Page 19 of Flames of Ruin

“You’re not doing this alone. So…what are we going to do?” She asks.

“There was a man in the bar tonight that caught his eye right before he went all crazy on me. We need to keep our eyes and ears open.”

Smiling, she holds her arm out to me and I link mine with hers. “Let’s go catch ourselves a crime lord.”

Chapter nine

Drake

“You have some fucking balls coming here, Draco,” Daniil says as he descends the steps of his father’s home. “Or is it stupidity?” He chuckles as he steps off the last step.

Gesturing to his guards, I smirk, and say, “This is a bit much, don’t you think?”

I’ve been standing between five armed men in the foyer of Dimitri’s home for the last thirty minutes. Patience isn’t my strong suit when thousands of innocent people’s lives are at stake, but I know Daniil is a man of honor. As convoluted as his idea of honor is, I know he wouldn’t stand for this.

“Our fathers are friends. I don’t know why we can’t be,” I say jokingly.

The Bratva isn’t friends with anyone, it’s business. I know if he does this for me, I will be in his debt until he comes to collect it.

Waving his guards off, he says, “Our fathers are business partners. Don’t get it twisted, Draco.”

“Well, then, I’m sure you know what they have planned for tonight.”

“I am not my father’s keeper. Get to the point faster, Draco. I have business to attend to.” He smirks as one of his many women saunters in between us wearing a barely there red lace dress.

His eyes rake over her as she smiles at me. He slaps her ass as she walks by.

“Business, huh?” I snort.

Turning his head back to me, his eyes are glaring at me. I know he’s losing his patience.

“What do you know about The Fourth Circle and their plans to eliminate Raventown?” I ask, waiting to see his reaction.

“Eliminate? How exactly?”

“From the sounds of it, mass murder. Via the water system.”

“My father would never agree to such a thing.” He scoffs. “We have a code of honor.” His voice is laced with doubt as he attempts to stand tall, proudly wiping the wrinkles out of his designer suit jacket.

Our fathers are not good men, but to take part in such betrayal against their organization’s code of conduct for their own personal gain was never something I expected.

“He would if he was being threatened.”

“Who the fuck would threaten Dimitri Parshikov?” He stares at me for a beat until he realizes.

“Your fucking father.”

“You want the Bratva to have the blood of thousands on their hands? Or do you want to help me stop him?”

A muscle in his jaw ticks in frustration. “When and where?”

Pulling the blueprints of the water system out of my jacket, I hand it over to him.

As he angrily swipes it out of my hands, I say, “Your father’s access point is circled in red. Be there fifteen minutes before nine.”

Turning away from him, I push the guards aside and walk through them, exiting through the front door. Surprised they didn’t come after me for my aggression, I can hear Daniil speaking to them in Russian. Mine is very limited, but I know he is calling them off.

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