Last night, Mikhail had sent Maks to give me some clues, but it was all obtuse and speculative, the truth only coming out now from a girl who’d fucking played me. Fuming, I hung up, stroking the back of her neck when I should snap it.
“A smart pretty girl is always an asset, son. A keeper, I’d say, but you already know that.”
“My men will die.”
“So they die. That’s how the business works.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it. Let’s go.”
6
Palm still firmly at the back of the girl’s neck, I marched us to my bedroom and slammed the door, then pinned her against it. Now, I needed information from the girl, and she was a hard one to get information out of. A girl of few words who thought before she spoke, so I would use tricks of the trade to get her to tell me everything. “Why me?”
“Better the devil I know.”
“You know?”
“I’ve seen you around.”
“Around where?”
“Gatherings. Barbecues. Holidays. Club Cage.”
The way she said Club Cage, with a tiny blush over her cheeks, caught my attention, so I pursued that trail. “Club Cage?”
“Yes, but not recently.”
“I haven’t been there in a year.”
“I know.”
I tilted my head and said, “You know?”
“I haven’t seen you there since my birthday.” She pinched her lips, knowing she’d given herself away.
I snuck a hand behind her back and released the top of her bathing suit. It fluttered to the floor. I dragged my palm down her chest and over her breast, rubbing the nipple, first left, then right. “It sounds to me like you know a lot more about me than I do about you. And it sounds to me like you like me, maybe some days went to Club Cage thinking you’d see me there. Hm?”
She squirmed and I moved my hand down her abdomen and to her hip, where I released the bottom half of the suit. When she didn’t answer, I talked some more. “It sounds to me like when you heard of Italians asking for you, I was the first person you thought of. Is that right?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Yes, Boss?”
“Yes, Nikola, I thought about you first.”
My name from her lips sounded like a mating call. I stroked her folds. “It’s more than just that, isn’t it? You thought about me often and maybe developed an unhealthy attachment to an older guy, since we both know your daddy died when you were young.” I flicked her clit. “And that’s fine, baby girl. I can play Daddy games with you.”
She blushed and closed her eyes, and I stroked her folds and clit, enough to make her moan and glide over my hand, but not enough to make her come. I grabbed her throat and squeezed. “But you played me.” I teased her clit with two fingers, flicking them over the bud.
She snapped open her eyes and wrapped the fingers of both hands over my forearm, where I held her by the throat. “Tell me.”
“I know it looks like that, but that’s not all of it. It’s just you, Nikola. It’s always been you.”
“Always?”
“Ever since I first saw you.”
“And when was that?”
