Page 49 of The Dragon 1
I stood abruptly and my chair screeched behind me. “Is that a threat?”
Kazimir didn’t blink. “Put that twenty percent back where it belongs. I getone hundred percentof your drug shipments. Not eighty. Not even ninety-nine percent. One hundred. I see anything less than that again. . .”
His voice turned venomous. “. . .and I return. And it won’t be nice and gentlemanly like this visit.”
I frowned. “You thinkthisis gentlemanly?”
“I think you should pray to your gods because you won’t get forgiveness from me. Due to your little. . .disrespect. . .the price for you, is now up to 90 thousand a kilo.” He didn’t give me a chance to respond.
Kazimir turned on his heel—sharp and final. His coat snapped behind him as he headed away.
His men moved in sync, chairs scraping back, suits shifting, hands brushing weapons.
“And now,” Kazimir called out without looking back. “Make itfivewomen in my room within an hour. I’ve got angry energy to release.”
He flicked the whole cigar to the floor. The lit end hit the polished wood and then it rolled. A trail of smoke curled into the air.
Hiro growled low, quiet, and deadly.
Still, Kazimir didn’t look back. He just walked out, boots striking the floor like a countdown.
Just like that, the Lion was gone—leaving the discarded cigar on the floor, the smoke, the insult, and the tension to burn in his place.
Silence dragged in his wake.
I stood motionless, my pulse a quiet thrum of fury.
Reo and Hiro flanked me, still as stone.
I exhaled once.
Then turned to Reo. “Call the French. I want to meet with the Butcher.Thisweek, not next. I can come to Paris, or he can come here.”
Reo glanced over, brows raising. “Are you meeting with him to end the shipments?”
“No, I want to discuss the possibility of getting rid of the Lion.”
Hiro let out a low, pleased breath—more exhale than laughter. That twisted smile of his finally bloomed.
Reo, however, shook his head. “Your father wants us aligned with the Lion. He thinks the Bratva will make us stronger.”
“My father,” I said slowly. “Lies sick in bed and uses me like a goddamn avatar. He doesn’t have to sit across from Kazimir and deal withthatfucking ego. He doesn’t have to taste the poison that the Lion spoon-feeds.Ido, and I’ve had an enough.”
Reo nodded once. “I’ll call the French.”
“Good.”
“Oh. I can’t forget this,” Reo reached into his jacket and then pulled out the thick red card the runner had given him earlier. “This is for you.”
I took it. “What’s this?”
“Your Tiger’s location.”
Thank God.
A smile flickered at the corner of my mouth. “Very good, Reo.”
While I was done dealing with lions, I was more than ready to tangle with a tiger.
