Page 5 of Defiant Devotion

Ignoring the lingering distraction of a thought about that woman, I tuned in to their conversation again.

“Why?” the other man asked. “Because Rurik is impatient to kill O’Malley for Kelly’s peace of mind?”

Peace of mind?I wasn’t following. That wasn’t any reason to put a hit on someone.

I glanced at the woman he’d referenced. Kelly Garnet sat next to Rurik, smiling and seeming at ease. I’d learned that they’d gotten together recently, and while it wasn’t unheard of for a man to kill another for his woman, I felt like I needed more intel to piece this together.

I didn’t just kill hits. I could start wars. I could impact the economy. I could instigate further danger. Death wasn’t sometoken of fun to dole out. Understanding the potential results of killing O’Malley was imperative.

“Yeah,” Vik replied. “O’Malley’s gotta go because of the threat he holds over Kelly. She’s one of us now.”

I filed that information away. It seemed Kelly and Rurik were already married, even though they hadn’t done an elaborate wedding like this. Still, I had heard that another Baranov wedding would be coming up, with Irina and Vik being engaged. Love was certainly in the air for this group.

“But rumors are spreading that he’s interested in backing one of the families around here. And it wouldn’t be us.” Vik sighed. “We all know how Oleg views the politicians.”

The other man chuckled lightly. “Yeah. He doesn’t have any patience for them.”

“They’re too selfish. Too sneaky and out for themselves,” Vik replied.

Aren’t you all?That was my opinion of all the damn Mafia organizations around here.

“But—”

“Uncle Oleg!’ Eva shot to her feet with that shout. She hadn’t only cut off whatever this soldier was going to tell Vik at the bar. Her yell captured the attention of nearly everyone in the ballroom. The music was cut short. Chatter ceased. And with the quiet, we all could actually hear the thud of Boris’s body falling to the floor.

Eva’s father clutched his chest as he keeled over. Oleg rushed toward his younger brother, flanked by many soldiers. Orders for medical help followed, and as a crowd gathered around thefallen Baranov brother, no doubt drunk again, I failed to see what was happening.

Is he dead? Did someone shoot him? I didn’t hear anything go off. What the hell is going on?

It happened so suddenly that I couldn’t keep up with the chaotic commotion that followed. Eva must have been watching her father to alert her uncle to his falling over, but now that everyone was trying to get close and handle the situation, I had my chance to slip away.

If Boris was dead, I didn’t want to be hanging around here. He was the younger brother, the spare, the useless drunk of the two brothers in this family, but he was still an upper member of the organization. His death would be significant. Furthermore, if he died from something that happened at this wedding, it would be a grave attack on the family.

“Time to go,” I muttered under my breath, slipping backward through the crowd of worried guests. My disguise was foolproof. No one would be able to identify me here, but just in case security was heightened even more after Boris’s fall, I wanted to be far from the scene.

No one stopped me as I exited, but I remained tense until I was back in my car, ready to drive away.

“What the hell was that about?” I whispered to myself as I started the engine and scanned my surroundings again.

Boris? Who’d wanthimdead? He’s useless.

Still, no one came to stop me from leaving. I drove toward the exit, my mind racing a mile a minute with too many questions.

Igor wants Oleg dead, but he never said anything about Boris.

I shook my head as I drove, confused and eager to investigate this from afar.

What started as a night of eavesdropping and spying on the Baranovs turned into witnessing a potential death. And it wasn’t something I wanted to be involved in at this moment. If Boris was dead, fingers would be pointed and blame would be placed on someone’s shoulders.

Just not mine.

Not this time.

But if someone else was trying to do my work and interfere with the hits I might potentially accept and make my business, something had to be done about that.

3

SONYA

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