[ELARA'S POV]
Three days after Cross's arrest and nothing happened.
No Volkov retaliation. No threats. No attempts on the kids.
Just silence.
"That's worse." Marcus said during our daily security briefing. "Silence means they're planning. Waiting."
"Or they don't care about Cross." Julian offered. "He was a client. Not family. Maybe they cut their losses."
"Russians don't cut losses. They settle scores." Marcus was certain. "This silence is temporary."
"So what do we do? Hide forever?" I was exhausted. Sleeping maybe three hours a night. "We can't live like this."
"We don't have to." Damian had been on his phone all morning. Now he looked up. "I have a contact. Former FBI. He's done work with the Volkovs before. Knows how they operate."
"And?"
"And he thinks we have a window. Right now the FBI is squeezing Cross. Getting him to flip on his associates. Including the Volkovs. They're too busy covering their tracks to worry about us."
"How long's the window?" Marcus asked.
