These are not Alexi’s men. These are men who have been watching the club and waiting for an opportunity to arise. I just gave them all of me, with my stupidity. God knows how long they have been hanging at a distance watching the comings and goings in case they got a chance at picking me off. It’s horrifying to imagine they may have been out here this whole time, waiting for a time like this.

I glance at him moving in, and the man from the car is now behind me, blocking my path. My ...