Page 15 of Broken

Liam

We were sitting down to dinner. My chef had cooked up a roasted chicken with carrots and potatoes to go on the side. Valentin had come over to discuss how operations had been running since I'd been out of commission.

We were sitting in the kitchen eating at the island tonight. I poured us both wine, and I cut chicken for both of us. My mother had taught me to show hospitality to my guest, and it was something she had ingrained deeply in my DNA. Valentin had an apartment in the high rise I owned but also kept a room at the mansion with me. Some days, I had no idea what he was up to in that apartment or his room.

The chicken cut like butter as the knife I used slice through it until all of it had been cut down to size. Sitting the knife aside, I picked up my fork and began to eat.

"So," Valentin started. "I found the shipment of guns to be up to par. However, I'm not paying the asking price. They upped it at the last minute."

Wine flowed down my throat. I was thoughtful before speaking. "What are they asking?"

"One million, cash," Val spoke.

The little bit of wine almost spewed from my mouth. "We could find cheaper."

"You're not telling me anything I don't know," Valentin growled, stabbing at his chicken.

"We could go to the competition," I shrugged.

"I have another contact," Valentin said.

"Well use him," I shrugged. "We're not paying a million to anybody unless the guns are dripping in gold."

"Of course," Valentin spoke.

We sat and ate the rest of our meal in silence. When we were finished, we sat and talked about when things were different. When we had been children who would run around pretending that we were anything but Bratva.

"I have to show you something," I said suddenly.

Valentin looked at me, his green eyes suddenly alarmed. I waved his fears away and then stood up and motioned for him to follow me. We went into my office and I sat down at the cherry wood desk that contained my Apple laptop. Entering my password information, I logged on to the computer and began pulling up security footage from the night of the Holly's Heart Gala.

Frowning, Valentin asked, "What am I looking for?"

As cops milled around on screen, dancing and drinking, I stopped the footage at a certain time. I pointed to a female dressed in a waiter's uniform and looked at my cousin who was leaning over my shoulder.

"This is a thief," I said.

Valentin leaned back and looked at me still frowning. "Oookay?”

I could tell he was still a little confused, and to be completely honest so was I. Three days ago, my Little Thief had come and robbed me. She had taken things that did not belong to her. She had caught me at my weakest moment, and she was going to pay. But first, I had to find her.

"She took the gem," I replied.

Valentine sober then. "No fucking way."

"She cracked the safe that they said no one on earth could crack. She's a master thief." I returned my gaze to her face on screen and hit play.

Had anyone else been watching, she appeared to be a regular waiter. She moved throughout the room handing out desserts, completely blending into her atmosphere. Even in a room full of cops, she never seemed to sweat.

I had jerked off to her face every day for three days. The same hand that had trembled and ultimately gave way when I'd had a gun trained on her had brought me to ecstasy watching her on screen. I could see her body so clearly in the skintight outfit she'd worn to steal from me.

Very soon,I thought. She would wear that outfit for me again and then I would rip every shred of it from her body. Yes, punishment was coming.

"So, what are we going to do about getting it back?" Val asked.

I relaxed my body and willed the hard on that was forming to go away. "That's where you come in. I want you to put feelers out, nothing to loud. Just asking about who this woman could have been. I want a name and address...I'll go from there."

Valentin looked at me like I'd grown three heads. "To steal from the Bratva..."