“Plus, this is his idea of a good time.”
“Da.”
“Fuck.”
I hide my smirk with a swipe of the towel over my head.
“I reserve the right to say, ‘Tebe raz skazali, tebe dva skazali,?*’ when this goes to shit.”
“When don’t you shove my mistakes in my face?” I mock, skewering the air with my middle finger.
“And Kirill? You want him…” He swipes a hand across his throat.
“No. He’s good with numbers?—”
“Not as good as Dmitri.”
“True,” I concede. “Still, he’ll be busy elsewhere. Kirill is better in admin. We’ll switch him to a back-office role and Dmitri can be the face. Ever since he got shot, the men respect him more.”
“This means I won’t have to deal with Ekaterina anymore. Thatblyadis a pain in my ass.” Seemingly relieved by the notion, he folds his hands over his abdomen. “What are you doing with the pig? He might have information.”
“That’s why I’ll keep him alive.”
Is that not obvious?
Plus, as much as it pains me,leverage. Victoria needs all she can get with those bastards.
“It’s starting to look like an infirmary in the back room. Since when were we in the business of keeping people alive when they owe us blood?”
“What can I say? I’m not as kill-happy as people think.”
“Ha! It’s easier to feed them to the pigs.”
“Nothing good in this life is easy, especially when I want him to suffer. Make up your mind—do you want me tokeep them so we can pump them for information or not?” At his harrumph, I sneer. “Now, I’ll be heading to Poughkeepsie after this.”
He hums. “This going to become a regular thing?”
“Probably. Have a problem with that?”
“I appreciate my cock where it is, thank you.”
“See, Misha? I knew you had it in you to be smart.”
“You need to start embracing that whole ‘happy wife, happy life’ sitch, Maxim.”
“And you need to start embracing your balls before I chop them off. Get out of my sight!” Misha darts away and I growl to myself. “Surrounded by brats! God help me!”
* Footnote: Russian for “I told you so…”
FORTY-FIVE
I LOVE IT WHEN YOU BRING ME COOLERS
Maxim: I’ll be home in an hour.
My jaw worksas I stare at his message. Again.
I should have replied a half hour ago when I received it, but I’m annoyed.
