Page 107 of Lilies from Hell

He reaches out his arm to grab the book and starts reading until I fall fast asleep. Since then, it’s something he does regularly every time we sleep together. Listening to his voice has never been as addictive as when he reads for me.

“Well?” I ask, looking at the two of them impatiently. Polina is the first to take a step forward, angrily placing an envelope on the table.

“There you go,” she spits out, leaving me speechless as she storms out of the office without looking back. I click my tongue in disdain, ignoring her tantrum and opening the envelope. Inside are a couple of photos of two men in their thirties.

“Do you recognize them?” I ask, leaving the pictures on the table. Denis leans in closer, raising both eyebrows in disbelief.

“Yeah. This one here is my cousin,” he points to the man with the beard.

“Don’t fuck with me. And what the hell is your cousin doing there?” Sergei asks, frowning.

“How the fuck should I know? We haven’t spoken in years.”

“What a family,” he mutters, shaking his head.

“Yeah. Yours must be a model family,” Denis says sarcastically.

“Take us to him,” I murmur to Denis, nodding toward the door.

We stop close to a cabin in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees and wilderness.

“What’s up, man?” Denis says with a broad smile when he sees his cousin cutting a piece of wood from a log. Then the two embrace in a hug.

“Damn. What the hell did you do to your hair?”

“I knew it wasn’t natural,” Sergei mutters behind their backs.

When the man notices me his eyes widen. His feet immediately turn around with the intention of running away. Hell, I didn’t know I was Satan now.

Before he can do one more step Vlad grabs him from behind.

“Enough with catching up. Who the fuck hired you?” I hiss.

“A-as you can understand, I can’t just give out that information. I owe it to my clients.”

“Let’s talk inside,” I suggest, being the first to enter the cabin without his approval.

Vlad pushes him into the house, causing him to trip and fall to the floor with a thud and curses coming out of his mouth. I sigh, letting myself fall onto the old, dusty sofa. I already told them they had to be kinder to others, more polite, but they just don’t listen. Sometimes they behave like beasts.

“Would you like something to drink? I have a pretty fine whiskey,” he says, shaking his clothes when getting up from the floor.

“Do you think I’m here to pay you a fucking visit?” I snap, glaring at him.

“We want to know who your client is,” Denis clarifies, a glass of Jack on the rocks in his hand.

“What would I get in return?”

“How much do you want?” I ask, leaning forward.

“No. Money is the last thing I need right now.” The others glance around quickly, frowning, and then fix their gaze back on the man.

“I see,” Sergei scoffs.

“But there’s a horse I really like, and it’s very hard to get. It would be great if you could help me with that.”

“You’ll have it by tomorrow, count on it. Now tell me who the hell is behind all this shit, I don’t have all day.” I reply, on the verge of losing my patience. The only thing stopping me from punching his face is that I still don’t have an answer. That and the fact that he is related to Denis.

“She’s a young girl, about 20 I think, I’m not sure.”