Page 135 of Vicious Addictions

That’s it!

Before my father or I can cut out the slandering bastard’s tongue, the double doors to the meeting room swing wide and hit the wall behind them.

“I guess it’s true what they say. Chivalry really is dead,” Mina sings as she walks into the room, looking like she’s been in one hell of a fight.

The bloody clothes on her body look as if someone tried to use a knife to get them off. Her beautiful face is covered mainly by cuts and bruises, and her left eye is so swollen that it looks dangerously close to shutting altogether.

My instincts scream at me to run to her, to demand to know the name of the fucker who dared to lay a hand on her, but I don’t get the chance. Not when her two cousins trail behind her, dragging a stranger with them who looks like he’s more dead than alive.

Thecaposstart talking all at once, shouting at their boss for the outrage of bringing an outsider into a sacred meeting. But from my peripheral vision, I see that my father isn’t bothered by it. He doesn’t so much as bat an eye at their disgruntlement. Instead, he focuses his sights on Mina, and Mina alone, as she cracks a toothy, bloody grin at him.

“My apologies for my tardiness, Vincent, but I thought a gift was in order. One that might enlighten you on who has been purposely working in the shadows on your turf.”

“That’s quite a gift,” Vincent retorts in his usual monotone. “Tell me, does this gift sing?”

“You tell me.” Her grin widens as she runs her fingers through the soon-to-be-dead man’s hair and pulls his face up for the whole room to see.

Dimitri Mikhailov.

Holy fuck!

Everycapopresent can’t believe their eyes as they stare bewildered at the Bratva underboss, his face looking like it went through a meat grinder.

We’ve been working double time trying to capture the bastard, and Mina achieved it in less than a day.

“Tell these fine gentlemen who you work for?” Mina coos in Dimitri’s ear.

The Bratva scum looks too busy bargaining with God to save his soul to give an answer. Mina tugs at his strands roughly, pulling his head back with a fierce yank to remind him that he still has to deal with the devil before he meets his maker.

“You heard the lady,” Gio orders, no longer looking like the happy-go-lucky figure we are accustomed to. “Talk.”

His glassy eyes look around the room like he can’t tell if he’s already dead or not. All he does is grunt and moan out in pain, his blood now ruining the large oak table.

Mina lowers her lips to his ears, her gaze darting to my father, then shifting to me for the briefest of seconds.

“I’ll give you what you want. The sweet release of death,” she promises charmingly. “All you have to do is repeat what you told me.”

Blood runs down his chin, defeat in his lifeless eyes.

“Co…sa…Nos…tra,” he finally stammers, chaos breaking out in the room as if the Bratva bastard just put a curse over our heads with those words.

“Impossible,” onecaposhouts.

“Liar!” another yells.

“They wouldn’t dare.”

“It’s him! It’s the Bratva! He’s the one! He’s lying to save his own skin!”

While the othercaposare losing their fucking minds, my father doesn’t look one bit rattled by the accusation. Instead, he stands up from his seat and walks over to the man barely clinging to his life, waiting for some merciful soul to end it. Once he reaches Mina and Dimitri, he gives her a stiff nod, which she takes as a silent command to release the captive.

Dimitri falls forward onto the table, coughing out blood as he begs for death. However, my father seems to have other plans for him as he grabs his hair and pulls his head up just far enough to whisper in his ear, “You’re lucky. The Cranes aren’t known for their patience when dealing with hostages. The only reason they managed to restrain their compulsions was to bring you to me. Unfortunately, that means your luck has officially run out. This is not your day,” he says in English, then adding in Russian, “friend.”

Vincent looks around the table, his gaze cold and unfeeling, before directing it back to Dimitri.

“I need a name. And I won’t allow you to die before I get it. Do you understand?”

“Pl… ease… ki… ll… me,” Dimitri begs.

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