Page 30 of Sinner's Secret

A short elevator ride delivered him to the penthouse floor where his cousin worked and lived, if you could call hiding in a closet, coffin, or car trunk, living.

Yvengy’s assistant, a superficially beautiful blonde with cheek implants, fake boobs, and a faux smile greeted him politely and waved him into the grandiose office.

Baz closed the door behind him.

“Hello, cousin,” Yvgeny said will all the warmth of a lizard. “What brings you by?” His gaze studied Baz’s face.

Baz took the seat facing Yvgeny’s desk and sat down, putting his less than clean boots on the gleaming surface of the desk. “I’ve got a story for you.”

His cousin’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? You haven’t done anything worthy of a story in a long time.”

Baz smiled at him.

Yvgeny sighed. “You only look like that when you’ve caused trouble. What did you do?”

“Today is your lucky day,” Baz said. “I didn’t do a whole lot. Someone else, on the other hand, is into some shady shit in our city.”

Yvgeny pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment, then waved a hand at Baz. “Okay, I believe I’m prepared. Tell me the story.”

Baz told him about Nika and the human trafficking ring operating out of his neighborhood, what the cops tried to do to get someone into the criminal organization, and their failures. Yvgeny’s face betrayed anger and disgust at this news. He looked genuinely surprised that someone shot up a police station, killing cops, criminals, and civilians alike.

“What kind of idiots are these people?” Yvgeny asked him. “Kidnapping people and shooting cops, then leaving witnesses to both?”

“Yeah,” Baz said. “They’re either idiots or really, really smart.”

“What do you mean?” Yvgeny threw up his hands as if tossing something in the air. “People who do those sorts of crimes don’t last long once they’re so visible.”

“Unless,” Baz said slowly. “They’re trying to make someone else look responsible.”

“What someone else?”

Baz sat up, dropping his boots to the floor. “I was present during the kidnapping attempts and the drive-by shooting.” He stared at his cousin. “What if someone thought I was important? What if they thought implicating me, would look bad on you?”

“You haven’t been part of the organization for many years,” Yvgeny pointed out. “Everyone knows that.”

“You’ve been hinting that it’s time I stopped wallowing in guilt and did something useful again.”

“You keep saying no.”

Baz tilted his head to one side. “How many people know that when I say no, I really mean no? How many people get away with saying no to you?”

“You and your mother are the only ones who can refuse. Her version of no is much more destructive than yours. At least these days.”

Yvgeny studied him. “You usually look like shit, like you don’t care about anything, including yourself, but today...” He tilted his head to one side, as if Baz had turned into someone else. Someone Yvgeny didn’t know. “You don’t like what’s happening. You’re concerned for this woman, Nika, and for the family.”

“I don’t like my people being stolen in front of me,” Baz growled.

“Your people?” Yvgeny asked, his jaw slack. “You swore you’d never have people looking to you for anything ever again.”

Damn it, he had said that, and it had been a stupid thing to say. “That was...a long time ago. Things are different now.”

Yvgeny’s eyes appeared to be in the process of popping out of his head. “Different how?”

“The chances of us,” Baz pointed at himself and his cousin. “Getting caught is much greater now. There are cameras everywhere.”

For the first time, Yvgeny smiled, and it was a terrible thing to see. The glee in it dripped both acid and sugar. “You sound as paranoid as the rest of us.”

“Yeah, well, I figure a few friends and acquaintances who can vouch for me wouldn’t be a bad thing to have.” Things were past being funny. Anger, old, raw, and ruthless stirred inside him. “Do you know who is fucking with me? Fucking with us?”

---