“Glazov, I know you well enough to know when something’s on your mind. What is it, my love?”

“Then you should know me well enough to know that talking isn’t what I want to do.” He yanked the sheet from his wife’s nude body. Searing sexual heat flared in his eyes as he gritted out, “I want in you again. I want to get lost in you and forget all of the drama of this fucking day.”

Kathleen leaned up to kiss her husband’s lips, sliding her tongue along their grim line until they relaxed and opened for her. As their tongues tangled, he settled next to her and pulled her on top of him, tugging her knees wide apart. He groaned into her mouth as he gripped her ass and yanked her down onto his length in a brutal act of possession. She tossed her head back, reveling in the pleasure of being filled by this man. It never got old, their lovemaking, it only solidified the deep connection they already had.

“You’re going to tell me what’s going on with you when we finish,” she breathed against his lips. Not a question but a demand. She was the only person who could demand anything of the Pakhan and not regret it. But that didn’t mean he would acquiesce easily, which he made clear when his hand came down on her bottom with a resounding smack. She gasped and arched her back at the delicious combination of pleasure and pain radiating from the point of impact. As her flaming hair tumbled over her shoulders, she bit her lip and gazed down at him with heavy-lidded desire. “It’s so good…too good. I will never get enough of you and the way you make me feel, husband of mine. I love you more and more with each passing day.”

“You better, you’re in too deep now.”

“You are, literally,” she laughed before groaning as he caught her off guard with a wicked shift of his hips, sending the swollen head of his cock straight to her G-spot.

Glazov grabbed onto Kathleen’s hips, sliding her up and down his shaft, enjoying the sight of her coming apart. She always eased his mind, washing away the problems and threats that loomed like constant unwanted companions. He closed his eyes, breathing her in as they moved together in a fevered dance that never, ever got old. They were perfect together, each knowing what the other wanted without being told, each providing what the other needed to be made whole.

“Touch yourself,” he rasped, captivated by the sight of her lush breasts quivering in time with his thrusts. Ripples of pleasure feathered up and down his shaft as she climaxed. He could feel the walls of her pussy clamping down on him as the familiar tingle of heat started at the base of his spine. As always, he made sure she had taken her pleasure before he chased his own.

Moments later, she returned from the bathroom with a warm washcloth. Glazov’s brows shot up before knitting together in a frown. Usually he took the lead with aftercare. After a brief hesitation, he relaxed, legs splayed lazily, hands clasped behind his head as he enjoyed the sight and sensation of his wife tending to him. She shot him a sidelong glance when his cock stirred in her hand. She leaned down and kissed the tip of his shaft, drawing a growl from deep within his chest. With both hands wrapped around his girth, her lips slid over the broad crown, teasing the sensitive slit as she lapped up a delicious burst of pre-cum.

Her tongue traced the heavy veins that coursed his length before she took him fully into her mouth. With each slide and pull of her lips, she jacked him with her hand, taking full advantage of this rare opportunity to take the lead. Glazov’s head pressed back into the pillow, his chest heaving as he fought for control.

“You’ll take it now,” he rasped as he slid his fingers through her hair to grasp her head and take over the action. Holding her head still, he thrust his hips, softly at first, then more vigorously as he adjusted the angle of her head slightly for deeper penetration. Hitting the back of her throat and beyond, Glazov fucked her mouth with abandon. Kathleen clutched his straining thighs as she took him in. With her eyes watering and her throat stretching to accommodate the mushroom head of his shaft, she felt him swell even more.

Even after so many years, she lived for the moment just before Glazov climaxed. The bell end of his cock became so engorged, the flesh taut and tender as he struggled to restrain the cream that fought for release.

“Fucking this mouth…ah, yeah, God—” A prolonged, gut-wrenching groan signaled the first jet of cum hitting the back of her throat. She worked his shaft with both hands as he came, eagerly milking him as his body shook and his hips arched toward her eager mouth. As she licked him clean, he studied her, his eyes solemn as he lazily stroked her hair, sweeping it away from her face over her shoulder.

After tending to him with a few more gentle swipes of the washcloth, she padded across the room and tossed the washcloth in the laundry hamper.

“Now…what’s going on, my love?” she asked softly as she padded across the room and curled up against his side.

He sighed as he pulled the covers over them and tugged her closer. “Oh, you do know me well, don’t you, Ptichka?”

“Better than anyone else, and don’t you forget it. Now what’s up?”

“That discrepancy you found with Joseph’s work—”

“You mean when I caught him stealing?”

“Mm-hmm. It’s a real shit storm.”

“Really? How?” She straightened up onto an elbow, laying her other hand on his chest.

“Evidently someone was working with him. Vladimira has received a threatening letter expressing displeasure at Joseph’s demise.”

Kathleen chuckled and shook her head. “Fools. I can’t imagine someone wanting to get on her bad side. Personally, I’d steer clear of a woman who knew that much about death. She’s always thinking of new ways to poison her prey.”

“Every member of my family was born with a criminal mind, their genius bent toward the dark side.”

“You need to find out who his friends were. If someone has a vendetta, it’s either his woman or a brother or a friend.”

“I’ll find out who it is and kill him before he kills her. We’ve got too much shit going on with the Sinaloans, we don’t need distractions from someone with a grudge and a hero complex. It troubles me that this opposition seems to be coming from within. You know, it used to be that—”

“You sound old.”

“That’s what Novak said,” he laughed. He couldn’t help it. Maybe he did sound old, God knew he felt it. If anyone was aware of his own mortality and the swift passage of time, it was Alexander Glazov.

The nondescript black van had been parked down the block from the strip club since early afternoon so no one paid it much attention. The club’s night life was in full swing now, the Friday night crowd filling the club to capacity. Music filled the night air every time the door opened.

“Bingo,” Roksana murmured in a sing-song voice. “Sinaloans at 12 o’clock.”

“It’s about fucking time,” Oleg muttered. Glazov wanted to know if there was support for Escondido’s rise to power, so they were surveilling a local strip club. The club was a popular Sinaloan hangout and a good choice for gathering intel.

Despite having their operations disrupted and their personnel decimated by the warehouse explosion, the Sinaloans were still a force to be reckoned with and represented a potential threat to the Russians. Glazov had communicated his intentions to his own people, that the Sinaloans be steered in the right direction to accept Escondido as their rightful leader. The man would be a formidable adversary, yes, but he had the wisdom to pick and choose his battles.

The Sinaloans used to function as a cartel but in recent months they had destabilized into little more than a street gang. As it stood now, the Sinaloans’ internal chaos made them undisciplined and unpredictable -- far too quick to shoot first and ask questions later. On the streets, reputation was everything. Any act of defiance was viewed as disrespect. To disrespect a gang member meant certain death.

In contrast, Bratva was a polished, efficient organization. For that reason, the Pakhan wanted Escondido to take over the Sinaloan operation. His leadership would force them to become more professional in the way they did business. No longer would they be trigger-happy gangbangers trying to make a name for themselves. They would have purpose and direction and, more importantly, pride—Escondido would see to that. He would ensure they worked as a team with no Lone Rangers causing drama within the ranks.

With Tatiana at the wheel, Bazarnik was crouched at the control panel in the back of the van, scowling as he adjusted settings to clear out white noise and amplify the voices of the two men huddled in the alley.

Dmitriy had entrusted the surveillance equipment to Bazarnik as a test of sorts, and because he was simply too busy to come along with them. He was working around the clock upgrading security measures at the Pakhan’s home and other Bratva locations, but he had gone over everything with Oleg already: the locations of the listening devices he had installed during the lull between closing time and the opening manager’s arrival; how to adjust the settings on the control panel for optimal sound, and how to kill the devices to avoid detection.

Oleg and Roksana were watching the action through the van’s darkened windows, monitoring who went in and who came out. The two men who had just stepped out onto the sidewalk were Benito and Pedro, known associates of Hector’s.

 “Man, I’m telling you, Hector gettin’ blown up like that has put us in a real bad position.”

Bazarnik, Tatiana, Oleg, and Roksana listened to the men’s conversation, being careful to remain absolutely still as they hid in the shadows. The men were of the belief that Hector had died in the explosion, not realizing that he met a very different demise later that night. It was just as well.

“I know, I know. Listen, man, I don’t see nobody but Escondido being able to fix this mess. As bad as I hate to admit it, we got no leadership. You saw it yourself, Pedro, fuckin’ Hector was a hothead, too unpredictable. I don’t like a whole lot of rules either, but maybe that's what we need right now. The whole thing’s been fucked up for too long. Don’t need no enemies to kill us off; hell, we’re killing ourselves off left and right. This shit’s gettin’ crazy in Mexico, too, the streets are overflowing with Sinaloan blood.”

“True that.” The young man took a long drag on his cigarette as he listened to his friend. “You’re right, man, if we don’t have strong leadership the other gangs are going to start circling us and taking us out. Benito, you know how the enemies work, they see weakness and they come in for the kill. Everybody knows about that dogfight getting blown up, no matter what the local news says. Whoever did that ain’t an amateur. You gotta to have your shit together to hide arson in plain sight like that. Faulty fuel line, my ass – fuck that shit.”

“We’re just fuckin’ lucky we were taking the other dogs back to the pick-up location after their fights were over,” Benito sighed as he shook his head. “Otherwise, we would have been blown sky high too. Who do you think did it?”

“Fuck, Benito, I got no way of knowing some shit like that. What I do know is we need somebody smart to take over and Escondido has got what it takes. Everybody else is either green or too high-maintenance. If he was behind this, then as far as I’m concerned, that was his audition and he got the part, you know? I sure as shit ain’t going for that job.”

“You got that right,” Benito agreed. “No need to walk around with a target on your back, man. We’re not the only ones feeling this way either. There’s no way he can fail.” Silence fell between the two friends, until Benito took a deep breath and offered, “So, it’s settled then; we’ll set up a meeting with Escondido and tell him we’re in.”

“There won’t be no turning back though, bro,” Pedro said solemnly. “We do this? Once it’s done, it’s done. Escondido ain’t the type to be played. The guy’s smooth and his enemies never see him coming. We take his side and then try to back out? He’ll make sure we disappear.”

“You’re right. The guy’s a fucking ghost, man,” Benito whispered.

“I don’t want to make an enemy out of him. That son of a bitch stayed hidden for years, just waiting for the right time. Didn’t come out of hiding until he was good and ready. If he’s gunning for power now, there will be no stopping him.”

That was all Roksana and the others with her needed to hear. The two men went back inside the club and Tatiana pulled into traffic and turned the van homeward. They would have a good report for Glazov. Things were going as planned. Escondido’s rise to power within the Sinaloan cartel seemed assured and the Bratva peace treaty would stand. The Pakhan would be pleased.