Page 57 of Kings of Violence

“If I’d been born male, they’d have told me things,” Sierra says. “I’d have beenexpectedto know. They wouldn’t have treated me like I’m an idiot, either.”

“You would want to be part of it all?” I ask, genuinely curious. “The violence, the blood, the betrayals?”

For a moment, she’s quiet. I’m starting to think she’s not going to answer when she finally says, “I didn’t. Not for a long time. After I found Neil…” She swallows hard, fidgeting, and this time when she tries to pull away, I let her up. She starts to pace, staring at the floor. “I wished everyone in my family would get the fuck out of it. But as I got older, I realized that wasn’t even a rational wish. There was no way to exit that kind of life, short of moving across the country, and even that might not have been enough. So I thought maybe I could be useful.”

“Is that why you decided to study hacking?” I watch her walk around my office. She stops to pick up a picture frame, which has a picture of me and my mother from before I left Russia.

“I thought I could protect them that way,” she says, staring down at the picture. “Is this your mother?”

“Yes,” I answer. “Mila Belova.” Another thing I shouldn’t be telling her, but even with her computer skills, I doubt there is anything she could do. Sierra does not speak Russian, and she has no contacts in Russia.

She doesn’t even have contactshere.

“That’s pretty,” she says. “She’s pretty, too. You look like her.” She glances at me. “Is she still alive?”

“My mother is far prettier than I am,” I say, stroking my beard. I think nobody else has ever accused me of looking like her. No, I have my father’s large figure and his thick brows and beard. I did get her red hair, though. “And she’s alive, last I heard. My father moved her to a villa far outside Moscow. He had to keep her away from his wife, after all.”

She stops pacing and looks at me, making a face. “Really? Whatis it with mafia men and their mistresses?” She sighs. “At least my father didn’t have a mistress.”

“You think your brothers had mistresses?” I ask, raising my brows.

Sierra shakes her head without hesitation, sagging back against the desk. “No. Neil and Sean… They loved their wives. And Kyran is gay and completely infatuated with fucking Silvano.” Her lip curls into a sneer. “I’d pity the fool who tried to get Kyran away from him.”

I don’t know why she says that. I’m not particularly impressed with Silvano Cresci. To me, he’s an impotent little whelp, and he’s only lucky that the FBI raided the deal between the Winters and Petrov so he was able to seize power in the wake of it.

She seems to catch that, and she shrugs. “He’s dangerous in his own way. He’s…” She scrunches up her nose. “Sneaky, I guess. Clever.”

“Clever can only get you so far,” I answer. “And if your brother weren’t so pathetic, he would have killed Cresci by now. Your family could have absorbed their operations, instead of the other way around.”

“Kyran is…” Sierra bites her bottom lip, considering. “I don’t know. He’s a follower, not a leader. And he and Silvano have been together for ages.” She lets out a huff of a laugh.

I bark out a laugh. “Maybe if you’re lucky, I will murder Silvano.”

I might have brokered a semi truce with him, but I don’t believe for a second it will last.

Sierra twists her fingers together. “It would kill Kyran, too,” she says softly. “He wouldn’t stop until the world burned. They’re that way for each other.” She sounds a little wistful, to my surprise, but before I can comment on it, she goes on, “Classes start back up in a few days.” She looks up at me. “Do I get to go?”

The change in topic is abrupt, but I suppose I’m tired of talking about family too. I spread my legs wider and glance thoughtfully at her.

“Hmm. Perhaps you need to convince me.” I pat my thigh. “Ineed a very good case to allow a valuable asset out of the safety of my home.”

“I’m not very valuable without the rest of my education,” Sierra says, slowly crossing the room to come to me. She straddles my lap, leaning in to kiss my throat. “And I’ll behave. I know you’ll take it out on my mother if I don’t. You were very, very clear that my family’s well-being depends on my good behavior. And I’ve been good, haven’t I? I haven’t even punched Yuri in the nuts.”

I laugh and grip her hips. “He would have hurt you very badly if you’d done that.” I massage her ass through the tight leather pants. “What did you do with him, then? Or did he leave you completely untouched during your little trip?”

She lets out a bark of laughter. “What do you think?” she retorts. She wraps her arms around me, kissing me — and I doubt it’s because she wants to, but instead because she wants to shut me up. I allow it, kissing her back, and she draws away after a moment, breathing a bit more quickly.

“Tell me,” I say when she pulls away. “What did Yura do with you?” I know Yura loves the motorcycle a lot more than most people, and he’s always ready to fuck when he gets back from a ride. With Sierra pressing up against his back, her arms around his waist, I doubt he would have been able to hold back.

Her cheeks flush, and she squirms — which also feels nice against my cock. “He bent me over the bike and fucked me,” she mumbles.

I groan, imagining what that must have looked like. “Yeah? How did that feel?” I push my fingers along the seam of the leather pants, right over her pussy. Even through the leather I can feel how hot she is.

“It felt…” Sierra swallows hard, shifting restlessly in my lap. “It was good.”

I quirk a brow at her. “Good?”

“Better than good,” she amends reluctantly. “Too bad he’s a total jackass and went and ruined it when it was over.”

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