Dragusha Revenge ✓Completed✓

MIRA

I’M LYING THERE in the darkness in the middle of the night, trying to deal with this new information about Dad. I can’t fit this information into my heart any more than I can fit a square peg into a round hole. He slaughtered his closest friends! Mr. Dragusha was his mentor and Mrs. Dragusha was an innocent woman. A wife, a mother. He killed them in cold blood. And he sent away the boys and hunted Aleksio. My belly twists. And Aleksio went to the restaurant, walking right into the middle of his stronghold. It’s crazy, even with me as a hostage.

I slide my palm up the side of the bed where he was, up and down. It feels like he was just here, holding me, talking to me. I felt safe and good in his arms. Like coming home. Which is crazy, because this shit is everything I’ve ever tried to escape. It’s like I’m being sucked into some sort of enchanted looking glass, but this is not my real life. And things are going to get bloody. Aleksio and Viktor are good for their promises—I know it in my bones. Aleksio said he wouldn’t kill Dad, and I know they’ll uphold that promise. But what will Dad do? And what will Viktor do?

He promised to kill me if Kiro doesn’t turn up alive. If Kiro is dead, Viktor will need to uphold that promise. He’ll need to. And Aleksio will try to stop him. Uhhhhh what a mess. Either way, I have to get out of here. I can’t go back to the Advocacy Center. It will be too easy for them to find me there—that fake Mira persona works only if nobody’s kicking the tires. I’ve decided to flee to an old high school friend’s family cabin near the Mississippi. We used to sneak out there for the weekend. I know where the key is hidden. Nobody would find me. Not Aleksio, not Viktor, not Dad’s people.

I go back to the door and put my ear to the wood. I find myself hoping that the brothers unite and fulfill the prophecy. Take back the Black Lion clan. Aleksio on the throne. My mind goes to Aleksio on the couch in the hotel room and the way he focused down at me. The way he handled me. The hot brutality of it. Stop it! I rub my aching head. I have to save myself. They come back in a frenzy a while later.

It’s the sound of trouble. Relief whooshes out of me when Aleksio walks back in. He reaches out, as if to touch my cheek. “Don’t worry, dear old Dad’s still breathing. We have a lead on Kiro. His adoptive family.” My belly turns. “Dad was holding back? No…” “We didn’t get the address from your dad directly,” he says. “He had an idea where we could look.” “In other words, he withheld information.”

“Don’t take it Personally? That Dad played chicken with me? Tell me that’s not what you were about to say. I mean, don’t take it personally that Viktor almost sawed off my finger, and that was a gamble Dad was willing to take?” I wrap my arms around myself. “We’re supposed to have each other’s backs.” “He didn’t think we’d really do it.” “Is that supposed to be consolation?” “Kinda.”

Aleksio goes to the dresser and throws me a white shirt and an orange skirt with pink flowers. Bright and summery, the opposite of him. There’s nothing more to say. He knows it. I know it. Tito comes in and tosses him a holster. “Saddle up, brat,” he says, using the name for him that Viktor often uses. Pronouncing it all Russian-sounding. Five minutes later, we’re in the car. It’s around two in the morning, judging from the dashboard clock. I’m in the dark back seat with Aleksio.

“Where are we going?” I ask. “Following the lead,” Aleksio says. “To Kiro?” “We hope.” Tito’s riding shotgun, and Viktor drives. His face is really beaten up, one eye so swollen I’m sure he can’t see through it. He pulls out his flask and takes a swig of vodka, even though he’s driving. I make sure my seatbelt is snug. There’s only the waist kind, unfortunately. It’s an old Jaguar, and you can tell it’s been modified. Probably bulletproof. We’re in a convoy of guys, a Hummer up ahead, an SUV behind. Aleksio’s focused on his phone. In his own world. Looking for his brother all this time and now we’re nearing the moment of truth.