Motherfucking fuck.
How could I not have seen her innocence before? Was I so desperate to hold her responsible?
A mingled confusion of relief and regret spears through me. Relief because she didn’t frame me. Regret for how this could’ve—should’ve—been.
As I digest this further, a wave of filthy self-loathing rolls through me.
I punished her for nothing. She’s innocent. That’s why she met Nagy here. To warn him. She knew if we found out about his involvement, I’d kill him.
Shit, shit, shit. Every molecule in my body resonates with fury. I want to chase down the motherfucker and strangle the life out of him. But everything is different now. Mina is in love with me, and I don’t want to hurt her more than I already have.
Fuck, what do I do?
“Yan?”
Mina’s voice comes to me, soft and uncertain. Frightened, even. My name on her lips pierces through the fog of my roiling emotions, pulling me back like a gentle tide.
Pushing everything under the surface, I school my features before facing her. “Mina?”
“Hanna was asking if we’re staying for dinner.”
There’s hope on her face, but also fear. She’s still wary of having me around Hanna after my threat. And who can blame her?
“We have a long day ahead tomorrow,” I say apologetically, already hating how sad acceptance settles in her blue eyes.
As I speak, I look at her. I look and I look. I can’t stop looking.
She’s not who I accused her of being. Over the weeks, I’ve made my peace with her betrayal. I’ve come to accept that our one-night stand meant nothing to her beyond the physical. I’ve congratulated myself for managing to tie her to me with feelings, using sex as a weapon. I’ve given myself a figurative pat on the back for making her fall in love with me. When her betrayal was my excuse, it wasn’t so hard to do. But now, that leverage is gone, and I have to face the fact that maybe our spontaneous sex on the night we met didn’t mean that little to her after all.
Fuck. I can no longer use her betrayal as currency. I can no longer take her freedom as payment for a sin she never committed.
Mina turns away to make Hanna comfortable, and I keep staring at her with new eyes. I look and look as one question keeps turning in my mind.
Can I let her go?
The answer sinks into my heart, heavy like a rock, rough with sharp edges.
No.
Fuck, no.
My woman approaches me with a faint smile. “Shall we go?”
It’s a smile that nearly kills me.
It’s hard for Mina to say goodbye, so much so the air in my lungs constricts with an incontrollable echo of sympathy. The truths I carry in the secret cavities of my chest maul me to a pulp inside. I hold Mina’s hand tightly as we get into the car, and I don’t let go until we’re home.
Ilya is out, chasing women. I wait until Mina is taking her shower before approaching Anton.
“I want you to go after Kiss in Switzerland. This job is too important to trust anyone else with it.”
He takes a beer from the fridge and twists off the cap. “When? You do realize after tomorrow, he may already be on the move again, or whoever took out the other guys may shoot him before we get to him.”
“That’s why I want you to go tomorrow first thing.” If he didn’t need his sleep, I would’ve sent him now.
He stills with the bottle tipped to his mouth. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
My stare tells him there’s no joke.
“What about Dimitrov?” he asks.
“We’ll manage. Any one of us can drive a car as well as you can.”
“What about keeping an eye on the street and exit?”
“I’ll get our hackers to tap into the city’s street cameras. They can send the feed to my smartwatch.”
“It’s a risk. Is avenging Mina really more important than not fucking up this job?”
“I’m not going to fuck up this job. We’ll take care of Dimitrov. And you’ll get your cut, don’t worry.”
He slams the bottle down on the counter. “It’s not just the money. It’s our reputation. If we blow this, who’s going to hire us in the future?”
“Everything will go as planned.”
Planting his hands on his hips, he regards me from under his brows. “I’m going to ask you one last time. Is she worth it?”
Is she worth it? Fucking yes. Ten times over. A thousand times over. Regret weighs heavy on my shoulders, guilt softening my voice as I tell him, “I don’t think Mina framed us.”
He’s quiet for a beat. “What?”
“I think her military trainer did the disguises.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? She admitted she’d done it.”
“To protect him.”
“Who?”
“The Chameleon. Ever heard of him?”
“Yeah. He’s legendary.” Anton’s eyes widen. “Wait. Are you saying he trained her?”
“That photo I showed you, that ordeal? He saved her.”
“So,” he says slowly, “she owes him her life.”
“Exactly.”
“Fuck. Have you confronted her?”
“Not yet.”
“How did you find out?”
“The hackers. They sent me the info on Gergo Nagy after Tóth mentioned him. That’s why Mina went to Budapest. To warn Gergo. I have the security tape of them meeting. He was disguised, but it didn’t take much to put two and two together.”
“Are you going to take him out?”
“Don’t know yet. He obviously means a lot to Mina. Apparently, they’re good friends.”
“I suppose we can’t really hold him accountable. The guy doesn’t know us. If what you say is true, he was just doing a job, same as us.”
I sigh deeply, feeling it in my bones. I still have an urge to take him out, but now I owe him for saving my woman. “This complicates matters.”
“You don’t say.”
“I still don’t know who’s killing Mina’s attackers. Or why.”
Anton cocks his head. “This Gergo guy, maybe?”
“If he wanted to kill them, he would’ve done so after Mina’s assault. There’s something else, something bigger, and I don’t have a good
