but do you understand why I ordered David on the brothel?”
“Of course. You love me. You don’t want me harmed and you want the baby to stay safe.” My eyes watered. “I had come to the realization that I should’ve let you deal with the brothel anyway. . .but Abram. . .how do you feel after killing him? This is your second friend for today.”
His eyes held a weary gaze. “I need a break.”
Never would I have thought Kaz would admit such a thing.
I rose and rushed to him, wrapping my arms around his waist and holding him tight.
“Then, we’ll take a break,” I whispered. “As you always say, when you’re the boss you decide what you want to do.”
“We can’t until the French are—”
“Don’t worry about them. The French are on the next plane out of Moscow. We don’t have to worry about them anymore.”
“We’re done with the French?” He took a step back and looked down at me. “How did that happen?”
“I asked Jean-Pierre to leave.” I bit my lip nervous about Kaz getting mad from the next confession. “And. . .I told him that Eden’s father was your god father. I suggested that the god father might help him build some sort of friendly relationship with you.”
“That won’t help him.”
“Kaz, it might.”
He frowned.
I cleared my throat. “I also told him that I will try to make sure that there’s no war between the brotherhood and Corsican.”
“And how will you do that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. How many times can I fuck you into distraction?”
For the first time since he entered the room, a smile appeared on his face.
“Let’s see, if my pussy can stop a war.” I raised my hands and placed them on the sides of his face. “I love you, and you’re right. We need a break.”
He gritted his teeth. “Pavel ran.”
“Well, if our theory is correct. We know where he ran to.”
“He went to Italy.”
“Yes.”
Rage radiated off him. “Have you ever been to Italy, mysh?”
I smirked. “You know I haven’t.”
“Then, let’s go.”
“Wow. Our break is going to be finding out if a traitor is hiding in Italy among either the Italian mafia or a Nigerian gang? That’s our vacation?”
“Yes. We’ll take our time to get to Italy. And we’ll go in style. We both need a break, and we both like to kill people.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Pack for fun in the sun, mysh. But definitely bring your knives and gun.”
“Fun in the sun, but also a little death. I don’t know, if we should do this. I think you need a break, Kaz.”
“Pack. I want several bikinis in your bag.”
“Okay, but Pavel could—”
“And bring Xavier with you.” He let me go. “I have to call my sister.”
“Valentina? Why?”
“I need her help for something.”
“What?”
“Pack.” He left me in the bedroom with my mouth open and utterly confused.
I guess we’re going to Italy.
Two hours later, Harlem, Kaz, and I boarded his plane. Along with Kaz’s top security, our most loyal people came with us—Max, David, Blue, and Boris. They’d all brought luggage unsure of what they would need.
Kaz had planned everything and his maids put together his luggage. I packed everything I could think of in my suitcase, unsure of what could be in store—suits and gowns, casual, as well as all black combat to kick someone’s ass.
And of course I included several sexy bikinis, hoping I would get the chance to wear at least one.
This trip is going to be insane.
In the end, we were going to find Pavel and the people who he was working for.
The Italians or Nigerians.
It made more sense that it would be the Nigerians. Black Axe. It was in their best interests for Kaz to keep his nose out of all affairs in Sicily and Calabria. With Kaz busy and distracted, Fela could dominate the region and have full control of all drugs going into Europe. That would make him an extremely powerful man. All would have to bow before him.
But was Fela behind the monkey heads?
I believed he was responsible for it all—monkey heads, chimpanzee, and gorilla. He had a history with the brotherhood. One stained with hate and racism. Zahkar’s father, Adrik treated him like an animal, beat Fela, put him on a leash, shed his clothes, and had him pretending to be a dog.
That sort of hate wouldn’t have gone away too easily for Fela. He might have made it his overall lifetime mission to destroy the brotherhood. I would have. It didn’t matter that many of