Page 29 of Cruel God

“Since I’m head of security, I have better, more important things to do with my time than babysit whores and brats.”

“Whores and brats too much for you to handle, Mr. Head-of-Security?”

“Okay,” I interrupted. “Gentlemen, you’re both pretty. So can we move on to what we came here to discuss?”

Colton turned to face me. “Which is?”

I couldn’t help but be amused by Colton’s attitude. This fucker was always defensive, distrustful, and steered by his fury. He might not need a suit to hide who he was, but he needed to work on masking his anger before someone saw it for what it really was. A weakness.

I got up and poured myself a glass of bourbon before straightening and looking out the window. “You’ve proved yourself well the last few days, Colton.” I half expected a thank you but got silence from him instead.

After taking a sip of my drink, I turned back to face him. “I have a very sensitive matter X has been helping me with. But now I require your assistance as well.”

“What matter?”

I turned to face him, placing a hand in my pants pocket. “Before I give you the details, I need to know I can trust you.”

“As you said, I’ve proved myself well the last few days.”

“You have.” I nodded. “But what bothers me is that I had your previousemployerkilled, and you had no reservations walking over his corpse to join me on the other side. Who’s to say you won’t do the same to me?”

Colton shrugged, seemingly unfazed. “You don’t. It’s a risk you’ll have to take.”

“I don’t like taking risks.”

“Somehow, I doubt that very much,” Colton replied dryly.

I smiled. I saw so much of Hope in her brother. They shared the same determination to survive, the same intuition that told them exactly how far they could push someone without putting themselves at risk. They yielded the same strength that could only be seen when you looked closely. It was a strength most people could easily mistake for naivete.

I studied Colton for a few seconds. There was no use trying to intimidate him, to see if he would squirm under intense scrutiny. Colton was a closed shell, and it was clear as fucking daylight that there was only one thing that would break that hard layer of anger he had around him…and that was his little sister, Hope.

“I guess I’ll have to risk it then.” I took another large gulp of bourbon and placed the glass down before taking my seat behind my desk. “Anatoli Pavel. You know him.” It wasn’t a question.

Colton nodded, but I saw the uncertainty that suddenly clouded his face.

“He has something I need,” I continued. “And I need you to get it for me.”

“What is it?”

“That is no concern of yours.”

“If I’m taking something from Anatoli Pavel, I need to know what the fuck it is.”

Yup. He definitely knew Anatoli Pavel. The notorious Russian mob boss’s reputation was well-known amongst everyone who had ever dwelled in the world of money, sex, and power. Everyone knew he was as ruthless as he was ugly. Anatoli had been my father’s biggest client. The man went through women like I went through fucking toilet paper. He was known for his blood-play and necrophilia tendencies, having no qualms in fucking a corpse. Rumor had it that whenever he got bored with a girl, he would slit their throat and fuck them while they bled out. He gave a new fucking meaning to sick.

X cleared his throat. “I think what Mr. Cain is trying to tell you is that you’re on a need-to-know basis, and you don’t need to fucking know.”

Colton glared at X like he would be raining bullets at his forehead any minute now. “I suppose you know what it is?”

A smug grin appeared on X’s face. “I do.”

“Great.” Colton slapped his hands on the armrests of his chair and got up. “Then you can go get whatever the fuck it isMr. Cainhere needs.”

“Colton,” I called after him just as he reached the door. “Sit the fuck down, would you?”

Colton tilted his head to the side. “You gonna tell me what exactly it is that I’m supposed to go get from this Russian freak?”

I snorted. “You seem to know him very well.”

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