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A fair question, but I never dragged my lovers into my world. I kept my liaisons brief and then disappeared without a trace. “No. It is too dangerous for him.”
“So… you will kill him when you are finished fucking him?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” The idea of it soured my stomach.
“There is a reason this secret has never gotten out.”
“Because I am careful. I keep my personal life anonymous and discreet.” My life in general, actually. Men in my position did not live long, gay or not. I’ve spent most of my life in hiding, careful never to leave a digital trail.
Alessio didn’t appear to believe me. As we assessed one another, I thought of all the ways this could go wrong. Should I put a bullet in his head right now? Theo wouldn’t forgive me, and it would cause a whole host of other problems. But maybe safety was more important?
I asked, “Do you plan to tell him?”
“As long as you don’t hurt Giulio, then no. I only need a few days here. Giulio is being hunted by Sicilian assassins. Once I learn who they are, we will disappear and you’ll never see us again.”
His eyes were clear, his expression guileless. It was the only thing keeping him alive at this point. “Good,” I said. “Keep your mouth shut and we’ll get along just fine.”
When he didn’t respond, I jerked my head in the direction of the stairs. “You should go and find the others below.”
After Alessio departed, I didn’t wait. I hurried to my office, where Ilya was scrolling on his phone. “The assassin knows who I am,” I snarled.
“I am not surprised. Security just called a few minutes ago.” Ilya paused. “He is Alessandro Ricci.”
“The fuck!” I dragged my hands through my hair. Ricci was the best assassin in Europe, a shadowy figure who could eliminate any target, anytime. “He is the one who took out Alexi Zaitsev’s brother-in-law in Warsaw.”
“This must be how he knows you. You met with Sergei an hour before he was killed.”
“A meeting you forced me to do in person against my better judgment. Fuck!” I paced a few steps trying to calm down. Was Ricci here to kill me?
I dragged in a deep breath and let it out. “This other man with Ricci . . . Giulio. We need to know everything about him.” I needed leverage with Ricci and it sounded like Giulio was his weakness. Just as Theo was mine.
“I have security working on it.” Ilya put down his phone, his expression grave. “But you have to kill them both. They’ve seen your face.”
“I can’t kill them with Theo onboard.”
“We are dead if this gets out. Moscow—”
“I know what Moscow will do. And I will take the blame, if it comes to that.” I was the one who would be punished. I was the one who slept with men, not Ilya. “And I can’t easily kill them. Ricci will not go quietly.”
“You can and you should. They can disappear out here and the sharks will take care of the rest.”
A solid plan if not for Theo. I couldn’t murder his friends and expect him to keep quiet. So unless I was willing to kill him as well, I was stuck.
But based on my conversation with the assassin, I didn’t think murder was necessary at the moment. “The threat of it is enough for now. They know I can kill them. They are at my mercy here, not the other way around. And maybe we can use it to our advantage.”
Ilya looked at me skeptically. “How?”
“It would be nice to have the best assassin in Europe in our debt, yes?”
My friend sat back and stroked his jaw. “Could he get in and out of Moscow?”
“They say he can get in and out of anywhere.”
“Can he be trusted to keep his word?”
I picked up one of my burner phones. “Let’s find out.”
Chapter Four
