Page 10 of Frozen Heart
I froze, horrified.
“It will start a war, Radimir,” said Mikhail. “One we’ll lose.”
He was right. The peace deal with the Nazarovs had allowed us to move into legitimate business and mainly white collar crime. But the Nazarovs had used the peace to build up their drug empire. Spartak was in business with a drug cartel in Mexico and sold their product all over Chicago. Plus, somewhere in the city—no one knew where—he had a factory churning out hundreds of thousands of pills. The money from those two operations had bought him a lot of soldiers and a lot of guns. If it came to war—and Spartak Nazarov would absolutely go to war with us if we killed his beloved brother—we’d be wiped out.
“Can we refuse?” asked Valentin.
I shook my head. You don’t say no to The Eight.
“Why would they ask us to do this?” asked Gennadiy. “They were the ones who got us to make peace!”
“They must have a good reason,” I said, steepling my fingers. “We all know Borislav’s reputation. My guess is, he’s raped another woman, or killed her. Some district attorney has finally gotten serious about putting him away. And The Eight think a trial would put too much attention on the Bratva.” I looked at each of them in turn. “I have no problem killing the piece of shit, after all the women he’s hurt.”
“But Spartak will declare war on us,” said Gennadiy.
I cocked my head to one side. “Only if he finds out it was us.”
“It’s hisbrother!”said Gennadiy. “Spartak won’t stop until he finds out who did it.”
I thought. “Then we make it look like an accident.”
“I can do it,” said Valentin.
I shook my head. “This one I’m doing myself.”
Valentin’s eyes widened. “It’s my job. It’swhat I do.”
I nodded sympathetically. Valentin is our hitman, and he really is good at his job, one of the best I’d ever seen. Only a guy I used to know in New York was on the same level. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, brother,” I said gently. “There’s just too much at stake. If this goes wrong, I want it to be on my head, not yours.”
Valentin nodded unhappily and I showed them out, taking the opportunity to give Mikhail’s dogs ear scratches as they passed.I better get this right,I thought as I watched them leave.Or we’re all dead.
At that moment, my phone buzzed with a notification. I was so distracted, I had to read the message a few times before the implications sank in.
Lina
I read the second book in A DAY! OMG they’re going to make her Queen but the King’s missing and there’s a traitor!!! Please next book please thank you you’re the best!
Borislav and Spartak were instantly forgotten. I marched out of my office and loomed over Irwin’s desk. “Move up my afternoon meetings,” I told him. “I have an errand to run after work.”
That evening, Valentin parked opposite the bookstore for the third time. “Maybe next time, you should just buy all three books at once.”
I caught his eyes in the rear-view mirror and gave him a sharp glare.Did he know?If he did, his face showed no trace of it.So what if he does know? So I want to fuck the bookstore owner. So what?There was nothing wrong with lust. It was feelings that were the problem.
As I crunched through the snow towards the brightly lit store, it sank in that this was the last time. The series was a trilogy: once she finished this one, I’d have no reason to go back.Maybe she can recommend another series for Lina. A nice long one…
I pushed open the door and stopped dead in the doorway.What the fuck?
Bronwyn was behind the counter, working through a long line of customers who all clutched thick stacks of books. Not surprising when hand-lettered signs offered 25%, 30%, even40% off. A banner hung overhead: red paint on what looked like a white bed sheet. CLOSING DOWN SALE.
I marched past the line to the counter. Bronwyn looked even paler than usual and thinner, as if she hadn’t been eating. “What’s going on?”
Her shoulders sank as if every time she told the story, it drained something, and she had nothing left. “I was losing money already,” she told me. “I thought maybe I could turn things around, but then…”She shook her head. There were dark circles under her eyes. “Things changed.”
“Whatchanged?” I knew I was being snappy and terse but I couldn’t help it. I was worried.
She sighed. “It’s nothing that can be fixed.” She looked at the floor and in that second she didn’t look like the confident businesswoman I knew. She looked...broken.
Without thinking, I reached out and gently lifted her chin so that she had to look at me. “Bronwyn,” I asked, my voice soft but firm, “what?”