Dirty Minds: An Interracial Russian Mafia Romance

And in my world, where most religions shunned our way of life, my men and I had a thirst for the more mystical and spiritual practices. A good tarot reader was believed to have a straight connection to the divine—a higher self. A person always needed some sort of anchor to give them balance.

I pulled out my phone to make sure it was on . Misha could call, or even Jean-Pierre.

Even better, my mouse could get another phone. Damn it. Be careful.

“I’m glad you’re open to the cards.” David wiped his forehead. “I thought, that when I told you that. . .you might shoot me.”

“Not yet, David.” It was my attempt at a joke, but he clearly didn’t get it.

He wiped his face again.

I shook my head. “My favorite psychologist Carl Jung found a certain synchronicity when it came to tarot cards.”

“Oh. You have a favorite psychologist.”

“Jung believed the tarot cards that showed up for each person were messages that their higher selves already knew. Therefore to him, tarot cards were not magic tricks, they were sacred mirrors of the soul.”

And the soul knew everything—beginning and ending.

David took his time and opened what I hoped to be the last door.

“What’s your grandmother’s name?” I asked.

“All my life, she’ll only answer to baba.”

I smiled. “That was what I called mine.”

“She’ll be happy if the lion calls her that. It would make her day.”

David pointed forward. “Baba likes the parlor.”

He stood before the doorway and gestured.

I stepped inside.

This space was nothing like the rest of the house. I could tell his grandmother had refused to renovate this part.

A chandelier of emerald glass dangled from the ceiling. Tiny birdcages hung from the corner. No bird sat inside. Fairy women decorated the fading blue walls. Books piled onto a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf.

The emerald chandelier glowed, bathing the space in light. An old woman sat at a small table in the center of the room. I hadn’t even realized she was in there.

A large gold statue of Mary, holding the baby Jesus, stood behind her. The statue looked bigger than the woman. Even if she was standing, Mary would have towered over the woman

Baba smiled, pushing some of the wrinkles up on her cheeks. A stack of worn cards rested on the table in front of her. She spoke in Russian, “Moments like this is why I thank God that he hasn’t taken me.”

I switched to Russian too. “I’m happy to meet you, baba.”

“Aww. The stars said you would be rude, but you’re not.”

“I’m too exhausted and desperate to be rude with you today.”

She gestured to the small chair in front of her. “Let’s talk about your mouse.”

Anxiety hit me. “Do you think you can find her?”

“You’ll have your mouse by this evening. Safe, although a little bruised . She’s a tough one.” She shuffled the worn cards. “That’s not why we’re here today.”

I raised my eyebrows. “How do you know I’ll have her by this evening?”

“Your mouse is smart. She’ll escape them, but it won’t be enough. You’ll still have to fight.”

“How do you know?”

“I dreamed this all. Everything.”

“She escapes?”

“In one way, but not the other.”

A cold shiver ran through me. “What does that mean?”

“She’ll escape them, but always be trapped by them too.”

“No.”

“I’ve dreamed it all.” Her forehead wrinkled. “Even the gray smoke in the sky.”

“The gray smoke from today.”

“No. It’s from another day.” She pulled several cards from the bottom, put them at the top, and then shuffled again.

I leaned back in my chair. “What else did you dream?”

“You were not you, but a lion. And your mouse was a mouse. She was small and she rode your back at the end, just like you were a horse.” Baba set the cards in front of me. “And there was so much destruction behind you two. Everything burned in flames.”

I swallowed in fear. “After what the Corsican did, that sounds right.”

David stepped to my side. “I’m sorry, Baba, but we need you to find her—”

“Go. She’ll be with him soon.” Baba waved him away.

David looked at me.

“This is fine.” I cleared my throat and willed every part of me to believe. “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.”

“There goes the lion.” Baba tapped the pile of cards in front of me. “Touch them.”

I placed both my hands on them. “She comes back to me tonight?”

“If I ended up lying, then you can shoot me right here.” Baba touched the center of her forehead.

David stirred on my side.

I placed my hands on my lap. “I wouldn’t shoot you.”

“I’m certain of that too.”

Still, ease didn’t hit me. “Will she be harmed?”

“The mouse rode the lion’s back with pride. Held strands of the mane like it was a horse’s leather harness.” Baba grabbed the cards. “The mouse rides the lion, but she hasn’t tamed him. He roared the whole time as they walked into the sunset.”