Page 129 of Twilight Sins

“One hour,” I say, lifting a single finger. “One hour. Then we eat chips and drool over Humphry Bogart.”

Mariya squeals. “I don’t know who that is, but let’s go!”

She snatches my finger out of the air and drags me down the sidewalk. We walk right past the long line of annoyed people waiting at the doors. One flash of her ID to the bouncer and the velvet rope is opened for us.

“I told you it wouldn’t be a problem,” Mariya says over her shoulder. “The ID has the wrong first name, but it has the right last name.”

That sneaky little?—

Mariya didn’t know that bouncer. She just knew the Kulikov name would get her through the door.

Any chance of yelling at her for lying to me is swallowed in the music thumping through the speakers. The dance floor is wall-to-wall bodies and Mariya beelines straight for it.

One hour. I need to keep Yakov’s little sister accounted for and alive for one hour.

I can do this.

Mariya and I fight our way to the center of the dance floor through a crush of bodies. Before I can even take a breath, she throws up her hands. “This place is crazy. Let’s go upstairs.”

“We just got here.”

“Actually, drinks first.” She cuts through the crowd again towards the bar. I elbow and shove my way after her, already sweating.

It’s about to be the longest hour of my life.

50

YAKOV

The back of the restaurant is dark. The light above our table flickers every couple minutes, but otherwise, we’re dealing in shadows.

It’s the way I planned it.

When Boris walks through the door, he doesn’t even see us at first. He sits down on a bench in the waiting area before he finally spots us and makes his way through the grid of tables.

“Fucking useless,” Nik mutters. “He should know we’re here. I would have been surveilling this place for hours before the meeting. I was surveilling it for hours.”

“Which is exactly why I didn’t,” Boris booms as he approaches, clapping Nikandr on the back. “Ever heard the phrase ‘work smarter, not harder’?”

Nik scowls at him. “Your brothers are the reason we had to drive an hour north to have a meeting. If anyone should’ve been standing watch, it’s you.”

Boris unwraps a fork from the table and picks at the space between his two front teeth. “Hard for me to get you all the information you want if I’m stuck on guard duty. I ran some errands for Akim to cozy up to the boss. Now, I’m here. There wasn’t time. So again, thanks for looking out.”

“I don’t even know why we’re here,” Nik says. He turns to me. “I already told you Akim greenlit you.”

“You did. And then I found out your source wasn’t sure where the hit came from,” I grit out.

It’s safe to assume Akim is behind the hit, but I’m not going to risk my family’s safety on a hunch. I want it in stone before I decide what my next move will be.

Boris clicks his tongue. “You always gotta verify your information.”

“Is that why you didn’t warn our father there was a hit out on him?” Nik hisses. “Too busy ‘verifying?’”

“Nik,” I warn.

Boris shakes his head. “It’s alright. Nikandr doesn’t like me. That’s alright.”

“You worked for the previous pakhan of the Gustev Bratva. You were there when they planned our father’s assassination. A heads-up would have been nice.”

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