Page 84 of Paved in Hate

“I’m good,” Danil says, and even though he sounds like he couldn’t give the slightest fuck about what’s happening, I know he’s beyond pissed and using all his self-control to not put a bullet in Konstantin’s head. “I thought I was meeting Casimir.” He looks at his watch. “I’ve got a few other things I need to take care of tonight.”

Konstantin smirks, but I see the flash of irritation that crosses his face before he pats the poor woman’s ass and pushes her towards the door. “Close it behind you,” he tells her, and once she’s gone, he rests his elbows on his desk and leans forward. “You’ll meet with him in a second, but first I want to know what the fuck happened to five of my men last night.”

He waits, assuming a little bit of silence is going to make us crack in front of him and confess all our sins like he’s a fucking priest and it’s confession time. When he grows tired of staring at our bored faces, he sighs and leans back in his chair.

“I had five men guarding the building where we hold the auctions, and last night Karel radioed in and said they were having technical issues and needed to turn the cameras off to reboot the system, and then they just fucking disappeared. When the new shift showed up this morning to relieve them, the place was empty and there was a large amount of dried blood on the floor.”

The memory of last night has me craving fruit snacks, and when my stomach growls, the corner of Danil’s mouth lifts up like it always does when he’s fighting a smile.

“How the hell should we know what happened to them?” I ask.

“It’s your territory.”

“Right,” I agree, “and we haven’t had any issues. The Alessi family has pulled back, and we’ve kept everyone else in line.”

“Could it be something personal?” Danil asks.

Konstantin sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “It could always be something personal. This is the last fucking thing I need right now.”

“Everyone we know would’ve displayed the bodies as a warning,” I tell him. “Unless this is a problem you brought with you from Europe.”

Konstantin grabs his phone and sends a quick text. Looking at Danil, he says, “Osip’s bringing Casimir down. He’s trying to salvage the security footage, but so far he hasn’t been able to find anything useful. I can’t have any fuck-ups with this next auction. There are several diplomats who are supposed to show up for it, and there’s a lot of fucking money riding on this.”

I meet his blue eyes and smile. “I can promise you that you don’t need to worry about next month’s auction.” I don’t bother adding that he’ll be dead long before it takes place.

“I sure as hell hope not.” When he hears the door, he looks up and waves his brother in. A younger man follows behind him. He looks exactly like how I always pictured a hacker looking—pale, glasses, and looks like he’d giggle like a schoolgirl if he ever saw a pussy in real life. Danil is an oddity. The man doesn’t look like a computer genius, and it’s worked in his favor all his life. People constantly underestimate him, and it allows him to get away with all kinds of shit. To prove my point, Konstantin waves a hand at Casimir and tells him to work with Danil, giving us the in we need to completely fucking destroy them.

Danil shakes the man’s hand before following him out of Konstantin’s office while I turn my attention back to my brothers-in-law.

“So how’s Katya doing?” Osip leans against the edge of the desk and gives me a grin that makes it obvious he’s not asking about her health.

“She’s doing great. Thanks for asking.”

He laughs while Konstantin says, “I tried to text her this morning, but she never answered.”

“I’m afraid that’s my fault. I dropped her phone the other day and broke it. I need to get her a new one. I just haven’t had the time to do it yet. I’ll let her know you tried to reach out, though.”

He studies me, searching for the lie he’ll never be able to detect. Katya will never have to interact with him again, not even through a fucking text.

Convinced I’m not lying, he says, “Well, tell her to get in touch when she gets her new phone. I miss having her around, and I’d like to keep in touch.”

“Will do,” I say, and I even manage to do it without laughing. I circle my finger around and quirk a brow like I actually give a fuck. “This is a beautiful property. How many acres do you have?”

He perks up like most arrogant bastards do when they realize it’s their time to brag. “It’s five acres, and I got it for a damn good price. It butts up against several acres of forest that’s privately owned by a man who now lives in the UK, so no one’s going to build behind us anytime soon.”

“Damn. I bet it’s kind of hard security-wise, though.”

He shrugs. “Not so bad. We’ve got patrols that regularly guard the property line, and we’ve recently put up some cameras and motion detectors in the woods.”

Osip laughs. “Add in the arsenal at the front gate and we’re pretty fucking secure here.”

I laugh along with them. “Yeah, I noticed they were pretty well armed when we came through. You can’t be too safe. America may not have quite as many issues with organized crime like Moscow does, but you can never be too careful. I mean, your wife lives here.”

He groans and shoots me alet’s cut the bullshitlook. “I think we both know I don’t give a fuck about Oksana, who’s most likely passed out in bed right now after snorting too much coke. I do care about other things, though.”

“Well, your brother’s here, too,” I say, making him laugh.

“Osip can take care of himself. I’m talking about my pet.”

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