I remember the way he’d gripped my throat in the closet earlier and lower my gaze. One day I’ll take him up on that challenge, but not today, and certainly not right now.
“Look at you learning how to make good decisions already.”
I meet his eyes long enough to glare at him, which only makes him smirk before leading me out the door again. I follow him, trying very hard to not notice how broad his damn shoulders are, and when he leads me into the kitchen, I stop short when I see two other men already in there and waiting. I recognize the one leaning against the large kitchen island as the man who had been with Mikhail at the restaurant. I’d recognize that neck scar anywhere. The other man is drinking from a bottle of water, but he puts it down when he sees Mikhail. He has dark blonde hair and green eyes that run over me with a bored expression on his face. Both men are dressed all in black and look like they’re part of a swat team. When I see that they’re both wearing at least two guns strapped to their bodies, I take a small step closer to Mikhail.
He looks down at me and gives me another smirk as if I’ve chosen very poorly. I refuse to back off, though. I stay glued to his side, following him as he crosses the kitchen and opens the fridge.
Better the devil you know.
It may not be the most sound logic, but at least I can’t see a gun on Mikhail. The men start speaking in a foreign language, and the more I hear it, the more convinced I am that it’s Russian. It sounds sexy as fuck coming out of Mikhail’s gorgeous mouth, but I push that thought aside as all the pieces start to come together, and I realize the full weight of what I’ve stepped into.
I broke into the fucking Bratva boss’s house.
Chapter4
Mikhail
Iwatch Charlie’s face turn pale and notice that she’s back to avoiding my gaze. So she’s finally figured it out. I wondered how long it would take her. I run my eyes over her, taking in the way her black yoga pants hug her ass so perfectly.
“What are you going to do with her?” Artyom asks, breaking the spell of her round ass.
“I haven’t decided,” I tell him, and then shoot him a look when he starts to laugh.
“I can’t believe she had the balls to break in here,” Yuri says.
I look over at him and say, “She had no idea what she was walking into.”
“Still, it takes balls to break into any home. You’d never know a runt like that would have it in her.”
I’m annoyed by the runt comment, I would’ve gone with petite, but I hide my annoyance and turn to the fridge, bringing out the lasagna Valentina made earlier and setting it on the counter while I turn the oven on. I avoid the shit-eating grin on Artyom’s face as much as I’m able to.
“She tracked me that night,” I remind him. “She can put my location down at the docks, and if that fucker’s body turns up around that same spot, then that will make things very difficult for me, especially with the mayor refusing to get on board.”
“He’s not going to show up. That fucker is way down deep and not popping up anytime soon.”
“I should’ve taken care of him last week like I’d planned.” Just the thought of Maksim has me seeing red. Artyom and I had taken him to Maglione’s to get information from him and to see if my hunch was right about him stealing from me. I’d immediately known the low-level supplier was guilty as fuck, and the night hadn’t ended well for him. Thanks to Charlie’s little tracker, she can put me at the scene of the crime. I’m still thinking about what a mess this is when Artyom cuts into my thoughts.
“Work is going to wonder where she’s at,” he says, looking over at her and giving her a wink that pushes me over the edge just like he knew it would.
“I’ll take care of it, and don’t fucking wink at her,” I say, pointing my finger at his smirking face.
He gives me his best innocent look. “Just trying to make her feel at ease.”
Artyom gets away with far more than I’d ever allow any of my other men to, but he knows when to back off. He sits down in one of the stools and turns his attention to his phone. I put the glass casserole dish in the oven and set the timer. When Charlie stays standing close to me, her eyes watching my every move, I pull one of the stools over for her and motion for her to sit. The sun is already starting to rise, and I’m irritated that I’ll be enduring yet another day of exhaustion. As soon as I’d left her in the room, I’d taken Artyom and Yuri and we’d gone to her apartment, breaking in easily despite her many deadbolts. Her apartment had been the definition of sad and depressing. It was rundown, but you could tell she worked hard to keep it clean and looking as nice as possible. There hadn’t been any photos of family or friends. The only pictures had been framed photos of various locations from around the world. It had looked like a fucking travel agency. Thank God she didn’t have any cats. I would’ve really felt sorry for her then.
I look down at her, still unable to believe that the little shit put a tracking device on me. I’m also impressed, and that pisses me off. It’s exactly like something I would do. All my men have microchips in them so I can track their movements at any time. Paranoid? Maybe, but I’m also still alive, so that’s something, and I’ve never had a member of my team double-cross me.
When the lasagna is almost done, I throw in the garlic bread and then check my phone when I feel it give a buzz in my back pocket.
“Our guy found him,” I tell Artyom and Yuri. “He’s about forty minutes away. Seems he likes his privacy. His house is on the lake but looks pretty damn secluded.”
I pass the phone to Artyom and show him the photos of the place. He scrolls in and studies it, all the lightheartedness from earlier is replaced by years of training. He passes it to Yuri and tells me, “A guy like that will most likely have some serious security set up. I’m guessing he’ll see us coming the second we step foot on his property.”
“I can help.”
I look down at Charlie, who’s been silently watching us the whole time. I know she didn’t understand a word of what we were saying, but she must’ve caught sight of the photo and figured out what we were talking about.
“I can help you get to Jinx. That’s what you’re talking about, right?” she asks, and then adds, “You’re going to need my help. He has a shit ton of security measures set up. The guy doesn’t trust anyone.” She gives me a sweet smile. “But he trusts me.”