47

Lia

The file Elena had given us sat in the middle of the table, unopened. Petrik stood at the window, his back to me, staring out at the darkened woods that surrounded the safe house. Nikolai was hunched over his laptop, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he combed through every piece of information he could find on Alexander Grekov.

I sat with my arms crossed, staring at the file like it might explode. Elena’s terms were clear, and they left a bitter taste in my mouth. Trading Diana’s empire for her help felt like swapping one devil for another. But Petrik was right—we didn’t have a choice. Not yet, anyway.

“We need leverage,” Nikolai said, breaking the silence. “Grekov’s not the kind of man you can intimidate. If we go after him directly, we’ll be the ones who end up on the run.”

“What kind of leverage?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended.

Nikolai glanced at me, his expression grim. “Something personal. Something he doesn’t want the world to know.”

“That’s easier said than done,” Petrik said, turning away from the window. “Grekov’s careful. He doesn’t leave loose ends.”

“Everyone leaves loose ends,” Nikolai countered. “You just have to know where to look.”

He tapped a few keys, pulling up a grainy photo of Grekov standing with a younger man outside a luxury hotel. The man’s face was partially obscured, but there was something about the way Grekov had his arm around him that felt oddly intimate.

“This is from two years ago,” Nikolai said, enlarging the image. “The man with him is Sasha Ivanovich, a journalist. He disappeared shortly after this photo was taken.”

“Disappeared?” Petrik asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Vanished,” Nikolai confirmed. “No record of him leaving the country, no sign of foul play. Just… gone.”

“You think Grekov had something to do with it?” I asked.

“It’s possible,” Nikolai said. “But we won’t know for sure unless we dig deeper. If we can tie Grekov to Ivanovich’s disappearance, we might have the leverage we need.”

“And if we can’t?” Petrik pressed.

Nikolai shrugged. “Then we keep looking.”

Hours later, I found myself sitting in the small kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee that had long gone cold. Petrik was in the next room, on a call with one of his remaining allies. Nikolai was still glued to his laptop, muttering to himself as he sifted through mountains of data.

I stared at the coffee, my mind racing. Diana, Elena, Grekov—it felt like we were being pulled in a dozen different directions, each one more dangerous than the last. And through it all, the same question kept nagging at me.

How far were we willing to go?

The sound of footsteps pulled me from my thoughts. Petrik entered the kitchen, his expression hard. “We’ve got a lead.”

I set the coffee down, my heart quickening. “On Grekov?”

He nodded, sitting across from me. “Nikolai found a property under a shell company linked to him. It’s isolated, out in the countryside. If he’s hiding anything, it’ll be there.”

“Do you think Ivanovich might be there?” I asked.

“It’s a possibility,” Petrik said. “But if he is, we’ll need to move fast. If Diana catches wind of this, she’ll use it to her advantage.”

“And if Grekov finds out we’re coming?” I pressed.

Petrik leaned back, his gaze steady. “Then we make sure he doesn’t.”

The drive to Grekov’s property was tense. The countryside stretched out around us, the fields and forests bathed in the dim light of early morning. Nikolai sat in the backseat, his laptop balanced on his knees as he tracked security feeds around the property.

“There are cameras on the perimeter,” he said, his tone clipped. “Motion-activated, but nothing too advanced. We can disable them remotely, but it’ll only give us a short window before someone notices.”

“Good,” Petrik said, his hands gripping the wheel. “We’ll make it count.”

I sat in the passenger seat, my stomach twisting with anxiety. The plan was simple: Nikolai would disable the cameras, and Petrik and I would search the property for any sign of Ivanovich—or anything we could use against Grekov. But simple didn’t mean safe.

“You okay?” Petrik asked, glancing at me.

I nodded, though I wasn’t sure if it was true. “Just… ready to get this over with.”

He reached over, squeezing my hand briefly before returning his focus to the road. “We’ve got this.”

I wanted to believe him, but the knot in my stomach didn’t loosen.

The property was massive, a sprawling estate surrounded by high fences and dense woods. Nikolai parked the car a safe distance away, and we approached on foot, keeping to the shadows.

“Cameras are down,” Nikolai said through our earpieces. “You’ve got ten minutes before the system resets.”

Petrik and I exchanged a look, then slipped through a gap in the fence. The estate was eerily quiet, the only sound the rustle of leaves in the wind. We moved quickly, sticking to the shadows as we made our way to the main building.

The door was locked, but Petrik made quick work of it with a set of picks. Inside, the air was cold and still, the faint scent of cigar smoke lingering in the hallways. The interior was lavish but impersonal, like a hotel that had never been lived in.

“Check the office,” Nikolai said. “Third door on your left.”

We found the office exactly where he said it would be. Petrik immediately went to work, searching the desk drawers and cabinets while I kept watch by the door. My heart was pounding so loudly I was sure someone would hear it.

“Got something,” Petrik said, holding up a folder.

Before I could ask what it was, the sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway. Petrik and I froze, exchanging a look. I reached for the small knife hidden in my jacket, my fingers trembling as I held it tightly.

The footsteps stopped just outside the office, and a shadow passed across the doorway. I held my breath, my grip tightening on the knife. But after a moment, the shadow moved on, and the footsteps faded.

“Let’s go,” Petrik whispered.

We slipped out of the office, moving quickly and quietly back toward the exit. Nikolai’s voice crackled in my earpiece. “You’re clear—for now. Get out of there.”

The moment we were back in the woods, I let out a shaky breath, the adrenaline coursing through me. Petrik was already scanning the contents of the folder as we walked, his expression grim.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Bank records,” he said. “Transfers to offshore accounts. And a connection to Ivanovich’s disappearance.”

I stared at him, my heart sinking. “What kind of connection?”

He stopped walking, his eyes locking onto mine. “A payment to someone who specializes in making people disappear.”

The weight of his words hit me like a punch to the gut. If Grekov was behind Ivanovich’s disappearance, we finally had leverage. But it also meant we were up against someone far more dangerous than we’d realized.

“We need to move fast,” Petrik said, his tone urgent. “If Grekov finds out we have this, he’ll come after us. And if Diana gets involved…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t have to. We both knew what was at stake. This wasn’t just a fight for leverage anymore. It was a fight for survival.