Nathan sighed. “You won’t be able to kill her. You have an MC issue, correct?”
I don’t like how much this son of a bitch knows.
“What are you suggesting?” Ivan asked.
“Diversion. If they believe you’re onto them, they’ll cover their tracks. You want to know without a shadow of a doubt what’s going on, right? Well, use me. Send me into Oleg’s territory. I can win his trust, bring him down from within.”
“You lied to my wife. I don’t trust you.”
“I lied to protect her. Do you think she’d have remained friends with me if I told her I killed people for a living? I did it for her.”
Regardless of his reasoning. I still didn’t trust him.
“Are you gay?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Ivan looked from me to Nathan. “Now I’m curious. Your biggest concern is him finding your wife attractive?”
“She is attractive,” Nathan said. “Just not my type.”
“Enough!” I turn to Ivan, and from the look on his face, I just knew he was considering this. “Please tell me you’re not thinking about this?” I asked.
“It makes complete sense. Oleg would expect an attack by now. We go to Bethany, she names them, and he will run. If we don’t act, they can assume we killed the hit man without finding out who sent him. Nathan can gather the information we need, and eventually we can exact justice. It’s long and futile. Do you think you can garner his trust? Get close?”
“I can, but even if I can’t, I have the means to make sure I get the answers.”
I don’t believe this. It sounded so fucking logical.
I’m pissed off.
I look to Adelaide, stare at her, and then I see it-her hand moved. It was subtle, just the tips of her fingers, but they fucking moved. Looking at Ivan and Nathan, I don’t want Nathan here when Adelaide finally opens her eyes.
“You can’t be serious. You don’t know if you can trust him.”
“He’s been in your territory for months and hasn’t killed you or Adelaide. If we couldn’t trust him, then your wife would already be dead, and you wouldn’t have been able to find him. His identity was secure long enough for him to get in and out. This is a good plan, and I suggest you get onboard, Andrei. Your wife is waking up.”
I had no choice. There was more to consider than just killing Bethany. We had to find out the truth about Oleg, but we also needed to find out how deep his betrayal went. I didn’t like it, but I had no choice.
Killing Bethany wouldn’t help matters right now, but when the time came, I was going to make sure she longed for death, and I wasn’t going to show her any fucking mercy.
Adelaide
Waking up in the hospital was strange.
Staring up at the white ceiling, hearing voices was also new to me. I struggled to comprehend what they were saying, but the image was suddenly Andrei. I remembered marrying him and the months of marriage to him, but getting to the hospital was all a blur.
The doctors came in to help with the feeding tube, which was an experience I never wanted to repeat. They told me what had happened, asked if I had any memory, and the truth was, I didn’t.
I’d been shot once in the chest, but it had missed all major organs and blood vessels. I’d been lucky. The second shot had been to my stomach. They didn’t say anything about the stomach shot.
The morphine, or whatever drugs they had me on, helped to numb the pain. I felt … okay. Like I’d been run over by a truck, repeatedly, but I was alive. I was breathing.
Every now and then, I’d see flashes of Andrei, his arms wrapped around me, yelling. None of it made sense.
Rubbing at my temple, I realized that the doctors left the room, and I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened or been said. Focusing on words seemed so hard right now.
Ivan and Andrei remained in the room.
“Am I in trouble?” I asked. I licked my dry lips and Andrei reached for the water, holding the straw toward me.
My stomach hadn’t actually been hit, just my abdomen, but the doctor hadn’t said anything more, other than I was on the mend.
“Why would you be in trouble?” Andrei asked.
“I got shot.”
“And you naturally assume you did something wrong?”
I look from Andrei and Ivan. They’re Bratva. They make people pay for their wrongdoings.
“I … I…”
“Tell me exactly what you remember?” Andrei asked, putting the cup down again.
I frowned. “I remember … last night? How long have I been in the hospital?”
“Two days,” Ivan said.