Page 8

The bass thrummed through the floor, pulsing like a second heartbeat beneath my feet. Neon lights flickered in rhythmic flashes, painting the private lounge in hues of red and gold.

We were at Moroz Lounge, one of our newest investments in New York, and Egor had put me in charge of it. I always came here at night when I needed to wind down, and Dobryn was in charge of supplying the women who would entertain us.

Tonight wasn’t any different. Dobryn had a group of girls over, two women for each man. They draped over the plush leather seats, their laughter a soft hum against the pounding music as they did their best to catch our interest. It was always like that, every woman around here trying to please us; some of them would lay on their backs and allow us to walk on them if it meant they could win our favor. It was boring as fuck having to deal with that.

One ran her fingers along the sleeve of my jacket. She had a sly smile on her face as she whispered something I couldn’t even make out into my ears.

Usually, I’d be turned on by her enough to fuck her once, wanting to let out some of the dangerous steam that had grown through the day from handling mafia business.

But tonight was different. I barely acknowledged her presence or her touch. If anything, I was repelled by it. My mind was too busy thinking of someone else.

Giselle, my little prisoner.

I wondered what she was doing at home right now—if she found relief in the fact that I was away, or if she would prefer to have me around a little more. I could guess the former was the case. I hadn’t seen her much since she moved into my mansion four days ago; with Peter dead and Tyfun-1 missing, I was busier than usual.

“You’re distracted.” Dobryn’s voice cut through the noise as he leaned back with a drink in hand, watching me with knowing eyes.

I exhaled sharply, picking up my glass but not drinking from it. “Just thinking.”

“Let me take a guess, you’re thinking about the girl,” Miron suggested, his dark eyes catching the flickering neon light.

I didn’t answer. But we both knew it was her I was thinking of. No woman had ever struck me the way Giselle did; no woman had ever managed to invade my head so much in such a short amount of time. There was something about that girl, and I hoped I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, though I had a feeling I would shoot anyone who thought of her in a way that wasn’t proper.

Dobryn nodded to the women, signaling for them to leave.

They obeyed, their heels clicking against the tiles as they made their way to the dance floor.

Dobryn stared at me intently, his brows furrowing. “How did you go from wanting to get information from her to thinking about her?”

I swirled my whiskey, wishing I had an answer to the question he just asked.

“Is there news on the whereabouts of the Tyfun-1?” Miron asked.

“Nothing yet. The cops haven’t found any clues that could help us track the shipment,” Dobryn answered. He’d been keeping up with one of the detectives working on the case.

“Egor won’t like the news,” Miron said with a shake of his head. “He’s desperate to find that shipment, especially with the other families on a hunt for it. We’ll lose a lot of money if we can’t find it, and that will be a big problem.”

I tilted my head and glared at my cousin. “Do you want a chance to find it yourself? I bet you’ll have better luck with it.”

“I bet I will.” He sat back and plopped his legs on the coffee table. “Have you had your men search her home? If he went to her that night, it’s possible the shipment is there.”

“That wouldn’t make any sense.” Dobryn’s gaze bounced between me and Miron. “That would mean putting his only daughter in grave danger. Peter wouldn’t be stupid enough to do a thing like that.”

I agreed with Dobryn.

Peter was loyal. If he had to make a choice between betraying the Bratva and giving up his life, he would choose the latter, and I suspected that was exactly what happened. It wasn’t rocket science that whoever killed him must’ve tried to get him to talk about the Tyfun-1 and where he hid it. No one else had found it, which made his choice very obvious.

But one thing he would never do was give his daughter’s life for the Bratva. He loved her very much; that bit was clear. She was all that mattered to him, and he often spoke about how he couldn’t wait to finish his job so he could buy a house on an island somewhere and live with his family.

My jaw clenched with rage.

That dream had been taken from him.

“If he didn’t want her to get mixed up in all this, he wouldn’t have sent her that text and dragged her into this mess,” Miron argued. “He put her in the most danger because everyone trying to get their hands on the shipment will only be looking in her direction.”

I rolled the glass between my fingers, the weight of it grounding me as Miron's words sank in. He wasn’t wrong; the moment Peter sent that message, Giselle became a target. And whether she knew it or not, every move she made was now being watched by men who had no problems with spilling innocent blood.

“He must’ve had a reason,” Dobryn said.

“Whatever his reason was, he put his daughter in danger,” Miron countered, looking more serious than I’d seen him in a while. “She’s under your protection now, which means there’s a target on your back as well. She’ll become a liability in the long run.”

“So, what do you suggest?” Dobryn asked. “We leave her out there to get killed like her father was?”

“No, you extract the information you need out of her and find the shipment before anyone else does. It’s the only way to keep her and yourself safe,” Miron replied, his attention pinned on me. “People fear you, but you know what happens when desperation sets in.”

Desperation made people irrational and even more inhuman. I couldn’t relate to that, though; I preferred to make calm, rational decisions, especially when everyone else was in a state of panic.

Miron was right, though. I needed to watch my back now that I had Giselle with me. No one would be stupid enough to put a target on my back usually, but this wasn’t a normal day. She had something valuable, and people would give their lives just to get their hands on it—on her.

I already had Dobryn tighten security around the mansion two days ago, and I was willing to triple it if that meant no one even sniffed the air around Giselle.

“Don’t worry about my safety. I can handle it quite alright.”

“Have you not been able to get some information out of her yet?” Miron asked. “She’s been at your place for a couple of days now.”

I shook my head and put my glass on the table for a refill. “She insists she doesn’t know anything about it.”

“She doesn’t know or won’t tell?” Miron asked.

I shrugged. “I’ll have to find out which it is.”

“The offer for the torture session is still open,” Miron chimed in, staring at one of the girls from earlier like a predator stalking its prey. “Let me know if you need my help.”

My chest tightened with the need to protect Giselle. No one was allowed to hurt or torture her. No one was allowed to go even an inch closer to her without my permission.

“Speak about torturing my prisoner one more time, and we’ll have a real problem,” I drawled, staring right into Miron’s eyes before taking a sip of my drink.

“Easy, big guy,” Miron teased with a lopsided grin. “I was only joking.”

I ignored him and shifted my attention to Dobryn. “I can’t force the information out of the girl. She’s like a flower that’ll wither if not properly taken care of. I don’t want that for her, not while she’s under my protection.”

“If she’s like a flower, then how about you water her?” Dobryn suggested.

I almost rolled my eyes. “Explain.”

“It’s simple. I hate to be the one to say this, but you’ve got the charm, man. Any girl would fall for you very easily, and she isn’t an exception. She’ll fall for you sooner or later. Use it to your advantage.” He leaned in, and his lips curled. “You know how women are when they’re in love. She’ll spill everything in no time.”

I thought about it for a moment. Romance wasn’t my thing—it never had been—but there was some truth to what he’d just said. I didn’t have to fall in love with her; all I needed to do was pretend I was and get her to fall in love with me until I got the information I needed.

My stomach fluttered with amusement.

Things had been boring lately, at least until the shipment went missing and Peter got murdered. A little game of hearts with my little prisoner wasn’t such a bad idea.

“So, are you in?” Dobryn asked with a lift of his brow.

Miron stared at me with that dark amusement lurking in his eyes at what my answer would be.

I stretched my legs out in front of me. “It’s not a bad idea. Actually, it’s a pretty good one.”

She was alone now and vulnerable. All I needed to do was pull the right strings, and in no time, she would start to see me as her only source of comfort. The emotions would come naturally when that happened.

Miron clasped my shoulder, grinning. “There he is. I was afraid you were starting to get softer.”

I huffed out a low chuckle. “It’ll be a cold day in hell when I start to get softer, Miron.”

He laughed, finishing his drink and slamming the glass on the table. “And here I was thinking hell was starting to freeze over.”

“With your existence, I doubt that will ever happen,” I teased, sitting back and enjoying the show in front of me for the first time this evening.

I was curious to see how this game would end if I played my cards right.