Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 124836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 624(@200wpm)___ 499(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 624(@200wpm)___ 499(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
Moni smirked. “Whatever, Banks.”
“Alright, Moni,” he called back. “I’m just trying to tell you something. You’ll need a new chef because by morning, this motherfucker will be hanging from a tree.”
Marcelo, Gunner, and Einstein followed him. The rest of the armed Rowe Street Mob guys they had brought left also.
But Dima, Rose, and that cat remained.
Moni gave me a sad smile. “I’ll go get my sisters, so we can finally get off this helipad.”
I nodded.
Dima gestured to Rose. “You should go with Moni. This will give you two a good opportunity to get closer. Maybe, even provide self-disclosure to rush along the intimacy that only two best friends can share—”
“Dima.” Rose widened her eyes. “I said that’s enough.”
Moni chuckled. “You could come along, Rose. It’s cool.”
Dima winked. “See. She wants to be your best friend.”
“Dima.”
“He’s right.” Moni nodded. “I do want to be your friend.”
Rose moved her view to Moni and gave her a silly smile. “Oh. . .well, thank you.”
Moni gestured. “Come on. We can plan our pregnancies on the walk to my sisters.”
Rose laughed and I had to admit that it was good one. A kind one. The sort of laugh I would want a friend of Moni’s to have.
The only problem was. . .I had to make sure that I could trust her.
Rose gave the leash back to Dima, right as the cat appeared to try and leap for the crows.
The women left.
Chen stepped forward and stayed on my side.
Dima got proper control of the cat, looked down and wagged his finger. “I told you to leave them alone, Barbara. They are our little guardians.”
I leaned forward. “Who are your little guardians?”
“Those two crows. They always show up on my balcony or if I’m walking her in the park.”
Chen widened his eyes. “You walk a cat in the park?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
I quirked my brows. “How do you know those are the same two crows?”
“Why wouldn’t they be?”
I didn’t know how to answer him. “Well. . .I think I see the crows all the time too.”
Dima nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Of course you do.”
I wanted to talk about that further, but. . .I didn’t have the right words. It was just feelings and complex emotions that I did not want to confess. So instead, I focused on the main problem. “You know Banks is trying to cause trouble with the Four Aces. Right?”
Dima winked. “Of course I do.”
“Then, why are you giving it any energy?”
Dima pointed to the cat. “Her name is Barbara Whiskers.”
I frowned. “We’re talking about Rowe Street Mob, not the cat.”
“Viktor helped name her.”
That made me freeze.
My father had killed Viktor in Dima’s pursuit of finding out the truth and. . .I knew that Viktor’s death had torn a massive hole into Dima’s heart—one that he might never truly recover from.
Damn it, father.
Dima didn’t look my way. “When I go to Viktor’s grave, I bring Barbara with me and. . .”
I gazed at the two crows.
They chose that moment to fly away. As they took flight, those jet-black wings beat gracefully against the sky and part of me wanted to soar with them.
Dima lowered his voice. “I tell Viktor about my day and Barbara sniffs around his grave like she can hear him laughing or. . .talking back to me.”
My heart ached some more.
Dima lifted his view to me, and there was this deep sadness in his eyes along with pure rage—a rage I knew that he had difficulty keeping in. “Today, I watched Viktor’s killer have a cup of tea on my television screen.”
I put my gaze back on the sky but no longer saw those crows. “I am handling it.”
“When?”
“The battle with my father is tomorrow.”
“His death is overdue.”
“It is.”
“Additional people died in Glory. You think I didn’t know?”
“I figured you would find out.”
“You should have told me.”
“I was busy—”
“Falling in love—”
“Figuring my shit out—”
“And did you figure it out, Lei?”
“I believe so.”
“I gave you full reign to handle your father. You said, ‘the East handles business of the East.’”
I pursed my lips.
A deadly edge coated his next words. “Then, fucking handle it.”
“Tomorrow night, my father will be dead.”
“And if he isn’t?”
I looked at him. “Then, I will be the dead one.”
Dima’s angry expression cracked. “I don’t like those odds. I’ve lost enough people that I love. You cannot die.”
“The odds of my dying is low but if I do, then Marcelo, Kashmere and all of the might of the Syndicate can unite and kill him.”
Dima didn’t even blink. “I do not want you to die.”
“But if I do die, then it is your turn to try to kill him and. . .” Sighing, I looked forward watching Moni, Rose, and her sisters heading back over to us. “And. . .then make sure my Mountain Mistress and her sisters are protected. Truly be her advisor and watch out for them.”