Page 68 of Darkest Sin

Cillian and I agree to take down one of Nico’s drug shipments. It will weaken him and hopefully in the act, we can find him and kill him together.

I’m still not happy with Cillian after how he treated Natalya at the gathering I invited him to but I can’t let my anger hold me back. I have a wife to think about now. I need to protect her which means I need to end Nico’s life before he ends mine.

He’s been closing in on more of my gun shipments. More of my men have died in this war. A lot of them young men I hired as guards who were in over their heads and are now dead for it. This war is getting bloody and I need to end it.

I meet with Cillian at one of his restaurants. We agreed to go together to the location of Nico’s drug shipment. One of my scouts told me which road it will be on today.

“Ready to go?” I ask as I stand by the table, watching Cillian eat like it’s any other day.

“Patience, Mikhail. Patience.”

I want to snap and punch him and tell him to hurry up but I’m trying to be a team player here. I need to do this for Natalya.

I can’t help but to sigh though and Cillian notices.

“Are you not happy with me, Mikhail? You were the one who wanted to work together.”

“I guess I expected more respect from you.”

“Ah.” He sets his knife and fork down and leans back in his seat. “So this is still about the party. You’re upset over how I spoke to your wife.”

“You pressured her into dancing until she hurt herself.”

He waves a dismissive hand. “She’s a dancer. A ballerina. She’s trained hard all her life. I didn’t do anything more than what she’s used to.”

“But you’re not her dance instructor. You were my guest and had no right to talk to her like that.”

“How often are we going to go over this?”

“Until you apologize for it. And then we can move on.”

It’s Cillian’s turn to sigh. “All right. I apologize. Are you happy now?”

“You will never talk to my wife like that again, is that understood?”

“Yes. I understand.” Cillian’s lazy smile isn’t convincing me. He’s no more happy about any of this than I am. He motions to a man behind me.

I turn around to see a young man, late twenties, approach the table.

“Mikhail, this is Liam. He’ll take over after I retire.”

Liam nods but doesn’t say a word.

“Your son?” I ask.

“No,” Cillian scoffs. “Just a hard worker who’s impressed me. He’s like a son. I figured since we’ll be working together, you should know who my successor will be.”

“Are you retiring?” I ask. “Because I made the deal with you. Not with… Liam.”

“Not anytime soon. This is just my way of welcoming you into my world. Sharing intel with you. Don’t be so paranoid, Mikhail. Have a seat. Have a drink. Have a bite.”

“We’re on a time crunch. Nico’s shipment will only be on the road for so long. We know exactly when and where it will be but only for a short window. We have to act now.”

“Yes. You’re right. But I really would love for you to sit down and eat. Just a bite.”

I look down at the food on the table. A steak and potatoes. Cillian is eating his with no problems, so that tells me it’s not poisoned. But I look at the plate across from him – the one meant for me – and wonder if that one is. Poisoned.

“Why do you want me to eat so badly, Cillian? I don’t have time for this. My men are waiting to attack the shipment. Either come with me or don’t but I’m leaving.”