“Must reallyirkyou,” Nikolai sneered.
Knox glared at him. “Tease all you like, Little Sokolov, but your mother saw the rough end of Blightwood Senior’s wrath...and over what? Some pretty paintings and faking some runes? You of all people know what those fools are capable of, and the brats are significantly stricter about rules and regulations.”
Nikolai snapped to his feet, hands on the edge of the desk. “Don’t fucking talk about my mother.”
Knox’s lips curled smugly and Nikolai realized he’d given away a weak point.Ireallyfucking hate this guy.A tender spot, deep in his gut that never healed over. Not even Jessie knew the truth about his parents.That I know of.He’d swallowed that wound, pushed it down into the depths of his belly, and left it to fester alone in the dark. No one knew that he wasThat Sokolovkid. As far as King’s Fall was concerned, he was Kierra Vestna’s kid, the estranged sister of the infamous Aloyna Sokolov. A brilliant forger of not just art but magic. She, once upon a time, was accused of recreating an entire ancient wizard’s spellbook from memory after seeing it in the museum. When Nikolai was 3, after an inspection of their wares, the museum found their copy was a forgery and the real one was sold to some rich fuck in the Maylor Kingdom. When the Council tracked down the fence, in order to figure out who forged it, the pressure descended upon his house. Aloyna was a prime suspect afterbeing accused of many other spell books, paintings, and worse of all, an ancient sword. One blessed by a sun god and used to slay a mad king, a paladin’s treasure. She left the city in a hurry with her boyfriend Maksim Kuznetsov after selling off all their enchanted swords. They fled into the Badlands and never looked back.
Aloyna left Nikolai with Kierra, her younger sister, to be raised as her own. Kierra was a mechanic by trade and made up a story about sleeping with all the boys in the shop, so she didn’t know who Nikolai’s father was. All the boys corroborated that story to anyone who asked. That shop was the base of what Titan Bonesaw built. Where Nikolai met Jessie and spent his whole life. Where he learned about cars and tried to forget about Aloyna. Except, that wound never fully healed, never went away.When trying to save your neck, a kid is only dead weight, right?
“My apologies,” Knox chuckled, softening his stance. “I’ve struck a nerve.”
“Forget it, you just see what you can find out about this rat infestation. What do you want for that information?” Nikolai snarled, not sitting back down. His blood pumped hot in his veins, a swirling, burning inferno.
Knox hummed, pulling out another ledger from his desk. Flipping to a checklist, he ran a finger down it for a moment before stopping to tap his finger against an item. Knox turned the paper around to Nik. It showed him an engine written out with modifications.
“You want me to build you an engine? That won’t fit in a car.” Nikolai shook his head.
“It’s notfora car,” Knox winked.
Nikolai stared at him, unimpressed. When Knox eventually relented, easing up on his schmoozing, Nikolai exhaled heavily. “That kind of modification will take me two weeks to build, and I’ll need to go back to the shop and order the parts in the morning.”
“So, what? My turn around is about a month? Two months forshipping?”
“Give me four weeks.”
“Perfect, that works just fine for me.” Knox struck out a hand that Nikolai took. With a firm shake, a little ring of black smoke curled around his middle finger. Knox’s contract. Which kept both parties honest. Knox would fulfill his end, find out what he could in exchange for an engine that Nikolai would personally see built in four weeks.Not the worst deal we’ve struck with this bastard.
Nikolai pulled out his phone and showed Knox he was typing the engine and modifications into his notes. The kingpin put away the notebook shortly after he finished. Then Nikolai bowed his head to Knox and headed out of the office. He’d need to order the parts first thing and put them on rush to get ahold of them. The rest he could do with what they had in the shop. Unfortunately, that meant spending more time in the graveyard to build, which could strain the shop a little. Or he’d have to do it after hours, which wasn’t ideal for keeping a low profile.
“And Nikolai?”
He ground his teeth, pivoting on his boots to stare back at Knox from the doorway.
Knox beamed, “It’s a pleasure doing business with you.”
“Fuck off,” Nikolai scoffed, rolling his eyes as he left. The sounds of Knox’s cackling followed him all the way out of the casino.
Chapter Eighteen:
~Katarina~
Breedthefuckoutof you.Katarina sat at the kitchen table, the day after family dinner, still thinking about it. Still reeling over it.It’s just a kink! His knot thing talking!Not that there was any way that Jessie Bonesaw would ever want her in his life like that.Right?It was one thing to have chemistry and enjoy the sex…it was a whole other to want to make a family with someone. It took her years of being with Gill, and Isabella was still an accident. A happy accident, but Katarina realized, had she been more keen, she’d have seen getting her pregnant was a manipulation tactic for Gill.
He didn’t want a family, he wanted control.
Katarina was the one who wanted a family.
But Jessie, after a week? Maybe more? Wanted to…no that’s silly. It had to be the heat talking.And I made it awkward by acknowledging he’d said some post-nut clarity silliness.Katarina groaned, hanging her head in her hands.
“Don’t tell me Mama Bonesaw fed you too much wine last night?”
Katarina only groaned louder as Nik joined her in her pity-party at the kitchen table. It was still early, but Isabella was already at school, and she’d not made the journey down to the shop to work on the car. While she had feelers out to potential new jobs, and Sera was doing some sleuthing for her, she was facing a whole day—more like a whole week—of nothing to do butwait for her doom. Gill’s time clock was ticking, and short of ransacking the house just to be petty, she’d done all she could. The council wouldn’t give her full custody until Gill was out. Their excuse? That wasn’t the Enforcement department’s area. That particular fight was under family services, which apparently didn’t give a shit that Gill put hands on her.He’s still employed and his lawyers are smooth talkers…and I’m a jobless, homeless, carless ex-wife.
Ouch.
She needed to stop doing that.
“It wasn’t the wine,” she fessed up, finally looking up as a mug of coffee was slid under her face. Katarina expected Nik would go in with Jessie, who was up before the sun and out the door with a single sticky note to the fridge.He also told me last night he needed to get in early, so…Katarina could tiptoe around the elephant in the room. Or…She sighed, “Jessie told me last night he wanted to breed the fuck out of me.”
