“None of your business,” I teased.
Kaz had me at the top of the stairs in no time. “You’re lucky I didn’t have this gown off earlier. I wanted to tear it apart.”
I kissed his cheek as he carried me to our bedroom. “I would love to have you tear this off.”
“Oh, mysh.” He kissed me and somehow got us to the door and opened it. Such a multitasker. I could barely keep up with him.
He closed the door and lowered me so I could stand. The lights were off. There was no need to turn them on. Faint moonlight glowed lines through the window, giving us enough of a view. The rest of the space was covered in silhouettes and shadows.
I inched away as he tried to grab me, loving to tease him. “Teach me some fenya words.”
“Come here.”
“I won’t.” I edged back.
He charged for me.
I shrieked as we landed on the bed and was close to laughing until something sticky and wet smeared along my back and arms.
What’s this?
I sniffed.
Blood? No.
More of the warm liquid coated my back and some seeped through the gown, wetting my bottom. Blood or not, the bed was soaked with it.
Kazimir must’ve noticed too. He cursed and moved away from the bed. I hurried up, scared of what we would see.
“Emily—”
“I’m fine.”
He turned on the light, and we directed our attention to the bed.
What the fuck?
On the bed, several cut-off monkey heads lay in a pattern, forming a word. There must’ve been twenty tiny heads. Blood pooled around each one.
I walked over to it.
“No, stay behind me.”
“There’s nothing to get me. They’re already dead.” I tried to make out the word, but they were definitely Russian letters. “What does it say?”
“It’s ‘welcome.’”
“In Russian?”
“In fenya.”
I let out a long breath. “Well…at least I learned my first word.”
Kazimir said nothing. Anger radiated from his frame. I scanned the rest of the room. Nothing else had been touched.
“So…” I swallowed the anger beginning to rise in me. “In America, a monkey tends to be what a racist person would call a black person.”
Kazimir fisted his hands.
I wiped some of the blood away with my gown. “What about in Moscow?”
“Whoever did this will die.”
“Do you have idea who it could be?”
“No, but they better run.” He stormed off and called his guards. “Get someone to pull fingerprints!”
His guards rushed in. Shock hit their faces. One guard had even pulled out his gun and scanned the room.
Kazimir paced around the bed, yelling out orders. “Check the footage for the room, hallway, and anything else! I want to know who did this and who helped! I want to know everything, the type of monkeys and the knife used to cut their heads off!”
All I could do was stare at that bed and count each head.
I was right. Twenty.
Someone took the time to cut the heads off twenty monkeys. How did they transport them to the house without causing a smell? Where did all the blood come from on the bed? If he’d cut them far away, there should’ve been less blood. Did they cut them in our bedroom?
I studied the floor.
No. Not a drop. They must’ve had containers of blood and spilled it on the bed.
The person could’ve simply sent a racist card, but he wanted me to know how hard he would go with his message. He’d cut off monkey heads and put them right on the bed where Kazimir lay. One thing I knew, this man was fearless and suicidal.
Kazimir walked over to me and pulled me into his arms. “I’m so sorry, mysh.”
“This isn’t your fault.”
“But I’ll take care of it.”
I pulled back from him and pierced him with my gaze. “No. Trust me, I’ll take care of this.”
“You would have to beat me to him.”
“Then it’ll be a fun race.”
Kazimir glared back at the bed. “No, mysh, there won’t be anything fun about this.”
A sigh escaped me as I got back into his hold and leaned my head against his chest. By now, several guards had entered the room, taking pictures and making calls. Someone had wanted to deliver a message to Kazimir and me.
What are you saying? I’m a monkey? Soon to be a dead one?
For the first time since arriving in Moscow, I wished Maxwell was there. These next days would be nerve-wracking. All the Bratva’s top officials were here, and now we had some psycho cutting off monkey heads and doing ballsy moves by placing them on our bed.
Kazimir’s mansion was a giant fortress. This had to be an inside job, involving several people. How could anyone have gone through the gates, security, and cameras without people noticing? No one was getting in or out of Kaz’s house without over twenty people spotting.
Fuck all those who were in on this.
I fisted my now bloody hands.