Page 60 of Sinner's Secret

Yvgeny winced. “I don’t think it would be a good idea to mention Bazyli to your partner. He has warrants out for his arrest.”

“That’s one thing we can clear up. Baz had nothing to do with...”

Yvgeny cut her off, “This isn’t about your kidnapping. It’s about what he did afterward.”

“I got runover afterward,” Baz snarled. “And when that didn’t work, some asshole assassin tried to murder me in an ambulance.”

“Ah ha!” Yvgeny grinned, showing off his sharp canines. “That’s what’s different. You got on the wagon!”

“I think you mean he fell off the wagon,” Nika said.

“The wagon means he didn’t consume alcohol, yes?”

When Nika nodded, Yvgeny continued. “He’s been trying to stay drunk for so long, it feels like centuries. If he didn’t have a drink after those two assassination attempts, I consider it a sign of sobriety.”

“Oh,” Nika said, then nodded. “Okay.”

“Yvgeny.” Baz wanted to murder his cousin. He wanted to pound his head against the steel door of the room until he knocked himself out. No, he didn’t like not knowing what was going on. Maybe until he got a headache strong enough to make him forget...everything?

“I should have let that asshole kill me,” he muttered.

Yvgeny smacked him on the shoulder. “I’m proud of you.”

“Shut up.”

“I can’t wait to tell your mother that you finally stopped with the alcohol.”

“It’s still early,” Baz snarled at his stupid, big-mouthed cousin. “I can still get drunk.”

“What warrants?” Nika asked, her voice cutting through Yvgeny’s happy chortling.

Yvgeny looked at Baz with one raised eyebrow.

He was so tired of having two conversations at once. So tired of hiding what he was, who he was, from everyone. Especially her.

But, if she knew the truth, she’d shoot him herself.

“You can tell her whatever you want,” Baz told Yvgeny. “But keep the family business to yourself.”

Yvgeny turned to her. “Someone sent some video of a man, they claimed was Baz, leaving an ambulance to the police. When the police reached the vehicle, two dead bodies were discovered inside.”

“Claimed?”

“The footage is poor quality. It would be impossible to determine who it is.”

Nika didn’t move and her expression didn’t change. Seconds passed, then she met Baz’s gaze. “Was this another situation like at the apartment building?”

“Yes. Two men stole the ambulance I was in. One of them was going to shoot me. They were professionals.”

She closed her eyes for a moment, then sighed. “Baz, are there any more?”

“Dead bodies?”

“Yeah.”

“Not so far, but like I said, it’s still early.”

Yvgeny was watching Nika with an odd expression on his face, like he was fascinated and horrified at the same time. He leaned closer to Baz without taking his attention off Nika. “She’s not shocked or frightened or appalled.”

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