Page 1 of Her Russian Master
Chapter 1
Three years undercover with the mob and he’d throw it all away for a girl.
He didn’t give a shit if it got him whacked by the mob, or fired from the FBI.Lucy Carr wasn’t going to get killed on his watch.Hell, if any of them fucking touched her, he would blow his cover in a second.
After a lifetime believing he was fundamentally soulless, his fervor surprised him.Who knew?Some part of his spirit must still be intact for him to want to protect something so precious.
Yuri climbed out of the backseat of Freddo’s S-class Mercedes and cracked his knuckles.Mob enforcer was a part he’d played so long—for real and for the FBI—that he’d come to believe it was all he was.Darkness shrouded in crime.Even if he was working for the “good guys” now.
He wasn’t wearing a suit.Neither were Freddo and Tommy.Tonight could get bloody, and who wanted to ruin a thousand dollar Armani?No, just a short-sleeved button-down and slacks tonight.With his customary swagger, he led the way to the front of the line snaking onto the sidewalk in front of Blue Turtle, the upscale club Jake Carr owned.
Jake was in deep shit.
Yuri could give two fucks about Jake or his cocaine habit-induced problems.It was Jake’s captivating little sister he wasn’t going to let die.
Lucy.
The Blue Turtle’s resident DJ was an ongoing source of fascination for Yuri.How did something so fresh, so full of light, exist in their world of darkness?It was a puzzle he couldn’t solve.
Her music pumped out on the sidewalk, the bass loud enough to demand their heartbeats amp up the speed to match.The bouncer at the door recognized them and opened the velvet rope for them without a word.“Where’s Jake?”Freddo demanded in notes of deep baritone asshole.
The bouncer shrugged his shoulders.“Not in yet—I haven’t seen him.”
Freddo glowered at the guy for a minute but he clearly didn’t know anything, including enough to be scared, so they moved on, into the club.
The moment they walked in, Yuri’s eyes went to the DJ booth, where they were always drawn.
Lucy bounced in the plexiglass enclosed space, pumping her arm in the air, an exhilarated grin lighting up her beautiful face.High cheekbones made her face heart-shaped, and a bow shaped her mouth.Her pale skin was flawless and bright, decorated with a tiny piercing of a diamond up by one eye.She could have been a model.Or an actress.But instead she had this counter-culture thing going—hair dyed platinum and pulled into two fuzzy pigtails high on her head.Fuckingadorable.
Just seeing her lifted a weight from Yuri’s shoulders, only it immediately slammed back down onto his chest, because yeah.If Jake no-showed tonight, Lucy would become their hostage until he did.You don’t stiff the don his drug money and expect to get away with it.
She caught sight of them as they pushed through the crowd, and looked away quickly, telling him she knew why they were there.He sure as hell hoped she would cooperate and just inform them of her brother’s whereabouts.Or call him to come down.
He walked to the booth and tapped on the glass.She stood on an elevated platform, so he had to reach up to knock, but he knew she saw him there.
She pretended she didn’t.
He walked around to the side and tried the handle on the door but it was locked from the inside.Smart girl.A bouncer saw him and started to come over, then he must’ve realized who Yuri and his cohorts were and quickly diverted his attention to something else.
Yuri threw his shoulder into the door until the plywood splintered and the lock broke away.
The look of terror Lucy gave him gutted him.But she should be afraid.Only a healthy dose of fear was going to get her out of this mess.He stalked up the stairs.
She tore her earphones off and shouted over the music.“You can’t be in here!”
Up close, she was even harder to take in, her light so bright it fucking blinded him.She wore a simple white tank top—wife beater style and too small, so it hugged her androgynous body.In hot pink glittered letters, the wordkinkyglowed across her small tits.It nearly made his knees buckle.Wasshe kinky?
No.It was just a sassy shirt she wore to grab attention, along with the miniscule jean skirt that barely covered her ass, and the platform sandals with straps that tied around her ankles.She probably had no idea whatkinkeven meant.
He ignored her declaration and countered with his own.“Where’s your brother?”
She visibly paled and her mouth tightened, but she lifted her chin with a bravado he had to admire.“Something came up.He’s not coming in tonight.”
He pointed a finger, using the warning look he’d first perfected as enforcer for a teenage street gang back in Russia.“Call him.Tell him to get his ass down here, or there’s trouble.Do it now.”He turned and left, not able to stand there and see the fear he’d put into that precious face a moment longer.
It made him sick to threaten her.
He tripped back down the stairs and met Freddo and Tommy, who’d gone to the bar.
