Page 170 of Bratva Butcher

“Vanessa.”

My kind-of-friend/co-worker smiled. “Hi, Autumn.” She was a beautiful woman. Shoulder-length honey blonde hair. Perfect skin. Chocolate brown eyes. She was in her early thirties with a tall, curvy body.

Dimitri’s gaze whipped between us. “You know her?”

“I’m her best friend,” Vanessa said with confidence, her head held high.

“No, you’re not,” I said incredulously.

“Okay fine. Iwouldbe if you weren’t so anti-social.”

I said nothing.

She smiled again. “See. Told ya.”

I took the knife from Dimitri’s hand and pointed it at her. “Tell me what you’re doing here right now, Vanessa, or I’ll gut you from throat to pelvis.”

“Dramatic much.” Dimitri shook her roughly. “Alright, alright, jeez. But only because you’re my best friend.” She winked at me. I rolled my eyes. “I’m here on a job.”

Fuck. So Sergeididput a contract out on Dimitri after I refused to kill him.

“Is the contract open?” I asked, trepidation curling down my spine.

“Yep. Sorry, Auty, I know Silver Fox is your man, but ten million dollars was just too good to pass up.” Her use of the nickname she insisted on calling me did nothing to quell the anxiety bubbling up within me.

Ten. Million. Dollars.

That high a sum would have every assassin in the world looking to cash it in.

I looked at Dimitri. “Your father is a real asshole.”

He just grunted in acknowledgement.

We hadn’t yet had a chance to discuss his father and the fact that he’d originally hired me to killhimand not Dominik. We’d been enjoying our little ’“Fuck fest” bubble too much.

But now we had no choice but to confront it.

“Is there one for me, too?” I asked.

Vanessa shook her head. “Not that I know of.”

That confused me a little, but one problem at a time. “If one comes up, will you be looking to take it?”

She didn’t even hesitate. “If the sum is high enough.” One of the reasons why I liked Vanessa was because she was brutally honest. She didn’t lie or try to sugarcoat things.

The smartest thing to do would be to kill her. It would mean one less assassin out there to worry about claiming the bounty.

Sighing, I said, “let her go.”

Dimitri did as I asked with zero hesitation. Vanessa got back on her feet, keeping her movements slow and unthreatening, a small smile on her lips.

“Because of our history, you get one free pass, Vanessa.One. And that’s it. You try this again, and I swear you’ll be dead before you hit the ground, and Cole will grow up an orphan.”

The smile dropped on her face instantly at the mention of her son. Dimitri was my one weak spot. Cole was hers. Her son was three years old and cute as a button. I’d met him a few times when we were both working the same jobs. She had a rule that no matter what she was doing, she would call her son every night to say goodnight. She loved him more than money, andthatwas saying something, because Vanessa was all about the cash.

Her eyes bore into mine, any ounce of mischievousness and friendliness completely gone. I had a feeling our friendship had just taken a massive hit. “Understood,” she said, voice cold.

I flicked my head. “Get out of here.”

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