Page 100 of Deviant Need

I look over at him. “What?”

“I heard about what happened at the arena.” He leans forward, his elbows on the table. “Making you fight those guys while he held a gun to Daniil’s head. All of it.”

“How did you hear about that?” I ask.

“Does it matter?” he says, shrugging. “He’s losing it. Whatever control he had is gone now.”

“I want him dead.” The words blurt out before I can stop them.

Fuck. I was supposed to ease into this, coerce them somehow, not just throw it out there.

They all look my way and freeze. No one says anything. Yulian’s blue eyes bore into mine, and Alexei’s brown ones study me, confused.

“Ha, good one,” Yulian mutters.

“I have my plans,” Alexei says, shrugging.

“What?” I ask.

He waves me off dismissively. “Don’t worry about it.”

Yulian raises his eyebrows. “If you have something, I want in. Don’t keep me out of that.”

“You all want him dead?” I ask, looking between them.

“Da? Who fucking doesn’t,” Yulian says, rolling his eyes. “The man’s a nightmare. But wanting and doing are different things.”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. How I’d do it. Where. What tools I’d use. How long I’d make it last.”

Yulian stares at him. “Alexei.”

“What? You don’t think about these things?”

“I think about it in much more detail than that,” Yulian mutters.

Alexei narrows his eyes at him.

“So are we doing this or not?” Yulian asks, setting his cards down completely now. “Because if we’re talking about killing him, we need a real plan. Not just Alexei and me fantasizing about it.”

“They’re not fantasies. If anyone gets to kill him, it should be me.”

Yulian tilts his head. “I was kind of hoping I could stab him first, but maybe we can all take turns.”

“Why is he freaking out so much over Danya’s past anyway?” I ask, glancing between them.

“I don’t know. That flight to Germany was a bust, so we are back at zero,” Yulian says and narrows his eyes. “Who knows, but he’s terrified of something. That’s the only reason he’d go that far to stop you from digging. So, the killing thing, are we actually doing this or just talking about it?”

Why is he so interested in this? I’m the one who brought it up, but now he’s pushing it harder than I am.

Yulian and I don’t get along well, mostly because he has no filter and constantly says things that piss me off. But he’s never even hinted at wanting Father gone before. So why is he suddenly so invested in making this happen? What’s in it for him?

Alexei curses under his breath and throws his cards onto the table. “It would be difficult. There’d be a massive fallout. The family would fracture. Our allies would question everything.”

“Obviously,” I say. “But staying under his control is worse.”

“That event you’re planning,” Alexei says, his brown eyes meeting mine. “The club expansion opening. We could use that. Plan something for after, when security is already spread from the event. Use the confusion as cover.”

This is going easier than I thought it would.