Dirty Minds: An Interracial Russian Mafia Romance

My heart warmed.

I considered the other things Baba had said.

Still unsure of Baba’s statements, I pushed more. “My mouse will be back to me?”

“This evening. I see you two on a plane.”

“And the Corsican?”

“Sleeping safely in their bed.”

“I won’t kill them tonight?”

“You’ll try, but you can’t. They’re linked to you.”

“No. They’ll die tonight.”

Baba saw Jean-Pierre alive this evening. That would be the one fate, I would try to change. Fortune tellers spoke the truth of what they witnessed in that moment. But all knew, that anyone could shift their destiny to another path.

Baba had pulled the first card. “Death. Not surprised that it would be your first one. In the dream, there was blood on your paws and on the mouse’s fur. Lots of blood.”

Pressure had built in my chest. “But was it our deaths?”

“You don’t care about anyone else?”

“No.”

“You should, but this is something different.” She had tapped the card. “Something else must die, when your mouse comes to you.”

“What does that mean?”

“You must let something go. Let it die. I don’t know what, but let’s see.” She’d pulled out another card. A clown sat on the edge of a cliff and grinned at the sun. “The Fool.”

Those cards spun in my head. My heart hammered in my chest. We both had been through a lot in these past hours. Of all the years, I have fought for my rein. Decades of battle and poverty. I’d lost relatives and friends. My mother’s death had torn me apart. Uncle Igor had mended me. Now he was gone too, and my only hope to happiness had taken by the French.

If Baba wanted me to forgive the Corsican, then she would be disappointed. For the rest of my life, I would spend my days getting rid of them. And not just Jean-Pierre and his three idiot cousins. All the Corsican would have to die. Every last little soldier.

The world needed to understand what would come, if they grabbed my mouse.

There will be no letting it go.

Disrupting me from my thoughts, Pavel walked over to the front aisle, sat down next to me, and whispered, “I got another phone call, they reported that Jean-Pierre is with only two of his cousins. Louis and Rafael.”

I frowned. “I wanted to kill all four today.”

Pavel widened his eyes.

“The Butler isn’t with them?”

“No.”

“We’ll get him later.”

Pavel cleared his throat. “There’s a black woman with them. Our men think it’s Emily, but that’s only because our people don’t know she escaped. No one got a good look at the woman’s face.”

How are you going to do an exchange, if you don’t have Emily? Interesting.

Pavel left us.

Out of the shadows, Maxwell walked over to us. He had been far on the other end of the aisle. He held a gun in each hand and sat down on my right. “What’s the update from Pavel?”

“Jean-Pierre is here with his two cousins and a black woman.”

“But, not Emily?”

“It shouldn’t be.”

“And if it is?”

“Then, we’re fucked. We get her and kill them. Same plan as always.”

“Hopefully, Emily didn’t get caught again.”

I gritted my teeth. “Hopefully.”

Only Emily could have me on edge like this. She was a force to be reckoned with. There would be no taming her. No trapping or caging. My mouse would do what she wanted no matter how many men, or guns surrounded her.

As if Maxwell heard me, he shook his head. “Naw. No way they caught her again.”

And then his phone rang. Maxwell took it out and put the phone next to his ear.

“Yes?” He widened his eyes. A smile spread across his face. “Fuck. You’re here, Em? Where?”

I grabbed the phone. “Where are you?”

“I don’t know. I’m at the park on top of the mall.”

“I’m coming.”

“No!” she yelled into the phone. “This is why I called Maxwell. Kaz, you can’t come.”

“Why not?”

“I want this settled with Jean-Pierre. We do the exchange—”

“No. We kill him.”

“If we can.”

“We can, mysh.”

“Kaz, we don’t have the people—”

Anger blazed through me. “We will have them.”

“Jean-Pierre called the president and stopped those three planes from landing.”

My breath caught in my throat.

She continued, “And that’s from the one phone conversations I was able to overhear. God only knows what else Jean-Pierre could be doing or stopping. Let’s get him his girlfriend and leave.”

I couldn’t keep the edge out of my voice. “Where are you?”

“I’m here. Send Max with some guns. . .please.”

“You think I’m going to let you get involved enough where you’ll need a gun?”

“We don’t have time to debate this. If we’ve learned anything, give me a goddamn gun and stop trying to protect me.”

I grinned. “I’ve missed you.”

Her voice softened. “I’ve missed you too, baby.”

I licked my lips, hungry for her, craving her touch and more of that voice .

“Send Max so we can finish this.”

“I will.” My heart hammered in my chest. “Be careful. Goddamn it.”