She gave me her forgiveness. I had nothing to give her but vengeance. I brushed the hair off my sleeve and let it fall to the dirty carpet. “T met with him!” Sergey finally gasped in Russian, hunched against the wall from the latest punch to the stomach. There was so much padding there, I was surprised he felt the blow. Staying Albert’s fist with a hand, I waited for Sergey to continue. “I... I] met with Alexei,” he repeated, flicking his swelling eyes from Albert to me. “We got that much,” I drawled and leaned back in my chair. “This meeting of yours better be because you and Alexei are hiding a love affair.” “What?” He gaped. “N—” “Because if you weren’t fucking”—my eyes hardened—“it leaves me to assume you were discussing business. My business. So which is it? Are you fucking Alexei, or are you a fucking rat?” By his expression, I’d put him in an impossible position. He wiped blood from his nose with the back of a hand, his eyes coasting to the exit he would never reach. “]—we didn’t discuss anything, I swear,” Sergey said. “H-he only asked me some questions—” “Like who would do the fucking.” I nodded as if I understood. He grew flustered, sputtering, “No! I didn’t have a choice! He had a gun to my head!” I raised a brow. “So you were definitely on bottom.” His bruised face turned crimson. “We didn’t fuck! Pm not gay! Alexei asked me about stocks and liquid assets and to redirect some of your money into an offshore account. Said I’d receive ten percent if I did it.” He was breathless, and when he realized how much he’d given away, his double chin wobbled. “Oh, God.” I smiled with venom. Sergey’s shaky hands pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped sweat from his brow. “I can fix this! Just let me fix this. Please . . .” he whined. “I have a family.” Alexei was going down swinging. Anyone else would assume his master plan was to redirect all my funds so I couldn’t pay my dealers and therefore my men, which would demolish their loyalty and leave me to live a sad, lonely life as a manual laborer. And apparently chimney sweeping