Page 56 of Depraved Royals

Brutus ignores me and finishes his checks. “He’s clean. No weapons.”

We leave him at the gate and head for the garage.

“You’re driving,” Fyodor says, “but you’ll go whereItell you.”

* * *

“Marta and the girls will be safe at home,” Fyodor says, “but only because you’re not there. I want to believe in you, Kal, for the sake of my Dani’s poor heart, but you’d better be prepared to tell me the whole truth.”

I nod.

My eyes dart around, trying to see everything at once, as though hypervigilance might be enough to stave off disaster.I need to stop the car. I can’t sit in a bar or even drive around having this conversation. My nerves are fucking shot.

“There.” Fyodor points. “Parking garage. Find a spot far from any other vehicles and park up.”

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why this is his destination of choice. When Fyodor hears what I have to tell him, he might lose his shit and kill me there and then. The less chance there is of anyone seeing that, the better.

The third floor has no cars on it, and I pull up in a bay, shutting off the engine.

I lean against the seat and close my eyes.

“Remember when you told me my choices weren’t easy?” I say.

“Yeah. I told you to be wise.”

Fyodor unfastens his seatbelt and taps my shoulder, and I open my eyes, turning to him.

“Are you being wise, Kal? Or are you being fucking stupid?”

The figure outside the car moves so quickly that I think I’m imagining it. The glass in the passenger window shatters into thousands of tiny pebbles.

“What the fuck?” Fyodor yells.

I’m trying to undo my seatbelt, but I’m too slow.

A hand reaches through the empty window frame, holding a spanner.

With a dull thud, the attacker brings the weapon down onto Fyodor’s skull. The bow isn’t hard enough to knock him out, but he’s definitely subdued, his head lolling against the door.

The figure sticks his head through the window. I know who it is before he pulls down the bandana covering his mouth.

“Good job, Kal,” Simeon says. “I knew you’d come through for us.”

Fyodor is trying to say something.

“Kal…ambush? You fucking…” His voice fades into semi-conscious mumbling.

Simeon is laughing. I swipe my fist at him, but he pulls away before the punch connects. As I scramble out of the driver’s side, he turns to speak to someone behind him.

“You see? I told you I could do it!”

I look over the roof of the car, and there she is.

My mother.

21

Dani