Page 148 of No Longer Mine

Laughter met my ears as the front door swung open. Ah, he had a guest tonight. I stretched to my full height and stalked out of his office. When I finally made it to the hallway that connected to his entryway, the woman he’d brought home with him was on her knees, unzipping his pants.

“What an unfortunate interruption,” I began and they both jerked—startled.

The woman—a redhead, of course she was—screamed and scrambled to her feet, nearly falling as she ducked behind Gavin. He was fumbling with his zipper, his face pale and furious.

“Who the fuck are?—?”

“Sit down, Gavin,” I cut him off, voice low and final. “We’re going to have a conversation.”

He looked over at the woman and I spoke for him, “You can go now.”

She nodded as she scrambled to leave the penthouse.

“Dimitri Cristof,” he said cooly as he sat down on his leather sofa. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

He was playing it cool but his face was still pale and his knee was jumping.

“I want everything, all your ledgers, all your hidden illegal shit.”

He laughed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I flicked open the knife that I’d kept in my palm with a soft click. “You see Gavin, I don’t exactly get my hands dirty anymore, but I am not against it. Especially when it comes to the woman I love, do you understand me?”

He tilted his head to the side and laughed harder. “You love that thief? Wow, that’s pretty low Dimitri, even for you.”

He obviously wasn’t hearing me. I sat down across from him and held up the knife in the light from the entryway. “You think it’s okay to insult me? Do you forget who’s in control here?”

Gavin pressed his lips together. “Look man, I’m not interested in whatever you’re doing. I have nothing to do with this shit. I don’t want anything to do with it.”

“That’s funny because a certain little thief found ledgers in your safe. Now that my father has disappeared I have full access to his computers and guess who he left the fall to…”

Gavin’s eyes widened and sweat began to bead on his forehead. “What the fuck do you mean, Cristof?”

“I’m saying that when this entire operation detonates in seven days—because it will—you’ll be at the top of the pile when it collapses. The paper trail leads straight to you. Are you ready to die for my father’s sins… or do you want out?”

His face paled even further. He leaned forward, panic crawling beneath his polished mask. “What are you proposing?”

“We need some other men to go down.” I shrugged as if it were that easy. I had enough dirt but I needed more. I needed these men buried so deep they could never crawl out.

“I have detailed transactions, I have videos, call logs, text message proof, and more. What do you want?”

“All of it.”

He hesitated. “And what about me?”

I stood slowly, towering over him as I gestured toward the hall. “You’re going to walk me to your safe. You’re going to hand it all over. And then you’re going to disappear. Quietly.”

“And that’s it?”

“You’ll never speak about this again. You’ll never buy or sell another woman for the rest of your miserable life. And you’re going to tell me exactly where the others are being kept. Every. Single. Location.”

He opened his mouth, but I didn’t let him finish.

“If you so much as sniff in the direction of another trafficking ring, I won’t kill you.”

He blinked. “You won’t?”

I stepped closer, my voice ice. “I’ll rip your dick off, shove it so far down your throat you’ll choke on it—and then I’ll call your mother. She’ll be the one to find you like that. Understood?”