Page 50 of Be My Vengeance

The cleaning crew arrived like clockwork and soon enough, Alex and I were driving to the safe house.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Alex

“What was that weirdness at the distribution center?” I was scrolling through my phone while Danny drove to the safe house. The silence had been blissful until he chose to break it.

“Not sure I know what weirdness you’re speaking of.”

“Pfft. Bullshit. With Maksim. Not for nothing, but you acted jealous when I said he was attractive.”

I placed my phone on my lap and looked at him. I could only see his profile, which was fine since I wasn’t sure I could have this conversation to his face.

“I just think you could do way better than Maksim Ivanov.”

His brows lifted to his hairline. “Do you think every person I find attractive I want to fuck or have a relationship with?”

“No, of course not. I just…”

I didn’t finish right away, so he poked at me. “You just what, Alex?”

“He’s an Ivanov.” It wasn’t what I was going to say, and I was sure Danny knew that. Fortunately, he didn’t call me out on it.

“I have no interest in him.” I could tell he wanted to say more, so I waited. “Is that the only reason?”

Was it? “What other reason would there be?”

He glanced at me briefly before refocusing on the road. “I dunno.”

We turned down the driveway to the safe house, thankfully ending this line of questioning that was honestly making me sweat.

As soon as the car was off, I bolted toward the house. The truth was, I didn’t know what had happened at the distribution center or why I’d had such a visceral reaction to Danny showing any sort of attraction to Maksim. Would I feel that way if he said that about anyone else? Ugh. This was going to be something I’d need to talk to Leslie about.

Inside the house, the living room had been rearranged. The couches and tables were all pushed against the wall, there was an open space where a tarp had been laid out on the floor, and Oleg was tied and gagged on a chair.

“A gag?” Danny asked as he entered the house behind me.

“He wouldn’t shut up.” Toni shrugged. “Not the kind of talking we’re looking for.”

Gideon was standing off to the side with Penn. His demeanor was relaxed as the two of them spoke softly to each other. Maksim was sitting at a table away from Oleg—funny enough, filing his nails as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

“You gave him a nail file?” I turned to Toni because no one else would have done that.

“What, are you afraid I’ll manicure you to death?” Maksim snarked.

“He’s not going to stab anyone with the nail file.” Gideon walked to me. “As promised, we didn’t begin. Did you want to start it off?”

I stepped back. “No. You go and ask the questions you need answers to first.”

I didn’t much care what he had to say. I wanted him to hurt, suffer, and eventually die. But Gideon needed information, and we all needed Vladimir here. We were leaving bodies around and messing with his business, and I believed Gideon needed to know if it was working and Vladimir would be coming. He also wanted to know as much about the organization as possible.

Gideon stepped up to Oleg, yanked the gag out of his mouth, and tossed it onto the tarp. Oleg didn’t speak, but the glare he gave Gideon screamed how much he detested my boss.

“Do you know who I am?” Gideon asked.

“Dead man.”

Gideon laughed humorlessly. “I’ve heard that one before. Not very original. My name, do you know my name?”