Page 85 of In Her Blood
Dante allowed him one inhalation before plunging the burning match down Grisha’s extended throat, uncaring of the bloody mess. He shoved his whole hand into Grisha’s mouth, and Otto felt Grisha gag and shudder as he choked the fiery stick down.
“You should know,” Dante said as Grisha moaned, “these are the best waterproof matches on the market. They’re not meant for gastric juices, of course, but you won’t be alivelong enough to enjoy that mercy.” Then he pulled the box of matches from his arm and reached for another.
Chapter twenty-eight
Loose Ends
Evelina watched from thebackseat of one of their guest’s rental vehicles as a man whose name she didn’t know snatched her father’s former guard up off the ground like a sack of potatoes. Another visiting mafia man swept up the suspicious duffel bag that had fallen at his feet, and both retraced their stepsas planned.
“You’re sure about what you want to do with him?” Mikey asked from the front passenger seat.
Evelina nodded, noting absently that the motion only barely tugged at the bandage on her back. It was awkward, but she was already getting used to it. She also knew she had it lucky. None of their guys had died, but some had taken shots that required more urgent attention and were likely to leave scars. And then there was the guy who’d puked all over one of the bodies after watching Dante burn another man from the inside.
She did kind of understand, but to actually do it?
She shook the thought from her head just as the comfortable silence was shattered and Pavel was shoved inside.
“You can’t just grab me off the street like this!” Pavel exclaimed, squirming in the other man’s hold. “I have connections!”
Evelina arched a brow and glanced across at Otto, who of course was glaring straight at the oblivious traitor. She sighed and said, “This is really quite the embarrassment for you, isn’t it, Pavel?”
Finally, the older man went still, only to be fully shoved into his designated seat so the two St. Louis soldiers could reclaim their own and pull the doors shut. The duffel was set on the seat beside her.
She reached over and partially unzipped it without an invitation.
“I-it’s not what it looks like!” Pavel exclaimed.
Evelina frowned at the piles of cash and rubles bound within, carelessly half-covered by a single heavy coat. She pulled a stack of rubles out and thumbed it before lifting her gazeacross the cab space, to where Pavel had been positioned. “No? Because it looks like you broke into the safe in my father’s office while the house was burning, when I was calling for all available hands to try and save it. It looks like you were stealing from us while our home burned down.”
Pavel swallowed hard. “I wasn’t. I swear.”
She dropped the money back into the bag and leaned carefully against the seatback. “Then why were you running, Pavel? I gave you a job, and it did not involve running.”
He flicked his gaze to Otto and flinched away at the sight of Otto’s glare, seemingly only then remembering there were other men in the car with them. “M-Ms. Nikolaev, please understand,” he finally said, “I … was doing what I had to do.”
She arched a brow. “For whom?”
“I beg your pardon?” When she made no attempt to repeat herself, he began looking around again. “Wait, where are we going? I have a train—”
“Oh, I thought you’d like to see Grigoriy,” Evelina replied calmly.
Pavel’s eyes widened and the color drained from his face.
She crossed one leg over the other and tapped her nail on her knee. “So, youdidknow Grigoriy’s intention.”
Pavel pulled at his shirt collar. “I didn’t know anything,” he said defensively.
“Lying fuckwit,” Otto growled.
Pavel flinched. “Grigoriy didn’t tell me anything!” He sucked in a breath. “But I had a good guess. Viktor was obvious. Artem wasn’t too hard to figure out, either. Ivan … was always going to be complicated, mostly because of Pyotr. And Grigoriy, for similar reasons, was never going to submit to either of you.” He gulped audibly and sweat rolled down his face. “Grigoriy accepted your father out of respect for a legacy Mikhail built with his own two hands. He isn’t the kind of man who would stand back and allow anyone with less of a record to take command over him. And less so a woman.”
Evelina rolled her eyes. “I’m so damn tired of that sexist shit.” She propped her elbow onto the window ledge and rested her chin on her knuckles. “So, what, with Ivan and Pyotr both dead and Grisha revealed as the enemy, you figured you had nothing left to stick around for? You didn’t like Grigoriy, is that it?”
Pavel averted his gaze and clamped his lips shut.
“Otto.”
“No!” Pavel threw his hands up to block the swing that wasn’t coming. “I mean, yes. Mostly. I expected Grigoriy would kill you, and that would lead to a fight between his loyalists and Artem’s. I didn’t want to get dragged into that. And I worked hard for the clan for a long time, so I took the money I had rescued from the safe and I chose to save myself.”
