9. Yana
Fyodor’s Rules #16 - Know the art of negotiation. And know when to take what you want.
It was the day before the ball, and I was out on the prowl. I had read over the dossiers on each of my former brothers until it felt like the information was seared into my brain. Every piece of information Fyodor had gathered was a part of me now. But it wasn’t enough, I underestimated these men once before, and I would not do so again.
Fyodor had insisted that I did not leave the house, but I couldn’t stay cooped up any longer. In this case, he was being too cautious. Sure, I had left Irish territory, but how else was I to get fresh information. A peek inside their territory would give me an insight that couldn’t come from pieces of paper or surveillance photographs.
I could see their hotel ahead of me, but even I wasn’t daring—or stupid—enough to go inside. With a hat hiding my face from the many surveillance cameras, I was fairly safe, but it wasn’t worth the risk. I was unsure if my dyed hair alone would be enough to fool them if we got closer. Besides, I didn’t need to get inside to know what was going on, I just needed to wait. If I was being honest with myself, this was risky; a bigger one than I should be taking. When I was safe in the house, I might have been able to convince myself that I wouldn’t run into them out on the street, but this wasn’t just any street. This was their street, their hotel, their territory. But no reward worth having, came without a little risk.
Hospitality was fairly predictable the world over, especially when it came to shift times. It was early in the day, and most people were on their way to work, coffee in hand, already dreading their day full of meetings. They ignored me, focused solely on where they were going. I got a few glares as people almost bumped into me, but it was easy enough to move against a wall, out of the flow of pedestrians.
I watched as a stream of people left the hotel. Most of the staff left from the back alley, but they weren’t the ones I was after. Sure, kitchen staff and cleaners had their uses, they knew all kinds of things that went on. But it was the security staff who knew all the best secrets; the places inside that they didn’t patrol, the moods of the bosses, and the procedure when there were fights or if people needed to be removed. I watched as three large men in black suits stood around, smoking and talking to each other.
This part always required patience.
Finally, they finished, and two of them headed into the carpark. I ignored them, as there was too much chance of getting discovered or recorded there, people were more protective of their cars than they were of most of their other possessions. It was the third man I followed, and he was headed toward a bus stop, which was perfect. People always avoided eye contact on the bus.
I kept out of sight of the hotel as I followed him, and prepared to wait a while, bus schedules being what they are. Luckily, that wasn’t the case. The bus soon came, and my mark stepped on. I followed, taking the seat directly behind him. Sitting next to him would draw too much attention, and I only needed him to be able to hear me.
The bus was crowded, with kids headed to school and adults on their way to work or university. All of them mingled with tired night shift workers on their way home. Most of the people on the bus were absorbed in their phones, but some of the school kids were talking loudly to each other. It generated enough noise to cover my words when I leaned forward and spoke, the magical tone my voice had taken on hidden from anyone around. Anyone other than the man I was speaking to.
“Now that you’re sitting here on this bus, you’re not as tired as you thought. It’s been a while since you had a nice breakfast that you didn’t need to cook, isn’t it?” It was always easier to plant suggestions than it was to give orders. Let people think they were making up their own minds, and you could convince them to do just about anything. He started looking out the window, eyes searching.
“There is that new café down by the park. Some time to yourself might be useful. You could properly decompress from work, and spend some time thinking through everything,” I continued, as I needed some time to talk to him. Public spaces were easier, no need to risk his house being under surveillance.
When he got up, I followed suit. There were a couple of other people getting off the bus as well, and it was easy to slip between them. I let people fill the gap between us as we walked, not wanting him to feel like he was being stalked or followed. I didn’t want him looking over his shoulder and drawing attention, or worse, trying to buck off the mental suggestions that I had implanted.
The café was ahead, and I had scoped it out ahead of time. It was busy enough that we could have a conversation in peace, the general hum making it hard to pick out what any one person was saying. But it wasn’t so busy that he wouldn’t be able to get a table. There was a bit of distance between the tables too, enough for the servers to move around easily, which also played in my favor.
I waited for him to be seated before I slipped into the café, as this would go easier if he was already sitting down. The server had just given him a menu and left before I took the seat across the table. The confusion on his face wasn’t unexpected, I was a stranger, after all.
“Thanks for grabbing us a table, I didn’t think I was going to make it in time.” His confusion was getting deeper, and I needed to act quickly before he questioned things, or even worse, made a scene. “I was worried you were going to forget that we were meeting for breakfast this morning. I know your job has been so stressful lately. We haven’t had time to go on our date. Breakfast was such a good idea.” I could see the commands take hold and he relaxed, even releasing a little smile.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been on a date. And I like breakfast. You said you like breakfast?” He looked at me like he was seeking confirmation.
I nodded, smiling at the relief that washed through him. My control was sinking deeper, which would make what I needed to do much easier. I just needed to keep working it deeper and deeper until there was no hope of him bucking me out of his mind.
“Why don’t we get some food before we get into things? I am sure, working overnight, you’re probably starving. And some coffee wouldn’t go astray either?” I took a quick look at the menu. Though I already knew what I wanted, I needed to keep up the act. It was important that he stayed as immersed as possible. Coffee was only going to make everything easier.
“It will be nice to actually eat proper food, rather than just crashing into bed like I normally do. It’s the downside of shift work. Things are quiet, but it plays hell on my schedule. Who wants to cook dinner at 8am in the morning?” he said.
I smiled sympathetically, as being a night owl myself, I did actually understand. I hadn’t been lying when I said I liked breakfast. Add eggs or some syrup, and anything could become a breakfast food. It was one of those rare genuine delights in the world.
The server either realized we were ready to order, or maybe she was just doing her round of the tables. Both of us ordered our own food, pancakes and coffee for me, and a full breakfast for him. That was for the best, eating so much food after working an overnight shift and he was going to be struggling not to nod off by the end of our “date”.
I loved it when a plan came together.
“I hope you didn’t have too bad a night. Working in security for a hotel must be kind of a bore in the middle of the week?”
The key was keeping my questions open but as conversational as I could, while still moving him along the track of the information I wanted to know. This was all a delicate dance, but luckily, I had been doing these steps for a long time. I knew them down to my bones.
“It’s pretty interesting, especially when the Bone Keeper is on one of his rampages. I think he dragged like four people kicking and screaming back to his basement last night.” He looked surprised to have revealed that, and I knew I needed to keep the conversation going, keeping him distracted from thinking about why he was trusting me with so much information. We also needed to move this conversation somewhere private, now, I didn’t want someone calling the police. This was always a risk when getting information from people, but no plan survived contact with the enemy.
“You know, I’ve been thinking, we’ve been on a few dates now, and I always have such a good time with you. You make me feel so safe and cared for. Why don’t you come over to my place after breakfast? Maybe I can make you lunch later.” I added a soft, shy smile. The kind of smile that made men smile back, that they imagined running the tip of their cock against, before they shove it in your mouth.
So fucking predictable, yet also exactly the distraction I needed.
“Yeah? You’re ready for that step? I don’t want to rush things.” The fact he’d been spilling secrets to me just moments ago was now clearly forgotten at the prospect of getting laid. I wanted to say that this wasn’t the secret to getting most of the information I’d gotten from men, but it often worked better than torture.
I gave another nod and a shy smile, looking up at him through my lashes. “We could even skip breakfast if you wanted too . . .”
The words were barely out of my mouth before he had thrown some notes down on the table and stood up, reaching for my hand. Sure, I had laid some of my siren song into the suggestion, but less than I thought I would need. The man must have been harder up than I thought.
We were in the back of a cab within minutes, my legs sprawled over his lap as he trailed kisses down my neck. I could see that the cab driver looked at us in his rear-view mirror with interest. This wouldn’t have been the first time he’d had people practically fucking in the back of his car. At least my clothes were still on, and I didn’t begrudge him the show.
We spilled onto the sidewalk outside the house where Fyodor and I were staying. The security guard’s hands were trying to get under my shirt, but he was having trouble pulling it from my skirt. The poor thing mustn’t have been used to well-dressed women, and it only took a moment to deflect his hands with the promise that we would be inside soon. He took commands like such a good boy, which was fortunate as it meant I could make use of him for longer.
Getting us inside was easy, even with him kissing my neck as I unlocked the door, and once we were inside, I didn’t need to keep pretending. We weren’t in public. If I pushed him too far and he had a fit or bled from the ears or eyes, it would be simple enough to put a bullet through his brain.
“Sit down.” There was no flirting in my tone anymore, playtime was over. Every word from my lips dripped with power, and he was helpless to do anything but what he was told.
As I followed him into the living room where he had sat on the couch, I could see the fear creeping into his expression, but I didn’t let it bother me. He wouldn’t be scared for long. Soon he would be so wrapped in my power that merely being in my presence would be enough to bring him joy.
“I am going to ask you some questions, and you are going to be honest with me. The more you tell me, the more you are going to trust me. Why else would you open up to me like this? If you try to lie to me, it’s going to cause you pain. Please, I don’t want to see you hurting. I want us to work together, I want to keep you with me. Please, just help me.” There wasn’t any pleading in my tone, I had this script memorized and performed it by rote. If he tried to fight the commands, my siren song, then what happened was his own fault.
Better men than him had failed, and I didn’t mourn them either.
“You said that the Bone Keeper was on a rampage today. Which one of the brothers is that?” I knew the answer to the question, but it was a good point to start. It had been in the dossiers. A new nickname, but one that suited him. And one that I was sure he relished.
“Alexei, he tortures people. They pretend to hide it from us, but we all know what goes on in the basement.” He was already offering me more information than what I asked for, and that was good. Conversational was the best way to keep things, as it would let the conditioning sink deeper and make it harder to resist.
“Do you know why he was on a rampage today?” I had my notebook out now, pen scratching away, although I wasn’t looking at the paper. I wanted to keep the information as fresh as possible. It was better than relying on memory, where the answers could melt together.
“He was muttering to himself the last time he came up in the elevator. He does that sometimes, or maybe he talks to people who aren’t there. I don’t know, either way the man is fucking insane. I try to stay out of his way, especially when he’s in a mood like this.”
Smart, it was probably what had kept him in his job so long. Maybe if he was lucky, he would have a job to go back to after all this, it wouldn’t be under my brothers, but I’m sure running a hotel had its charms. Maybe I could use it as my new base of operations, now wouldn’t that be poetic. I didn’t ask anything else, instead I waited for him to give me more information.
“There have been attacks, and he was talking about rats. I ain’t a fucking rat though, I wouldn’t sell them out. He was also talking about bikers and a crack house. Alexei was mad at Lukas. But Lukas wasn’t there, he’d taken off on one of the bikes. He’s usually gone for the day when he does that.”
I could just imagine my brothers stomping around each other grumbling, Alexei swiping at people with his knife just to see if he could make them bleed. It was hard to keep the images out of my head, even though I tried. Being here, so close to them, was dragging up memories I had buried a decade ago.
Clearly not deeply enough.
“Tell me what you know about the other brothers and what they have been up to.” His hands clenched on his thighs, like he wanted to fight me. I saw the moment the pain hit, his teeth gritted, and the muscles in his neck strained. I didn’t move to help him, nor did I lift the command. He needed to learn that resisting me was pointless. And some lessons were only learned with pain. Self-preservation won out, or maybe he just had a low pain tolerance. Either way, I was just glad he gave in before the screaming or vomiting started, I wasn’t in the mood for cleaning that sort of shit up today.
“Pasha is always coming and going. Rarely alone. That man gets more pussy and ass than anyone I’ve ever met, and he’s shameless about it. I think it’s the reason most people come to the bar. You know, trying to catch his eye, or his dick. I swear he gives it out more freely than he gives out his number.”
None of that was surprising, Pasha always had been a flirt, even when we were children. No one was immune to it, and we’d all lost our virginities to him, or he had at least been involved. He liked to instigate and didn’t mind sharing, or he hadn’t ten years ago. I wasn’t sure if I was happy or not that he hadn’t changed.
“And what about Nikolai?”
There was a sharp intake of breath as I asked that question, and he shook his head sharply. “Alexei is deranged, a savage, but the Boss. He’s a monster in an expensive suit.”
Memories were flashing more quickly now, even though I was trying to resist them. Whispered words in the dark. A red eye glowing in the moonlight. Promises that should have lasted forever but had lain shattered on the floor.
“You’re doing very well, pet, you’re very useful. Why don’t you relax? I will not kill you.” I watched as the command made not only his body relax, but I could see some of the mental weight lift, too. “Your work isn’t done, though. I want to know everything about the other security guards. Also, add in any information you have about the floors the men live on?” There was more information I needed, but this was a good place to start. I needed every piece of ammunition I could get my hands on before the ball.