Page 103 of Kings of Cruelty

I don’t enjoy watchingSierra leave with Kyran Winters, but I know exactly what Silvano Cresci is doing. He wants them out of the room so we can discuss things in private, without either of their objections.

“What’s the catch?” I ask him brusquely. “You are not helping out of goodness of your heart.”

Silvano smiles at me, while his man—Maddox?—subtly gets between us.

“Is it so hard to believe that I would do something simply to help Kyran?” Silvano taps Maddox on the arm. “You know me, right? You know I always look out for my people.”

Maddox snorts, obviously amused by some inside joke.

Nikolai eyes him, then turns to me. In Russian, he says, “I don’t like this. He’s entirely too smug.”

“I don’t either, but our main focus right now has to be my father,” I respond.

Silvano isn’t perturbed by our conversation in Russian. For all I know, he speaks it and is pretending not to.

“Your mother is a rabid bitch,” I say in Russian. “I’m going to pass her around to all my men.”

Silvano doesn’t react at all. “I’m afraid I passed on the Russian lessons. We could try Spanish or Italian, although I’m very shaky on those too.”

Maddox coughs into his hand. “You don’t speak Spanish, boss.”

“I could!” Silvano grins up at him. “It would make sense for me to speak Spanish. Maybe I should force Kyran to take Spanish lessons with me.”

“Oh, he’d love—” Maddox begins, then cuts himself off when he sees the look on my face. He sobers instantly, straightening to attention. “What do you need me to do, boss?” he asks Silvano.

“Protect me from the big, bad, scary Russians.” Silvano leans forward and takes a discarded pen from the nearby desk. He starts fiddling with it, making it click and click and click. “So, an alliance between us. This is of course predicated entirely on Sierra Winters’ safety. Right now, Kyran wants nothing more than to have his baby sister with him. I will do whatever it takes to get that for him—even if it would be a lot simpler to deliver your head on a platter to your father.”

Nikolai bristles, glaring hotly at Silvano, and Maddox’s gaze flits between the three of us like he’s expecting a fight to break out any second.

I sneer at him. “You could not hope to kill me.”

“I have hoped plenty,” Silvano counters. “Kyran and I have fantasized over how to eliminate you.”

I take a threatening step forward, and Maddox immediately puts himself squarely between me and Silvano.

“We would gladly see you dead, too,” I say in a low growl. “And Sierra would approve of it.”

Silvano scoots his chair to the side so he can see me again. “She probably would. She isn’t a fan of me right now, which is a shame. However, since Kyran and Sierra still value each other,for their sakes, I think we can figure something out. Something that’s mutually beneficial.”

“Yeah? So what’s that gonna be?” Nikolai challenges him.

“A formal alliance. You become one of our… under families.” Silvano gives me a wide shark grin.

It takes a second for the implication to sink in. I clench my fists and say, “You want me to answer to you?”

“Did I say that?” Silvano fiddles with the pen again, making that annoying click click click sound.

“No fucking way,” Nikolai says with a shake of his head, but he has the wherewithal to say it in Russian instead of speaking on my behalf to Silvano. The vehemence has him half-sitting up, but he winces and settles back into his chair as it jostles his wound. “Who does he think he is?”

Stepan shakes his head too, but he knows it’s not his place to say anything.

“Let me give you a word I think you will understand,” I tell him. “Nyet. I did not bow to my father, and I will not bow to anyone else.”

“And look where that got you.” Silvano sighs loudly and finally sets the pen back down. “Fine. If you won’t agree to that, I can’t offer you my full support. It’s too risky, without enough payoff.”

I don’t need his full support though. He isn’t the only person I can call on. I reach for my phone—and remember that it’s still with my father. Fuck.

I extend my hand out to Stepan. “Your phone.” He unlocks it and passes it to me without question. “Give me Giulio Pavone’s number,” I bark at Silvano. “I know you have it.”

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