For a moment, the world narrowed to him and the thud of my heart. “I … I was wondering if we could talk.”
“Aren’t we?” His tone was icy.
“Okay … hm. I need a favour.”
The silence stretched. I was about to speak when a gunshot cracked through the line. I flinched, the phone slipping against my jaw, but I gripped it, holding it tight against my ear. What the fuck was that?
“Clean that mess,” Dmitri ordered someone.
Did he just kill someone? Heat shot through me. I heard noises and movement from his side, then quietness fell before his voice came again. “What was that?”
I gulped. “I needed a favour.”
“Alessia.”
The single word pulled my spine straight. “Yeah?”
“Spit it out, or I’m hanging up.”
“I need your help.”
“No.” He hung up, leaving nothing but silence.
I stared at the phone, stunned. That was it? He didn’t even want to hear me out. But I couldn’t stop. He had to listen. I dialed again. Thank God, he answered.
“Didn’t we just do this?” His voice was edged with boredom.
“We didn’t finish,” I said. “And I won’t stop calling until you hear me out.”
“I’m listening.”
“The boss is in the hospital,” I said. “And the situation isn’t good. I didn’t know who else to call.”
When he didn’t respond, I pressed on. “He was to get a kidney transplant today. They had a donor, but someone attacked her and killed her. Some people know he’s in critical condition, and they probably want him dead, so—”
“What do you want?”
I drew a breath. This man was Luigi. Rodion hated him, and here I was, handing him my fear. I swallowed hard. “Is there nothing you can do? He’s not safe there.”
He didn’t hesitate. “Didn’t he tell you I want him dead?”
A tear slid down my cheek. “Then come over and kill him yourself,” I said. “You can help if you want.”
He chuckled. “Pray, I don’t come over and push through this request. Because if I do, you’ll marry another man and carry his father’s child. Is that what you want?”
My breath caught in my lungs. An old fear I thought I had buried crept back into my chest. I sank into the seat, gripping the phone tighter. “How did you know about that?”
“Isn’t it funny how you forgot what Rodion put you through?”
Anger pushed through my fear. “So you won’t help?”
“You have two choices,” Dmitri said. “I come over and kill him, or I hand you to the old bastard and go through with the deal to get the kidney. Pick one. Make it quick. I have no time.”
My pulse spiked with rage. “You can’t simply do that.”
“Then ask around about me,” he said, voice heavy with menace. “You don’t seem to know who you’re talking to.”
He hung up, and I cursed. Why would he see that as the only option? Did that mean there truly was no other way to help Rodion? When I told Matvet Leonid needed me, part of me still hoped there was another path. But after Dmitri’s call, I couldn’t deny that Leonid had control.