Page 33 of The Kingpin's Omega Lover
King lifted the right ear cover and said, “Relax a little, Mal. You’re too stiff.”
Malori rolled his shoulders and shook out his hands while the paper target got switched for another. Once it was ready, Malori picked up the reloaded gun and took his stance. Lifted it to eye-level. Tried to take King’s advice to heart. Breathed. This time, he imagined the distant silhouette was Aleks. His greatest living enemy, and the one person on earth whose death Malori craved.
The one person on earth whose death Malori wanted to cause.
On the next paper target, one bullet struck inside the bullseye.
It was a start.
“You know I don’t make a habit of questioning your decisions, boss. But I’m worried.”
King looked up from his office computer, which he hadn’t really been using, mostly staring at various desktop icons, while remaining lost in thought. Bishop stood a few steps inside, arms crossed—he’d apparently abandoned the sling—scowling at him. Not in a threatening way; more like a worried brother than a disgruntled employee.
King knew better than to discount Bishop’s concerns. He leaned back in his chair and dropped both hands into his lap, foregoing his pretense of doing anything work-related on the computer. “What are you worried about?”
“That we’re facing an enemy we don’t understand.”
“Yovenko.”
“Or whatever his name really is, yes. We do business with people who want the same things we want, which are money and security. From everything we know of this person, he’s a sociopath with an unknown agenda.”
“I agree. That’s why we won’t underestimate him.”
“Easier said than done, since we know barely anything about him. Our facial recognition brought up one photo that he likely planted for us to find. We have no actual identity, no fingerprints, nothing.”
“I know. Believe me, I understand the precarious position we’re in, especially when what we both want is to disengage from this life. We both want safety for our family.” King held Bishop’s gaze. “But I made a promise to Malori that I intend to keep.”
“Over the promise you made to Kensley? And me? You promised you’d fight to protect us, especially Kensley and our child. You had no idea Malori existed until the moment we breached that apartment, but now it feels like your entire life’s purpose is avenging his pain and finding his children.”
King waited for cascading irritation over Bishop’s assessment, but it never came. Because Bishop wasn’t wrong. Not completely. “You know it’s not my whole purpose. I’ve spent my entire adult life juggling multiple flaming torches at once, and never have I dropped one and lit the house on fire.”
“True. But right now, you’re juggling three hand grenades, and you have no idea which one is going to lose its pin first. You also have the option to throw one away and focus on the other two.”
King stared hard at his best friend, but Bishop never looked away. Or blinked. “So, what are my options? I choose to protect you and Kensley, and continue with the plan to extricate myself from this life, all at the expense of Malori’s children? You know I can’t do that. I gave him my word.”
“You gavemeyour word, boss.”
“I have every intention of keeping my word to you, Bishop. We are still on track to get out by the end of the year. The deal with Remington is still on the table, as are my future transactions with Lynn. I’m having the stones verified right now. Helping Lynn get top dollar should make her amenable to another deal.”
“Yes, information on Marta, I know all that. My concern is that by going after Yovenko, we’re opening ourselves up to an attack from a completely unknown, possibly unstable enemy.”
“And I agree with you on that. Again, what are my options? I’m open to suggestions, always.”
Bishop sat on the edge of a chair opposite King’s desk, back straight, jaw tight. “What if we use an intermediary we know and trust to reach out to Marta’s group? We’re already into the diamond deal with Lynn, that’s fine, but we know other people. Instead of the roundabout way, we get word directly to Marta that we’re only asking for information she might have on Aleks Yovenko.”
“We shut down one of Marta’s major money sources, and she knows I want her blood for kidnapping Kensley. Why on earth would she give us anything from an ask? We have no idea if she has any ties to or knowledge of the Farm’s daily operations, or any of their customers.”
“We offer her something in exchange.”
King frowned. “Such as?”
“I don’t know yet, but we’re at a huge disadvantage with Yovenko right now. He’s proved himself to be nearly untraceable these last six months. If Marta’s crew assumes her victims escaped the Farm and can identify their clients, she might also be going after the Farm’s clients to shut them up. Maybe she considers him as much of a danger to them as he is to us.”
“That’s a stretch.”
“But not impossible.”
“So, this is a ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ sort of situation?”
