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

to go upstairs—”

“Maybe you should’ve gone to sleep. Instead of prepared for a war.”

He blinked.

Zahkar cleared his throat behind me. “I’m sorry, Kazimir, but the bombers want to know their next move. The police were notified of suspicious activity. Bomb units are heading to the area. Our window is closing.”

“No, Kaz. Don’t bomb anything.” I rushed to him and touched his chest. He hardened under my hand. It scared me. “Please, Kaz. You said you wouldn’t do anything. You said that you would wait and—”

“That was before. . .”

My heart ached. He couldn’t even say the word miscarriage.

I swallowed down my sadness. “Please. The French had nothing to do with the miscarriage. You have to let this go.”

Kaz looked back at Zahkar. “Tell them to get in their positions.”

“No. Please, I’m begging you. This is crazy.” I glanced behind me. “Don’t give that damn order, Zahkar. I mean it. Don’t even think about it.”

Zahkar held the phone to his ear with his mouth open. He looked terrified, completely unsure of what to do. Smoke continued to rise from his pipe.

I turned back to Kaz. “Please, baby. Don’t do this.”

“Why? Is it because Jean-Pierre and you are friends?” Kaz glared at Zahkar. “Tell them to begin.”

Zahkar spoke into the phone. “The lion wants you to execute the bombs.”

“Wait.” I left Kazimir and headed to Zahkar. “Don’t do that! Tell them not to do it!”

Dropping his pipe, Zahkar widened his eyes. One of Kaz’s men picked up the pipe and spilled burning tobacco, and then jumped out of the way.

I yelled at Zahkar some more, “Put the phone down. Please.”

Kazimir caught me from behind. “Stay out of this.”

I struggled to get out of his arms. “What do you mean stay out of this? I’m the reason you’re bombing Paris in the first place. I get a say in what happens.”

“You don’t.”

“I do.”

“You don’t.” Still holding me from behind, he kept my body in a tight grip. “This conflict is between Jean-Pierre and me now.”

Zahkar spoke into the phone, “Go ahead and execute.”

“Wait. No!” It was impossible to leave his arms. “Kaz—”

On the screen, a blinding flash appeared. Then, everything exploded, snatching my words away.

I watched the tv in panicked horror.

The bombs had gone off far underground. The top structure violently broke away. A great gush of flame rose several feet in the area. Fire bloomed and scattered changing from yellow then red to violet and back through the spectrum to red again. Pillars of smoke swarmed and billowed. Geysers of hot ash and molten rock spouted upward.

Where once there was a massive mall now there was black smoke and a crater of crumbling brick and exploding glass. Brick and wood and stone flew up. There was so much smoke. Clouds of it billowed and pushed into the air. I almost felt like I couldn’t breathe just from watching it on the screen.

And then came the ear-splitting sounds of shattering glass and people crying and howling. Sirens blaring and booming. Deafening alarms ringing. A whirlpool of horror played out on the screen, and I could do nothing about it.

Kazimir let me go.

And all I could do was scream inside of my head.

Chapter 1

The Ultimatum

Emily

My heart broke for everyone in Paris. My throat grew hoarse.

“No.” I inched over to the tv, scared to get too close as if touching the screen would burn me. “No.”

Sirens blared off in the distance. More fires and explosions came from the East and West. Screams rose although I couldn’t see any people.

Terrified, I held my hands up my head, seeking some sort of anchor within the madness. “No. What the fuck?”

Adrenaline flooded my system. My blood pumped fast inside my veins as if trying to find a way to escape. My body wanted to run away, even though there was no danger against me in sight.

I dropped my hands and faced Kaz. “How many people were in the mall? How many did you kill?”

Max hurried over to my side. “Em, we made sure to clear the space. Almost everybody was out of there.”

“Almost everybody?”

“Trust me, Em. It was damn near empty.”

“You knew he was going to bomb some shit and didn’t wake me?”

“I figured if I stayed, I could help lower the human loss. He didn’t even want to clear the area. I fixed that and called in a bomb threat hours ago.”

The screen changed.

I turned my attention that way.

An image of the Eiffel tower appeared.

“Oh hell no!” I veered back to Kaz. “Are you going to bomb