My legs felt like noodles after our first round of dessert. Tucked up next to Matt with a plate of berry cobbler in my hands, I waited for him to choose a movie. Of all the movies we could watch, he chose Married to the Mob.

“Seriously?” I lunged for the remote, but he held it out of my reach.

“I want to see if they got it right.”

“It’s Hollywood. There’s no way it’s right.”

He stole my next bite and pressed play. “At least we can laugh at what they got wrong.”

And so we did. We laughed so hard that my stomach hurt.

Matt pushed the room service table toward the door, but I stopped him. “I might want some of this in the morning.” I lifted the lid to a tray of cookies and a slice of chocolate cake. “I’ll take care of it tomorrow.”

He smiled. “Good idea. You need some fattening up. Stella tells me I have to plump you up before my seed plumps you up.”

“Stella would be happy if I gained half my body weight.” I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth and look into the mirror. I’d definitely put a few pounds on since I moved in with Matt, but he didn’t seem to mind. With each pound I gained, he wanted me more.

I climbed into bed and curled into his side. It would have been easy to fall asleep, but I had to protect what we had, and the only way to do that was to get the journal and hope it opened the door to questions.

When Matt’s deep breaths turned into a soft snore, I snuck from the bed and dressed. I knew there would be a guard at the elevator, but I also knew that he’d let room service clear the table if the call came from Matt or me.

With my keys and my phone in my pocket, I called for a pick up and pushed the cart into the hallway. After I waved at the guard by the elevator, I disappeared under the tablecloth to ball up on the shelf below. It took the guy thirty minutes to get there and another ten to get me down to the kitchen. When I heard no one near the table, I popped from my hiding space and walked out the back of the hotel. No one noticed because they were busy receiving deliveries. Trucks lined up around the block to deliver the food and alcohol needed to sustain an establishment of this size. No wonder Yuri wanted this place so badly.

A warm wonderful feeling came over me. Matt loved me. He said he’d keep me safe. I loved Matt, and the only way to keep him safe was to exterminate Yuri. While I didn’t want to kill anyone, I wouldn’t give Yuri a second thought if he got in my way. I’d suffered since my mother’s death. The bastard believed in an eye for an eye. What about a life for a life? He took my mother’s from her. Yuri had to pay.

The valet brought my car around. I knew if something happened to me, Matt would see me on the camera, so I mouthed the words I wanted him to remember, “I love you,” and I drove away. I parked outside the compound. There was one place where a person could scale the wall and not be seen. I knew of this place because it was how I snuck out as a teenager. The ivy was so thick along the inner perimeter that I’d carved out a path. No doubt the gardener saw the tunnel that ran beneath the vines, but he never said a word.

Once inside, I moved through the vines and spider webs until I reached the servants' entrance. Hopefully, Darya still had the bad habit of smoking. She came out the side entrance so often that she rarely bothered to lock the door. I bounded up the steps and turned the knob. I was in.

Dressed in a pair of rubber-soled sneakers, I tiptoed up the back staircase to the corridor that led to Yuri’s room. If I’d been braver, I’d have grabbed a knife from the kitchen and shoved it into his cold heart as I passed his room. Instead, I silently passed his room and prayed that Karma would be the equalizer.

The house was deadly silent as I made my way to my room. I inhaled the scent of lemon cleaner and my perfume. Nothing seemed to have changed from the day I’d left. The maid had cleaned. My computer still sat open on the desk. It was as if I’d never been gone.

I dropped to my knees and felt between my mattresses for the journal. My fingers wrapped around the stiff binding. My heart leaped for joy. With luck, I could get out and be back in bed before Matt noticed I was gone.

I glanced around the room that had been both my safe haven and my cell. After spending the last few weeks with Matt, it was hard to believe I’d lived here at all. There was little I wanted but the journal and my computer and the scrap of ribbon that my mother gave me.

I gathered the items and put them in an old backpack from college. Hard to believe Yuri paid for classes. I’d gotten a useless degree as an event planner. Useless until I had to plan my own wedding in less than a day. I let the thought go and gave my room one last look before I stepped into the hallway. Across from me was Sergei’s room.

I heard the groans and moans and wondered if he were sick or ill. While I owed him nothing, I did recognize that he could have come after me. My loyalties warred inside of me. I needed to get home to Matt, but I realized that Matt and I wouldn’t have a chance if Sergei didn’t take over the Russian holdings. Left to Yuri, everyone would be exterminated one by one.

I rocked between moving my things back to my room and looking in on Sergei and rushing to the exit. When a loud cry-like moan came from his room, I tucked my bag under my bed and walked silently across the landing. Thankfully, the key was still tucked inside the planter. I considered knocking but decided I’d sneak a peek inside. Maybe Yuri had injured him and he needed medical care. Surely, I could peek inside and assess the situation to make the correct call.

With the skill of a cat burglar, I slid the key inside the lock and turned the knob. The room was dark except for the moonlight that washed a swath of light across the bed. When my eyes adjusted and focused, what I saw answered all my questions.

In front of me was Sergei, naked with his lover’s legs on his shoulders. His hips plunged forward at a brisk pace. The moans I heard were not from pain or poisoning, but from passion. Timur’s hands cupped Sergei’s face. The two men, lost in their passion, didn’t notice me. Sergei stilled and let out a sound that could only be described as pure bliss.

I slipped out the door and back to my room. I’d stepped into something that would most definitely get me killed. I picked up my backpack and snuck down the hallway. Twenty feet more, and I’d be at the back staircase and one flight away from freedom. What I didn’t expect was to turn the corner and stare into the barrel of a gun. Yuri blocked my escape.

“Nice to have you back,” Yuri said in Russian.

I stumbled until I hit the wall behind me.

Yuri grabbed me by the arm and dragged me toward the grand staircase both Sergei’s and my room flanked.

“Sergei can take care of you once and for all.”

When we got there, Yuri pressed me against the iron railing until I was bent over backward. If not for the one foot I had wedged between the bars, I would have fallen to my death. There would have been no need to call Sergei.

“Let me go. I have information for you, but you can’t call Sergei,” I whispered. “It’s about him, and he will kill both of us if he finds out I knew and told you.” Turning the tables was the only choice I had. If I got Yuri to listen to me, he’d go after Sergei. By the way Sergei made love to Timur, I knew he’d do anything to protect his secret. Maybe they’d kill each other and I’d be free of them both.

He looked at me and then towards Sergei’s door as if he was debating the lesser of two evils. Thankfully, it appeared I’d won when he yanked me forward and dragged me down the stairs like a rag doll. Even though the marble dug into my shins as I half-walked and half-fell down the grand staircase, I didn’t make a sound.

When we got to the office, he pushed me forward and I landed on my knees with my backpack in front.

“What did you steal from me?” He ripped the backpack from my hands and tossed the contents on his desk. There wasn’t much. It was my computer, the journal and a frayed red ribbon.

“Nothing, I came back for the only things that belonged to me.” While I didn’t want to put such importance on the journal and the ribbon, they were the only items I had of my mother’s, and I’d feel their loss almost as profoundly as her death. I stood tall with my back straight. Yuri Petrenko scared the shit out of me, but he fed on weakness, and I’d learned to hide mine.

I lifted the backpack flap and shoved my two prized possessions inside, then opened my computer as if I had something to show him. Of course, I didn’t. What I saw, I couldn’t un-see, but I also didn’t have proof.

“I’m not giving you any information until you call off the hit on Matt.”

Yuri loomed over me like a black cloud. “You’re not in a position to negotiate. One pull of the trigger, and you're gone.” He rested his gun on my shoulder, making sure the barrel pointed at an angle to send a bullet through my skull. As much as my insides shook, I refused to let him see my fear.

“You don’t want to do that. You wouldn’t last a day if you killed me. The Wildes would have you buried a foot under in the desert.”

“Only a foot?”

I smiled. “Yes, they’d hate to put you so deep that the animals would have to work hard to eat you.” I typed in what I needed to get into Yuri’s financial records. “You really need to get some help. A high school computer geek could infiltrate your system.” I shook my head.

When I pulled up the withdrawal for waste disposal, I turned to the man who should have been protecting me all my life. “Call it off.”

Yuri dropped his hand to his side, which meant I’d won this round. If I could get out of here with my head still attached, I’d be lucky.

Yuri picked up the phone and pushed a single number. Who had a hitman on speed dial? Probably every mafia boss out there, but I’d never considered the possibility. I’d known my “father” wielded a lot of power, but never had I considered a killer attached to his favorites list.

He told the person on the other end to cancel the job, then he hung up. “It’s done, now tell me what you know.”

“Sergei never wanted to marry me.” I lifted my brows and waited.

“No surprise, look at you. You dress like a pauper, and you look like a whore.”

I rubbed my sweaty palms on the shredded jeans that probably cost Matt hundreds of dollars. “It kills you that I look like my mother, doesn’t it?” I was playing with fire when it came to the topic of my mom, but I owed her justice.

“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you because you looked like your mother. Don’t think that it hadn’t crossed my mind.”

“I’m sure you plotted my demise every day of your life. It must have been pure joy when the Bratva told you I’d belong to Sergei.”

“Happy to be rid of you, for sure.”

“Unhappy to find out you’d get us both. That was the deal, right? You screwed it all up. You weren’t supposed to go after the Wildes, and when you did, it was considered going rogue. Sergei is here to decide if you should live or die.”

I knew I’d hit the nail on the head when his skin went a shade of white I’d never seen on him.

“What do you know about our business?”

I smiled. “I know you’re a screw-up.” I braced myself for the slap I’d get. “It’s probably why my mother cheated on you. I can spot a loser a mile away. It’s my superpower. I must have inherited that trait from her.” The slap didn’t sting as much as I thought because I knew my words stabbed him in the heart. “Do you know who my father is?”

Wouldn’t it be nice if he blurted out a name? It could have been the devil himself, and I would have been happy as long as Yuri’s blood didn’t flow through my veins.

“Some fucker named Lucky. I’d say he was lucky because I made sure he wasn’t saddled with your mother either. Now, what do you have on Sergei?”

My heart jolted and raced. Did I dare tell him that Sergei was gay? To out him would take away my power. I had to come up with something.

“You’re dead. He’s already decided.” It wasn’t a lie. There was no doubt in my mind that Sergei would kill us both. “The plan was to marry me and kill you. He assumed I was the sole heir.” I laughed at the absurdity of my situation. “You thought the Wildes had Mikhail killed? We both know he didn’t hang himself, but we also know that it cost a lot of money for people to say so. Sergei has the backing of the Bratva.” I watched Yuri’s face twist into a pained expression. “They killed him.” While it shouldn’t have given me pleasure to watch his pain, it did because hurting him was my only option for revenge.

“He will never have what I have.” Yuri placed the gun on the table and pushed back from the desk. “This is my kingdom. I sit on the throne.”

I eyed the gun and wondered if I could reach it before him. I needed to deliver another hit to his ego—his security. “You are a dead man walking. Didn’t it surprise you that he came with his own security team? He’s got three armed guards.” I looked around. “Who’s protecting you?”

“Why do you care?”

I lifted my shoulders. “I don’t. All I want is to be left alone, and if telling you to empty your accounts and leave lets me walk out of here, I’m happy to do it. Not for you, but for me.”

“And the filthy Italian you’re sleeping with.”

“Yes,” I nodded, “for him too.”

“What’s stopping me from putting a hit on him as soon as you leave?”

“Nothing. But what’s stopping me from calling Sergei as soon as I leave and telling him you’re going to run?”

“I’d never run. What I should do is march up to his room and shoot him while he sleeps.”

That made me laugh. I got in the door quietly, but it was only because I had seventeen years' experience of sneaking into my mother’s room. Yuri wouldn’t get past putting the key in the lock before either Timur or Sergei shot him.

“You do that.” I picked up my bag, closed my computer and walked out the door. Never had I had a more pleasant conversation with Yuri. I didn’t take a chance of walking in the open to the gate. I scurried behind the ivy and climbed the wall. If I were lucky like my real father, I’d make it back to the apartment before anyone noticed I was missing.