Dirty Passions An Interracial Russian Mafia Romance (The Lion and The Mouse #5) - Kenya Wright Page 0,119

he hoped to get their attention and kill them.

None of it mattered anymore.

I now knew more than ever that Emily served as my strength, not my weakness. And my enemies knew her great power.

And they were all scared.

Good.

I finished my vodka.

“Are we done?” Rolan frowned.

“We are.”

“Do not call me again asking stupid questions from the past. Call me for a celebration. Call me to travel, but never about photos of chained men and symbols of men that drink blood.” Rolan rose and stormed away.

“Uncle?” I smirked. “We can make this up to you. Let us take you out to eat.”

“No.” Rolan was already at the door. “I have a sweetheart waiting for me in Saint Petersburg. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s mine. I don’t want anyone else around her.”

I shook my head. “Happy hunting, Uncle.”

He waved goodbye and left.

Emily took the box of candy, opened it, and bit into one. “This is good.”

“Rolan knows his candy.”

She nibbled on another piece. “Now what?”

“We go to Zahkar. Who else could it be?”

She licked chocolate off the tip of her fingers. “If Zahkar killed Yuri and his mother. . .”

“Then, I give him to you.”

She paused from the candy. “You will?”

“If Zahkar is guilty of murdering Yuri, then he’s yours to handle.”

“I won’t be gentle.”

“That’s fair.” I grabbed a piece of candy. “Let’s just make sure that Zahkar actually did it.”

She rose, eager to deal with this.

Tension thickened my shoulders. At this moment, the love of my life would be going after two of my childhood friends—Zahkar over Yuri’s death and Abram due to the brothel in Kapotnya. My mouse was fair and smart. If she sniffed problems with either of them, then she would want them out of the picture and nowhere near me. All her moves meant my safety in the end. And for that, I would stand by her, when it came to desiring anyone’s death.

But part of me wondered, if I should worry.

Without Emily at my side, there would have been no problem with Zahkar or Abram. I would have had them by my side. Close. Too damn close. Eventually, I could see one of the two lying. If they had plotted up until now, then they would plot even more.

Thank God for my mysh.

She had proven herself to be a useful detector of traitors within the midst. Back stabbers lurking within the shadows to take my place.

But wasn’t that how one found snakes. . .by putting out a mouse?

While she wasn’t my bait, her mere presence was slowly challenging and luring out my enemies.

I must keep her safe and close.

Chapter 28

Enemies

Emily

The French and the Knights of Babylon. The Italians and the Nigerians. The bloody present and the blurry past. The more we gained pieces to the puzzle, the less the image became clear.

At this point, I was starting to understand why Kaz just bombed a whole place and moved on to the next situation. It was much easier that way. But we couldn’t destroy the whole brotherhood. He needed his men, and some were his family. Not all represented enemies. Many were devoted. A lot would die for him. Unfortunately, deep within the brotherhood’s shadows existed some that would do anything to take his place.

I won’t let that happen.

Kaz had Pavel search out Zahkar. We didn’t want him to know that we were coming, so we kept our purpose private.

We had lunch out on the balcony. The penthouse chef explained to me that it was a classic Russian lunch. For the first course was a traditional borscht—Russian beetroot soup made with beef, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, onion, and beets. A spoonful of sour cream topped the red liquid. When I mixed it all in, a pleasant magenta color came.

The second course consisted of Russian manti—lamb filled dumplings, steamed to perfection. More sour cream was dropped on top.

The third course followed. It was kompot—a non-alcoholic drink made by boiling fruit in water. With that, we feasted on tiny cakes. While the sweets teased the tongue, the true winner represented the kompot. The chef beamed from my enjoyment, telling me that he’d made this one with strawberries, apricots, peaches, and gooseberries. Cinnamon was sprinkled on top to finish the dish.

At the end of lunch, Pavel came out to the balcony with a location.

Ten minutes later, Kaz and I headed that way with most of our men. Boris and Max stayed behind to organize a plan against Abram and shutting down his brothel.

Pavel also remained at the penthouse.

Zahkar, Pavel, and