Page 83 of Falling for the Enemy

“This,” Nikolai says, ignoring the firestorm that brews as he shoves the bottle in my direction, “is for you to carry in your purse.”

I don’t touch it. “Da? And what is it?”

Morbid curiosity.

It gets the best of me every time.

The durak smirks. “A grenade.”

Alejandro has heard enough. “Time to go, Manzana,” he says, rounding my front, placing his body between mine and the box of explosives. “Before we get blown up.”

Nikolai huffs out a breath. He looks offended. “Nyet, the bombs aren’t armed yet and the grenade will only explode if the pin is pulled.” Leaning to the side, he peers around the kingpin to where I stand tucked behind him. “I may be unhinged, but I’m no fool.”

I shouldn’t find his statement amusing. Yet, I can’t help but smile, something that appears to be happening with increasing frequency.

Circling back around Alejandro, a move he doesn’t approve of if the indecipherable expletive he mumbles is anything to go by, I hesitantly take the bottle from my enforcer’s hand.

“A grenade, you say?”

Green eyes filled with pride, he nods. “It’s perfect for carrying on you. No one will be the wiser.” Suddenly anxious, he runs his hand over his head, mussing his short brown hair. “Just don’t forget what it is. Once you remove the cap”—he throws his hands up—“boom.”

At times, his genius alarms me.

I roll the bottle across my palm, careful to avoid the makeshift pin he’s created from the glass top. “How large is its blast radius? Will it—”

Booted footsteps pound on the hardwood as someone races back into the house. Casper appears a second later. “Ari, we need to move!”

Before I can request an explanation, he lifts his phone into the air. “Two of our men captured a mafioso near the port and called Ivan. After thirty minutes in an empty cargo container, he was able to successfully extract information on Stefano.”

Alejandro stiffens.

Ignoring him, I wave my hand, gesturing for Casper to hurry up and speak the words I desperately need to hear. He nods, continuing. “He’s hunkered down thirty minutes north of the city in an old farmhouse. Him and his only remaining son.”

I don’t think, I merely react.

“Lock Mina and Anna down, then send Viktor north,” I tell my bull. “Have him procure a drone from Ivan and use it to gather aerial views of the location prior to our arrival. As for you, pull neighboring property maps from the county. We need to know what we’re going up against. No surprises this time.”

I now focus on my enforcer. “Call everyone. Except for the men at the ports and casinos, I want every King within thirty minutes of the city mobilized.”

This time, we won’t be outnumbered.

“Get Vasily and Alexander here. I need them to stay and guard the girls because both of you”—I point from my enforcer to my bull—“are coming with me.”

Nikolai lifts his chin. “Anything else?”

“Da,” I reply, my pounding heart dangerously close to lurching high into my throat. “Would someone please get me a fucking gun!”

Alejandro wraps his hand around my bicep and spins me in place, bringing us face to face. The prideful expression he wears takes me by surprise. I expect him to demand I stay behind, allowing my men to take charge, a scenario I won’t allow.

As queen, I’m first into the fray.

But nyet, that’s not what he does.

“Forgetting someone, Jefa?”

I grasp the front of his shirt in my clenched fist. Pulling him closer, I tip my head back, holding his gaze. “Are you staying or going, Krasavchik?”

Mirroring Nikolai’s expression from a minute before, he looks offended. It appears the men that surround me are more emotional than I am. Cupping my cheek, he dips his handsome face to mine, his lips a mere hair’s breadth away. “What do you think?”

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