Free Lace and Sin (Sinners Series Book 1) by Aneta Quinn

in Russian?”

 
    “I do actually” he answers as he squats down next to
me, pulling on the chair so it slides towards him. We’re now face to face, and
I can’t help but turn my gaze back towards the computer screen and away from
his eyes. I try not to concentrate on the fact that his warm palms are on my
thighs either – his thumbs rubbing small circles against my legs in a
surprisingly soothing gesture.

 
    He reaches up with one hand and slides his finger along
my cheek, and then tugs on my chin with his fingers to make me face him again.

 
    “What are you getting yourself into babe?”

 
    “It’s safer if I don’t tell you.”

 
    “You can’t pull this need-to-know bullshit on me now,
Kayla” he sighs.

 
    “Look, I can’t tell you okay? We fucked, it was great,
and then you decided to tag along to something you shouldn’t know a single
thing about” I huff, and push myself on the chair back towards the desk. Bitch mode alert.

 
    He doesn’t say anything as I type away on the
computer, and sigh in relief when I find what I need.

 
    I see from the corner of my eye when he stands up, and
makes his way out the door in total silence. Is he leaving me here? Shit, I
totally screwed up. This was a bad idea, a very bad idea.

Chapter 7
    Carter
    Holy Fucking shit.

 
    I pace back and forth outside the realtor’s office,
and pull out my packet of cigarettes. I tap the box lightly and pull one out,
before lighting it and finally taking a very necessary puff.

 
    What the actual fuck is going on?

 
    This is far more dangerous than I could’ve ever
imagined. What does she want from Abram? Does she know how risky this is, how
much of a fucked up man he actually is?

 
    I’ve been fighting to get away from Abram since the
day my father died, and now…now I feel like I’m going to be dragged right back
in because of…well because of her. Knowing the kind of man he is, I can’t let
her do whatever it is she’s planning on doing because she’ll lose.

 
    He’s a sick twisted guy who won’t think twice about
shooting you in the back if he knows you’re against him, and clearly what she’s
got planned is something against him.

 
    I followed in my dad’s footsteps and started working
for Abram Mikhalov when I was only seventeen, Jimmy at my side of course
because he was the only person I could ever trust with my life. Jimmy was born
in England but came back and forth to New York between parents, and I guess
acted out after they divorced. We started doing small things…deliveries here
and there, until we started going bigger.

 
    We stole cars, we roughed people up when necessary,
and we did whatever he needed at the flick of a wrist because of my dad. My dad
wanted out years ago but according to Abram, he owed him his life so he kept
going, trying to find ways to take Mikhalov down. I’m not 100% sure yet but I
think he had something big on Mikhalov, something worth risking everything for.

 
    He started acting different a couple weeks before he
died, saying things he’d never said, doing things he’d never do, and
surprisingly he left me his entire empire. Did I want it? Fuck no I didn’t want
it. But his final words to me made me think again about what needs to be done.
His final words to me were a note left on my bedside table, along with the
signed papers declaring ownership to me of his entire monarchy I knew nothing
about.

 
    Finish what I started Carter, you’ll figure it out
piece by piece.

 
    It’s like he knew he was going to die, like he knew I
was going to be left fighting for everything he’d worked hard for. I’ve been
getting different packages, notes, random things being sent to me from him that
he organised before he died – it’s like that P.S I love you shit, with the dead
person sending notes to help someone grieve and move on, except instead of that
it’s been clues, things he had to hide from Mikhalov and is now passing on to
me.