Page 12 of Inked in Devotion

Then the whole Jeremiah King as the real Mistress Strangler unfolded, giving credence to the sickness the Kings tried to bury. There was no admission of guilt, just a trail of circumstantial evidence. It remained buried because King Industries was too big to fail and the Zahkarovs’ own legitimate corporation was entangled with their survival.

Was it only a week ago when Dom, Trevor, Kirill, and I had been crammed into a helicopter chasing after Lucy and Chloe who had jumped into a car with Theo to stop his brother?

I rarely felt fear. But at that time? I was close to feeling it.

The guys were arguing, and I was getting a headache. Dom was trying to calm Kirill down.

“Lucy may be your sister, but she’s my wife!” Kirill snapped. “She’s going to send me to an early grave.”

That was believable. But my thoughts were centered on Chloe. The woman I’d fucked right before I got arrested. See, I always researched my targets, even women I let into my bed. And Chloe had been a target. But after watching her getting harassed by some idiot with an oversized ego and a ridiculous comb-over, I couldn’t help interfering. I dragged the man outside and gave him a concussion. That should have been the end of any interaction. I paid the pub owner to erase the surveillance and the bouncer to make sure the idiot left. I could have gone back to observing Chloe Brown. But what did I do?

I sat down beside her and struck up a conversation. I had a whole cover for my being there. Nicolas Durant, liquor merchant. I was fluent in several languages, including French, and I inhabited my fake identity just as Chloe had given me a false name—Crystal.

No last names, she said. So she knew me as Nic.

Kirill cursed, pulling my attention back from my first encounter with Chloe.

“Lucy says Aralina is on the roof.”

My concern for Chloe momentarily shifted to Kirill’s sister, whom I treated as my own. If only Kirill had given me the go-ahead to take care of Jeremiah King when he’d shown interest in Aralina, this wouldn’t have happened.

Dom gave instructions to the pilot to land a distance from the King mansion to transfer to a couple of SUVs that were already waiting.

When we arrived at the mansion, Kirill nearly lost his shit when he spotted Lucy hanging out the window.

But while he was imploding over Lucy, I was already running inside the mansion and was the first one to see the carnage inside.

One bratva soldier dead in the foyer, another on the staircase.

“Jesus Christ,” Dom said behind me.

I passed the grotesque body on the staircase, my gun already drawn. The person who committed this possessed rage behind his killing. No one would shoot the face repeatedly unless he exhibited psychopathic behavior. We ascended in single file. Dom and Kirill let me take the lead. Our soldiers were herding back King’s security. We didn’t want them interfering.

These were executive-level decisions.

Meaning mine.

Well, my pakhan’s too, but when it came to eliminating threats, that job belonged to me.

“Shoot him!”

That was Lucy.

Bang.

We hurried up the attic stairs. Forget stealth mode.

Bang.

Red hazed my vision when I saw Jeremiah charging toward Chloe and Lucy.

Two gunshots rang out.

Kirill and mine.

I was sure my bullet was the one that sent Jeremiah tumbling to the floor. I never missed, and I always aimed for the head.

We spilled into the attic, and while Kirill went for the women, I ignored Chloe’s burning gaze on me and climbed out the window to get Aralina who was taking refuge on the ledge of the roof.