But I knew she wouldn’t do that, and I knew I could never leave her.

I groaned, holding her close for one more moment, and then set her back down. Grabbing the bag, I found the wipes and cleaning products. We cleaned up.

Once we were dressed, we walked back to the truck, side by side.

I didn’t hold her hand, and she never reached for mine.

43

Ash

“This is your new room, sweetheart.”

She opened the door and inside were two beds. A little girl was sitting on one of them, a doll in her hand. She looked up…

I jerked upright, realizing I’d been leaning back against a tree.

A campfire was lit up in front of me. I was hoping it wasn’t the one used to burn everything else.

Jake glanced over, “You okay?”

I nodded, a quick move up and down. “Yeah. Nightmare.”

He frowned, his face lit by the small campfire he’d built. “I know you got Raize, but he ain’t here. You want to talk about it?”

I almost laughed. He had no idea. “No. Just...different life. How long have I been out?”

He shrugged. “An hour, or so.”

A snore came from the other side of the fire.

Bronski was still out, and the ground was hella uncomfortable.

Jake sighed. “I can do it. You want me to do it?”

Did I? “I don’t know.”

I also didn’t know why I didn’t just do it. Get it done.

It seemed so cold-blooded now, and maybe Raize was right. I wasn’t ready for this—to do it this way. Self-defense was a whole different ballgame, and maybe I was still sticking to some sort of line? I’d crossed over so many that sometimes I forgot I’d even had them.

“So, you have a sister, huh?”

I eyed him warily. Jake knew about my sister, but nothing else. We hadn’t talked about the cop and missing poster incident from earlier either—not that he or Cavers would ask.

“Yeah,” I offered.

When I didn’t say anything more Jake asked, “What’s going on with you and Raize?”

I frowned. “Thought the grocery store was our talk about him and me?”

He chuckled, reaching forward to poke the fire. “I’m bored. Give me something.”

“What about you and that woman of yours?”

“She’s free. Carloni’s dead.”

“Would you want to find her, if you could?”

He didn’t answer right away, staring pointedly at the fire. “No. I’d steer clear of her, hoping she got free and stayed free.” His gaze flicked back to me. “Can I ask you something?”

I eyed him. “About Raize?”

“No.” He grinned, chuckling before he got serious again. “About your sister.”

Oh. I steeled myself.

“Is she why you’re doing all this?” He gestured around us. “It’s kinda obvious you’re not the normal girl that gets pulled into this life.”

My heart felt heavy, because Brooke was one of those girls.

I just knew it. Felt it.

I hated it.

My voice came out raspy. “She got pulled in by a Romeo pimp.”

He made an understanding sound, like a grunt tinged with sympathy. “I’m sorry.”

I nodded, my eyes suddenly blurry. “Yeah.”

“Leo Gettsicky.”

Both of us jumped to our feet.

Bronski was awake and watching us, his eyes full of pain, his face one giant grimace. He shifted, trying to relieve the pressure on his arm, but he couldn’t move. He closed his eyes, resting his forehead on the ground, and heaved out a deep breath.

“Don’t suppose either of you is inclined to help me out here?”

Jake scowled, cocking his gun. “We’re supposed to kill you.”

“Of course you are. Let me guess—Maxim decided to make a move? He’s taking out Igor and Roman? All their men?” He looked between us. “Which doesn’t make sense. You’re both with Raize, and he’s with Roman. Isn’t he? Was our intel bad about that?”

“Shut up while we decide what to do with you.”

Bronski barely acknowledged Jake, his eyes only on me. Gritting his teeth, he was able to lift himself to a sitting position, though his hands were tied behind him, and he heaved another deep breath as his shoulders slumped forward. “That’s better.”

Jake snorted. “We’re so glad.”

I hadn’t spoken to Bronski.

“I wasn’t going to touch you again, when I sent a man to Raize for you,” he informed me. “I’d heard what you could do.”

My stomach rolled over, because I knew that wasn’t true.

“I mean it.”

“You’re a rapist,” Jake spat. “That kind of sick doesn’t change. You’re sick. You stay sick. Sick fucking monster.”

Bronski shook his head. “Right. Because you’re so much better? Raize doesn’t rape, but he has just as much blood on him. The dude is a one-man army. Do you even know what he can do? Can really do? How many men he’s actually killed?”

“We’ve both seen him in action. You can’t say anything to shock us.”

Bronski looked between us. “Is he fucking her?”

I shot Jake a look. I didn’t want anything said about that.

Bronski smirked. “That’s interesting. Are you two fucking?”

Jake heaved a sigh. “New topic, asswipe. That’s old.”

He fell silent. So did Jake.

I was grateful to feel the weight of my gun next to my leg. I’d pulled it out when Bronski first spoke, but I hadn’t picked it up. It was ready to go, though. Just lift, aim, and pull. Then I’d be a different kind of killer.

I was still waiting, though I didn’t know why.

“You told Korkov your name was Brooke, but no last name. Got me thinking. Once the rumors started going around about you—the canary in the streets—I remembered where Korkov told me he’d picked you up at. Massachusetts. I don’t remember the town, but Maxim had a man working girls there. Picking them. Making them fall in love with him. A girl named Brooke came from that circuit, but she had dark hair, dark eyes. The face, though… I saw her last week and got to thinking. She still goes by Brooke. Same face.”

My heart pounded. My sister is alive?

Bronski tried to raise his arms, but he couldn’t bring them around. “She had a tattoo on the inside of her wrist. A four-leaf clover, or something like that.”

It was a pot of gold.

God.

I wanted him to shut up.

I wanted him to keep going.

“Wait. No. It was… What was it? A pot of something. Not like pot pot—dope. Pot of… what? I got it wrong. Not a leprechaun—a pot of gold! Yeah. That’s what it was.”

He knew her.

He saw her.

She was alive.

There’s no way he could make that up. No way he could guess that tattoo randomly.

Maxim?

Leo, my sister’s boyfriend, had worked for Maxim?

I’d had it wrong? All this time?

I thought Igor, not Maxim.

How had I gotten that so wrong?