Page 97 of Darkest Sin
“It took some digging into but my men eventually found it.”
“Why me?”
“Like I said. I’m going to use you to hurt Mikhail. If I can’t draw him out, then I figured if I steal you, he’ll come running.”
“That’s assuming he cares for me.”
He tilts his head. “Does he not? All I’ve heard people talking about is how obsessed Mikhail is with his wife. So, I just assumed he did care for you. Am I wrong?”
I duck my head. My uncle was one thing. He didn’t scare me as much as he probably should have. But Nico is on a whole other level. He screams power in a way Denis doesn’t. I’m not sure I’m making it out of this that easy.
Nico chuckles. “I take it I’m not wrong. He’ll come running to save you. And then I can finally kill him.”
It dawns on me that Nico doesn’t know what Cillian has done. If he did, he’d be right there with Cillian, torturing my husband. I have knowledge which is power of it’s own sorts.
“You don’t know, do you?” I ask, forcing myself to look him in the eye.
Nico goes still before his lips twitch. “Know what? What game are you playing?”
“I’m not playing any game. But I know something that you don’t know and it’s funny. You’re a scary Mafia man and I’m just a mafia wife but I have knowledge that you don’t.”
“I can get it out of you.” His threat is perfectly clear. I try not to show my own fear as that will ruin everything.
“You don’t need to hurt me for me to talk. I will tell you what I know. But first, let me ask you, do you want to kill Mikhail yourself?”
“Yes.”
“And you would be upset if someone else did it?”
He narrows his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Please answer my question. I need to know.”
“Oh, you need to know?” He leans back in his seat, spreading his legs wide, taking up space to intimidate me. “Then why should I tell you? I’m the one in charge here. Not you.”
“But it would be easier just to talk to me instead of torturing me to get the information. So talk to me.” A crazy idea is brewing in my mine but it’s the only one I have to work with.
“Fine. I’ll bite. Yes, I would be upset if someone else killed him. We’ve been at war for months. Hell, years, even, and he keeps slipping through my fingers. I would love to be the one to end him.”
“So, if I told you that someone else had him right now and wanted to kill him, you would be upset?”
He frowns. “Well, I wouldn’t be fucking happy about it.”
“You made a deal with Cillian Kennedy, didn’t you?”
His frown slowly turns into a smile. “What is this about?”
“You made a deal with him, yes?”
“Yes. And we kept it a secret until we could turn the tables on Mikhail.”
“Right. But your plan didn’t succeed, did it? Mikhail got away.”
“He did,” he grumbles, fixing his jacket.
“You and Cillian agreed to work together to bring Mikhail down, is that right?”
“Where is this going?”
