Free Last Kiss (Hitman #3) by Jen Frederick, Jessica Clare Page B

press the trigger. He howls like a dog and falls to the ground, clutching his thigh. “Close the door and come sit down,” I say with strained patience. “Or next time the bullet will be between your legs and not in the fleshy part of your thigh.”
    My sorrow over his betrayal is pushed aside. Later, after I have disposed of him, I will mourn the loss of another valuable member of the
Bratva
, but for now I must focus on eliminating a danger.
    Limping and bleeding all over the floor, Aleksei manages to close the door and hobble over to the chair. There are tears in his eyes as he glares at me.
    “Why did you shoot me?” He whines like a child. I had forgotten he is so delicate and dislikes even an ounce of pain.
    “Because you were looking at the door when you should have been crossing the room to sit down.” Naomi’s stomach clenches at my words and after a pause, her breathing starts up again. I give her a little pat and rise to shove a chair under the door.
    I don’t know who will be after us, but we need no interruptions at this moment.
    “Do you care to tell me who you sold me out to?” I hold my gun loosely at my side. There is no need to point it at Aleksei now. He now knows I will shoot him if I have the slightest belief he is going to do something to annoy me.
    “The Golubevs,” he says sullenly.
    I’m offended. “Those brainless bastards? I cannot believe you dealt with them. Am I such a kitten that you think the Golubevs could bring me down?” I sit again by Naomi, for I feel better with her even breathing behind me.
    “They offer me much money.”
    “Enough to leave Russia? Because there would be no place in Russia or all of Europe that I would not be able to find you.”
    “Yes, enough. Besides you would be . . .” He trails off.
    “Dead?”
    He nods.
    Closing my eyes, I give thanks that his stupidity is revealed before it can do me more harm. “You are so dumb, friend. I am taking the
Bratva
in a new and better direction, and you could have been part of that. Instead, you sell out to imbeciles, and for what? To have your blood and brains decorate an empty hotel room in Brazil? You could have lived like a king.”
    Aleksei erupts at my words, shooting to his feet and then falling back down when the pain strikes him. Moaning, he yells at me. “We were making plenty of money under Sergei. Your plan to stop selling krokodil or females who are no better than sheep, because of some grander vision, is insanity. Sergei may have been a bad leader, but you are worse. Your belief that we are a brotherhood, your investments—” He spits out the last word as if it is a curse. “We are criminals! Retrieving the Emperor so he—or she—can run credit card scams, skim off bank funds, or ruin people is a superb idea, but using her to find a stupid painting? Bah.” He spits. “You are no better than the Golubevs.”
    Naomi has sat up now. She cannot hide her intense interest. I turn to her. “It is an immense insult. The Golubevs are petty thieveswho survive only on protection money. Their power is in their might, but one stone from a sling can take down a giant.”
    She nods solemnly. “I’ve read that story. First book of Samuel in the Bible. David takes down the Philistine giant. Goliath’s height was determined to be between six feet nine inches or nine feet nine inches. Either way, quite tall. You know the statue of David by Michelangelo is uncircumcised.”
    Like me.
I’m beginning to follow her wandering mind. “I’ve seen it at the Accademia. It is quite impressive.”
    “I’d like to see it,” she says.
    “Then you shall.”
    “Now would be a good time. Well, after Rome,” she says, and then her eyelids flutter down so that I cannot even see a glimpse of the ocean. But I catch her meaning. She knows something and she’s telling me that we should go to Italy. Energized, I smile. Dangerous, seductive, but perhaps willing to help.
    “This is not tea time,” Aleksei interrupts