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Feliks shakes his head so hard his mustache trembles. “No, he won’t.”
“You’re going to be working for me. Do you think I let people fuck with the people in my employ?”
“No?” Feliks guesses.
“Fuck no,” I tell him. “I can handle Akim Gustev.”
That’s what I’m doing right now—handling him. Before I cut Akim off at the legs, I’ll take a few warning shots. Feliks has been working with the Gustev Bratva for years. The Gustev grunts jack cars and clone them. Then it’s Feliks’ job to sell them for a cut of the money. Nik also found out Akim is laundering money through Feliks’ used car lot. Taking Feliks out from under Akim isn’t a death blow, but it will fucking sting.
That’s what I want. A slow, agonizing death by a thousand cuts. I want him to know it’s over long before the end actually arrives.
Feliks runs a shaking hand through his thinning hair. “Your numbers make sense. I’ve been wanting to cut back on the cloned cars for years, anyway. My wife doesn’t like that the feds are always sniffing around. But Akim has threatened me. He’s threatened my family. If I cooperate with you, I don’t know what he’ll do.”
“The question you should be asking yourself is not what will happen if you cooperate with me, but what will happen if you don’t cooperate with me, Feliks.”
“What will happen?” he asks.
“If you refuse my deal, Akim will be the least of your worries.” I lean forward. “Do you understand?”
He understands. Five minutes later, Feliks and I shake hands to usher in a new era of cooperation between us.
Nik escorts him out and comes back into the room a minute later shaking his head. “That poor bastard is terrified. I don’t know why he got into this business at all.”
“Akim probably gave him the same choice I did.”
“Not one, you mean?” Nik laughs.
“Exactly.” I nod. “Which is why I want you to keep an eye on him.”
“On Feliks or Akim?”
“Both. Everyone.”
He leans against the doorway, arms crossed. “You think Feliks will get chatty about our meeting?”
“It’s a possibility,” I admit. “If he does, I want him dead. We can’t afford for Akim to know what we’re up to before we’re ready.”
“Is that why we’re at a hotel instead of your office?” Nik swipes his hand across the white comforter. “So Akim doesn’t see his partners showing up to our house?”
It’s close enough to the truth, so I nod.
Nik chuckles. “Liar. We’re here because you don’t want your girlfriend to see you breaking kneecaps.”
“This has nothing to do with Luna.”
He hits me with that same annoying look that means he isn’t buying a word out of my mouth.
“The only kneecaps that are going to be broken are yours,” I growl. “Luna is under my protection. I’m protecting her.”
“She’s under something, that’s for damn sure,” he mutters.
I ignore him for his own sake and clap him on the back. “The Feliks tip was good intel. Let me know as soon as you have something else. The more we chip away at Akim’s web, the easier it will be to tear down.”
“Will do.” He lets me get all the way to the door before he adds, “Let me know how Luna looks in the lingerie you bought her.”
I freeze with my hand on the doorknob. “I fucking told you not to follow me.”
I never explicitly told him not to imagine Luna in lingerie, but that’s a new rule, starting now.
