Page 135 of Knights Game

“Youpo ebalu poluchish, suka, blyad! We do not bring family into this. Blood pays with blood, we will go to war!”

“But you changed the rules, Lebedev. The moment you mentioned my mother.” My eyes are wide, the animal that lives beneath the surface fighting against the cage.

“You are blind.” He laughs. “Blind and stupid, just like your father.”

I pause. “Your taunts give you away, Lebedev. Did they not teach you that in yourtraining.What does my father have to do with this?”

He shuts his mouth and looks away. The realisation that he fucked up.

“Luca.” Roman appears in the doorway. “Snow’s here.”

I nod and wipe my hand over my mouth and look down at the piece of shit. “I’ll be back. Maybe use this time to reconsider your daughter’s life. Her death will not be a slow one.”

I land a knockout punch that snaps his head to the right before it lolls forward.

“Bennett, find out where his family is, bring his wife and daughter to me. If the Russians get wind of us having him, they will not be as kind. We need to get to them first.” He turns and walks away. “Unharmed.”

“Okay.”

“He’s all yours, Roman.”

He nods, his mouth in a firm line. I pull my shirt sleeves down over the blood spatters on my forearms and close the door to the room as Roman starts to pick up a set of pliers along with the smelling salts. The Russian may have spent time being tortured, but there’s one thing he has never trained for and that is ten minutes alone with Roman Rook.

I walk into my office and pour myself a large glass of alcohol, knocking it back in one gulp, enjoying the burn.

“Knight.”

I turn.

Kara Snow.

Her long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, she’s wearing black leggings, a dark leather jacket and biker boots. She’s holding a motorcycle helmet in her hand, with an envelope tucked under her armpit.

“Snow.” I shake her hand; her grip firm and cold.

She may be beautiful, but this woman, with her ice blue eyes, and pale complexion is probably more deadly than most of my men put together, including Roman.

“You were right.” She pulls open the manila envelope, hooking out a piece of paper and passes it to me. “Layla Johnson, a new hit came through a few weeks ago.”

I look at the assassination order, the date. It was put in right after the gala dinner.

“Contract type?”

She stares at me. “Come on, Knight. I owe you, but I’m not going to tell you who made the request.”

I take a step forward.

“Now, now.” She holds up a hand. “I do owe you, my life, in fact. But I don’t owe Layla Johnson. I’m not going to divulge the client’s name, yours on the other hand…” She pulls out another piece of paper. “It would seem you’ve made some enemies.”

It’s a contract with my name clearly written in black and white with a hefty price attached to it, and I can feel her cold gaze on me.

“Looks like you’re still standing though.”

“For now. Is this active?”

“Yes.” She walks over to my desk and lays the envelope down and runs her finger over the smooth oak. “The reward money was doubled, same day as Layla’s.”

“Interesting. They don’t appear to have been trying too hard, I’m not exactly a hard man to find. Why couldn’t you have told me this on the phone?”

---