I quirked my eyebrows. “You think she is?”
“When we took her, Kazimir screamed mysh, over and over. It’s clear she has some fighting skills. Mysh, means mouse.” Louis shrugged. “She had you twisting and turning in the hallway, Jean-Pierre. And then there’s the ass whipping she gave you in the bathroom.”
She grinned.
I frowned. “That wasn’t an ass whipping. That was me avoiding hitting her.”
“I’ve seen you avoid hitting many women, and not have your shirt torn and toilet water dripping all over you.”
Rafael chuckled. “How did that happen again?”
I grumbled. “She broke one of the pipes behind the toilet.”
“She broke one of the pipes. With what?”
“My head,” I muttered and studied her. “Mysh?”
She stirred. Her confidence left her face.
I tilted my head to the side. “Are you the Mouse?”
She didn’t respond.
“How clever that would be, if you were?” I knitted my fingers. “You helped Kazimir kill Sasha?”
Louis growled, “Did you?”
“That’s more credit than I deserve.” She shook her head.
“Explain.”
“I shot, but.” She kept her voice low. “I simply shot a gun next to other men who were shooting guns. And unfortunately…. Sasha was in front of our guns, but it’s not like I helped in a huge way.”
“Sasha had tried to kill Kazimir.” I tested her. “What happened?”
She tapped her finger on her leg. “Sasha couldn’t kill Kazimir, is the fact that’s more important.”
“And what other facts are important?”
“I can help you find Eden and get her back safely.”
“Kazimir says he has her.”
“Even if he does, I can help with the exchange.”
“I don’t need your help.”
Rafael nudged me. “How the hell are we going to do an exchange again?”
I had no idea. All I’d thought about was getting Eden out of the Devil’s hands. Kazimir was many things, but he wasn’t a monster like the Devil. When it came to women, there would be some limit to the Lion’s violence.
Meanwhile, the Devil had no limits.
I directed my attention back to Emily. “You helped kill Sasha. That makes sense. I had asked Kazimir about the Mouse in the bathhouse earlier, and his reaction had been odd. He looked like he was going to kill me. His reaction had come off more like a jealous man, than a boss worried about his trusty guard.”
She kept her mouth closed. That displayed more intelligence than if she’d been talking. She knew when to speak and when to shut the fuck up. Silent people thought too much. Silent people kept their cool. Remained focused. Silent people sat in shadows and killed faster than the big talkers. Silent people won when they were supposed to lose.
Louis concluded as I had. “She’s the Mouse. This week has been crazy enough for me to believe it.”
“Now I see why Kazimir had a rocket launcher under his bed.” I smiled. “She’s the Mouse. The Bratva likes fairytales and legends. I could see the Lion naming a woman he was taken with, trying his best to label something he didn’t understand.”
What would be a mouse to Kazimir?
I surveyed the small women in front of me. Very short. She was 5’5 to his 6’5. The width of his muscular body could hide her, if he stood in front. But when I tried to get a handle of her in the hallway and even in the bathroom, it had been like fighting a grown man. And even worse, it was hard to get a good grip on her. Like she’d been practicing on how to run and duck men all her life. She’d even tried to escape into the sewer like a mouse, racing away to places where most men or women wouldn’t even venture.
I smirked. “Are you as clever as a mouse?”
“As clever as anyone.”
“Why did Kazimir name you that?”
She gave me a sad smile. “It’s just a term of endearment. Nothing more.”
“No. He didn’t name the ballerina.”
A neutral mask covered her face.
Louis shrugged. “Maybe Kazimir called her, the ballerina.”
“This name isn’t just him being infatuated,” I said. “The streets call you mouse now. Neighborhoods. Cities. Everyone has been talking about the Lion and Mouse, even though they have no face or details of what you look like. Whether you’re male or female.”
Information like this would garner me global support from the crime community. Everyone wanted a way to get at Kazimir. They’d even gone after his family—well-planned attacks here and there. They bothered his brothers, attacking and killing their wives throughout the years.
The ones that did it died days later by Kazimir, personally.
But still it hadn’t made the man crumble. If anything, he’d put on double the armor. Barely moved without his men. Never spent too much time with any woman. It must’ve been a lonely position for him to be at the top, surrounded by grieving men, and others like Sasha, who pretended to love him while plotting behind his back.