Page 92 of Kings of Cruelty

“I told you I wasn’t going anywhere,” Nikolai says steadily. “Konstantin is the boss here. Not you.” His eyes flick to my father, and for a second, I think he’s going to say something that’s going to get himself shot. He keeps his mouth closed, though.

Not that it matters. My father sighs and withdraws his gun from its holster. Without any warning, he shoots Nikolai in the arm.

Nikolai cries out, immediately clutching the wound to try to stem the blood.

“I despise backtalk,” my father says, ignoring Nikolai’s pained sounds.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Nikolai says, his voice thick with pain. He manages to sound sincere, but knowing Nikolai, it’s taking everything he has not to get himself shot again in a more critical spot.

“Like I said. Idiot.” Vasily doesn’t seem at all perturbed that his son was shot. “Where’s the woman, anyway?”

My heart races faster, but I keep my mouth tightly shut.

“Woman?” Roman asks. “What woman? The cleaning lady?”

Vasily scoffs. “No! The girlfriend. Unless Kolya was lying about fucking Konstantin’s woman.”

My father and Roman both turn their attention on me.

“You let your woman step out on you?” my father demands. Roman chuckles, like he thinks it’s hilarious.

“There is no woman,” I respond evenly. “If Nikolai is sleeping with someone’s girlfriend, she isn’t mine.”

But Vasily shakes his head. “No, no, there’s definitely a woman. She’s the Winters girl—her father and brothers are why Petrov is in jail now.”

Fuck. Somebody was definitely feeding him information. I should have done a much more thorough purge of my men when I’d taken over for Petrov, but that would have gotten my father’s attention much sooner.

“She’s not Kot— Konstantin’s girlfriend,” Nikolai says stubbornly, and at least the pain in his voice makes it more difficult to hear the lie. “And she doesn’t matter, anyway. She’s just some bitch I like to fuck.”

I wince, because I know exactly how that sounds. If she truly didn’t matter, there would be no reason to protect her.

“So we are missing Konstantin’s bootlicker, and his woman,” my father says. He glares at Roman. “You will find them.”

“Yes, sir,” Roman answers, snapping to attention. He motions at me. “What do we do with them?”

My father makes a dismissive gesture. “Lock them up. We can question them once we know what the situation here is.”

Nikolai glances at me. He wants to say something, I can tell, but I give him a quick shake of the head. He’s already made this worse, and anything he could add would add to the mess.

He grimaces, but he continues to put pressure on the wound on his arm.

“There’s a torture chamber in the basement,” Vasily supplies, grinning at me. “Petrov and I used to get people to talk there.”

That’s the same room Nikolai and I had branded Sierra in. I haven’t used it for torturing since… well, since Sierra.

I swallow the regret at how I’d treated her back then. I love seeing the brand on her, but I hate that she has reasons to fear me.

“All right, brother, time to move.” Roman uses his gun to gesture at me and Nikolai.

Nikolai grits his teeth, but he lets himself be herded toward the door.

We’re almost out the kitchen door when Vasily says, “Their phones.”

Fuck.

I’d hoped they’d forget about those, but for all that the man is a washed-up drunk, he’s still sharp in the ways that matter, apparently.

One of their men steps in close, holding out his hand to Nikolai. Nikolai’s hand comes away wet with blood as he reaches down to grab his phone. He hisses in pain as he takes it out of his pocket and hands it over.

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