Pretty Sinner (The Oligarchs)

But it wasn’t.

I sipped my tea. “Thank you,” I said politely and smiled at Skinny Jim. “It’s good.”

He ignored me.

Cards would sit back down and return to his game, but he wouldn’t be so loud. No, he’d be quiet, contemplative, and maybe he’d lose a few hands, maybe he’d win a few, but he’d look at himself and wonder—all of this for what, for a boss that didn’t give a damn?

And that might bring him right to me.

It was a long shot, but I had nothing else.

Scott proved it was possible.

And I was willing to get another man killed if it meant breaking free of this cage.

I was a Servant, after all.

10

Kaspar

Present Day

Rome, Italy

The meeting went down in the basement beneath an old church.

There were a thousand churches in Rome, each of them more ancient than the last—according to their clergy, at least. This particular building had ties to my family going back generations, and its priest left the doors unlocked and the gates open, but he wasn’t around when my men secured the perimeter.

The room was damp but fitting. The floors were bare stone and the walls were carved from the bedrock hundreds of years ago. There were niches cut in each corner, but the skulls and bones had been pulled away, leaving only the tell-tale scratches in the brick. This place had been ransacked, probably in the Middle Ages, and anything worthwhile stripped away, leaving only dust and grime behind.

My men set up a table and lit candles. Penny stood near the back, running her fingers over the edge of a cross that must’ve been two hundred years old.

“Why are we down here?” she asked once my guards were gone, leaving us alone.

“Bernhard wanted somewhere safe. I couldn’t think of anywhere better.”

“Why not your house?”

“He wants the illusion of control. I agreed to let his men sweep this area earlier today, but I never would’ve allowed him to enter one of my homes unaccompanied.”

She shook her head, looking frustrated. “I still don’t understand what you plan on doing with Redmond.”

I grinned at her and put a finger to my lips. “Shh, little pet. We don’t talk about that. You’re liable to get us all killed.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but shut it again.

Michaels appeared a few minutes later. He stood with his back rigid, his beer belly poking out over his tight combat fatigues. He was a physical specimen back on his day, but now he looked like a linebacker gone to seed.

“Sir, the Orchard men are approaching.”

“Thank you. Bring them down.”

Michaels nodded and disappeared back outside. I wondered if I noticed a glimpse in Penny’s direction, but no, that was unlikely—he was one of my most loyal men.

Bernhard came in first, followed by two of his guards. He looked worse than I remembered, huffing and puffing, with a thin sheen of sweat. He was a heavy man and wore a wide-legged suit, years out of fashion but ludicrously expensive. His son followed, Redmond looking hale and happy, and both men nodded as their guards took up posts next to the door.

“Thank you for coming, Bernhard,” I said, greeting the Oligarch. “I see you’ve dragged your son along. Tell me, Redmond, what did your father bribe you with this time? Another car?”

Redmond laughed and waggled his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t you like to know, Kaspar, you old dog.”

I gestured for them to sit and they joined me at the table. Penny remained standing, watching with a wary glare.

Bernhard looked over at her and sighed. “So you really did it then.”

“It’ll be a profitable marriage.”

“Assuming she actually marries you,” Bernhard snapped and gestured at Penny. “Do you plan on doing what this man says, or are you going to make his life hell?”

I grinned and looked back at Penny.

“Hell,” she said.

Bernhard snorted and Redmond laughed.

I only met her eyes with a manic smile.

She looked away, unable to hold my gaze.

“Come on, Kaspar, this is insane even for you.” Old Bern leaned toward me, looking grumpy as always. “Darren’s not going to let you keep his sister, even if you do manage to drag her down the aisle and bribe a priest to make it official.”

“Darren will see the wisdom of this union eventually.”

“Darren loves his family too much,” Redmond said, slapping a hand on the table. “But he doesn’t love his family name enough.”

I nodded in agreement and resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Redmond could lay it on thick sometimes.

Old Bern grunted at his son. “What would you do, in Darren’s position, boy?”

Redmond flinched but held his father’s stare. “I’d make Kaspar pay, but I’d sanction the marriage in the end.”

“Pay how?”

“Money, territory, I don’t know. I’d think of something.”

“Good thing you don’t have a sister,” Old Bern growled.

“Enough,” I said before they turned to blows. Despite being father and son, I’d never seen Redmond and Old Bern get along for more than five seconds.