Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 148949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
Someone knocked on the door.
I looked that way. “Yes?”
“It’s Baba.”
I smiled. “Come in.”
The door opened.
Baba stepped through. “There is my little guy.”
Emilio began squirming in my arms. Surely, he had heard Baba’s voice.
I gazed behind her. “Where’s Paolo?”
“Taking a nap. His men are watching him.” Baba came over to me and began gathering Emilio. “Come my little one. Your mother has to talk to the Lion, so I am going to spend some time with you. Where do you want to go? Do you want to see Baba’s candles and books? You like that.”
I blinked. “What did you say about the Lion?”
Baba rocked Emilio in her arms. “Kazimir asked me to send you a message.”
“What’s the message?”
“He wants to talk to you in the cells.”
My stomach twisted. “Why?”
“I do not know, Emily.” Baba kissed Emilio’s forehead. “When I am surrounded by so much cuteness, my mind goes blank.”
I hope he doesn’t want to argue about the cell again. I will not back down on this.
I let out a long breath. “Alright, but I will be back to grab him.”
“Take your time, Emily.”
I gazed at my cutie and then looked up to Baba. “Blue thinks I should not get a wet nurse. What are your thoughts?”
Baba curved her lips into a devilish smile as if knowing a huge secret. “The wet nurse must be hired.”
Blue crossed her arms over her chest. “Why?”
“Destiny.” Baba headed away, cradling Emilio in her arms and leaving us to ponder the cryptic message she left us with.
What the fuck does that mean?
Blue shook her head. “Then, I will have all wet nurse applicants here tomorrow morning.”
“Make it the afternoon. Starting tomorrow, I’m back in the gym.” I headed off.
What does Kaz want to talk about?
We left the room and walked down the hallway.
I checked Blue. “How are you doing on finding out the identity of Paolo’s monster? Did the brown-haired chick say more?”
“Her name is Yulia. She doesn’t know his name or what he looks like, but she has met with him five different times before being placed here to work for you.”
“She met with him, but doesn’t know what he looks like?”
“Apparently, he always wears a mask and uses some odd voice equipment.”
“Where would she meet him?”
“She doesn’t know how to get there.”
I frowned. “Excuse me?”
“She said that for many years, she used to do bad things for bad people. One of those things included getting close to particular male targets, forming an intimate relationship, and then killing them right when they were having sex.”
We made it to the stairs and headed down.
“So, she was some sort of hired assassin?”
“Yes. She also said that many of the people she worked for aren’t even alive anymore.”
She probably killed many of them.
“How many of her old employers are still alive?” I asked.
“We have a list of only four people who knew Yulia’s past. By this time, she had retired, dyed her hair, hid under a new name, and became a quiet housewife to a nice dentist.”
“But, her sister was in jail.”
Blue nodded. “And Yulia always visited her sister.”
“Did her sister do assassin jobs too?”
“Yes.”
“So, someone wanted women who were already skilled in efficiently killing people and keeping it quiet.”
“I think so. After one of Yulia’s visits to see her sister in jail, she headed to her car. Before she could get her keys into the door, someone knocked her out from behind and brought her to an empty bar.”
“A bar?”
“Well, with the way she described this place, it makes me think that it was more of a kabak.”
“What’s that?”
“A kabak is a traditional Russian tavern.”
“Okay.”
“Yulia said that the place had a wooden interior, dim lighting, and cozy atmosphere. An older woman was the server and brought over a glass of vodka and a bowl of borscht.”
“You think she could recognize the waitress again, if she saw her?”
“Giorgio asked that question, and she said yes. Yulia has seen this woman each time she has met with this person.”
We got to the bottom of the stairs.
“Okay.” I took the lead. “Yulia gets kidnapped after seeing her sister in jail. Next, she wakes up in this empty bar with a woman serving food and a person across from her wearing a mask and using a voice device?”
“Correct.”
“But, we think that the person who is behind the mask is probably either one of the four people who knew Yulia was a good assassin?”
“Or that person recommended her to them.”
“This is good.”
“I thought so.” Blue nodded. “David has an odd plan that we will be running by Kazimir and you.”
“What plan?”
“Everyone in yesterday’s meeting knew that we stopped the two female spies. And we assume that all of those in attendance can be trusted.”
“I hope so.”
“After you all fly out tomorrow night. We want to tell the Brotherhood that you’re leaving because someone attacked Paolo and the Lion didn’t think it was safe for his family to be in Moscow.”