Sonata (Butcher and Violinist 2)

Louis and his men ran out of the house.

They must’ve heard the shots too.

“Get her!”

We all went after her.

It must’ve been a crazy scene. Over twenty huge French men, running after a little black woman, in a wet buttoned shirt and suit jacket. A few cars drove by, swerving and screeching their tires.

This fucking day!

We got her in less than five minutes. She was damn near out of breath as she tried to fight me. It took nothing to hold her arms down and pick her up.

I thought back to the conversation with the Lion. I caught his chuckle, when I’d told him that his mouse had ran away. He hadn’t fought me on it. He hadn’t thought I was lying.

He’d laughed.

How many times has she ran away from you Kazimir?

I dragged her back to the limo and glanced in the front of the vehicle. My limo driver lounged and smoked a cigarette. Meanwhile, Gwen had her eyes wide and mouth open too. Shock and terror covered her face.

Fuck. How are we going to explain our way out of this?

Rafael walked out, carrying a dead Shalimar in a sheet. While one couldn’t see that it was dead body, it was pretty damn obvious as her long hair swung back and forth, dangling near his knees. It was either a mannequin or dead body.

Well after that beautiful vision…Gwen won’t be working with Rafael anymore, so no need to explain this.

I stopped at the limo, opened the door, and shoved Emily in. “Don’t fucking move.”

Emily fell on the floor and then scooted back to her seat.

“And I don’t accept your apology for killing my men!” I shut the door and turned to Rafael as he was about to enter.

“So…” I looked at his arms. “What do you want to do. . .with Shalimar?”

“She’s coming with us, until I can think of what I’m going to do.”

“Okay. That’s why you have her body. You’re going to bury her?”

“Of course I am.” He eyed me. “Wait. What did you think I was going to do with her body?”

“It’s been a long day. I don’t know where your head is at. I’m losing it.”

“Just open the damn door.”

I gritted my teeth and did it.

If Rafael wanted to bring Shalimar’s corpse with us, there wasn’t much I could do about it. None of it mattered anymore. Eden was with Kazimir. Not the best thing, but better than the Devil.

Gwen was in front with the driver.

Catching my breath, I pulled out the phone and called his number back. “Kazimir, I’ve got her.”

Humor hit his words. “Are you sure?”

“Where’s the exchange?”

And then the humor left, and his voice went deadly. “Put her on the phone, Jean-Pierre.”

I took it over to her. “Say something.”

She grabbed it. “Kazimir?”

Her face brightened. “Yes. I know, but. . .I took the chance. No. I’m fine. No one—”

I snatched the phone away. “Finish the conversation in person. It’s always better that way. Don’t you agree?”

“I do.” Kazimir kept that deadly edge. “Have you considered how you will give her back to me?”

No. I hadn’t had the time. You’d been chasing after us, and I’d been worried about Eden.

“Let’s meet at the airport.” I thought of the first place that came to mind that would be the most secure. “Once we exchange, you can get on the plane and go home.”

“That does sound lovely, but I don’t trust you. I would like to ask a favor and get the chance to decide the location. While this is your city, I’ve spent a lot of time here today. I have some places in mind.”

“Where?”

“I’ll call you with the location soon.”

“There’s no need to prolong this.”

“The stakes are high, Jean-Pierre, one can’t half-ass this.” He hung up.

Emily stared at me. I doubt she heard the conversation.

Louis got inside, stared at Shalimar’s dead body in Rafael’s lap, and sat by me. “What are we doing?”

“The Lion has his eyes on us. He knows where we are. He’s being cocky, seeing if he can grab her.”

“We’ll lose him.”

“We will, but we need eyes on him. He has Eden.”

Louis exhaled. “And what about the Devil? He wasn’t a part of the bodies.”

“Doesn’t matter. Let’s lose the Bratva’s eyes on us and get to somewhere safe.”

Louis instructed the driver to go in the tunnel and called people to set a diversion plan in motion. We’d been followed and watched before. There were simple tactics to this game. We’d hit the tunnel, make sure other men waited inside in other vehicles. We’d switch cars there and leave the tunnel in another ride, while the men continued to follow our limo.

We just had to make sure no one else entered the tunnel.

I ran my fingers through my hair. “Get the cops in on this.”

Louis whispered to me, “What about Shalimar and Rafael?”

“Give Rafael his space for now.”