Page 79 of For a Price

“Zver nikogda ne uznayet. Eto budet sekret.?*”

I frown trying to make sense of the words. Two of them jump out at me right away. Zver being Roman’s Russian moniker. The other being sekret. Russian for secret.

I’ve only learned a handful of Russian words since I started practicing, but sekret is one I remember. Mostly because it sounds so similar to the English variation.

“What secret?” I whisper to myself. “A secret being kept from Roman?”

“Da,” Polina goes on. “Eto budet sdelano?*.”

She promptly hangs up with whoever it is she’s on the phone with and then goes about her day as if nothing’s happened.

But I’m not able to move on so easily.

How can I when it seems I’ve accidentally overheard something I shouldn’t? What secret would Polina need to keepfrom Roman and does this have anything to do with the tensions between the pakhan and the sovietnik?

“Shit,” I sigh. “Now what do I do?”

* medovik -honey cake

* Potomu chto ty drugoy, i ya nakhozhu tebya krasivoy -because you are different and I find you beautiful

* Zver nikogda ne uznayet. Eto budet sekret -the beast will never know. It will be a secret.

* Da, eto budet sdelano -yes, it will be done

CHAPTER 23

Katerina

“Haveyou ever played Bura?* before, kitty cat?” Roman asks.

“Is it the Russian version of euchre or something?”

He glowers at me, the card deck small in his massive hands. I can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of me as I plop down on the floor. I’m on one side of the coffee table and he’s on the other, his knees wide apart as he sits on the couch and leans forward to shuffle the cards.

It’s a rainy Saturday night and most of his staff is off for the evening. We virtually have the penthouse to ourselves, and instead of watching another movie, I asked him to teach me a Russian game.

“It is the Russian version of itself,” he answers. “There is no equivalent. But we will be playing a special kind where some of the rules are altered.”

I smirk at him. “Something tells me these rules will work to my disadvantage.”

“That would depend on how you define disadvantage, devochka. I prefer to think of it as entertainment for my viewing pleasure.”

Roman goes on to explain that we’ll be playing a more… X-rated version of the Russian card game. He explains that each round is known as a trick. Players use the hand they’re dealt to play the higher card than their opponent. The first player to reach thirty-one points wins.

As for the special rules?

“Every hand I win, you take off a piece of clothing.”

“And every hand I win?”

“I’ll take something off.”

“And what happens when there’s no more clothes left?” I ask, raising a brow.

He merely grins. “Then you must fulfill the request of the other player.”

“What kind of request would that be?”

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