Chapter 1

“Do you know who Yuri Anatoly is?” Nicky asked Raven as she walked through the front door of their apartment.

The apartment wasn’t much and not in a good neighborhood but it was the best place they had lived in yet. It was small but then they didn’t need much.

Raven groaned as she leaned wearily against the door. “Yeah, I know who he is, why?”

Nicky grinned at her. “Cuz he carries a lot of money around with him.”

Raven slowly shook her head as she glared at him. “You didn’t?” she snapped. “Tell me you didn’t lift his wallet?” Her brother had a bad habit of lifting people’s wallets when he got bored. A pattern left over from their rotten childhood where stealing was the only way they survived.

Nicky had the grace to look away for a few seconds, then he turned toward her and admitted, “Yeah, I did. What’s the big deal?”

Raven pushed away from the door and closed it. Coming over to where Nicky sat at the counter in the small kitchen, she grabbed the wallet and exclaimed, “Because you idiot, he’s the man who owns the hotel I work at. He not only signs my paychecks but he is also rumored to be head of the Russian Bratva here.”

Nicky paled. “I didn’t know,” he said softly. “I was coming to see you this morning and he looked like a good mark.”

Raven looked over at her brother and sighed. “You have to get it back to him.”

Nicky held up his hands and backed away from the counter. His stool tipped over and crashed on the floor. “No way! He’ll kill me if he catches me.”

Raven shook her head. “You can’t keep it.”

Nicky stared at the wallet in her hands like it was a snake. “I don’t want it. I don’t want anything to do with it. I never would have taken it if I’d known who he was!”

Raven stepped forward and swept him into a hug. “I know, kiddo. But I told you before, we no longer have to steal to get by. I have a good job now and we don’t have to worry about Carlos anymore. He doesn’t know where we are and hasn’t for years.”

Nicky nodded as he stepped away from her embrace. “I know, but I guess old habits die hard.” Running his fingers through his hair, he glared at the offending wallet and asked, “What are we gonna do about it?”

Raven closed her eyes and let out another sigh. “I guess I’ll have to return it.” The wallet in her hands looked to be of high quality and the baby soft leather felt nice to the touch. Looking down, she noted the soft chocolate color of the fine leather. It was stitched with black thread but the stitches were sewn, so you could see just a hint of the darker color. She opened the wallet and saw the credit cards lined up on one side. Flipping the insert, she could see another line of cards along with his driver’s license and other forms of ID. She really wanted to take out his driver’s license and stare at his photo but she knew she couldn’t.

“I’m sorry,” Nicky whispered.

Raven smiled. All her life she’d been watching out for her little brother but since she loved him, that fact never mattered. You just do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love. She resigned herself to her next task. She knew it would be her who returned the wallet. She had the skills and she knew what she needed to do.

Heading to her bedroom, it took her a few minutes to change her clothes. Finally, dressed in all black, she grabbed her backpack and walked back to the living room.

Nicky stood there waiting for her. He handed her the wallet folded carefully into a soft cloth. “I’m sorry,” he repeated with regret in his voice.

Raven knew he had wiped the wallet clean of his prints and hers. She smiled at him and brought her hand up to cup his jaw. “I know. It’s just been a long day.”

“How are you going to get it back to him?”

“I’ll have to go to his penthouse and leave it on his dresser. There’s no way to give it back to him in person. I’m hoping he hasn’t noticed it missing yet and he’ll think he just forgot it.” She figured her best chance would be to return it that way. Working at the hotel, she knew where the cameras were located and the best possible routes to take to get to the penthouse. The first thing she did when they went somewhere new was to learn the layout of the cameras and such. Those lessons had been hard taught when they were kids.

“Be careful,” Nicky warned. “You haven’t done this in a while and you can’t get caught.”

Raven grinned. He had no idea. She didn’t tell him but she did this very thing just a few days ago. She’d kept her skills up in secret. And hadn’t been caught yet, so she had no worries but that didn’t mean she was in any way going to be sloppy. No, she knew Yuri’s security was top notch. They had to be, to protect the leader of the Bratva of New Orleans…they knew what they were doing.