Page 95 of Disgraced (Russian Sinners 3)

“Smart man,” I mumbled under my breath.

Although, it didn’t make any sense. She couldn’t possibly even know about this place. I didn’t purchase this property till years later.

“How would she know about this place?” Michail asked. We continued talking in hushed tones, sticking to Russian.

“She wouldn’t,” I told him. “She shouldn’t. Let’s go into the office. I don’t want to wake up Scarlett.”

“I don’t want to sit on that chair,” he scoffed, his eyes shining with amusement.

“You sick fuck,” I punched him in the arm. “You better not have watched my woman.”

“It wasn’t my intent but it is hard to unsee now what little I saw,” he muttered, laughing. “But I’m glad you guys worked it out.”

Throwing him a side glance I could see he was sincere, aside from all the joking. “We are working on it.”

“Good. She’s a good woman, and she’ll do right by you,” he commented. “And you will do right by her. Don’t even doubt it.”

“Thank you,” I appreciated his words more than he’d ever know. “She’s pregnant.”

The shocked expression on his face was priceless but he quickly got himself together. “Congratulations! I guess it makes sense now, her weird sleeping habits and her weird moods.”

We were in my office and I shut the door.

“Don’t let Scarlett hear you say that. She might gut you… and me,” I joked, and we both chuckled. “Thank you for keeping her safe,” I told him somberly, leaning against my table. I trusted Michail as much as I trusted my brothers. And that said something.

“Always,” he replied without reservation. “After everything you’ve done for me.”

I waved my hand. He thought too much about that; it wasn’t worth mentioning.

“I mean it, Sergei,” he continued. “If it wasn’t for you, I would have lost all my siblings.” The problem was the one sibling that we lost was still a heavy burden on both of us. Neither one of us would rest easy till we found out what happened to her.

“One life lost to that kind of life is too many,” I muttered with a heavy knot in my stomach. We could never find out what happened to his sister but we both feared she might be dead.

“Agreed,” he acknowledged, sorrow evident on his face. “But thanks to your help, I’m able to search for answers.”

The heavy silence lingered in the air. I knew very well how much Michail needed answers. And I wanted to help him get them.

“Okay, back to the subject at hand,” Michail switched subjects. “Irina knows about your place.”

“I want to know how Irina knows about this place. If the Polish are coming after us, we might have to move,” I told him. It angered me that she would know about it. What else did that woman know? “Now that Vlad is openly going against my brothers and I, we’ll need to ensure security is tight. And he’s been spotted in St. Petersburg.”

I didn’t like that man in the same country as Scarlett, not to mention the same city. Now I knew he was the one that led Boris’ men to Scarlett and me, in his attempt to capture Anastasia.

“That man is a snake,” Michail never liked Vlad either. He hadn’t been around him as long as Nikolai, Dimitry, and I have but his sentiments reflected our own. We’ve known Vlad since we were children. He wasn’t batshit crazy like Boris but he was sneaky and just as cruel.

Michail had good instincts. “About Irina, I called in a few favors. I thought it unlikely you would have shared any information with her, so I’m chasing a few leads.”

“Anything worth talking about?” I asked him. I had utmost confidence in Michail, and knew I could rely on him.

“Not yet, but I can tell you this,” he replied. “I got confirmation that Irina is running the whole Polish mob operation. Bartek is just a puppet.” We thought as much but this was a firm confirmation. “She got in bed with the Lebanese in her human smuggling business. Rumor is the Polish are unhappy with her. They didn’t care for Bartek but they outright hate her. They don’t want to be part of human trafficking but are too scared to speak up, because people turn up dead for far less.”

Anastasia’s words rang in my ears.My mom used to say that things in life end up exactly as they should. We might not see it that very moment but eventually we’ll realize it.

I was starting to see that to be true. Irina was never the one for me.

A soft knock sounded on the door and I knew who it was before the door even opened. Scarlett’s dark, messy bed hair peeked through.

“Oh, hey you two,” she murmured. “Working already?”

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