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.If she’s going to work for us, someone else handles her.This will be long and complicated.We need surveillance on Kusmin and Petrenko.We can’t keep Kusmin out of this just because she wants us to.I need you to be the coordinator in the office.I don’t have to remind you we have more than this case to handle.If you want help deciding who to use, I can give you some input.”“Who would you suggest?” Ethan made sure his voice stayed level.“Lindy and Tom.She’s experienced and he needs the experience.Katya will probably open up to a woman.”“Right.” This time Ethan didn’t hide his dissatisfaction.Frank sat at his desk and leaned forward.“You have no choice.How could you trust your judgment? How could you be certain you made any decision for the right reason? Don’t risk your career over this.”“No.” Ethan tried to sound brighter and more positive than he felt.“She’ll be well taken care of.WITSEC has vastly improved over recent years.”“Sure.I’ll speak to Lindy.”Ethan reran the conversation, wondering how he’d let himself get talked into doing something he didn’t want to do, though Frank was right.If he got too close, he couldn’t trust his judgment.Hell, he was already questioning his judgment.40After Katya completed her morning teaching assignment, she took a cab to Nik’s studio, determined to get a copy of what he’d filmed in Phoenix to give to Ethan, more evidence against Petrenko.She opened the outer door, pushed open the next and froze in her tracks.The hanging fabric screen that divided the room had been shredded into ragged strips that dangled from the ceiling like the broken wings of giant moths.Jagged fragments of glass from broken lights covered everything.Planters were upended and soil strewn across the wooden floor.She looked around in bewilderment until her gaze settled on the body huddled on the bed, hands tied at the back with electrical cable.She clapped her hand to her mouth to stop her cry escaping.Nik’s face was a red mask, dark holes where his eyes had been.“Oh God, Nik.”He moaned and she recoiled.Who did this? Another moan brought her to his side and she scratched up an edge of the tape over his mouth and peeled it away.He spat out a glutinous bloody lump and she gagged.“I’ll get help.” She took out her phone, pressed 911, gave the address, asked for an ambulance and then switched the phone off again.Once she’d cut him free, he reached for his face, and she grabbed his wrists, trying not to look at him.“No, Nik.Medics will be here soon.They’ll help you.”“Has he gone?”Her spine prickled.“Why can’t I see?” he muttered.Poor Nik.He didn’t deserve this.“Who did it?”“Russian guy, tall, dark, tattooed.Didn’t smile.Said he wanted a photo of his daughter.Fuck—it hurts.Tied me up, trashed my place and—oh fuck, my eyes.My face is on fire.My eyes.Oh God.”He tried to get up and she pushed him back.“Lie still.”Katya saw then what she’d missed earlier.On the wall hung a life-size photo of a naked blonde and one of Nik’s eyes had been pinned on the model’s mouth using a yellow-topped corn fork.Trails of blood trickled down the photo onto the floor.She looked again at what he’d spat out and gagged again.Why hadn’t Kirill killed him?She left when she heard the sirens.When she turned on her phone, she listened to an irate voicemail from Aleksei demanding to know where she was.His line was busy so she left a message and called Park.By the time he picked her up around the corner from Nik’s place, she’d watched the ambulance come and go, seen the police come and stay.“Why aren’t you in Coral…?” Park did a double take at the blood on her clothes.“I came to see Nik.” She climbed into the car.“He’s been attacked.Blinded.”“Fuck.Does Aleksei know?”“I don’t know.”“Call him.”“The line’s busy.”“Keep trying.”Ten minutes later she got through.Judging by Aleksei’s volcanic reaction, he hadn’t known.As she walked up the steps to the house, Aleksei opened the door.He pulled her into his arms, pressing his face into her hair.“Tell me that’s not your blood.”“Not mine.”“Are you all right?”“Kirill did it.”He stiffened.“Did Nik say that?”“No, but I know it was him.”Aleksei groaned.“What were you doing there?”“I wanted to ask Nik about the film of me and Hastings.”“Why?” He held her out by her shoulders.“I wanted to destroy it.I don’t want anyone to see it.Why did Petrenko tell Kirill to blind Nik?”He groaned.“Don’t ask such questions.”“It all comes back to me.”“It has nothing to do with you.” He pulled in close and clutched her more tightly.“Christ, Katya.How much more trouble can you get into?”She trembled against him, her eyes full of tears.“You make it very difficult for me to look after you.Go and shower, get rid of those clothes while I make a few calls and then we’ll talk.”She heard him shouting in his office until he closed the door.Nik had probably been punished for making a copy of what happened in the hotel.Maybe Petrenko thought Anna and Nik were working together.There was significance in the way Kirill worked.Nik had been watching something he shouldn’t have so he lost his eyes.Anna was fed to the sharks because Petrenko thought she’d tried to blackmail Hastings before he could.The guys who’d raped her lost their genitals because they’d misused them.Galya had been made to look like a puppet because she worked for the FSB.Katya released a shaky breath.The tongue in the vagina was the ultimate insult.She’d fucked herself to death.There were probably other murders in Moscow before Kirill left and more in America after he’d arrived.He’d get the death penalty or life in prison, but maybe with clever lawyers Petrenko would escape justice.How could she make sure that didn’t happen and keep Aleksei safe?“Calm down, Aleksei,” Petrenko said.“You’re going to give yourself a heart attack.”“Nik was useful to me.”“He cheated you.”“No, he fucking didn’t.”“He made a copy of the tape of Hastings and Katya.How do you know he wasn’t working with Anna or Natasha or even Katya to blackmail the guy?”“He wouldn’t.He hadn’t got the guts.I knew he’d make a copy, but he wouldn’t have done anything other than jerk off watching it.Why did you send Kirill?”There was no answer.“I thought most people didn’t say anything after he’d been to see them,” Aleksei snapped.“Though I don’t suppose Nik thinks he’s lucky.”“Your latest fuck disturbed him before he’d finished.”Aleksei slammed the phone down.He could feel everything unraveling, hopes of a future with Katya slipping through his fingers.When she came into the kitchen, he hugged her.There was something strong about her, something that reminded him of himself.He unpinned her hair, and let it fall down her back.Everything he did now, he did for them both.He’d never felt this way about a woman before.He’d crossed a line he’d thought he’d never be lucky enough to reach and now he’d put his life on the line for her.No going back.As she chopped carrots he ran his hand down her spine and then up under her shirt and onto her skin.She drove him crazy with fury and lust.She squirmed as his hand slid to her breast and lingered over her heart.“Your heart’s beating fast,” he whispered.“Fear or desire?”“I heard you yelling.”“I’m not yelling now.Relax.”“I can’t.”“Why not?” Aleksei rubbed her nipple between his fingers.“Because your world scares me.”He pressed his face into her neck, his erect cock into her backside.“It scares me too.Be careful with Viktor.You don’t want him as your enemy.”“Too late.He already hates me.”“I know you blame him for your sister’s death
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