The vor of mine had always made a sufficient amount from tax evasion and a used car dealership—or, more accurately, the brothel in the basement. “He was arrested for pimping out a twelve-year-old girl.” I bit down on my cigar, a lash of heat licking at my chest. Truthfully, I hated the prostitution business. I wouldn’t touch the industry with a ten-foot pole if I thought I could banish it from the streets of Moscow altogether. Even God couldn’t accomplish that, so I might as well capitalize on it. But pedophiles . . . I loathed them most of all. Blood-stained sheets, cloying cologne, and the clang of coins on a grimy folding table. In prison, they were forcibly marked with a mermaid tattoo—that is, if they stayed out of my sight long enough to be inked before I beat them to death with my bare hands. “Where is he?” I asked. Viktor told me the name of a holding cell, one that employed multiple police officers in my pocket. “Send Nikolay’s wife a sympathy card,” I said. Viktor left without a word. Nikolay would be found hanged in his jail cell come morning. I exhaled a smoke ring, eyeing the fake heart-shaped earring on my desk. My little vegan didn’t wear fur or diamonds. Her soft heart was unanticipated given her last name, but she also hid a fire beneath. I wanted to see how hot that fire burned. And then I wanted to put it out. I wanted Mila, but I wanted her willingly. Her tears unnerved me. Even the shocked expression in her eyes after I gave her a light slap to the face didn’t settle right. Nadia would have been on her knees at my feet faster than I could blink, not giving me a look like I’d just strangled a baby humpback. Apparently, I wouldn’t be able to slap this girl into submission, which made things a little more complicated. Especially because I couldn’t stand her apologies. They made me remember she was an innocent in all this. They made me feel like I had a conscience, and that wouldn’t do at all. After last night, it seemed I couldn’t trust myself with her—not with her claw marks on my neck and the hot awareness of where she had the nerve to bite me. I’d leave her be for a few days, let the fire subside. In the meantime...