Page 65 of Den of Thieves

“No,” he grumbled, pulling her tight pants down her legs. He picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist and continued to feast on her exposed flesh.

The knocking ensued until the impatient soul, with an apparent death wish, opened the door.

Vladimir slammed the door shut without looking up.

“Vlad, honey,” Karina started. She could feel Vladimir shaking with barely restrained control. She rubbed is cheek until he took a deep breath. “I will still be here when you get back. I need a shower anyway,” she said, carefully untangling her legs.

It wasn’t until Nikolai called his name from the other side of the door that Vladimir finally released her.

“I’ll keep the water warm for you.” She winked before swaying her hips on her way to the en suite.

Vladimir watched Karina strut across their bedroom until her tempting curves were out of sight.

“What?” He barked at the unwanted company. All he wanted was a few hours of peace with his wife. Was that too much to ask? Instead of getting lost in her tight heat, he was greeted by Nikolai, Dimitri, and Kristoff.

“We found him.” Nikolai’s word rushed out before the door was fully open.

“Nikita Sidorov? Where?”

“Kirill Ludchek was a widower. Nikita was his last of kin. We found him at his home,” Kristoff said grimly. “Looked like he’d been dead a few days. The body was stiff as a board. “

“Single shot to the head?”

“Throat slashed,” Dimitri clipped.

Vladimir frowned. “He betrayed someone.”

“But who?”

Vladimir ignored Nikolai’s question. They all knew that a single shot to the head was a Bratva style execution. Cutting the tongue out meant they spilled secrets to the enemy.

But a throat slashing; that shit was personal. You wanted your enemy to fear death as pain radiated throughout his body, not just bleed out as they choked on their own blood.

Whoever killed Nikita Ludchek is my true enemy. Vladimir didn’t say it out loud. Not that he didn’t want to worry his most trusted men. Something wasn’t adding up, and he needed to figure out before they struck again.

“What do you want us to do?”

“Nothing for now. Tend to the wounded. I’m headed out of town for the week, but I will be back on Thursday for the party.”

“Hell yeah,” Kristoff said.

“Remember our first end of war party?” Nikolai asked cheekily.

“We were barely teenagers back then. Walking around like our shit didn’t smell like three-day-old roadkill.” Vladimir was pretty sure all of them got their dicks wet for the first time during the month-long period where the Bratva celebrated their winnings.

“Things were much simpler back then,” Kristoff added.

The men made sounds of approval.

“I’m headed to the hospital. If I don’t return soon, Aksana will send another list of must haves.” Dimitri shuddered.

Vladimir smirked. “Tell Aksana I will be by in the morning if there is a diamond or a fur that she cannot live without. She helped us win this war and is entitled to anything she wants. Understood?”

Dimitri nodded. Vladimir did not care how unreasonable Aksana was being. She shed blood for this fucking organization. That was a hell of a lot more than he could say about more than a few men that chose to tuck their tails and run at the first sign of trouble.

Why his wife and sister bled at all was an entirely different matter. One that caused him to see red all over again.

Vladimir was stone faced when he returned to the room. He added to the trail of clothing before he stepped into the shower behind Karina’s lush frame.

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