Page 22 of Ruined By Sin

Kazimir leans back in the booth and runs both hands through his hair. His expression flashes through a dozen emotions—surprise, confusion, anger—before settling on sympathy. "You're kidding."

"I wish I were." It's a good thing I've finished eating what I wanted because my appetite is gone. The look on his face tells me this is every bit as bad as I feared it was.

"So Morin fucked up real bad this time, huh?"

"That's about the size of it."

"And Roman doesn't know who she is?" Kaz continues to sip his coffee, but I know if I took a sip of mine, I'd throw it up. Putting this out into the universe is making me very nervous.

"No. He told me to deal with the situation. He doesn't know the situation just got a hundred times worse." If Ro found out, I know he'd want to talk to her and ask her a billion questions.Then he'd want to talk to Morin and the only answer would be his head on a platter. Sergei will never let Morin walk for this. But I owe him my life.

I'm between a rock and a hard place and Kazimir will be on a short chain after this, knowing he knows my secret.

Kazimir blows out a long breath and shakes his head. "How do you know she's a Belova?"

"She told me herself. Sergei's her uncle. Her father married one of Sergei's younger sisters. She was placed inside the Mirov operation as a mole by Sergei."

"And you believe her..." He lifts a skeptical eyebrow and sets his mug down. He has every right to be skeptical. After he took Zora into his home and she wreaked havoc before we realized who she was, he learned the hard way. But I've done my due diligence.

"Yeah, man. I did it... She's Kirianna Belova in the system. I swear she checks out. I ran the checks myself." Maybe I wasn't as thorough as I could have been, but when you find gold, why keep searching?

He shakes his head slowly. "After what happened with Zora, you know we can't be too careful with this kind of thing. People lie about who they are, Tim. They do it well and they do it for good reasons."

"I know that. But I've done my homework. I swear she checks out." He's frustrating me, but I know he wouldn't be saying these things just to piss me off. He is here to protect me the way I was there to protect him once upon a time.

"Yeah, well..." He leans forward and drops his voice. "Talk to Stepan. If anyone can confirm this girl is who she says she is,it's his wife, right? She's a Belova—or she was. Get a photograph, something concrete. Don't just trust a database."

I know he's right. I've been so focused on managing the situation that I skipped the step that would put it to rest. A photograph, a conversation with someone who's actually met Kirianna Belova face to face, any of that would be more definitive than what I pulled off a screen.

"I'll reach out to Stepan today," I tell him, though it makes me feel like a jerk to doubt her, especially after having slept with her last night.

"Do it before anything else. This takes priority." He picks up his coffee and takes a long drink. "And for the record, I'm not saying she's lying. I'm saying we owe it to ourselves to be thorough. If she checks out with Stepan and Marina, then we deal with the fallout the right way. We go to Sergei, we apologize, we make it right. But we don't do any of that until we're sure."

"Agreed..." I mumble, and I start thinking of how maybe I've exaggerated Roman's potential response. I don't have the proof yet, but when I do, I can tell him how Kira and I have connected. If she and I really hit it off—which I'm not saying we will, but if we do—telling Sergei she was with me the whole time will be less of a shit fight than telling him my douche of a right-hand man stole his niece in the dead of night.

"Good." He points at me and cocks his head. "Don't sit on this too long. If she is a Belova and Sergei finds out we've been keeping her, it won't matter how well you treated her. He's going to see it as an abduction. Then you've got a whole different problem."

"I'm aware."

I pull out my wallet and shell out a few rubles, enough to cover my breakfast and his, and then I stand. "Don't tell Ro yet. Let me figure some shit out first before this goes sideways."

"You're keeping a secret?" he asks, eyes narrowed.

"I don't consider it a secret." My chest knots up as I think about what he's asking. I'd never keep anything from Roman, but this situation is tricky. "I'm getting all my facts before I say something. That’s all."

Kazimir gives me an accusatory expression as I walk away.

Now if Stepan and his wife Marina can get me a picture of the real Belova girl, I can compare and confirm Kira's identity. Until then, I fully intend to follow through with my backup plan. Kira is mine, and I want to make her so comfortable with me that even when I offer to let her leave, she wants to stay.

Stalking toward my car, I feel my phone vibrate and pull it out. It’s a message from Morin with a video attachment, so I click on the video to let it play and what I see stops me dead in my tracks.

One of our best fighters, Rostik, is at a local convenience store and he’s not alone. There are two men with him, and they’re beating the hell out of him. I don’t recognize the men, but the text that comes in after tells me what I need to know.

Morin: 8:29 AM: Are you satisfied with this proof? They jumped Rostik. You better get to Levin now. Find out what Rostik saw.

I grit my teeth in anger and glower up the street before typing in a message to Kazimir. We have to stop this shit now or Roman is gonna hurt us all. Morin needs to get back on his feet and finish this job.

Or we’re gonna have to find a way to do it without him.