Page 76 of Emerald Vices

Harris raises his swollen, bloodshot eyes to mine. “I am still a Rostov man. I’m no coward.”

Jackpot. That’s the kind of information I’ve been trying to literally cut out of him.

“He’s going to fucking destroy you,” Harris spits, oblivious to the mistake he’s making. “He’s smarter than you are. Stronger. More ruthless…”

“So smart and so strong that he sent a boy in to do a man’s job.”

It’s a throwaway comment; I’m not expecting a reaction. But Harris’s eyes widen, his nostrils flaring. “Did you kill the boy?”

I aim the scalpel at his throat. “Why do you care?”

“I… I don’t.”

“Maybe you don’t. But Nikolai does, doesn’t he?”

Through a film of blood, sweat, and tears, Harris goes pale. “The boy is worth something to Nikolai. If he’s alive, I’m sure he’d be willing to negotiate. I can take a message to?—”

“You’re in no fit state to go anywhere, Detective.”

“Please!” he pleads. “Give him the boy and you can make a truce. I’m sure?—”

“No!”

My men would never contradict or override me, period. Let alone in front of the enemy.

But apparently, my woman didn’t get that memo.

Natalia is storming towards us, her eyes blazing. “No one is going to barter with a child. No negotiations. No trades. Nothing.”

Harris’s eyes narrow. “So he is alive?”

Before I can even think to stop her, Natalia swipes a pair of brass knuckles from the toolkit and takes aim at Harris.

The hit isn’t square and she falls off balance when she misses his nose and hits his lip instead, but blood pours down his chin, so the damage is done.

“The boy is mine!” she shrieks. “And Nikolai’s never getting his hands on Misha again!”

Harris stares daggers at her. “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, you stupid whore.”

Natalia roars as she hits him again. Her aim this time is better, and she opens a nasty gash in the center of his nose. But as she rears back for another hit, I wrap an arm around her waist and drag her back.

“Why?” she spits, kicking and swinging wildly, still cursing at the captive.

I carry her all the way through the warehouse, and she’s still fighting when I drop her outside the warehouse doors, well out of sight of Harris and the prisoners.

“Why did you stop me?” she demands, shoving hard against my chest.

“Because that is not who you are, Natalia.”

“I’m a mother, and that man threatened my children. That’s exactly who I am!”

I drag a hand over my neck. “I shouldn’t have agreed to let you come here.”

“I’m a grown woman. I can go wherever I want.”

“You’re also a very pregnant woman. You can’t be getting into fist fights.”

She looks like she wants to swipe at me with those brass knuckles. Her eyes are brighter than I’ve ever seen them. I try to cup her face but she swats my hand away. “He was trying to convince you to sell Misha back to Nikolai!”

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