Chapter 18

Gage looked at himself in the mirror, running a hand down over the light beard he was growing in. Fuck, he was a handsome bastard. His hands came down to the midnight blue suit jacket straightening it out on his large frame. He left the top few buttons of his white dress shirt undone. Underneath the jacket, he had two handguns holstered. Two were better than one, right?

He reached into the pocket of his matching blue dress pants and retrieved his keys. Layne would pitch a fit if he was late, and Joey would throw punches if he was. Leaving his condo in Hudson Yards, he arrived at O'Reilly Manor about twenty minutes later.

Before he stepped up to the front door, it opened and Layne emerged. He gave a large smile seeing her all dressed up for her meeting with Kuznetsov. She had on a pair of smokin' hot black boots that stopped right above her knees. The black dress she had on nearly looked painted onto her athletically fit body and all of its delicious curves. The long sleeves had cutouts exposing the tops of her shoulders. His cock was already beginning to stir to life, especially when he saw the decorative chain around her waist that was useless in serving its purpose as a belt. Fuck, he was going to have fun with that later.

Joey stepped out behind her wearing his black tactical pants and shirt, indicating he was on his way out to take care of his more violent business dealings for the evening. He leaned over and drew Layne into a deep kiss, thoroughly enjoying the taste of her mouth before he pulled back. "Try not to piss off anybody too much tonight." His eyes darted over at Gage silently expressing the same sentiment towards his younger brother. The last thing he wanted to find out was that the two of them both lost their tempers.

Layne smirked. "Never." Her hands dropped down to his firm ass giving it an appreciative squeeze. The way his pants hugged his behind was something she wished she could stare at all day long. "I would like you to come back in one piece. So, be careful and don't go getting yourself killed, okay?"

He grinned. "Never gonna happen." Joey looked over at Gage and gave him a nod. "She's all yours." They clasped hands and gave a brief hug with a hand patting each other's back.

After Joey left in his Challenger, Gage gave her another appreciative once over with his light brown eyes before walking her to his vehicle. Layne abruptly stopped as he led her to the doorless, busted-up army-green TJ Jeep Wrangler with a tan hard top. "Are you kidding me?"

He hopped into the driver's seat and smiled at her. "What? It's a classic."

"It looks like a death trap." She was pretty sure that it was stubbornly clinging to the last moments of its life as she heard Gage turn the key and the engine rumbled and sputtered.

"Put your ass in the seat, Layne."

She shook her head and climbed in, adjusting her dress to keep it secure around her thighs. Layne made sure her seatbelt was strapped securely around her body. They put doors on cars for a reason and here she was tempting fate in the open vehicle.

He reached over and grabbed the seatbelt and gave it a firm yank with a bit of mischief in his eyes.

"Gotta make sure you're tied down."

In what seemed like such an innocent gesture of double-checking the seatbelt, his words sank deep to her core imagining a series of intense scenarios all leaving her aching between her thighs.

Seeing a tint of pink appearing on her cheeks he chuckled to himself before sitting back in his seat and pulling away from the curb.

When they arrived at the agreed-upon nightclub, Alexei had his favorite table reserved for the occasion. Layne and Gage were escorted through the maze of tables tucked at the back of the establishment. The man guiding them was of average height, had a shiny bald dome of a head, and the personality of a paperclip.

He led them both to a table in the back corner where Kuznetsov rose from his seat, having a guard flanked at either side of him. Alexei may have been a small player in the game, but there was plenty of potential to turn him into a useful ally.

The man standing to greet her looked every bit his age and was approaching his golden retirement years. His goatee was showing the grey overwhelming the light brown and the same mixture of the two colors occurred on his shortly cropped hair. The lines around his eyes and across his face spoke to the toll the hard years had taken on him.

Alexei's suit was grey but almost looked silver with the sheen of its material. He gave her a polite smile as he opened up his arms. "Pchelka, so nice to see you." He leaned in to wrap his arms around her while pressing a brief kiss to both of her cheeks.

Gage visibly stiffened in his stance as he watched Alexei's every move. Polite greeting or not, he didn't like watching another man touch even breathing on her.

Layne returned the greeting, not looking to offend the man she hoped to get information from. "It has been a while, hasn't it?" She gave him a light smile.

The Russian gestured for her to take a seat as he took his own across from her. "Last I recall, you were just barely a woman and now look at you. You are like a beautiful blossomed flower." He grinned at the sight of a matured Layne in comparison to what he remembered her as when she was a young lady still trying to grow into all her curves.

He motioned with two fingers for the man on his right to pour a drink for Layne from the open bottle of premium vodka sitting on the table.

Layne sat in the chair, crossing one slender thigh over the other not bothering to glance behind her to ensure Gage was nearby. The scent of his delectable spiced vanilla cologne gave his presence away and provided her reassurance. Her hand reached out and took the glass full of vodka and raised it slightly in Alexei's direction, "Vyp'yem."

He did the same in return, echoing her toast in his native language before drinking from his glass. Layne sipped the vodka, which by far had to be one of her least favorite drinks of choice.

"I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me," she began, "I don't think it's any secret what I want to discuss with you. I'm sure you've already heard about what happened at my favorite little watering hole."

With his glass still hanging from his fingers, he extended his hand to one of his men, and with a snap, there was a cigar being handed to him. After getting it lit, he sat back and let his mind ponder over his carefully worded response. "Yes. Word travels quickly. You know who is responsible for such a disrespectful act?"

She gave a small shrug. "I have my suspicions. I was hoping that maybe you'd help to confirm them." Her eyes stared at him to reflect the serious nature of her inquiry.

He laughed before taking another puff from his cigar, blowing the smoke up into the air above the table. "Me?" He smiled in amusement. "Pchelka, you must think me a fool. If I knew, I would be wise to keep my mouth shut, just as you would be wise to heed such a stern warning."

Layne drew another sip of the vodka into her mouth. "Alexei, don't fucking play games with me. Your little weasels have their hands in a little bit of everything, I'm sure somebody knows something." That earned her an irritated grunt from one of Kuznetsov's guards, apparently he didn't like being called a weasel.

Still donning his smile, he shifted his gaze over her body. "I might know a thing or two. For a price." He ran his tongue over his lips like a wolf eyeing up a lamb.

She could feel his eyes trying to burn a hole through her clothing and what lay underneath. Now it was her turn to laugh. "Oh, who is playing who for a fool, now?"

He shrugged casually. "Everyone must pay for something, yes?"

While he wasn't wrong, but Layne wasn't about to earn a reputation for fucking every faction head in the city anytime she needed something. She stood, causing not just Alexei's guards to shift into a state of readiness, but Gage tensed up in his stance.

Layne stepped over to the Russian, bending over at her waist while leaning down to bring her face up close to his. Her words melted into a sultry whisper. "Oh, Alexei." She drank down the rest of her vodka and placed the glass between his legs on the seat of his chair.

It took everything Gage had not to intervene and tell Layne to stop playing with goddamn fire. She was toying with a very dangerous man, and teasing another—him. The way she was bent over, the hem of her dress was threatening to reveal what lay underneath forcing Gage to swallow down a groan. He mentally reminded himself what his purpose was here, and it sure as hell wasn't sinking his cock into her in the middle of the club.

She pressed the side of the glass forward between Kuznetsov's legs, bringing it up against the package bulging against the crotch of his pants. Layne's lips found his ear where she whispered something only meant for his ears. It prompted Alexei to visibly shift in his seat.

Layne straightened up, leaving the glass where it was on his seat. "I want a name." She stared down at the man seated before her.

He cleared his throat. "I once told your father that you would make a nice printsessa for one of my sons. I misjudged. You are more like your father than I realized. I think you will find the answers you are looking for over at a little souvenir shop across from the Empire State Building." He placed his serving of vodka down on the table.

Her look turned dark as she got the answer she was looking for. "Thank you."

As she stepped away from him, his hand suddenly grabbed her wrist. Layne looked down at his tight hold on her, his grasp engulfing the narrowest part of her arm. She flexed her arm, pulling on his hold as she looked up to see his eyes.

"Be sure of your actions, pchelka. You do not want to lay judgment on the tiger only to be bitten by the snake." He released his hand from her.

She sat there thinking about his words and nodded. "Of course." Layne wasn't quite sure what he meant by the cryptic saying, but she wasn't going to let anyone in this city destroy her—tiger or snake.

Leaving the nightclub, she approached Gage's Jeep with determination in her steps. Before she could climb in, his hand grabbed her arm to turn her to face him. "What did you say to him in there that made him change his mind?"

Layne smirked. "That I knew his interests didn't lie in bedding the O'Reilly in front of him, that he would need to take a trip to visit Liam in Rikers Island to get his fix." Her devious little smirk grew before she added, "And that if he didn't give me what I wanted I would cut his balls out, place them in a glass, pour his shitty fucking vodka over them, and make him drink it all."

"That's fucked up." Gage stared at her knowing he should have been shocked, but found himself even more turned on knowing how she could hold her own in the big leagues.

"I know." She slid her arm out of his hold and got into the Wrangler.

After Gage joined her in the vehicle, he took a look at his phone and sent a text before tucking it back into his jacket pocket. He drove them back to his condo just south of Hell's Kitchen.

"What are we doing here?" She lifted a brow as he parked in the underground garage of a newly constructed building that laid residence to condos that were larger in square footage than the average American home. "Joey said he would meet us back at Cassidy's after he was done."

Gage didn't say anything when he hopped out of his seat and came over to her side. He reached over and pushed the release of her seatbelt, easing it off of her. "I told him there was a change of plans."

Her words held both irritation and suspicion. "What change in plans?" She hadn't been made aware of any changes, and she didn't like she was kept out of the loop. Layne got out of the Jeep and stared him down intently.

He took her jaw into his hand possessively. "Told him you were being a goddamn tease and you were going to learn what happens when you shake your ass at me like that." His words were firm and laced with lust-ridden intentions.