Page 110 of Thorns of Lust
Tatiana fled to Russia and I followed.
I could have sent one of my local men in Moscow to retrieve her, but I didn’t trust anyone there with her. Not fully. Not in Russia. Men let their savage free in Russia, knowing the corruption of officials would get them off the hook for anything and everything.
Besides, the fucking Yakuza roamed the streets in Moscow, and I didn’t trust them not to try anything. I followed the digital trail thanks to the tracker on her. She was no longer in Moscow but while here there was only one stop she made, outside of the hotel and airport. So I headed to the exact location, following the coordinates.
“This is it,” Boris announced, his voice tense. The moment I recognized the area, I knew why. “Why would she come here?” he questioned, reflecting my own thoughts exactly.
It couldn’t be a coincidence. I didn’t believe in them, especially so many. Not when it came to this fucking place. The very same place where my mother was murdered. The same place where my father spared a boy on my request and that boy came back with a fucking vengeance.
I never saw him coming. He took my woman. Then he used her and made her a target.
Anger crept beneath my skin, burning through me. The rage tasted like acid. The memories tasted bitter. Fuck!
“I have to talk to her.” I have to find out what the fuck she knew. The enemies were closing in and I feared she’d pay the price. The only price I wouldn’t survive. Her death. The Yakuza in Russia. In my city. Trying to kill my woman.
The fucker in that hotel room was lucky she shot him dead. Otherwise, his torture would have been long and painful.
The best way to protect her was to put my ring on her finger. I’d make her Mrs. Illias Konstantin. It had a nice ring to it.
So I followed her trail all the way to her Siberian Nikolaev home. A sardonic breath left me. We were practically neighbors all along. Of course, the first I ran into was her eldest brother.
“Konstantin, I’m surprised to see you.” Vasili watched me warily. “Are you visiting as a Pakhan or as a neighbor?”
I raised my eyebrow. My Russian home was in Moscow, hardly a neighboring town.
He shook his head. “I swear, if Sasha has started some shit, I’m going to strangle him.”
Vasili and I were the same height. He was a few years older, but our upbringing was similar. Both our parents raised us to be the heads of our family. Unlike me, his brothers were more helpful than mine.
“It’s not about Sasha,” I told him. “It’s about Adrian.”
Surprise flickered across his expression, but he quickly masked it. It was the last thing he expected.
“What about him?” he asked, keeping his voice even. “He’s dead.”
“He is, but the clusterfuck he started isn’t,” I said, my voice cold. “He started to fuck with the members of some powerful families.”
“Goddamn it,” he hissed, then let out a sigh. He didn’t know about Adrian’s dealings, but by the look in his eyes he didn’t seem surprised.
“You don’t seem surprised.”
“He did a few things I questioned before he died,” he admitted. “But he’s dead and that’s behind us.”
I watched him with sardonic amusement. He knew better than to think I’d let that go. I walked past him and turned around when he remained glued to his spot.
“Why don’t we go inside so I can announce this once?” I suggested.
He raised his eyebrow, rubbing his jaw and probably going through pros and cons in his mind.
His eyes narrowed. “Why do I get the sense I won’t like whatever you’ve come to say?”
“Knowing you, you probably won’t,” I said amused. “But we might as well get this over with.”
He shook his head, but caved in.
“This way then.”
A few minutes later, we found ourselves in the library. I took a seat in front of the desk and brought up my ankle to rest on my knee.
