Page 56 of Maxim

“Yes. Every room apart from the bathroom. And make sure the door onto the terrace is secured. I suspect that’s how whoever it was got in. Possibly from a neighboring apartment.” I muse on that for a moment. “Maybe check if any of them are empty, just in case someone is using a vacant unit as a base.”

“Sure.” He makes some notes on his phone. “Our little canary sang a sweet song, by the way.”

Fuck, with all the shit this evening I’d forgotten all about Stefan Lublik.

“What did Kolya get out of him?”

Sasha smirks. “Plenty. He lasted all of two minutes before he started telling us everything.”

“And?”

“He confirmed what we expected. Tallin has thrown in his lot with Uriov, in return for a promotion and some extra territory. Hitting our warehouse was a loyalty test. Lublik said he and a few other men pumped the place with gas before taking out our guys. He doesn’t know where the shipment went. His job was to hand over the weapons, wipe the van clean, and set fire to it. Only he fucked up and didn’t hang around long enough to make sure the fire took hold.”

“Did he have any insight into Uriov’s activities?”

“Nope, he’s just a grunt. Knows nothing. There’s no way he held anything back, not after Kolya had finished with him.”

I grunt while pondering all the loose threads.

“I thought you were supposed to be in Levinsk this evening, for the meeting with the investors?”

“I couldn’t leave Natalya.” My tone invites no further discussion on the topic but Sasha being Sasha takes absolutely no notice.

“She’s a distraction we don’t need right now, Max,” he warns. “Uriov is up to something and if you take your eye off the ball…”

“I’m not fucking distracted!” OK, so I am a little but not enough to make a difference.

“Really?” He raises one eyebrow.

I’m not in the fucking mood for a fight, but if he carries on questioning my judgment, we’ll be having one. Right here.

“Who’s the pakhan here, Aleksander, me or you, eh?” My muscles are tense, ready to punch someone or something. Him if he continues. He sits up, no longer quite as relaxed as he was when he first arrived.

For a moment, we stare at each other, but eventually, he lowers his gaze.

“Sorry.” It’s a fucking pathetic apology but I’ll accept it. He’s my brother in all but blood and I respect his opinion, even if I don’t like it at times.

Some of my anger fades and I take another long sip of my drink. It’s late and I’d much rather be in bed with my malyshka than talking about things that can wait until the morning. But Sasha is rarely in the city, so it makes sense to catch up.

And so we move on to more general business and eventually, Sasha leaves, no doubt heading out to hook up with one of his regular women. I don’t ask. What he does in his own time is none of my business, even if he likes to think my love life is his business.

My malyshka is still fast asleep when I finally crawl into bed after a short shower. She stirs but doesn’t wake as I wrap myself around her curvy body.

Sasha is still suspicious of her motives, which is why he keeps niggling me. I understand his concern - we don’t want a reporter nosing around our business - but I am confident I can keep Natalya away from anything connected to the unsavory parts of my business.

After all, she still doesn’t know who I am. And that’s the way I plan to keep it for now.

Chapter forty

Nat

It’s been three days and I still haven’t been back to my apartment. Max told me he’d organized cleaners and installed a new alarm system, while simultaneously insisting I stay at his place.

I refused. Not because I hate his apartment - I love it there - but because spending so much time with him is making it harder to remain objective. Instead, I’m staying at Jane’s place. She’s been seeing some guy so half the time she’s not there. Not that she minds me being there. She’s camped on my sofa often enough.

The fact is I still don’t know who Max really is. While I believe his explanation about why that woman tried to kiss him, I haven’t plucked up the courage to ask him why he was visiting the mayor’s building.

Part of me is afraid he’s involved with the mayor’s shady business. Despite how amazing he was when we realized my apartment had been broken into, I still don’t trust him. Not completely.

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