Page 52 of His Savage Vow
“Don’t sound so surprised. I grew up in my father’s restaurant.”
After we eat, Maximo helps me with the dishes. I can’t leave a dirty dish in the sink after I cook. Cleaning up after myself is just too ingrained in me. Once the kitchen is spotless again, we both get dressed, and then Maximo leads the way downstairs to where Enzo’s men still have the Bratva lieutenant tied to a chair. His face is unrecognizable from the night’s “work,” but the one eye that isn’t swollen shut is still sharp and defiant.
“Ready to talk?” Maximo asks.
The Russian gives him a humorless chuckle. “I already told your men what I’ve heard. There’s a rat in your house. Someone under your roof.”
Maximo’s gaze narrows. “Who?”
“I don’t know.” The man shrugs. “We operate in small units; each one only knows what they need for their jobs. Whoever it is, they’re feeding Kirill enough to keep him ahead of you.”
I see the way Maximo’s mind is already turning, lining up possibilities. Then his expression hardens.
“Feeding him, indeed. Find Francis,” he tells his men. “Now. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he hasn’t ever missed a day of work in his life before today.”
My stomach drops.
Not Francis.
I feel the air in the room shift. If Francis really is gone, it might mean the leak had been sitting, or at least serving, at Maximo’s table all along.
The idea that the chef betrayed us feels wrong. If he really wanted to hurt Maximo, why not just poison him in any one of the many meals he made for him?
“What are you going to do with him now?” I ask Maximo, nodding toward the Russian hostage.
He addresses the men from Paul’s crew who have been helping him since yesterday. “I know you’re exhausted, but I’ve got one more job for you. Take our friend to the junkyard outside the city and get rid of him.”
“You want him in the grinder?” one of them asks as casually as if Maximo asked him to take out the garbage.
“He’s been helpful. Shoot him first, then the grinder,” Maximo replies.
The Bratva agent slumps in his bonds, and my stomach sinks right along with him. I wait until Paul’s men have carried him from the basement, then turn to Maximo. “You told me you don’t kill without cause,” I say quietly. “So, tell me how this is still a cause, Maximo. If bodies keep turning up, even the district attorney you’ve bought and paid for will have to charge you.”
“You came here for a body count,” Maximo reminds me with a raised eyebrow.
“I came here to find out who murdered my father and kill them. Nothing we’ve done so far has brought me any closer to killing Kirill Volkov. All we’ve done is leave a trail of bodiesthat’s eventually going to lead back to you! I don’t want to see you throw your entire empire away over my revenge. I’m not worth it.”
“This war isn’t just about your revenge anymore, Constance. It’s about you. And you are worth it to me. The Volkov family knows what you mean to me now, and they’ve decided that the easiest way to hurt me is through you.”
“But these men we’ve murdered…” I try to argue.
“Killing a soldier in a war isn’t murder,” Maximo practically growls. “Those men at the dock shot at us first. There is no crime, no murder in defending yourself. That’s what I’m doing, Constance. I’m defending myself from these bastards encroaching into my territory. My family helped build the city, and I’ll be damned to hell before I let the Volkovs take it from me. If you want out, then just say so, firefly,” he murmurs. “I’ll put you somewhere safe and let you rebuild. But if you stay… you stay with me. All the way.”
“No, I don’t want out!” I protest as I wrap my arms around him and lean my head on his chest. “I’m just worried about you getting hurt.”
He kisses the top of my head. “Then stay with me. Let’s get your revenge and rebuild. Together.”
“Okay,” I easily agree. “What should our next step be?” I ask him as we hold each other close.
“If Francis is the informant, then with him gone, we should be able to make a plan that will catch the Volkovs by surprise,” he says. “We’ll figure out a way to strike back, hitting them harder than they expect.”
And for the first time since my father died, I’m not afraid. I’m ready.
25
“The kitchen teaches you everything you need to know, discipline, patience, and when it’s time to turn up the heat.”
—ROBERT MONROE
