Page 100 of Goodnight, Sinners

She gasped and he thrust his tongue into her mouth. He expected her negative reaction and gripped her jaw to stop her from biting him.

“Let her go, asshole.”

Nikolay stopped kissing Saskia. He turned his head and found himself looking down the barrel of a gun. He lifted his gaze to meet the jewel bright stare of Ayaan.

“Get lost, bitch,” he snapped.

She shoved the gun hard into the back of his head. “Is that any way to talk to your replacement?”

“You’re Halil’s replacement, not mine.” Nikolay had come to hate this woman over the past several months. She’d taken every opportunity to get under his skin while they trained. Now he knew why. She and Saskia had become friends. He should’ve known. Bitches stuck together.

“Then why am I always being given your place on the team?” Ayaan smiled coldly at him.

Nikolay let Saskia go and reached for his gun, intent on taking the African bitch down a few pegs, but his holster was empty. When he looked down, he discovered the barrel of his own gun pressed against his stomach.

“A little slow on the draw,kitten,” Saskia said sweetly, sliding along the wall and stepping away from him.

Both women held guns on him.

Helpless rage rushed through him and he nearly did something stupid that would’ve definitely gotten him shot.

“Give me the gun,” he said through gritted teeth, staring hard at his former girlfriend.

She removed the clip, then the bullets from the clip. She threw the handful of bullets down the hall in one direction and the gun in the other. She pocketed the clip. “Go fetch.”

Saskia bent to pick up the key she’d dropped on the floor when Nikolay had surprised her. Ayaan wrapped an arm around Saskia as she straightened. Together they backed away from him. Saskia turned to unlock her apartment door while Ayaan held her gun on him. Together they entered the suite and slammed the door shut. He heard the locks engaging on the other side.

If he’d had a working gun, he would have emptied the entire thing through the door.

He stalked down the hall toward his gun, bending to pick it up before continuing on. He didn’t bother going after the bullets, without a clip they were useless.

He stood in the middle of the hall, in full view of the cameras.

It was time to go.

Not just away from Saskia or the mansion, but away from Prague. Maybe even out of the country, if he could manage it.

He rushed out the back door and strode toward the barracks where he'd parked his car. No one stopped him, no one said anything to him. They’d become used to his dark moods since Halil’s death. No one would think it was suspicious if he left. They would assume he was doing something for Jozef or Havel.

He unlocked his car, climbed inside and drove around the estate toward the front gates. He didn’t breathe easy again until he was on the highway.

Something was going on with the Koba family, and he wasn’t going to wait around to find out what it was.

He drove straight home and took the stairs to his apartment two at a time. Unlocking his door, he immediately went to his bedroom.

He pulled his duffel bag from a loose panel in the top of his closet. It already contained guns, cash and passports. His go bag. He added several T-shirts, a few jeans, socks and underwear. He could go shopping when he was safely ensconced in his Argentinian safe house.

He reached for the zip on his bag, but a sound had him turning around.

His shocked exclamation rang through the apartment.

He was seeing a ghost.

“Nikolay.”

The man standing in the doorway of his bedroom was dead.

Nikolay knew, because he’d put a bullet in his skull.

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