The Final Hour (Volkov Bratva #3)(55)

“Mish isn’t going to be happy about that,” she said to him as he signaled for the bartender.

“I’d pay to see his reaction.”

Shaking her head, even as a smile threatened, she tucked her hair behind her ear. “Where’s your friend?”

“He can hear you.”

Her eyes widened. “Can he really?”

“Aye.”

Lauren nearly jumped at the new voice in her head, but kept her cool, trying to discretely look around her to see if he was near—not that she knew what he looked like.

“No point in that,” Klaus said passing her a glass with an umbrella and a pineapple slice inside it. “You’ll never see him, but he sees us.”

“Good to know, but what if he comes up to me? How will I know if he’s with you or…well you know who?”

“Besides that unbearable accent? Look for that awful facial hair.”

“Bastard. You’re lucky you earned me two-thousand pounds or I’d leave your arse here.”

Lauren couldn’t tell for sure, but he sounded Irish, maybe? “Does he have a name?”

“We call him Celt.”

Definitely Irish.

“Good to know.”

“Now, like I said. You’re covered, but just don’t do anything reckless.”

Rolling her eyes, Lauren nodded. “I won’t do anything stupid.”



Over the course of the night, Lauren’s feigned ease became more sincere as she mingled with people, sipping on her second cocktail. Since the bachelorette party, it had become her favorite drink.

She’d begun to think that the mercenary wouldn’t show, or at least whoever it was was waiting until she was away from Klaus to make a move. It would make sense since he was hovering over her, much like Mishca would if he had been there.

Klaus had already wandered off, promising to be back shortly after ordering her to stay near the bar, but Lauren had grown tired of just standing there. She figured she would be just as safe in the privacy of Mishca’s as she was in the middle of the crowd.

“I’m going to the office,” Lauren said into the earpiece.

“Stop touching your damn ear.” Klaus’ reply came in loud and clear, and she had to resist the urge to flip him off, just to see if he would see that just as clearly.

Lauren made her way through the crowd and back into the office. This one didn’t have the frosted glass like his other—probably because of the shooting—and was far more remote. It wasn’t completely set up yet, boxes stacked in corners, a lone butter colored sofa against a wall. She was more than happy to sit for a while to rest her aching feet, but more than that, she wanted to call Mishca just to hear his voice and let him know she was okay.

At least she was going to until a girl stumbled in, wobbling on her heels as she giggled uncontrollably, barely holding onto the sparkling clutch in her hands. Her hair was up in an elaborate top knot, pinned in place by two lengthy pins.

It was pretty clear that she was intoxicated—Lauren could almost smell the alcohol on her even at her distance—so Lauren relaxed her guard.

“Can I help you?”

“I’ve been looking for the restroom for like an hour.”

“Oh, I can show you,” Lauren offered, standing.

The girl stepped to the side, gesturing for Lauren to go ahead of her. That made her hesitate, only for a beat. Call her paranoid, but it didn’t make sense for her to need to go first when the girl was already at the door.

Where the hell was Klaus? They hadn’t even come up with a code just in case something like this happened.

Lauren decided to play it safe and stay where she was. “If you go out this room and to your left, you should see a sign that’ll point you in the right direction. Or just look for the sign Red.”

Of course the girl had no idea what Lauren meant by that, but she hoped Klaus caught her meaning. He had only ever told her his codename once, and she hoped that that would be enough.

“I don’t see it,” she said looking out the door though she was now standing on steady feet. She wasn’t dumb, and now that she knew Lauren wasn’t coming any closer, she had stopped feigning intoxication.

Klaus didn’t respond, and neither did Celt.

Since her phone was tucked away, Lauren tried to deftly pull it out, dialing the number Mishca had given her to contact Klaus.

“Oh no, there’s no need for that.”

Clearly, the girl had dropped the act, and at least now Lauren’s suspicions were confirmed. She was the mercenary.

Women were just as capable as men when it came to killing things, but it had never crossed Lauren’s mind that the person coming after her would be female. In her head, she expected someone much like Klaus.

But that was what she was, just not with the same equipment.

She wasn’t holding a gun, she hadn’t threatened Lauren in any way, but Lauren didn’t doubt that she had weapons within easy reach.

“It took a while, but you finally managed to go off alone. I’m surprised the Bratva Captain left you alone.”

So she really had no idea that Klaus was pretending to be Mishca? Lauren knew that they were twins, but how could she not know about him unless it was true what Klaus had said about always wearing a mask.

Lauren wasn’t about to give up his secret though. “Who are you?”