Page 9 of Sinner's Sacrifice

Samantha clamped her mouth shut and shook her head.

Mason tilted his head to one side, and Yvgeny heard the whisper of a male voice coming from his earpiece.

Mason straightened up suddenly. “He’s a pimp whose girls have been going missing.”

Mason’s voice was perfectly level, which told Yvgeny that the missing women probably meant dead bodies, and this man had a lot to do with it.

A pimp. Samantha had followed a pimp into a dead-end alley dressed like...

A bomb detonated in the back of Yvgeny’s head. A red haze, crackling and snapping, blinded him for an endless moment.

When he could see again, he discovered his hand wrapped around the pimp’s neck, holding him pressed against the exterior of the closest building. The man drummed his heels against the wall.

Shit, he was holding the piece of human garbage several inches off the ground.

His very soon-to-be victim started making gurgling sounds. That wouldn’t last long.

Samantha’s hand closed over his wrist. “You can’t kill him yet,” she hissed in his ear. “He has information I need.”

Yvgeny didn’t let him go. “He needs to die.”

She tugged on his arm. “Let go.” She put more effort into pulling him away and her body brushed up against his.

Her scent filled his nostrils, overpowering the sharp bite of the pepper, and replacing it with her enticing spice. He wanted to wallow in it. Bottle it so he could smell it whenever he wanted. It broke him out of anger’s hold.

He dropped the pimp, wrapped his arms around Sam, and backed away from the human trash now trying to breathe through his bruised windpipe.

Sam struggled to get out of his hold, but Yvgeny couldn’t let her go quite yet. Her scent and the distraction it delivered was the only thing keeping him from killing the piece of shit on the ground.

“Yvgeny, let go of me.”

“Please,” he said in a whisper into her ear. “Just let me...hold you for a few more moments. If I don’t hang on to something, I’ll tear him apart.”

She froze solid for an entire second, then relaxed a fraction and stopped struggling. She studied his face. “Why are you so angry?”

So many reasons, most of which concerned the woman in his arms. But he couldn’t voice any of them here, in an alley, in front of this low life without betraying all of them. So, he asked her a question instead. “What information do you need from him?”

For a very long second, Samantha stared at him, and for the entirety of that very long second he was sure she was going to argue.

“I haven’t been able to find a couple of his girls,” she said finally. “They’re friends of mine.”

“Friends of yours?” he asked as if he’d never heard of such things. She wasn’t arguing with him? She argued with him about everything.

A raspy, sadistic chuckle came from the human garbage still kneeling on the ground. “They moved to a different city.”

“Is that a euphemism for they’re dead?” Yvgeny asked.

Chapter Two

The pimp shrugged. “How would I know? They left town. They’re no longer any concern of mine.”

“Whose concern are they?” Yvgeny demanded, his patience at an end.

“They’re gone,” the pimp shouted. “You should be worried about the lawsuit and assault charges I’m going to hit you with. Your girlfriend attacked me.”

That made Yvgeny laugh, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “I think you have me confused with someone...nice.”

“I have a lot of friends,” the pimp said trying to wipe his eyes with his shirt. “Friends who are going to tear you apart.”