AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Who do you work for?” Maks’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts and back to the present. My men caught this Russian foreigner poking around one of my clubs. We thought they’d all left the city, but we were misinformed.
So far he’s been a tough son of a bitch and is refusing to speak a word. But he isn’t from around here, and he’s certainly not one of mine, so my best guess is he’s working for Boris.
Boris fled the country and I don’t need a professional tracker to tell me where he went. Russia. That’s where he is, in the Motherland. Well they can fucking have him. If he steps one foot back in this country he’s dead. Just like this associate of his will be dead soon.
I’ll make sure of it.
One last blow to the side of his face and he’s out cold. I straighten up, annoyed at the amount of blood splattered on my T-shirt. This fucker sure is a bleeder.
“We’re not going to get any answers out of him like that,” Maks notes.
I shrug. “He wasn’t going to talk anyway. When he wakes up, get Anton in here and tell him he can do whatever he wants. If it leads to answers, great. If not, oh well.”
“Will do, Pakhan.”
I clean up in the wall-mounted steel sink, scrubbing this fucker’s blood from my hands. I wash the brass knuckles clean and pocket them.
Glancing down at my shirt, I sigh. Maybe I have a spare in my office.
I don’t usually do the dirty work myself—that’s Maks’s job. But today I felt like getting hands-on with this guy while Maks asked the questions. This is what I get for it, a filthy shirt and no damn answers.
Maks calls Anton, our best torturer, and follows me to my office where I rummage around for a clean shirt and come up empty handed. My leather jacket will cover it up enough. That’s the best I can do. When I get home I’ll shower and change.
“Anton will be here soon.” Maks puts his phone away.
Just as I sit down behind my desk, the office door bangs open. Maks draws his gun, narrowing his gaze on my red-faced club manager. When he realizes there’s no immediate danger, he holsters it and leans casually against the door frame.
“Those fucking Italians were sniffing around here again,” Sasha practically snarls.
“I told you, let them. They are working with us.” Impatiently, I wave him off. I have more important business to attend to than arguing with Sasha about the Italians—again.
He braces his hands flat down on my desk and leans in. “You don’t know what they’ve been up to because you were away all weekend with that Italian whore. I told you we should have taken them out, not married into that family. That Pontrelli slut is?—”
The silenced shot rings out in my office. Sasha’s brains explode across the opposite wall and his body drops to the floor. I glance down at the gun in my hand, unable to recall exactly when I grabbed it. Somewhere between whore and slut.
Only I get to call my wife those words. And only when she’s being a good girl.
Maks sighs. “Wasn’t that a bit of an overreaction?”
“Nope.” I drop the gun back into my desk drawer. “No one talks about my wife that way and lives. Be sure to tell the others just in case anyone is unaware of my expectations.”
“Okay. I’ll get this mess cleaned up and interview for a new club manager.” Maks sighs like I’m a pain in his ass.
I stand up, any other business on my agenda today can wait. “Good. I’m going home.”
“Okay, Pakhan, do you—” He interrupts himself and reaches for his phone, glancing down at a text. “I—I have an errand to run, but I’ll make sure to get this all done.”
“An errand?” I fold my arms, noting the way Maks won’t meet my eyes. Arianna suspects him of betraying me, could she be right? I hope not. Maks is family to me and that level of backstabbing would fucking gut me. But everyone seems to have a price they can be bought for these days.
“Yeah. I’ll see you later.” Maks tosses on his coat and fishes out his keys.
“I guess we’re both heading out.” Grabbing my leather jacket, I walk with him to the parking garage under Riot. While I go for my bike, he heads for an SUV. I wait for him to pull out first, then start up my Harley and follow him.
CHAPTER 29
Dimitri
Maks parks in front of a seedy motel outside of town. We’re outside of Bratva territory, in an unmemorable location that blends in with its surroundings. If Maks is going to betray me, this is the place to meet someone to do it. No man’s land.
