Page 37 of Twisted Prince

Stunned silence hangs in the air. Whatever reason I was expecting, that was not it. I didn’t even know Val had a brother. Honestly, I never cared to learn why we went to war with the Zhivoder in the first place. As far as I’m concerned, they’re the scum of the earth that need to be annihilated. And it disgusts me that Val would switch loyalties to them, no matter the reason.

“Let me get this straight,” Pyotr says conversationally. “To get revenge for your brother’s death—the same kind of motivation you condemn my mother for—you were willing to send good men, loyal men, to their deaths. You allowed innocent women to be taken, brutalized, murdered, and sold off as sex slaves. Did I get that right?”

“That’s what it sounded like to me,” I agree when Val presses his lips closed.

Even with the silencer on, the gunshot rings through the open space as the bullet obliterates Val’s knee.

“Fuck the Veles!” Val roars, convulsing violently.

“Any other questions, Gleb?” Pyotr asks, ignoring Val’s wrath completely.

“I think I’m good.”

Pyotr nods and takes aim again. “Goodbye, Val. I’ll see you in hell.”

Echoing silence follows as the old bodyguard slumps forward, lifeless in his chair. Blood trickles from the hole in his forehead.

“Spread the word,” Pyotr says coldly. “No one is to even think this traitor’s name again. He’s not just dead to the Veles. I want him wiped from existence.”

“Yes, gospodin,” Lev, Denka, and I chorus darkly.

“Get rid of him.”

As my two most trusted men get to work on the grizzly job of dismembering the body, Pyotr jerks his head, signaling for me to step away with him. I follow him farther into the warehouse, curious about what my pakhan might have to say.

We walk quietly together, and in the silence, I have a moment to think, to assess the calculated emotions thrumming through my veins. After years of hunting down our rat, it feels both deeply satisfying to have achieved my mission and incredibly disappointing.

Over the years, I’ve become so obsessed with my hunt that I’ve had little time to worry about anything else. And suddenly, I feel like a kite without a string, a cat with no mouse to chase. And the last thing I want is spare time to contemplate. Because without fail, my thoughts always inevitably turn to Mel.

Reaching the far wall of the warehouse, Pyotr turns to me. “I know you’ve only just finished the last big mission I gave you. And you already have a lot on your plate, but are you up for another challenge?”

“Yes,” I say without hesitation.

Pyotr smiles wickedly. “Good. Because I’m ready to play dirty. I want to do the same thing to Mikhail that he did to us—I want to put a spy in his midst and destroy his operation from the inside. It’s time we stoop to his level and turn the tables, don’t you think?”

Sick joy curls my lips. My pakhan has grown more and more ruthless by the day. And I’m more than ready to crawl through the mud if that’s what it takes to gut Mikhail. “Believe it or not, I already know the perfect man for the job.”

His bright eyes are sharp with excitement. “Who’d you have in mind?”

15

MEL

“Look, Gabby, Matty’s already here,” I say, bouncing my little girl on my hip to help bolster her excitement.

“I don’t want play today,” she pouts, tucking her dark head of curls into my neck as she hides her face shyly.

“But you’ll have so much fun!” I insist. “And Miss Kieri is making pizza for dinner.”

Gabby perks up a little at that, wrapping her arms around my neck as she looks at me. She has her dad’s intelligent green eyes that never fail to make my heart squeeze, and I smile when her eyebrows lift with anticipation.

I swear, the way to my little girl’s heart is through her stomach.

“Mama stay with me?” she insists in her toddler’s English.

Nearing three now, Gabby’s getting better at communicating—though I’ve never struggled to understand what she means. But I know part of her shy tendencies come from the impatience some of her playmates have shown when they can’t decipher what she’s trying to say.

“Mama has to go to work, keiki. But I’ll be home later, okay?”

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