Page 34 of Kings of Cruelty

“I mean… I guess I am?” Nikolai ventures. “I’ve never thought about it before you started getting us to kiss or whatever.”

Sierra shakes her head. “It’s not like I forced you,” she says, her voice dry.

I avoid looking at Nikolai. I have no idea how he feels about it, but I never thought he was completely straight.

“It wasn’t bad, I guess,” Nikolai says.

“So you’re not going to turn into a total asshole because you’re freaking out about… whatever?” Sierra asks.

Nikolai grumbles under his breath, tightening his grasp around her waist. “No, I’m not going to turn into an asshole.”

“It doesn’t mean we don’t prefer you,” I add, nuzzling Sierra’s head. “I definitely prefer you.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to worry about me and Yura running off together or anything,” Nikolai says.

“I couldn’t be that lucky,” Sierra drawls.

She says that, but she came back to us. She could have escaped with her brother. She could have left us to die.

I trace random patterns on her shoulders and suppress my stupid smile.

They don’t need to know how happy I am right now.

NINE

Nikolai

“So, in summary,”I say, “Petrov wants us to contact Andronov to get into the human trafficking side of things, there’s probably some trouble brewing in Russia, and Sierra thinks Silvano Cresci killed her father?”

Konstantin nods. “SierraknowsSilvano Cresci killed her father.”

Yuri stretches his feet out onto the coffee table, and somehow he’s taking up half the couch even though he’s lanky. “Lucky for us, huh?”

I glare at him. “How do you figure?”

“If she hadn’t found out that he’d killed her father on that day, she wouldn’t have come back for us. Kotya would be dead for sure, poisoned, you’d have been shot in that room with Angelo Guerra, and I… probably would have been killed after I found out what happened to you two.” Yuri laughs. “How nice of Silvano to inform her on that exact day.”

“Yeah,” I say, and itisa good thing. At the same time, though, I’m not sure I like how much Sierra has to be struggling with this information. I’m not “acting weird,” as they like to tell me I am, but it does feel strange to constantly be confronted with aspectsof our new reality with her. “Doubt he came out and told her, though. I wonder how she figured it out.”

A strange expression crosses Konstantin’s face. “It doesn’t matter at this point. We need to worry more about the rest of it. Don Marino’s assets are up in the air now, and we need to find them before the Crescis or Victor Corvi and his bitch do.”

Yuri finally sits up properly and leans forward. I’m still getting used to seeing him with the new haircut, but it suits him. It does also mean his neck is visible, and I don’t think I’d realized how slender it was until now.

“Is that enough to appease your father?” Yuri asks. “Petrov is in jail, but he’s still…”

Konstantin’s face turns red. “He isn’t in charge! I am!” he yells in Russian. “You, of all people?—”

Yuri flinches, but he doesn’t back down. “Me, of all people! I’m looking out for you, Kotya! No matter what we do, it’s going to get back to your father! Even Nikolai’s old man knows something is up!”

I don’t want to agree with Yuri in this, but my old man had been too fucking squirrely to ignore completely. Someone is reporting back to Konstantin’s father in Russia.

No, notsomeone.

Several someones.

I’ve been aware that Konstantin’s hold in New Bristol isn’t the steadiest, but I hadn’t realized how shaky that ground is until recently. Maybe if I’d realized it before, I could’ve helped, but Konstantin has been keeping this little secret to himself.

Fuck.

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