Page 83 of Caged

“Where is he?” Mikhail growls.

Knox lets out a rueful chuckle. “Who the hell knows. If he’s smart, he’s back in Russia.”

“Why was she here?” My question comes out softer than I intended.

Knox’s chapped and broken lips turn up in a sneer. “Ah, she fucked you good, huh? I bet she was looking for those diamonds while you were buried deep. Kirill said she was a ‘special weapon’.” He laughs, but it turns into a choking cough before he spits up a string of blood. “Musta been a powerful pussy to get the drop on you.”

With raw fury, my fist lashes out, pummeling his mouth until his teeth shatter against my knuckles.

Mikhail drops one of his broad palms on my arm, making me stop.

Knox groans, not quite covering the whine coming out of Jax behind me.

I know he’s itching to have his turn. But he hits hard enough, and he’d kill Knox with one blow.

“Was she sent by Ivan?” Mikhail’s face lowers toward Knox.

Knox squeezes his eyes shut before looking at him. “You think you’re going to win this game? I know who you are, Volkov. You’re too little, too late. Do you think we don’t hear about how you weren’t able to save the people that mattered? How you ran like a dog to America?” He pushes a broken tooth out between his bleeding lips. “You’re a fraud and a coward. Show everyone your face. Reveal the scars of your failure?—”

There’s a heavy thunk as Mikhail sinks a long blade up through Knox’s neck until it sticks out the top of his skull.

The biker slumps, his open, glassy eyes staring down at the floor.

“He knows nothing of what we went through.” I pat Mikhail on the shoulder. “Let’s go talk to Enzo.”

I give Jax a nod. “Time to move forward. Call the cleanup crew.”

Mikhail follows me back to his office, but I stop him before we go in the door. “You did everything possible. Lara is here because of you.”

His dark eyes squint at me.

I can’t see his face past his balaclava, but I can hear him gritting his teeth.

“This is the life that chose us.”

Enzo is already waiting inside, his laptop is open and he’s furiously typing on it. He had a feed into the room with Knox. I bet he’s already knee deep in her history.

“So, that name he gave up? Nothing. She’s a ghost.” He leans back and runs his fingers through his short, black hair.

“I do have some bad news.” He grimaces as he flips the screen around.

I bend over to get a better view. “Is that inside my house?”

He nods. “It gets better.”

Melissa comes into view. This is the feed overlooking my own office. I put the camera there to make sure Svetlana wasn’t snooping.

I forgot it existed.

Melissa ducks into my space.

Then Svetlana is standing outside of it.

“What the fuck?” I blurt as I watch Melissa kill my daughter’s babysitter.

Enzo reaches forward and hits the skip button. “Check out act two.”

A man in black riding leathers shows up and drags the body of the nanny out of range.