20. Aeris
Aeris
This was fine. I was completely in control.
“Interesno, khorosha li ona na kolenyakh,” one of the Bratva men said, his eyes crawling over my skin.
I didn’t react when he licked his lips suggestively, refusing to feed the already razor-thin tension crackling between everyone.
Especially considering one crime lord was accusing the other of stealing.
Oops.
But at least it had given me another hour to convince them. Risking a war was better for me than the alternative, a bullet in my head.
A sharp whistle drew my attention to the side and away from the line of Russians, only for a phone to be pushed into my face.
If it wouldn’t escalate things, I’d give you my knife so I can watch you carve that fucker up, the text on the screen said.
I re-read it a few times before I looked up, only to find Langdon wiggling his eyebrows with a grin.
“I prefer poison.”
Langdon’s smile widened as he typed out another message.
“Well, if it isn’t my favourite mute.” A man appeared from behind the row of men, his white shirt rolled up to his elbows, the first few buttons undone to reveal a Kraken tattoo covering his chest. “And you must be the Mistress of Whispers. The rumours were right,” he said as he stopped beside us, his grin even wider than Langdon’s had been. “You really are beautiful.”
“And you are?” I asked, though I already knew the answer. James was my contact, the man who quietly obtained my TTX, although he never knew it was for me.
James was dangerously handsome, the kind of beautiful that made people forget he was lethal.
Long, dark hair was tied back with a thin leather cord, a few strands framing sharp cheekbones and a perfectly sculpted jaw.
A single gold ring pierced through his nostril, matching the many rings that adorned his large hands.
He was a man who could smuggle pretty much anything into the country … or out of it. He alone controlled the water and every ship that crossed it, and was exactly the kind of man who could get a girl what she needed for the right price.
“Name’s James, but most people just call me Hook.” He winked, holding out his hand towards me. Only for Langdon to smack it away. He began to sign and then let out a strange scratchy sound before reverting back to his phone.
No touching.
Hook clicked his tongue, a lazy smirk pulling at his lips. “But what if I want to?” he chuckled but didn’t attempt to reach for me again.
“I’ve been told not to talk to anyone,” I said, keeping my voice steady even as Langdon shifted closer, his shoulder brushing mine in silent warning. For a man who couldn’t speak, his body language screamed loud enough.
Hook’s smirk deepened, lazy and filthy. “Love, if all you want is to take orders, I’m available.”
Before I could respond, Langdon stepped between us, his large frame cutting Hook off. His hands rose into the narrow space between their chests, fingers flexing like he was debating whether to shove or grab. But Hook was just a fraction taller, broader compared to Langdon’s athletic physique.
Why were all these men built like walls?
“Sorry, can’t hear you,” Hook said, his voice low and mocking, though his eyes stayed glued to Langdon’s hands, tracking every movement with obvious interest. “Have you tried just talking louder?”
Langdon stiffened, then quickly typed something on his phone.
Hook leaned in closer, their bodies nearly brushing. “So, you’re into the bossy, silent type?” he asked, and it took me a moment to realise the question was for me. “Or is he keeping you here against your will, pretty girl?”
Langdon stopped typing just long enough to flip him the middle finger.
Hook barked out a laugh, rich and dark.
“Does it matter?” I said.
“Probably not,” he said just as Langdon shoved the phone screen directly into Hook’s face.
His eyes flicked over the text, then darkened with warning. “You’ll do what to my sister?”
Langdon smirked, his hands moving quickly in what I could only guess were obscenities.
A prickle at the back of my neck, and I didn’t need to turn to know it was Caden. He stalked towards us with Sebastian at his side, his gaze locked on mine. Hostility rolled off him in icy waves, yet his expression remained perfectly cool. Composed.
“Is Sasha ready for us?” Caden asked, a muscle ticking sharply in his jaw.
“If he hasn’t destroyed my fucking restaurant, then yes,” Hook replied, the mocking lilt fading from his voice even as the smirk lingered. “Isn’t your birthday coming up, mate? I see the party invite was lost in the mail again, yeah?”
Caden pursed his lips but didn’t react as Hook chuckled. With a quick wink at me, he turned on his heel and headed towards the restaurant that had been built at the end of a short pier. Langdon and Sebastian fell in behind him, leaving me alone with Caden.
The salty wind whipped across the dock, tugging at my hair and sending a shiver racing down my spine.
“So, your birthday’s coming up?” I asked, trying to keep a somewhat civil relationship.
Caden’s eyes narrowed, but his expression remained eerily calm. He stepped closer, voice dropping into a low, throaty growl. “Do you remember what I said?”
“For me to behave.” My smile felt brittle. Behind me, the low chuckles of the Russian men drifted on the wind. “You better go,” I added quietly. “You don’t want to risk your alliance.”
His head dipped until his breath brushed my ear, dark and intimate. “Don’t talk to anyone. I can’t trust that poisonous tongue of yours.”
I swallowed, pulse hammering. “Don’t worry,” I whispered, forcing lightness into my tone. “Many men love what my tongue can do.”
Caden
This was a total clusterfuck.
I shouldn’t have been surprised that Aeris had a backup plan, but how the fuck had she managed to pull this off?
“Now, you boys are going to play nice,” Hook said, sweeping his ring-covered hand out across the heavy table. “No guns, knives, or other sharp, pointy items that could cause grievous bodily harm. We are gentlemen, not barbarians.”
“Gentlemen?” Sasha scoffed, his Russian accent thick. “We had an agreement, which Sebastian broke when he stole from me.” He sat on the opposite end of the table beside his son, Roman, and Ryder-fucking-Finn.
Ryder was a moral-less thief that Sebastian had hired once to retrieve something from his past, before the cunt went rogue and kidnapped Ara. The only reason Bas hadn’t stuck him six feet under was because he helped get his wife back, and then he disappeared like the coward he was.
I’d heard he was back in the city, but I hadn’t realised he was tight with the Russian Bratva.
Ryder met my gaze with one vivid eye, the other washed over with white. He winked, slow and deliberate, a cocky smirk tugging at his mouth. He’d been blinded, probably his past catching up with him and all that. It actually made me feel better, because clearly I was a sick fuck.
“We didn’t steal,” Sebastian said calmly. “I have zero interest in the arms trade.”
“Fucking nonsense,” Sasha spat in Russian, unaware I spoke the language fluently. “You sit there and lie to my face?” he continued, reverting back to English.
“Do we look like mugs?” I asked, widening my stance behind Sebastian while Langdon leaned against the wall to our side.
We had deliberately left all the men outside, considering the last thing we needed was bloodshed.
Sasha was notoriously reactive, but even he didn’t want to burn this bridge.
Not when we were one of his strongest allies. “We’ve never lied to you.”
“So, this is what?” Sasha muttered, his voice dropping into a dangerous growl. “A fucking error?” With a muttered curse he threw a newspaper across the table towards Sebastian, who didn’t bother glancing down.
There wasn’t much point, considering he had severe dyslexia.
“Dumb fuck still needs it read to him,” Sasha sniggered.
I didn’t react, keeping myself composed.
Sebastian’s dyslexia wasn’t a secret, nor was it something we’d ever considered a weakness.
It was simply the way his brain worked, something he’d been born with and spent his entire life adapting around.
And clearly, he’d adapted just fine. Dyslexia hadn’t stopped him from becoming the head of one of the most powerful and brutal drug empires on the fucking continent.
It hadn’t stopped people from fearing him.
If anything, it had forced him to become better in every other way—sharper, more observant, more ruthless—which Sasha knew.
He was just being a cunt.
“We’ve come into some information,” I said, trying to calm the situation as I ignored the newspaper which Sasha only used to make his dick feel bigger.
Our alliance had always been fragile, built on mutual caution and calculated respect rather than trust, and right now it felt one wrong breath away from shattering. Especially with a certain fucking siren pouring poison into every crack.
“The Mistress of Whispers was outside,” Ryder said in broken Russian, leaning towards Sasha. “She came with them.”
Sasha’s lip curled. “What’s that whore doing here? She’s only good on her back.”
I forced my jaw to relax, swallowing the sharp retort burning on my tongue.
“What’s the information?” Roman asked, his eyes as cold as my own when I met them. “Because right now, it seems that you’ve been caught stealing something that doesn’t belong to you.” His accent was subtle compared to his father’s, but he was no less dangerous.
“Our intel suggests someone intentionally moved your weapons into our container,” Sebastian replied smoothly. “Someone who wants to spark a war between us.”
“How much do we trust this?” Sasha asked in Russian, clearly wanting a private conversation in a room full of ears.
Roman stared at Sebastian, his expression callous. Almost bored. “How reliable is this information?”
“Reliable enough,” I answered. “There’s a third party looking to make a name for themselves, pitting us against each other while they watch in the shadows.”
“This all from your informant?” Sasha asked with a sneer. “You’re asking us to trust your word and that of a known manipulator.”
“You really want to risk our alliance over this?” Sebastian asked, his voice dangerously calm.
Sasha’s eyes narrowed to slits. He rose slowly from his chair, posture rigid with barely contained fury. “You’re asking too much, Beast. The only reason you’re not dead already is because we have history. If I find out you had anything to do with this, I’ll kill you myself.”
He turned towards the door without another word, confident we wouldn’t shoot him in the back, and Ryder fell in step behind him. As he passed, he subtly lifted his middle finger, the one with the snake-tongue tattoo, and scratched at his nose with it while flashing me a mocking grin.
Cunt.
Roman paused at the threshold, locking eyes with me one final time. “Pakhan’s growing more volatile, I’d be careful if I were you,” he said in Russian, looking for a reaction. When I didn’t give him one, he smirked, reverting once more back to English. “Thank you for meeting us.”
“There’s a rat in your organisation,” I said quietly, wanting to secure a relationship.
As the Pakhan’s son, he was most likely the future of the Bratva if he wasn’t taken out before he could take reign, which made him valuable.
Luckily for me, he was far less impulsive than his father, probably because he was rumoured to be on the anti-social spectrum. “I suggest you find them.”
Roman studied me for a beat, then gave a single, measured nod. Without another word, he turned and followed the others out.
Hook let out a low whistle. “Wow, I genuinely thought that was it for you guys. I wrote a eulogy and everything.”
“Can I kill him?” Langdon signed, and Sebastian shook his head.
“What did you want to do with Aeris?” he asked me in French.
“Really guys?” Hook groaned. “Cutting me out of the conversation like that? Speak English, arseholes.”
I ignored him. “We can’t kill her.” We couldn’t even hurt her, even though she’d pissed me off. She knew exactly what she was doing, putting herself in a position that protected her.
“Jesus Christ,” Hook muttered. “I bet you’re just discussing what to do with your new toy.”
“No. We can’t kill her,” Sebastian growled, rising to his feet. “Yet, at least.”
“She’s mine,” I replied, voice flat.
Sebastian’s dark-blue eyes met mine briefly. “She’s yours,” he agreed. “Do what you have to do, but she stays tracked at all times. When you’re not with her, she gets a shadow. I don’t want her slipping away, or anyone else getting their hands on her.”