He wanted Matvet alive. Dmitri knew exactly what he was doing. “He’s still Luigi,” I muttered. “And Luigi is the enemy.”
Matvet nodded. “Yes, boss.”
I rose to my feet. “Drink?” I didn’t bother waiting for an answer. At the mini-bar, I pulled down a bottle, grabbed two glasses from the counter, and carried them back.
We sat across from each other, the silence broken only by the soft clink of glass as I poured us a drink. I knocked back the firstsip, the burn sliding down my throat. The plans in my head kept hammering against my skull.
“He’s a coward.” I set the glass down. “I’ll burn down everything he thinks he built. If he is half the man he pretends to be, he’ll come face me himself.”
Matvet took a sip and asked, “Do you need help?”
I scoffed. “You sure your brain wasn’t knocked into another decade?”
He shrugged. “I got skills. Computers.”
“Leave that to Pavel,” I said.
The room sank back into silence, the kind that only drinking could fill. One bottle bled into the next until Matvet finally spoke. “Alessia was right about Renat. She has instincts,” he said. “I will do better to listen to her.”
We both chuckled, like old soldiers amused by the ruins they’d left behind. I drained my glass, set it down, and leaned back. “She might be becoming dangerous.”
He arched a brow. “Did she stab someone else?” My glare cut across the table, but it only widened his grin as he lifted his glass. “I heard there was a mess on the dining table. Vadik followed Renat.”
“He talked too much.”
Matvet swirled his drink. “Or he might have irritated Alessia.”
I could see exactly what he was trying to dig at. I stood before the conversation went too far. “You’re taking too long to recover. It’s starting to irritate me.”
He didn’t get the chance to answer. I was already at the door. The two guards stood where I’d left them. I paused, letting my eyes cut through them. “Watch him. Or I’ll bury your whole fucking bloodline.”
Back in my office, my eyes drifted to the envelope a guard had dropped off earlier. I hadn’t touched it then. Now, it demanded my attention. I slit it open and tipped the contents onto the desk.A flash drive slid out, followed by a scatter of photographs.
I picked up one photo. The face was familiar, and so were the others scattered across the table. Each one was marked, except the man I locked away from Dmitri. On the back, there was a message:Kill him, or I’ll do it myself.I didn’t need anyone to explain it to me. This envelope was from Dmitri.
My grip on the photo tightened. Dmitri was playing games at my table. I picked the flash drive, pulled the laptop closer, and shoved it into the port.
A knock came on the door. I closed the file with a tap and looked up as it swung open. Alessia walked in, a can of ice cream in her hand and a wooden spoon between her lips. My brow drew together.
“Everything alright?”
She came closer, bare legs showing beneath thin shorts. Her T-shirt clung enough to leave little to the imagination. “I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep.” She dug the spoon in for another bite. I glanced at the clock. It was four in the morning.
“Are you working?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She nodded toward the sofa. “I’ll sit there and browse.”
I stared at her for a second and focused on the laptop. I clicked on the folder, and there was one file, a video. Playing it, the footage loaded. It had no sound, just a slow reveal of an old warehouse. Shadows moved until Dmitri appeared, dragging a man into view. He dropped him onto the ground and turned to face the camera. Blood soaked his shirt. His smirk boiled my blood.
He crouched, searched the man’s pocket, and pulled out a wallet. He flipped it open, blood dripping from his fingers, and held it close to the camera. I leaned closer to look, and the name on an identification card caught my attention. Luigi Dominico.
Heat surged up my neck, and I unbuttoned my sleeve buttons,eyes locked on the screen.
Dmitri tossed the wallet aside and went back to the man. Without hesitation, he rammed the rod through the man’s chest. The man’s body jolted, then went limp. Dmitri lit a cigarette and sat next to the corpse, smoke curling lazily from his lips as if he were posing for a portrait.
I snapped the laptop shut, shoved the chair back, and rose to my feet. My gaze swept the room for a drink, anything to dull the fire tearing through me, but there was no drink on the table.