Rhapsody (Butcher and Violinist 1)

“Good.” I rose from my desk and took the file.

Louis spoke as I opened it. “I was able to confirm Shalimar’s information. Celina’s main Russian lover is a man in Prague named Igor Stronz.”

Pictures showed a large old man sitting on a throne of some sort with a shadowed castle. “This is the grandfather of the Bratva?”

“Yes.”

“Who took this?”

“Pepe.”

“It’s a bit theatric.”

“Igor lives in a big castle outside of Prague. He has a village of people that. . .worship him.”

“He sounds crazy.” I flipped to the other photos. Some showed people surrounding him. Animal masks covered their faces. “We have people in Prague yet?”

“Well. . .” Louis stirred. “We can’t move that easily on Igor.”

“Surely, he has strong Bratva connections. They all do. But it’s still a network. We can knock off a few Bratva without getting the big guys’ attention.”

“Not in this situation. This is going to get sticky. Igor is the Uncle of the man who heads the Bratva now, Kazimir—”

“The Lion?” I looked up.

“Yes.”

“Hmmm.” I shut the file. “Celina’s a smart woman. I move against her too deep. Igor gets involved. I move against his men, it’s an unofficial attack at the Lion. And he brings in the Bratva.”

I hadn’t dealt with Kazimir much. We’d done several arms deals together. A few times we aligned to go after the Yakuza for some territory in Tokyo. Still we both kept our distance from the other.

Louis gave me a nervous smile. “There. . .”

“What?”

“There are. . .other women in the world. Eden may be more than—”

“Thank you, Louis. I was unaware of the rising female population on earth.” I set the file on the desk. “Still put some people in Prague. Not a huge amount. They should stay to themselves and relax.”

Louis ran his fingers through his hair.

“What?”

“When Kazimir and you have discussions, it makes Europe worried.”

I crossed my arms around my chest. “We’ve managed to have business dealings with small amounts of disagreement. We’ve settled in the past.”

“This isn’t business.” Louis held his hands out. “Women are involved. This gets complicated. Pussy makes men kill other men.”

“Only the best pussy does. What man would want a woman not worth killing for?”

“Men who like to stay alive.”

“Kazimir and I are not those men.”

Someone knocked, before Louis could offer his rebuttal.

Giorgio stepped in without my letting him know to enter. “Rafael has a bunch of women fighting on the third floor. Celina has her men there. She’s kicking us out—”

“What the fuck?” I rushed away.

Louis followed.

The screams of women and shouting men guided our paths.

What the hell is going on?!

It took ten minutes for us to get to the third floor and find the damn room where all the chaos occurred. Celina’s men blocked the doorway. We barreled through. A few took out their guns. Louis and Giorgio took out theirs.

I stared at the security closest to the door. “Let us through.”

“Celina doesn’t want anyone in,” he said.

I gestured at Giorgio.

Giorgio knocked the man in his Adam’s apple with the butt of his gun. Probably shattering important parts of the man’s throat. Best case scenario, the man’s voice would change significantly. Worst case scenario, his esophagus had smashed, and he died as soon as he hit the floor.

The man dropped to the floor. His body didn’t rise and fall as if he was breathing.

Celina’s other man raised his shaking hands and moved out of the way. “G-go ahead.”

I scowled at Giorgio. “Why did you kill him? I wanted you to keep Celina’s men safe.”

“I thought that was a nod to kill him.” Giorgio shrugged.

Sighing, I grabbed the door knob.

Louis mumbled. “This is why they call you the butler. You’re only trusted to carry the hand towels during a fight.”

I opened the door.

Shalimar and two women wrestled and fought in the corner of the room right on the floor. Rafael had been trying to get ahold of Shalimar as she held both of the women’s hair in a tight grip. Celina and another woman was on the other side, trying to separate Shalimar’s grip too.

Shattered vases and broken glasses littered the floor. Splattered food lay everywhere. Shoes and ripped panties. One wig dangled on the slow circling ceiling fan above us.

“Fuck.” Louis rushed in to help Celina and only got in the way.

Giorgio who’d apparently felt he needed to prove himself, rushed up to Shalimar, and slapped her.

Shocked, she let go.

Rafael and Shalimar fell back. He kept a tight hold on her, not letting her get free.

Giorgio checked my reaction.

I shrugged.

Probably shouldn’t have slapped her, but you did split them up.

The other two women got free. One scrambled back in fear from the whole situation. The other sought revenge and raced back at Shalimar.

“Donna, get back over here, before you get your ass whipped again.” Celina yelled.

Louis grabbed Donna.

I checked Donna’s face and then the other woman’s face Shalimar had fought. They both were identical twins.