by Kenya Wright
“I’m already on it.”
I sighed in relief. “Thanks.”
Kazimir glanced over his shoulder as if he’d caught what I’d said.
If you think I’m going to stay put in this house of horrors, you’re wrong. I am finding an escape tunnel or something, just to keep me calm.
“Secret passageways?” Maxwell asked.
X lowered his voice. “Most places like this have some sort of hidden way for the servants to move around the castle without disturbing their people.”
Doubt hit Max’s voice. “And you know this how?”
“I’m guessing.” X shrugged.
“But still, X has a point. Even the Vatican has a secret passage between the city and Rome.”
“And how do you know that, Em?”
“Because it’s dope.”
The unorthodox tour continued. We passed tons of rooms. Many of the doors were open, exposing abandoned, neat spaces. Tons of portraits hung on the walls, but many appeared blurry and unclear. I had no idea what was going on in the images. Even the paintings in the hallway had me confused. Far away, I noticed the broad and bright strokes, but as I passed the paintings, there were finer details I couldn’t comprehend.
My nerves were frazzled.
Protecting Kaz here would be difficult. I knew I’d be out of my element, but this was unbelievable. We were in a goddamn haunted castle for god’s sake. We’d have to play catch-up in seconds. I tried to memorize everything that I could, wondering if I would need the knowledge later. Most of all, I kept my head clear, no matter how spectacular and odd a room or hallway appeared.
Someone here might’ve helped Sasha. While Kazimir probably saw this castle as a second home, this could be a trap. Every person greeting him with smiling faces could be the one ready to slit his throat.
I thought of the conversation that Misha had with Kazimir.
“Trust no one,” I whispered to Maxwell. “Not even Valentina.”
He nodded.
It would be smart to help Kazimir find his enemies within this castle, regardless of my not knowing the language and layout, despite the fact that I didn’t understand the strange ceremonies and haunting décor. Kazimir’s enemies were my enemies. And even if that wasn’t true, I had a strong desire to kill anyone that bothered him.
There were so many moments to choose from. What had made the strong urge come over me? What had he done?
Flash of the past days raced through my mind.
My chest rose and fell. He pressed against me so close that when my breasts rose with my breathing, my nipples rubbed against his muscular chest.
“For now, I don’t know if I can give you a temporary employment deal.” He slipped his lips along the curve of my neck. “You’re too smart, too valuable, and too goddamn sexy. I like seeing you. Smelling you. I want to touch your skin too much.”
A whimper escaped me.
“I don’t like the idea of temporary when it comes to you, Emily.” He nibbled at the curve, driving me crazy. My knees almost gave way. I leaned into him more as I arched my back, wanting to feel more of him. A thrill moved through me. Exciting. Intoxicating.
“And on the topic of your dating, I don’t want anyone else…keeping the edge off.” He growled those last words as he slipped his lips along my chin and then stopped at my mouth.
I shuddered against him, but still, he didn’t kiss me.
I almost begged him to.
“Don’t be mad at me, little mysh.”
“I’m not,” I whispered.
“Hmmm.” And then his mouth went to mine before I could process what was happening. I thought a kiss from him would be rough and fast, but it was sweet, warm, and so soft. He took his time, giving me lazy wet strokes of his tongue, savoring my taste.
“Oh, mysh.” He captured my lips again, sweeping his tongue over mine and then fully claiming my mouth for his. Consuming me. His scent filled the air to the point where I knew I would smell like him the rest of the night—powerful and seductively masculine.
“Emily?” Maxwell disrupted my thoughts.
Everyone was several feet ahead and watching me, especially Uncle Igor and Kazimir.
“Mysh, are you okay?” Kaz walked over to me.
I swallowed. “I’m fine.”
Uncle Igor monitored the whole exchange and for the rest of the tour, Kazimir kept me right next to him, his fingers interlocked with mine. I should’ve been uncomfortable with the closeness around so many strangers, but no one said anything. The many that witnessed this, changed the way they greeted me from then on.
Suddenly, smiles covered everyone’s faces. Others nodded in appreciation.
Twenty minutes later, Uncle Igor walked us to another dark hallway.
Two women appeared.
Kaz turned to me. “They will show you to your rooms.”
Of course, I had tons of questions, but I nodded.
His voice lowered. “You’ll have time to rest in there. It’s been a long flight.”
Translation: Stay in your room. Don’t get in trouble.
Kaz continued, “Later, someone will bring your clothes.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“It’ll be a feast,” Kaz said. “My uncle will want us well-dressed.”
Max stirred on my right, while X grinned.
“I have to talk to him.” Kaz’s gaze shifted to intense and licked his lips. “I’ll see you later. You look on edge. I’ll take care of that.”
Translation: I will do my best to come back and fuck you.
My body shivered with lust.
I worked on keeping my voice calm. “Thank you. I’ll look forward to that.”
He walked away, and I noticed Uncle Igor studying my every movement. Being the center of his attention was not a comfortable thing. He looked like he enjoyed murdering things. After checking out his castle, I bet he’d killed a lot in here.
And what was up with the woman and child in that room? Or the guy chained up on the wall?
I didn’t know if Kaz understood the type of person I was. If that guy chained up on the wall didn’t do anything wrong, I would cut those chains. If the kid and mother were being drugged or abused, I would kill Igor.
In fact, I would not be sitting in my room and waiting for someone to bring me fancy clothes. We would only be here for a day.
I had to move.
Adjust.
Discover.
And kill, if necessary.
Which smiling faces held lies behind those sweet lips? Who were Kaz’s friends? And who the hell were the foes?
Four
Maxwell
They separated us.
Em was to the left of my room. X was on the right.
After Em’s Russian spoke to her, they didn’t take our phones or say anything else, but it was clear we were not to do anything outside of our designated four walls.
He thinks Em is going to stay put? This might not be Chinatown at all. We’ll have to call it Prague.
I chuckled to myself as the door closed behind me. Shadows loomed over the room. A little sunlight peeked in from dark curtains, but I could barely see. My guard hadn’t even waited for me to get inside before shutting the door.
I turned on the light.
A surprise hit me.
Valentina sat on my bed with her legs crossed.
Bad news for sure.
On the flight, she’d flirted, and I pretended to be exhausted and asleep. Dangerous men always had dangerous women around them. Many bad guys had a bad sister right next to them, just as murderous and even more deadly.
With a man like Kazimir, I had no doubt Valentina knew her way around a gun and a dead body.
I stayed far away from women like her.
She held an amused expression. “You’re not going to ask me why I’m here?”
“You will tell me, when you’re ready.” I walked over to the desk by the window, pulled the chair out, and sat down. “One thing I know for sure, you real
ly like to catch me in my bedroom. We have to stop meeting this way.”
Had she not been there, I would’ve taken in the space. Done a whole survey of the area. But when a woman like Valentina sat on a bed, she became the center of the room.
She looked like a runway model that had been kicked out of a fashion show by the designer for slicing the other models’ necks—sugary, curved lips, but wicked blue eyes. Rosy little cheeks under a deadly gaze. Tasty and poisonous.
Her blonde hair hung to her waist. At the ends were curls. Pretty, soft ones that I wanted to wrap around my finger. That was the other problem with Valentina. She made me stare for too long, made me desire things I shouldn’t have even been thinking about.
Curiosity mixed with her thick accent. “Why do you look at me like that?”
“Because you’re as beautiful as a jazz song.”
She blinked but kept her lips pursed.
What are you doing, Valentina?
I shifted my focus back to that hair, following a few strands at a time, starting from her scalp all the way down to the bed. Again, that urge took me over, this need to wrap my finger around those blonde strands and grab a fistful right as I pumped my cock deep into her.
“What are you wondering now?” she asked.
“How you would sound when you moaned.”
She widened her eyes. “I’m surprised you said that.”
“Why?”
“My brother.”
“You won’t tell him I said that, even if he cared. You don’t want your brother to know you’re in here. I’m thinking this is a secret.” I shrugged. “But, what do I know? I’m new to this scene.”
She uncrossed her legs. “I don’t want him to know.”
“So, then you won’t tell him about what I said.”
“About the moaning?” She slipped her legs to the edge of the bed and rose. “No. I won’t tell him about the moaning.”
I let my gaze slide up her body.
What a lovely sight. I should’ve gotten laid before we left New York. When’s the next time I’m getting pussy in this country?
I drank her in. She’d changed from the flight. Now, she had on a short dress that hugged her curves in all the right places and showed off her long legs. My eyes tracked down to the tall heels she wore.
Step by step, she strolled over to me.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew she was working her sexuality to get me to do something, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy the process of her hypnotizing me.
She pouted. Something I doubted she did much. She was more of a lip biter.
Did she bite those lips, when she came?
She stopped in front of me, encasing my space with her lush scent. “I need your help.”
No shit.
She continued, “It will be simple.”
I doubt it.
“Tonight, there will be a dinner or something.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder, and I yearned to run my fingers through it. “I guarantee it. Our uncle will want to celebrate in some way.”
“Okay?”
She moved closer to me, so close that if I raised my hands her way I could touch her. It took everything in me to stay in that chair.
She leaned down and rested her hands on my shoulders. I got an eyeful of lush cleavage right in front of my face.
Surrounding her with me, she whispered, “I put something under your bed.”
I wasn’t expecting that.
Tension built in my shoulders.
“Don’t look at what it is.” She inched her face closer until our lips were a few inches apart. “That thing under your bed is my secret, and mine alone.”
I licked my lips, unable to control myself. Warmth filled the space.
Okay. Focus. Remember, she’s just doing this for something. Besides, Em told me not to trust anyone, not even her.
She continued, “During the party that my uncle holds, I’m going to leave and go back to your room.”
“Why not yours?” I asked.
“Because mine is on the third floor and several stairs away. Yours is right around the corner.”
Good to know.
“Oleg will stay with you as if I’m right by your side.” She gestured to the right of the room.
I almost jumped out of my chair.
Oleg stepped out of the shadows with a scowl on his face.
What the fuck?
Valentina touched my chin with a manicured nail and guided my view back to her. “Do you understand?”
“What else?”
“That’s it.” Slowly, she brushed her lips against mine. Her touch was a sucker punch to my system. The air damn near left my lungs. But, one thing for sure, blood rushed to my cock.
I felt light-headed. “And if I do that for you?”
“Maybe you will know how I sound, when I moan.”
I laughed at the absurdity of that even being possible.
She giggled too and rose. “You’re a good friend, Maxwell.”
Oleg got to her side and placed his gun back in his holster.
Good job. I didn’t even know he had his gun out. What the fuck? Never again will Valentina have me slipping like that.
“Thank you.” I rose from my chair.
Oleg didn’t appear excited about it. “Sit.”
“Relax,” Valentina whispered without even glancing his way. “Perhaps, Maxwell wants to walk me out.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Since we’re keeping secrets and doing favors…I need one.”
Oleg frowned.
Valentina grinned. “What does the Harlem Crew want?”
“Guns.”
She raised her eyebrows. “How many?”
“Six.”
Valentina considered it. “From what Luka says, Em is more of a knife girl. Do I have to worry about my brother’s safety?”
Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed it.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “What will you do with the guns?”
“Honor their beauty and craftsmanship.”
“Hmmm.” Her smile widened. “Oleg, give him your gun.”
A grumble came from the big man, but nothing more as he pulled his weapon out of the holster and handed it to me.
“That is all I can provide for now.” She shrugged. “In Moscow, I can give you more.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, just make sure Kazimir knows that I didn’t give them to you. I will deny it.”
I nodded. “So, he doesn’t want us to have them?”
“Guns are dangerous weapons.” She walked away. But instead of using the door, she headed to the massive painting on the side of the wall. It was taller than her, but as wide as a door. “Don’t forget about tonight.”
“I won’t.”
She clicked the side of the painting. It opened up, swinging back from the wall.
What the fuck?
She noticed how I looked at the door. “I heard that Emily likes tunnels.”
“She does.”
“She’ll love these.” Valentina gestured to the painting. “Not every room has one, and not everyone even knows about them.”
“Why do you?”
“Little girls always need to hide, when there’s a house full of boys.”
Sounds like something Em would say.
“Be careful, Maxwell. I like you.” She stepped through the painting. Oleg followed, but not before glaring at me for a few seconds.
Hey, I’m not a fan of you either.
When the painting closed, I checked the gun for bullets, saw that it was full, and placed it under the nearest pillow.
“I put something under your bed. Don’t look at what it is.”
“Sorry, Valentina.” I dropped to my knees, checked under the bed, and pulled out a large black duffle bag. “I’m from Harlem, not Bethlehem. We lie. We steal. And we always look, when we’re not supposed to.”
I zipped the bag open. A note lay on a pile of weapons, a card with a
message written in red lipstick.
“You’re such a bad boy, Maxwell.”
So, you knew I would look?
I moved the card and checked everything else in the bag. From first perusal, the items represented things one would use to break into a house, but I had no idea. There was rope, a large knife, black clothes to fit a slim woman or small man, a syringe with some clear liquid in it, and a children’s book written in English. The title read, Vasilisa the Beautiful.
Surprisingly, out of everything in the bag, the book crept me out the most.
Why isn’t it written in Russian or Czech? When did she get this and why is it in a bag full of rope, black clothes, and weapons?
Utterly confused, I did a quick skim of the book. It had gold English cursive words that puffed up a little. I slipped my hand over the soft texture. The illustrations were captivating—something Em would have drooled over.
I glanced up at the wall and then the door. Everything seemed safe. I read a few words and skipped a couple of pages. From what I understood with a fast read, some merchant had a pretty daughter, and the girl’s mother died and left her a magic wooden doll. Throughout the girl’s life, this doll helped her with problems.
I got a Cinderella vibe from the story. There was a stepmother and stepsisters. Poor Vasilisa had to do all the household chores. The whole time, the doll helped.
But then the story went in a different direction. Vasilisa ended up living with some guy named Baba Yaga, completing tasks for him, and eventually getting to an odd happily ever after.
However, that wasn’t the part that stuck out.
Valentina—or at least I assumed it was her—had bookmarked a page. On it, Vasilisa walked through a forest and during her journey, three men rode by her on horses. White covered the first one; even his sword was ivory. The second wore red. The third one rode in all black. He had a skeleton face, and his eye sockets were empty and sunken in.
What kind of kid’s book is this?
Something or someone bumped behind my wall. I hurried, slung everything into the bag, and then slid it back under the bed. The bumping stopped.
My phone buzzed. I rose and checked the screen.
Em: Is anyone in your room?
What the hell are you up to?
I typed back.
Me: No.
