Where the Snow Falls (Seasons of Betrayal #2)(25)

“And you’re … okay,” Kaz said quietly.

“We’ve got a problem,” Kolya said.

Violet wasn’t sure whether she should be amused or irritated by the situation. Kaz was the type to keep Violet calm until he had her close and could explain whatever was going on.

Apparently, Kolya was not.

Violet decided to cut the bullshit. “I saw Vito—my father’s underboss—about five minutes ago.”

Kaz swore severely on the other end of the call. “Did he approach you?”

“No.”

“He’s going to try,” Kaz said, surprising Violet at how frank and clinical his words came out. “We are about twenty minutes out from your spot—” His words cut off for a second, and mumbling sounded in the background before he was back. “Fifteen with the way Konstantin drives like a f*cking maniac.”

All Violet could think to ask was, “Where’s the Porsche?”

“Too many cars right now,” Kaz explained. “Fewer are better.”

“Kolya?”

Maya’s soft question drew Violet’s attention from her own phone call to her friend’s face.

“Da, dushka,” Kolya replied, less gruff than before. “I’m almost there, yeah?”

“I know,” Maya replied, glancing into the rearview mirror and then hitting the gas a little bit harder. “Drive faster, okay?”

“It’s to the floor, Maya.”

“Put it to the pavement, Kolya.”

She looked in the rearview again.

Violet wondered what the f*ck she was looking at, only to find a familiar black car following behind them with windows tinted so dark, she couldn’t see through the f*cking windshield.

Shit.

“Violet?” Kaz asked.

She passed Maya a look, who seemed a great deal calmer about the situation given their current circumstances.

Violet wasn’t quite sure what to do—whether she should take Maya’s lead and keep quiet that they had someone on their ass or tell Kaz what was happening.

“This is why I can’t let you out of my f*cking sight,” Kolya muttered.

Maya laughed lightly. “You worry for nothing. We’re fine.”

Violet had a realization then.

Maybe it wasn’t a matter of keeping the situation calm until they were in better circumstances, but rather, the way different men handled the same situation.

“Kaz,” Violet said quietly, hoping whatever Maya was telling Kolya at that moment would override her low tone, “Vito is behind us.”

Kaz relayed that information to whom Violet suspected was Konstantin.

“Ten minutes,” Kaz said. “Don’t hang up the phone. Don’t open the door if they force you to stop. Don’t say a thing if they get you out of the car. Understood?”

“Yeah,” Violet said, her anxiety climbing higher, “I got it, Kaz.”

Beside her, Maya cussed in a hiss, shooting another look into the mirror.

Violet glanced through the back window to find the black car was mere inches from their back bumper. While they’d hit the highway, Violet didn’t think the roads were good enough for this kind of fast driving.

“What was that?” Kolya asked.

“I broke a f*cking nail when I shifted into last gear,” Maya snapped.

Kolya went deadly silent.

Out of the corner of her eye, Violet watched Maya frown and glance down at her fingers wrapped tightly around the steering wheel.

Her nails, natural and clipped short, were fine.

“Where are you now?” Kolya finally asked.

Maya rattled off a location.

“Next exit is in two miles,” Kolya said. “Take it and hit the safe house.”

“Kolya—”

“I watched you take your nails off last night,” he said quietly. “They’re too short to break. You really shouldn’t lie to me, dushka. Hit the safe house.”

The call clicked off, and Violet’s grip on her phone tightened.

“Is that Kaz?” Maya asked, never taking her eyes off the road.

“Yeah,” Violet replied.

“Can I have the phone, please?”

Violet handed it over without asking why Maya wanted it.

“Kaz,” Maya said, her usual cheeriness gone as she spoke, “let Konstantin know that if he’s behind Kolya, he should probably pick up the f*cking pace.”

With that, she handed the phone back to Violet.

“Sit tight and hold on to something,” Maya said, “I don’t have time to slow down for this exit with the way he’s on my ass right now.”

“Everything is fine,” Kaz said, his dark tenor calming Violet’s frayed nerves.

“Is it?” she asked.

“It will be.”

That was the last thing Violet heard him say before Maya was taking the curving exit ramp fast. Right behind them, the black car followed. Just as their car hit the sharpest point of the turn, Violet felt the hit.

It lurched their car forward with enough force to send the back end spinning sideways.

The surprise tap from the black car scared the f*cking hell out of Violet, and she dropped the phone to the floor. Her heart found her throat as Maya somehow managed to keep the f*cking vehicle from falling into a total spin, and then corrected it so they were straight again and coming out of the ramp into a more residential area.