Little viper

SERGEIThe ballroom was packed by the time Nikolai and I walked in, chandeliers blazing overhead in cascades of gold light.Every major family in the region was represented in one glittering, treacherous room. Waiters moved through the crowd with trays of champagne, a string quartet played something classical near the far wall, and every single guest was dressed in their absolute finest, clearly here to get the favor of the council head.Maxim had spared no expense for his own birthday celebration, and the sheer audacity of it wasn't lost on me. A man who'd spent weeks quietly selling out an entire underworld to federal agents was standing at the center of a room full of the very people he'd been betraying, toasting his own good fortune while they raised their glasses in return, utterly unaware.That irony was exactly why we were here tonight.Andrei and I had met the previous evening, in my study after we had gotten Maxims outrageous invite. I had laid everything out for him without

I will teach you how to please

RENEEThe door swung open sometime past midnight, hard enough that it woke me from whatever sleep I had drifted into. I sat up sharply on the bed, my heart already hammering before I'd even fully registered who was standing there silhouetted against the dim hallway light.Maxim.His shirt was half unbuttoned, collar askew and his tie from earlier today was gone entirely. His hair looked disheveled and he looked nothing like the calm man that I had come to know over the last couple of days.He swayed slightly in the doorway, one hand braced hard against the frame like it was the only thing keeping him upright, and it took me only a second to place exactly what was wrong with him.He is drunk."How'd the party go?" I asked, keeping my voice carefully flat, watching him closely as he stumbled a few uneven steps further into the room, nearly clipping his shoulder against the doorframe on his way past it.He mumbled something incoherent in response, half in Russian, half in English, the tw

Let the games begin

SERGEI"How much longer are we supposed to just sit here?"Andrei's voice cut sharply across the room, his patience visibly thinning with every passing minute. His men were assembled in the courtyard outside, waiting on a signal that hadn't come yet and showed no sign of arriving anytime soon.Nikolai stood near the window, arms crossed tight over his chest. It was obvious he was on edge too.“The motherfucker is grinding us out.” Nikolai finally said,"He'll call," I said, though the words felt thinner each time I repeated them, my own patience fraying just as badly as Andrei's, if not considerably worse. I'd already worn a visible path into the carpet of my own study, pacing the same stretch of floor for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour alone.We'd assembled everyone we could trust in the compound within a few hours of leaving that party, every ally Andrei and I had managed to secure over the preceding days now standing armed and ready throughout the grounds all wa

An end?

CHAPTERMaxim sat comfortably in the center of the warehouse, one leg crossed casually over the other, watching the wide entrance. This was the warehouse where his father had been killed by Sergei. It only seemed right for them to return to the exact scene where the crime was carried out. His men were positioned carefully throughout the space, tucked behind shadowed corners and stacked pallets, weapons ready in case Sergei arrived with reinforcements of his own despite explicit instructions not to. So far, the coast remained entirely clear and he had not gotten any reports of anything out of the ordinary. Just Sergei, walking in alone as instructed. He really was foolish enough to come by himself, Maxim thought, watching Sergei's silhouette grow larger as he approached through the open doorway. Love truly did make people do remarkably stupid, sentimental things. He'd almost expected better from a man with Sergei's reputation."Sergei." Maxim rose smoothly from his chair as the othe

All Chapters of Made for the Devil's Pleasure: Chapter 141 - Chapter 144

Little viper

I will teach you how to please

Let the games begin

An end?