, distorted by anger and disgust. He thought she had played him from the start and decided to return to the MCs by allying herself with Damon. Sleeping with him when he referred to their forced intimacy. Panic twisting in her gut, she wasn’t about to let him retreat without a fight. Ready to stand in front of him and clarify everything, when Lazarus’s cell rang.
The room turned silent as he answered. The conversation was one-sided, Lazarus making non-committal sounds. But it was his posture that told Deva that it was hopeful news on the other end. His energy changed, his body tensed, his gray eyes swirled in a way Deva hadn’t seen before. When he hung up, she thought he was about to sprint out of the house. Instead, he turned to the group.
“That was Liam. They have found where Sasha is being held. After the incident at the hospital, Mex went underground but requested a nurse. Sasha outed herself to Semyon as being a doctor. In exchange for taking care of Johnson, her life was spared.”
Gabrielle stood up. “So, we find Johnson, we find Sasha.”
“My father has always been a man of habit. Wherever he is, it’s a place he owns, surrounded by men he trusts. A close guard.” Deva turned to Damon who looked at her deep in the eyes before wincing.
“Damn, Deva. You’re asking for a lot. What if it goes wrong?”
Lance frowned and looked at them both. “What are you talking about?”
Deva bit her lip, praying Damon would come forward. The man didn’t disappoint. He looked at the ceiling for a second, pushed his wavy blond hair from his face and shook his head.
“I have a man on the inside. Inside the Rows. If Mex took her underground, I can get you the location.”
Gabrielle nodded. “Call him. Get the location.”
Damon whipped out his phone, and in no more than two minutes, he had a location in the North Side. “Guys, I can’t go with you, it would ruin everything I’ve worked for. Or blow up into a war. But I have a stash in the basement. Take all the weapons you need.”
Deva looked at Aleksei who ignored her as he followed Damon, Lance, and Lazarus downstairs. She grabbed his elbow, and he cursed, pulling away sharply from her grasp.
“Aleksei, let me explain.”
“There is nothing to explain. You have made your choice. I should have followed my first instinct and assumed that the woman I believed you were could never really exist. That everything you’ve said or done was with a hidden purpose that didn’t include me. That you are a liar.”
It was as if he had spat in her face. She clenched her fists and tried to think of a way, of the words to get through to him. But nothing came, except blinding pain.
Deva didn’t know what to do, and she was about to rush after him when Gabrielle stopped her.
“I must go after him, Gabrielle, he got everything wrong.”
The blond woman offered her a caring look that softened her expression. “I know, but time is of the essence, and the guys need to leave fast.”
“Then, I’ll go with them to Sasha.”
Gabrielle shook her head once more. “You know it would be a very bad idea to go retrieve Sasha with them. Mex has most probably put a bounty on your head with watchers around the area where he’s staying. He knows you would most probably go after her.”
“So, you’re suggesting that I stay behind? Are you insane?”
Gabrielle shook her head and checked to make sure the men were out of hearing.
“I say that while very competent men take care of Sasha, we take care of the men’s problem.”