Chapter 0307

“Ivan,” I breathe, shaking my head, my whole body trembling again.

“Back up, Fay,” he says, lifting his chin towards me. “Let me in.”

I do has he says, backing up until I’m almost at the bed. His gun still trained on Daniel and Jerome, still kneeling at Daniel's feet,

Ivan climbs through the window, standing up straight.

Daniel takes a moment to look Ivan over and then he groans, putting his head in his hand and turning away in disbelief. “A cop?!

You're a fucking cop, Ivan?!”

“Damn straight,” lvan murmurs, though his face remains serious. “Born and bred. I want you back against that wall, Lippert,” Ivan

commands, nodding to the far wall behind Jerome, where Ivan can keep the gun on both of them at once. “Hands up where I can

see them.”

Daniel obeys, his face set in an unhappy frown as he glares at Ivan and shakes his head, but he obeys nonetheless. “Fay,” Ivan

continues, once Daniel is in place. He doesn’t look at me, his eyes still trained on the boys. “I also want you in my line of sight,

pressed there against the other wall.” He nods next to him, to an empty space next to my desk. Slowly, I move to it so that he

can see me while he concentrates on Daniel and Jerome.

“Good,” Ivan says. Then, he turns his attention to Jerome. “Hands behind your head,” he commands. Jerome lifts his hands,

scowling at Ivan with real hate in his eyes. Slowly, I raise my hands as well. “Not you, Fay,” Ivan growls, rolling his eyes a little

bit.

“What?” I ask.

“You're not under arrest,” he tells me, glancing a little in my direction.

“What!?” I ask again, my voice an octave higher this time, completely confused. Ivan huffs a sigh of frustration.

“Just...stand there,” he mutters as Jerome lifts his own hands behind his head.

That done, Ivan shifts his gaze to Daniel. “Are you going to do something stupid?” he asks, his face hard. There’s no lightness in

it — none of the carefree, charming guy I got to know, for whom I had thought I had real feelings. “Or are you going to let me cuff

your boyfriend without any trouble?”

“Am I being arrested?” Daniel asks, cautious.

“No,” lvan says, rueful. “Though that was not my choice.” He takes a step forward, his muscles going tense as he raises the gun

towards Daniel's face. “Are you going to do something stupid, Lippert? Because if you do, I'll shoot you now and get it over with.”

“I'm not,” Daniel spits out at him, glaring hard, his hands still up above his head.

“Good,” lvan murmurs, and then he

moves — fast. In an instant Ivan is

tucking his gun back into its hols

as he moves rylgqetsedeO

tigpstianl Yarome’s arm behind his

back and grabbing handcuffs from

his belt. As lvan slaps one cuff

around Jerome's wrist, I see Daniel

eye the gun in lvan’s holster, and then

glance at the bed, where his gun is

sitting — Please read the original

content at .

“Daniel,” I breathe, shaking my head

vehemently at him. He scowls at me

and looks away, but we both

that he w speinandsperate inking

re voalh cb one of them before

Ivan noticed. We both know that this

is done — that any chance we had to

fight our way out of this — if we ever

had it to begin with — is gone. Please

read the original content at

.

As soon as Ivan is done cuffing Jerome he kicks him, hard, so that Jerome falls on the floor.

“Ivan!” I gasp, glaring at him, but he just shoots me a dirty look before unholstering his gun again and stepping back so that he

has a direct line of sight at the three of us. Then he grabs the radio on his shoulder.

“Hey,” he says into his radio. “I've got

Daniel Lippert, Fay Alden, and

Jerome Rosello up here in the ectee

bedroom.” A voi SS incO

TOV

response, bat I can't make it out.

“Yeah, secure. We're good up here for

now. I'll hold them while you finish

the sweep.” Then he glances at me,

his eyes fastened on mine as he asks

his next question. “Lippert?” Please

read the original content at

.

His face goes cold as he listens to the answer. And for the first time, Ivan gets distracted, looking away. “What?” He hisses into

his radio. “Are you fucking serious, Jones?”