Page 29 of Be My Vengeance

Yep

Gideon

Fucking hell, Danny. You were supposed to be the levelheaded one. I’m on my way. DO NOT KILL MAKSIM!

“He’s coming.”

Alex huffed. “Of course he is.”

“Which means we have an hour. Gideon said we couldn’t kill him, but we can make the best of this hour.” I took out the smelling salts from my pocket and snapped them under Maksim’s nose.

He jolted back, sleepiness still clinging to him as he lolled his head side to side and squinted. He went to move his arm but quickly realized he was tied up and started tugging.

“What the fuck is going on?” He looked at Alex and then me. “Who are you?”

Alex took a step closer to the bed. “Let me properly introduce myself to you. My name is Alex Walker. You may not recognize that name, so let me summarize things for you. I was married to Mila Popov for less than a day before your father had her gunned down on my wedding day…any of this ringing a bell?”

Maksim’s eyes widened. “I had nothing to do with that.”

Alex shrugged. “Don’t care. You’re who I have right now, and by the time I’m done with you, I’ll know every secret in that head of yours, and if you’re lucky your death will be swift.”

“Death? I fucking have no idea what you’re talking about. Who is Mila?”

Lying was a tricky thing—you were either really good at it or horrible. There was no in-between. People like Maksim were raised to know how to lie, cheat, steal, and kill. He was a good liar, but there was no way he didn’t know about any of this.

“Interesting thing about all this is the fact that the reason Mila was killed was because she married Alex and was supposed to marry Vladimir’s son.” I cocked my head. “Are you not his son?”

“I am, but I wasn’t told I was to marry anyone. Could have been my older brother, Sergey.”

That was a name we didn’t know. “And is Sergey married?”

Maksim swallowed loudly. “Yes.”

“And do you have any other brothers?” I inched closer to the bed. He shook his head. “So it stands to reason that Mila was promised to you.”

“But I’m gay!”

“Which means nothing to Vladimir Ivanov!” Alex shouted. “He would never allow you to be with a man, and you know it. You were promised my wife, and you know what he did!”

“I didn’t, I swear.”

I sighed and hung my head. “I guess we do this the hard way, then.” I checked my watch. “We have forty-five minutes.”

Alex clenched his fist. “Plenty of time.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Alex

“What part of don’t kill him was unclear?” Gideon yelled, which forced me to remove my hands from Maksim’s neck and step away. The man gasped for air and started coughing.

“He’s not dead,” I answered, earning me one hell of a glare.

“Danny, Alex, join me in the living room. Toni and Penn will keep an eye on your guest.” He turned on his heel, and Danny and I had no choice but to follow.

I slipped my hands into my pockets to cover up the blood. Some mine, some Maksim’s. Gideon was pacing the room, running his fingers through his hair.

“What the fuck were the two of you thinking?”