Kazimir scowled. “That is what he’s done. The bomb was the only time he chose to stay in his room.”
“Because he knew it would go off.”
“Yes.”
“Family sucks.”
“Yes, it does.”
Minutes later, Luka came into the office. “I’ve put the dead woman in the refrigerator. I removed all of the shelves.”
I opened my mouth in shock.
“It’s to keep the smell away.” Luka smiled as if he’d given me a present. That thick accent dotted each word. “This will make for a nice funeral. She has a very pretty face—”
“Luka.” Kazimir placed his hands in his pockets and continued to monitor my actions, making me feel too exposed to him. Either way, just from saying Luka’s name, the guard went silent.
“What’s on your mind, Emily?” Kazimir asked.
“Something is off.” I walked over to my desk and sat down, suddenly feeling exhausted. “If this was all planned out by your brother, then why have me involved? I don’t get it.”
“You were distracting me.”
“But how could he plan months ago to make sure I distracted you?”
“Your brother pointed me to you.”
Darryl, you stupid fuck.
And then I sighed. “Things are starting to make more sense now.”
Kazimir sat down in the chair across from my desk.
How insane that just a night ago, we’d been in my office, in the same chairs. But at that time, I’d been scared, and he was in control. Now we both sat in front of the other like equals, realizing that we’d both been played.
“The only way Sasha would’ve guaranteed that my brother points you to me is. . .” I didn’t want to say it out loud.
Kazimir finished, “If your brother was in on this with mine from the very beginning.”
“I don’t want to think that way.” I shook my head as anger rose inside of me. “Then it would mean my brother was trying to kill me.”
“Maybe Darryl didn’t know that Sasha would let you get caught in the bomb.”
“Maybe.” I could see that more.
Darryl was gullible and jumped the gun with half-brained ideas that always got him and I in trouble. He was always trying to get money fast, never thinking it all out for the best path to success. Always trying to show me that he could outdo me in the streets. He thought it was a competition between us whereas I was just trying to survive.
Darryl, did you have something to do with this?
“Okay.” I leaned back in my chair. “If Darryl was in on this with Sasha from the beginning, then who killed Rumi?”
“Your brother?” Kazimir shrugged. “Sasha was with me, and if we’re assuming that Sasha has kept this a secret from my men, then none of them would’ve done this.”
“No, not Darryl.” I shook my head. “My brother would do a lot of things, but he doesn’t have the balls to kill.”
“Then it wasn’t him. Whoever killed Rumi was a psychotic murderer. They sliced him and then they pulled his intestines out and drew smiley faces on his—”
“What?” I sat up in my chair. “There were smiley faces on his body?”
“Yes.”
Letting out an exasperated breath, I stood up.
Kazimir rose with me. “What?”
“We should go talk to Maxwell. He didn’t do it, but he knows who did.” I went over to my closet. Clothes packed the space. Little mannequin heads were on the top shelf covered in various wigs. I pulled out a hanger with jeans and a shirt. “I need a minute to change. Could you leave the room?”
“I trust you, Emily, but I’m not leaving you alone.” Kazimir gestured for Luka to go.
Luka left and shut the door.
Kazimir turned back to me. “You can change in front of me.”
I frowned. “I won’t slip away.”
Kazimir studied all the other clothes in the closet and then stared at the mannequins’ heads covered in wigs. “But you could slip away, if I left the office.”
“I could, but—”
“Change.”
I frowned, placed my back to him, and tried to unzip the back of my dress.
“I must be careful.” His hands appeared on my back, moving mine out of the way and held the zipper. “You’ve become very special to me. You’ve saved my life and helped me figure out what’s going on.”
It was hard to think with him so close to me. “I like my privacy.”
Slowly, he slipped the zipper down. With each inch, the dress opened. He let the zipper go and the material flapped to the sides, ready to fall off my arms. “You’ll get your privacy back, when our brothers stop killing people.”
“Good point.”
He brushed his fingers along the length of my spine. “I’m sorry about your friend.”
For some reason, I closed my eyes, not even wanting to change my clothes or go pursue these questions that had filled my minds.
Kazimir walked around me. “I’ll keep you safe and help her family. My men will take care of everything—her body, the funeral—everything.”
I opened my eyes. “Thank you.”
And then my damn eyes watered again. I’d thought I had the whole thing under control. At least, if Kazimir had left the office, I would’ve had enough time to cry.
“You two were very close?” he asked.
“I considered her my sister.” A tear fell. I hurried and wiped it away. I was shattered and feeling helpless. It wasn’t a sensation I enjoyed at all, especially in front of him.
“Come here,” Kazimir said.
Shocked, I looked up and wiped my eyes. “What? I’m fine. I just needed a minute.”
“Perhaps, you need more than a few minutes.” He wrapped his arms around me. Hard muscle caged me in, and instead of feeling trapped, I felt protected and no longer alone in this shitty world.
For seconds, maybe more, I buried my face into his chest and breathed him in. When the time hit close to a minute, I backed away. “I’m good.”
Concern decorated his face, but he said nothing.
I had to get Kennedy’s death off my mind, if only for a few minutes. “So, you’re going to watch me change?”
The question caught him off guard as he blinked and then shifted his expression back to neutral.
“I can turn around,” he said.
But then where would the fun be in that?
I swallowed down my sadness and let the drug of sex lure me in. That was what I needed. I’d been full of anxiety since Kazimir walked this problem into my life. I’d had no one to relieve me, no one to help me forget about the pain.
And now with everything going on, I tiptoed on the edge.
I won’t fuck him. I’ll just. . .
Done with thinking it through, I pulled the dress off my shoulders.
Shock and exhaustion mingled inside of my chest. I’d just escaped out of danger earlier, traveled with Russians through one of my tunnels, just to find my best friend dead in my own gallery. All I wanted to do now was lie in bed.
And with how I tended to mourn, I wouldn’t have minded lying in bed with Kazimir, fucking the pain away, getting Kennedy’s memories out of my head so I wouldn’t hurt any more.