Free Russian Mobster’s Revenge by Bella Rose Page A

easily step clear.” Ivan snorted. “Do you really think I couldn’t leave the country in ten minutes if I wanted to?”
    “I suppose I hadn’t considered it like that.” She gave him a thoughtful look. “I’ve never considered you a flight risk.”
    “I’m not.”
    She chuckled. “Until you are.”
    “Exactly.”
    The waiter set Samantha’s chicken salad sandwich on the table and then placed Ivan’s burger in front of him. Ivan picked up his food, discovering that he really didn’t have an appetite. It still felt wrong to be plotting Yuri’s demise. Sergei was one thing. Even using Emily…well using Emily was just a way to get back at Sergei. It wasn’t like Ivan was going to hurt her.
    “You’re going to break her heart, you know.” Samantha told him quietly. “That Emily woman really cares about you.”
    “What do you know about it?” he grunted around a mouth full of food. “You only saw her this morning.”
    “That was plenty.” Samantha used a fork to poke at her chicken. “Call it women’s intuition.”
    “That is such bullshit,” he muttered.
    She kicked him under the table. “And yet it’s always right.”
    ***
    From across the street, Emily stared at Ivan and the woman sharing their lunch so amicably at the small table outside the trendy deli. It was a safe bet that Emily had never seen Ivan so comfortable with another person before in her life. Who was this woman? She’d been at the apartment and Ivan had alluded to her being some sort of business associate. Now they were having lunch too?
    The pressure of tears caught Emily by surprise. She swiped angrily at her cheeks. What did she expect? She was messing around with a gangster who swore he was only trying to get in her pants so that it would make her brother angry. She should have expected this to happen. Still, she didn’t feel any better about it.
    Emily straightened her spine and walked right across the street. She deliberately ignored the deli and turned into the office supply store. She had discovered Ivan’s office to be woefully understocked with some of her favorite supplies, not to mention that he didn’t seem to own a labeler.
    “Emily!” Mr. Krakowski waved from behind the counter. He was an older man with a good deal of bushy white hair on his head, his face, and even in his ears. “It’s so good to see you! And how is Sergei?”
    “Oh he’s doing well, thank you,” Emily said lamely. “I’ve picked up some extra work, though. So I’ll be needing a few of my favorite items for my new office.”
    “New office?” Mr. Krakowski’s bushy eyebrows nearly shot off the top of his forehead. He leaned over the counter. “When on earth do you have time for such things? You are such a busy woman!”
    “Oh you know how it is,” Emily said with forced nonchalance as she wandered down her favorite aisle to look at colored pens. “Volkov Real Estate practically runs itself these days!” Inside, she was cringing at the horror she was going to return to if Sergei got himself involved in the books while she was gone. The man was a brilliant business strategist, but he could barely tell a debit from a credit.
    Unfortunately for Emily, Mr. Krakowski knew that. His shop and the apartment above it were located in a building owned by Volkov Real Estate. That meant that Krakowski paid protection money to Sergei. He was a part of the organization’s world.
    “What happened, Emily?” Krakowski asked in a low, serious tone. “And don’t try to play off that bullshit to me.”
    “I’m working for Ivan Dedov for a while. The hope is that it will pay off a sort of…debt that Sergei owes him.” Emily shouldn’t have been saying any of this. She would wind up getting herself and the Krakowskis in trouble.
    “Ivan Dedov?” The old man sucked in so much oxygen that Emily was surprised he didn’t pass out. His face turned beet red. “That man is a monster!”
    “Actually, he’s really not.” Her immediate defense