Page 25 of Kneel for Me

I looked at Ivan. “You up for paying Crane’s mother a visit?” I asked him.

Ivan turned away from the window and smirked at me. “I get to terrorize some poor old lady? Fuck yes,kotik, I’m in.” I barked out a laugh. Grinning, he waved his hand toward the door. “Lead the way.”

* * *

Crane’s mother,Rebecca, lived in an older home that had been turned into small apartments. The floors were still that old pinewood flooring from early in the previous century, and they creaked with every step me and Ivan made. Apartment 2C was the last door on the second floor, and I swore when I knocked, I thought the damn door was just going to fall inward from how hard it rattled. I hadn’t even knocked that hard.

I doubted this building was up to code anymore.

The door opened after a moment, and a woman with warm brown eyes and curly graying hair looked up at me. Immediately, her eyes widened. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “I, uh?—”

“I’m looking for your son,” I told her, cutting right to the chase. “Have you seen him?”

“I—I?—”

Ivan sighed impatiently and moved around me before shoving the door open further. Rebecca almost fell over, stumbling into the wall as Ivan entered the apartment. I followed him inside without a word, taking in the seventies-style kitchen and brick walls. Ivan whistled as he prowled into the living room, linking his hands behind his back like he had all the patience in the world.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he called, a teasing note to his voice. When Crane didn’t come out, Ivan laughed softly. “You can stay hidden, little mouse. I have a kitten all too ready to tug you out of your hiding spot if you don’t come to me.”

Still nothing. Ivan cocked his head to the side the slightest bit. I came to stand beside him. Apart from Rebecca’s sharp, panicked breaths, the apartment was silent. But then, we heard it—the opening of a window.

Without wasting a beat, I spun and rushed for the door off to the side of the living room. I shoved it open, finding Crane trying to climb out the window. Reaching forward, I gripped his ankle, wrapping my fingers tight around it, damn near crushing his bones. He turned his head, looking at me with wide, panicked eyes.

“Well, the way I look at it,” I said calmly, “you go out that window, you die because you fall to your death. Or you come with me, and you still die.” I stepped closer. “But I’m letting you know now, Crane, there’s no fucking actual option here. So come down willingly, or I willforceyou down.”

“They threatened my mother—” he choked out.

I shrugged. “I don’t fucking care,” I growled. “You should have come to the family. We would have put protection on her. But you chose the wrong fucking road.” I yanked him down from the window. He fell with an embarrassing squeak that abruptly went silent when his head smacked against the toilet. I nudged his side with my boot, then sighed. “You’re going to be a bitch to carry out of here,” I muttered.

Ivan suddenly gripped the back of my neck and stroked his thumb over my pulse. I relaxed into his hold. “Good job,kotik,” he murmured. He pressed a kiss to my jaw. “Let’s get him out of here.”

Leaning down, I scooped Crane off the floor, then tossed him over my shoulder. Ivan flashed Rebecca a smile that was full of malice. “Say goodbye to your son, Rebecca. He turned on the Jacksons. I’m sure you know what that means for him.” He arched a brow at her when her lips trembled and tears began to fall down her cheeks. “I’m also sure you know what it means for you if you open your mouth about what happened here today, correct? Send the law after my man, and I’ll bring the entirety of Russia down on your head.”

With that, he held open the apartment door for me. And like a switch, his smile turned warm and friendly. “Have a good day, Mrs. Westbrooke. I hope we never have to see each other again.”

I snorted as I began my descent down the staircase. “Was that necessary?”

“I didn’t want to listen to her beg and plead for us to spare her pathetic fucking son,” he muttered. “I have a headache forming.”

I frowned at him once we were outside and dumping Crane into the backseat. Everyone minded their own business, knowing what happened to those in this neighborhood that didn’t. Besides, most of everyone here knew of James and his family, which meant they knew exactly who I was. “Are you okay?”

He sighed. “Nothing some Excedrin won’t fix,” he assured me. “Let’s go,kotik. We have a little rat to torture.”

Once we were in the car, I used the rope Mark tossed into the backseat to bind Crane’s wrists behind his back and tie his legs together. Once I was sure he was secure, I began to dig into my bag for headache meds. Ivan watched me with curiosity but kept his mouth shut. It was only when I pulled out my bottle of Excedrin that a small smile tilted his lips.

“Worried about me,kotik?”

“Don’t be an asshole,” I muttered, shaking out two pills and handing them over. He tossed them into his mouth and dry-swallowed them. I screwed the lid back onto the bottle, then tossed it back into my bag. A surprised gasp ripped from my lips when Ivan suddenly gripped my chin and yanked my head around to face him. Then, his lips were on mine, and I moaned softly, leaning into him.

“Thank you,” he murmured, his lips rubbing mine with each word. He opened his eyes, locking them on mine. “You continue to surprise me,kotik.”

A light flush crawled up my neck. Suddenly feeling nervous, I quietly asked, “You said I’m yours, didn’t you?”

He nodded. “I did, yes.”

I drew him close, letting him rest his head on my shoulder. He groaned and relaxed into my side, his eyes shutting. “Then, that means you’re mine, too,” I said softly. “So even though you’re the… dominant one in our relationship—” he snickered “—let me take care of you sometimes, too, yeah?”

He hummed, sinking deeper into my side, his hand coming down to curl around my thigh. Mark pulled off from the curb and into the light traffic on the street. “Sure,kotik. Mark, take us back to the Jackson estate. I think it’ll be perfect to repay this mother fucker in the same place he betrayed the family.”

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