Sergio opened the passenger door and slowly stepped out of the SUV. His black aviators and strong jaw made him look like Henry Cavill’s brother. His long hair was pulled into a man bun. He unbuttoned his gray suit jacket revealing a chest tattoo that said Two Twirls with the letter A under a sunset. His story was legendary among all of us, like a fairy tale in the middle of a war. I gulped when I thought of his other tattoos, the tally marks that he kept whenever he took a soul from this earth. We’d stopped counting a few years ago because it was getting a bit ridiculous.
He was a bit too good at what he did.
I sucked in a sharp breath when another boss stepped out of the back of the car. Andrei Petrov-Sinacore. Shit.
“Why’s Andrei with him?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Fuck.” Junior’s stance didn’t budge. “Probably because Sergio doesn’t want the other bosses to know, and Andrei’s technically related to Claire since she’s Nikolai’s niece.”
Nikolai, as in The Doctor. The Russian mafia used him because he was the best, but he worked both sides just like Andrei, they’d single-handedly taken over the Russian mafia and merged it with the Italians. It was the strangest cease-fire the world had ever seen, and I knew if Andrei was with Sergio, they were taking this very seriously.
Andrei’s blue eyes snapped to attention; his neck tattoos seemed to swirl beneath his three-piece suit as his nose ring glinted in the sun. He was in his late thirties and looked like a freaking supermodel. It was stupidly annoying how easy it was for him to break people.
It felt like they were walking in slow motion, but when they finally stopped in front of us, it all happened too fast.
“Here,” Sergio held up a small tracking device that looked like one of those batteries they warn kids not to swallow when they’re little. It was silver.
Junior took it in his right hand. “I appreciate you keeping this quiet.”
“Tell me,” Andrei spoke up. “Is there a solid reason you’re suspicious, or are we solely basing this off of Serena having a tummy ache?”
I glared. “Hilarious.”
“I wasn’t being funny,” he said, the smooth Russian tilt of his voice thickening ever so slightly. “I’m serious Serena. This is—” He shook his head. “Chase can’t know.”
Junior snorted out a laugh. “Gee, thanks for the warning, don’t tell the scary U.S. senator who likes to have people murdered for sport. Good pep talk!”
Sergio and Andrei both gave us blinding grins.
Sergio angled his head and gave an assessing look. “What do you know that we don’t?”
“A lot?” I offered with heavy sarcasm.
“Was I ever this young?” Sergio wondered out loud.
“No.” Andrei snorted. “You’ve always been old as shit.”
“Thanks,” Sergio snapped.
“You’re welcome.” Andrei smiled.
“I’ll ask again. Is there something we need to know?” Sergio crossed his arms.
I chewed my lower lip and shared a look with Junior.
He gave me a slight nod.
“She seems like she wants out,” I said quietly. “But it’s not just that. She’s distancing herself at a time when we need to be together. Who am I kidding? Isolation is how you get dead.”
“Isolation is how our enemies destroy us,” Andrei agreed. “Keep the tracker in her purse, you know the drill, put it inside her favorite lip gloss, whatever you need to do. And we’ll track her movements.”
“You two?” Junior laughed. “You two are working together on this?”
Sergio glared. “Not by choice, but since she’s Nikolai’s niece…”
“Right, Russian jurisdiction and all that…” Junior nodded.
“You both should go.” Andrei jerked his head at us. “Classes are starting to get out, and the last thing we need is for Sergio to get chased again.”
I laughed at Sergio’s horrified expression. “Admit it, you’re more terrified of college girls than you are of dying.”
His shudder was all we needed.
Andrei winked at me, and then they were gone. Power in each movement, in each step as they went back to the car and left the same way they came.
I let out a rough exhale. “Damn, he’s intimidating.”
“Both of them are.” Junior elbowed me playfully. “It’s their job to be scary, but we know the truth.”
“Oh yeah, and what’s that?” We started walking toward our meeting spot.
“That Andrei wears Christmas sweaters because he doesn’t have the heart to tell his wife he hates them, and Sergio’s favorite game to play was Operation when we were little. Oh, and he promised you a pony when you were ten and then actually got you one.”
I smirked. “Jealous?”
“No, because for my birthday he got me a stripper.”
I stumbled.
He caught my elbow and laughed. “Kidding.”
I jerked away. “There was a rock.”
“Uh-huh.” Junior smirked. “It’s okay to be jealous, hey I’ve got a few ones, do a little private dance for me, and I’ll shove them down your skirt.”