Page 111 of Alexei (Belles & Mobsters 4)

A heartbeat of silence. “Please tell me this has nothing to do with that agent,” he grumbled.

“Has nothing to do with the agent.” It had everything to do with her.

“Morrelli called,” he continued, pretending he bought my response. “He’s chasing down links on Sophia Catalano, Bianca’s great-aunt. He said he tried to call you but couldn’t get you.”

My fingers gripped the phone, agitated. “I’ve been busy.”

“Could you send him a description of the old woman?”

“I was too busy watching over my woman,” I snapped, “... to ensure Ivan didn’t fucking rape her. So fuck no, I can’t tell him anything about her. She was old. And fucking crazy. And you can tell Morrelli if I get my hands on her crazy fucking aunt before he does, she’ll be a dead woman.”

Fuck, I lost my shit.

“Why?” Vasili questioned. “What has the old woman done to you?”

“She hit my woman, that’s fucking what,” I snapped.

Temporary silence was my only answer. It was something I usually found comfort in, but lately, not so much. I heardhervoice and it had me searching her out, only to find it was my fucking mind playing tricks on me. Lately the silence was suffocating me, wrapping its invisible hand around my neck and choking the living daylights out of me.

“Your woman?” Vasili’s voice cut through the silence. It was calm and reasonable. It only served to egg me on further. “Alexei, moy brat.” He called me his brother. Vasili never got sentimental. He was as cold as I was. “The Ashfords are powerful men. If Agent Ashford hints to them what happened, they’ll come back, pouncing. It’s best to stay away from them.”

Vasili’s unspoken words were clear.Don’t fuck with the Ashford family.

Not in the mood to listen to reason, I ended the call and turned off my phone, then continued up the luxury marble stairs. Igor always did love nice things. First that castle in Russia, now this white marble mansion.

If I knew Igor well, and unfortunately I did, he was probably hiding somewhere here and would strike me from the back. Though, little chicken shit was a bigger coward than I fathomed. I found him cowering underneath his desk, his complexion resembling chalk, face full of dread and eyes popping in terror.

The bastard didn’t even try to fight or flee.

My lips curved with disgust. I walked toward him. Before he even had a chance to move, I grabbed him by his neck and lifted him up into the air. I caught him in a chokehold.

My mouth twisted into a cruel smirk that I knew scared the shit out of people.Except my little agent.

My arm swept across the glass top desk, all the shit he had on it crashing to the floor. My fingers gripped his neck so tight, making his chicken neck turn purple. I slammed him against the desk, and he cried out as his precious face hit the glass and it shattered.

I lifted him again and flung his body onto the floor, letting the glass cut into his flesh. He scrambled, attempted to get on his knees and flee. My nostrils flared with fury.

No more running for this fucker. The icy hate flooded my veins. He dared to eye my woman. He thought he could hurt her. My black combat boots dug into his back, and I pushed my body weight into his back.

Over. My. Dead. Body. Or his; preferably his.

“Wait, wait,” he begged, raising his bloody hands in surrender. He hoped for mercy; he’d get none. “I’ll give you anything, Alexei.”

He didn’t put up a fight and the itch to release tension dug into my muscles, blood thirst demanding to be satisfied.

I grinned, leaning slightly over. I let him believe he could buy me. “The old woman,” I growled. “How do I find her?”

Igor’s eyes widened. I didn’t think it was possible to find him more terrified, but he was. Who in the fuck was that woman for him to be so terrified of her? Yes, she was Ivan’s wife. Bianca’s great-aunt. Yet, I sensed we were missing something important here.

Just like Aurora, I felt there was something unhinged and crazy about the old woman.

“Where?” I gritted. Reaching down, I flipped him over, then pinned him down with my forearm on his neck. “Don’t make me ask again.”

“Hiding,” he whimpered. “Nobody knows where she stays.”

“Why?”

“I don’t fucking know.” This guy was useless.

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