I waited for his response.
“It’s because I’ve had time to measure the soul of my employer,” Hiro said. “I won’t kill him myself. Business is never good when word gets out that we will kill our employers. However. . .”
“If the employer happens to die, then it has nothing to do with you.”
“Nice guns.” Hiro winked at Maxwell and turned around. In unison, the rest of the Xecutioners did the same. Soon, they walked off without a goodbye.
Maxwell put his two guns up and snarled. “I really hate getting punked by a bunch of dudes that look like they could be in a K-pop band.”
Naveen shook his head. “Hiro is Japanese.”
“Doesn’t matter. A lot of those K-pop bands have members from different countries. They’re not all Korean.”
Naveen quirked his brows. “Why do you know this?”
“Some of the female ones are hot. I had a Korean gun dealer in Long Island New York. He loves that shit.”
My phone rang.
I picked it up, knowing it was Circuit. “Are you tracking them?”
“I’ve got them. They’re on motorcycles heading out of the city.”
“Keep your eyes on the Xecutioners. I want to know where they eat, sleep, and shop.”
“Shop?”
“Trust me. These guys go shopping.” I hung up the phone. My head pounded from the craziness of it all. I walked off, leaving Maxwell and Naveen arguing about K-pop.
Dima opened the door.
Naveen called after me, “Hey, what’s the plan, Misha?”
“We grab Taya Turgenev.” I headed back into the restaurant and bumped into Ava.
She raised her eyebrows. “Are they gone?”
I spotted the empty table. “What happened to your meeting?”
“I told Barbara that I wasn’t hungry and would sign the contract soon. I had Yefim escort her out of the restaurant’s other exit.”
I gritted my teeth. “Yefim is supposed to stay next to you.”
“Unless I tell him to do something.”
“That’s not his job.”
“He’s not supposed to listen to me?”
“You know that’s not what I meant.” I gave her a weak smile. “Either way, are you still hungry?”
“Where are they?”
“They’re gone.”
“Those were the Xecutioners?”
“Yes.”
Horror covered her face.
“No.” I gently grabbed her hands. “Relax. Everything is going to be okay.”
“How do you know that?” She shook her head. “I should have never met with Barbara. It put you out in the open—”
“I’m glad the Xecutioners and I talked.”
She stared at me in confusion. “Why?”
“They’ve given me some wiggle room for getting out of this.”
“How?”
“If I kill Leonid, then there’s no contract.”
“Kill Turgenev?”
I nodded.
“But you can’t find him.”
“I have a plan to lure him out.”
Sadness filled her eyes. “His sister.”
Stunned, I asked, “How do you know about her?”
“I overheard your conversation with Naveen. You didn’t want to include her in your beef with Leonid.”
“She’s young and in college. I would have liked to keep her out of this.”
“But. . .you can’t.”
“Not if you want me to continue to be next to you.”
She wrapped her arms around my waist. “I’m coming with you to do this. I’ve got your back—”
I laughed.
She leaned back and glared at me. “I can help.”
“You being there would only distract me. Not only would I be worried about you, my cock would probably be hard the whole time.”
“Figure out a way that I can be included. I can’t sit around, twiddling my thumbs as you rush to save your life.” She rolled her eyes and left my grip.
“Fine.” I grabbed her and pulled her to me. “You can stand next to Circuit. I’ll have him monitoring this one.”
“That’s not enough.”
“It’s my only compromise.”
“Then I guess we’re done talking.” Letting out a long breath, she stormed off.
“We’re not.”
She called back, “Figure out a better compromise where I can actually help you.”
“I won’t.” I followed her, not worried by her annoyance at all. There was no way she would get deeper involved in this situation. I just got the contract off her head. Soon my contract would be canceled too.
Yefim arrived from the back entrance.
I glared at him. “You don’t leave her side. I don’t care what she tells you to do.”
Like an idiot, he nodded.
Ava snorted. “Ignore him. We have our own arrangement.”
Yefim looked away.
I muttered, “You’re going to get him killed.”
She stopped walking and turned around. We glared at each other. Yefim remained near.
“I put him next to you to keep you safe, Ava.”
“Thank you for that.” Her voice softened. “However, if I need him to protect my agent or—”
“I don’t care if anything happens to your agent. Your grandmother and you are the only people that my guards make a priority. That’s it. He stays by your side or I replace him with someone that will.”
She widened her eyes. “And will you bend on this?”
“Not one fucking inch.”
“Okay.” She blinked. “But I still want to help with—”
“I’m not bending on that either.”
She let out a long breath and walked off.Chapter 21
Misha
When we got to the limo, I told Maxwell and Naveen to check out Taya’s condo and prepare a plan. Everything had to be precise when kidnapping Leonid’s younger sister. Due to my killing his brother, she would be heavily guarded.