Page 138 of The Bratva Sinner

“Cinder!”

I turn to see Ava stumbling outside. She’s got blood in her hair and on her arm. Her face is gray from blood loss. Red blossoms across her stomach. I don’t know if she realizes that she’sbleeding. Her face is streaked with tears. She stops when she sees me, swaying on her feet.

A paramedic runs up to her. “Miss! You’ve been shot. Let me check you out!”

Ava stumbles, and I jump up to catch her. “Ava, go to the hospital,” I say.

“Lila!”

“I know. I’ll handle it. Go to the hospital.” I look at the paramedic. “Take her. Now. Knock her out if you have to.”

It’s cold. Ruthless. I don’t have the capacity to deal with anything else.

I walk through the house. I see the bodies, but I can’t let them affect me.

Damien is talking with one of the detectives who has just arrived. He takes one look at me, and I know that he knows.

He walks toward me, puts a hand on my shoulder, and steers me toward the SUV.

Damien gets me into the back seat and closes the door. I stare at the headrest in front of me, frozen.

My phone vibrates in my hand with an unknown number. I know who it is before I answer. I’ve known since I walked through that door and saw the blood on the floor.

“Yes?” I answer.

“You took what was mine.” Arlind’s voice is calm. “Now, I’ve taken what’s yours.” A pause to make sure his words sink in. “Come and get her.”

The line goes dead.

I sit with the phone in my hand. The buzzing in my ears is gone. Everything is very clear now. The kind of clarity that only comes when you have nothing left to lose and everything left to fight for.

“Damien.”

He turns from the front seat.

“He has her. He wants me to come for her,” I say.

“It’s a trap.”

“Obviously.”

“I’ll get a team together.”

“I’m not leaving her there.” I look out the window at the house. “I know what he’ll do to her. Every hour she’s in his hands is—” I can’t finish that sentence.

Silence. I take a few seconds to pull myself together.

“I need everything we have on Arlind’s properties,” I say. “Every warehouse, house, and location that his people have been seen in or near in the past thirty days.”

“Already pulling it.” Damien holds the phone against his shoulder. “I’ve got two guys reaching out to contacts right now.”

“I need to know where she is.”

“On it. We’re going to the estate. I’ve got the guys bringing everyone in.”

It’s what we’ve planned. If there’s an attack, my home is the best place to hunker down. We can defend it.

But it doesn’t matter if she’s not behind the walls.