Page 69 of Sinful Embers

“Keeping tabs on us still?” Sabrina hisses.

“I’m scared you might fall through a crack and disappear.” He snorts then turns back to Radomir. “I’ll find you that drink and I will tell you everything later. We need to go do clean up after the mess you caused and hope that Wanda is still alive.”

An hour later we’re back at the sleazy inn Sabrina and I stayed at the night before. Leigh and I have a double bed in our room and Sabrina is bunking with Syd. I go down to order us all some food which I offered to deliver to Syd and Sabrina as they didn’t feel comfortable in the pub.

I’m waiting at the bar when the woman who checked us walks up to the bar tender, and she pissed off.

“That prince from the palace did not come and pay for her lunch today,” She is agitated. “I had to take it up there. I told him and you I didn’t want to get involved. Now I must do the dinner too. I am not a housekeeper to feed his whore.”

My brow furrows and something nags at me. The prince for the palace? I’m sure she must be speaking about Carlos. I can’t ask because I don’t want to draw attention to the fact that I was eaves dropping. So I pretend to read the menu while I wait for my food. It arrives just before he food she ordered did. I drop my wallet and bend to pick up letting the woman go up the stairs first.

There are only eight bedrooms and it’s a straight hallway. I walk up the stairs and make my way to Sabrina and Syd’s door. I knock as I covertly watch what room the woman goes into. She takes the key and doesn’t’ bother knocking just goes in. I will be back to get the tray and fix you up. Syd opens the door just in time.

“Thank fuck, I’m starving.” Syd snatches the food and frowns at me instantly alert. “What’s wrong?”

“Did Carlos really kidnap Dmitri’s wife?”

“Yes. Wanda Manning,” Syd explains. “She gave Carlos a job coordinating shipmates for her company as she felt sorry for him, and he did introduce Wanda and Dmitri.”

“So it’s true? Dmitri has gone legit?”

“I never fully trust ex-mob.” She pulls a face. “No offence.”

“I understand.” I rub my chin, holding the brown paper back with mine and Leighs food and some erotic desert in one hand. “Any idea where he’s hiding her.”

“We’ve looked everywhere,” Syd tells him. “We weren’t on a wild goose chase when we went all the UK and Ireland. We were trying to find Wanda Manning as well as Leigh.”

“I thought you all knew Carlos was here in Russia for weeks?”

“He’d been in an out of Russian, so we honestly didn’t know,” Syd answer honestly.

“But Dmitri left that warning in blood…” I mutter. “Only he could’ve know about my safe and helipad.”

“Eleven years ago, Dmitri was working still working with Carlos. Carlos knew all of Dmitri’s secrets which meant learning Dmitri’s family secretes to. ”Syde tells him.

“You believe that?” I ask and Syd nods. “After what happened to your father, other uncle, and Vivienne.” She shuddered. “Dmitri knew he need to get rid of Carlos for good. He’d fallen for Wanda and Carlos didn’t like that. Before he could kill another one of Dmitri’s woman he loved or was about to marry Dmitrie hand him over to the feds.”

“Do you want to help me with something quickly?”

“Okay.” She frowns.

I start walking down the passage to the room the woman from the front desk had just exited. “Last night we stayed there, and I saw Carlos coming down the stairs from one of the rooms. While I was waiting for our food the lady from the front desk wasgoing on about the prince from the palace not paying his bill for today or coming by to see to his whore.”

“Okay?” She says again. “Should I have my weapon.” She pats he leg and pulls out that one. “I’ll use this one.” She puts the small pistol in the waist band of her pants. “What are you thinking?”

“Well, firstly Carlos is gay,” I tell her. “And I doubt he’d been seen dead fucking anyone in this place.”

Her eyes widened and she looks at the door. “You think…”

“We could always pretend we’re in the wrong room if it’s not,” I shrug.

“Then let’s get in there,” Sabrina makes us jump and within a few minutes she jimmied open the lock.

We barge into the room and there’s Wanda. She looks out of it like she’s been drugged. The next half an hour goes by in a blur of sirens ambulances and us getting upgraded to Dmitri’s palace. After another grueling forty minutes of questions from Oleksi, Nikolas, and my mother I finally get to join my wife.

I walk into the room and halt abruptly. Leigh stands in front of a full-length mirror, meticulously brushing her hair. The silky negligee she wears accentuates every perfect curve, the delicate fabric barely concealing the fullness of her breasts, the dip of her waist, the gentle flare of her hips.

My cock hardens instantly.

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