Chapter 9

Maksim~

K atja Volkov was a beautiful woman, but she was absolutely breathtaking when she was cumming for a man. The flush of pleasure that raced up her chest to her cheeks made her look like a wanton piece of art, and I couldn't wait until she was cumming on my cock. Now that she wasn't running from me, I was going to spend the entire night ruining her for all other men.

When I finally pulled my fingers out of her soaked cunt, I brought them up to my lips, and I wasted no time sticking them in my mouth, tasting her for the first time. As predicted, she tasted like I could spend hours with my face in between her thighs, and that's what I planned to do as soon as I got her to a hotel room.

I was just pulling my fingers out of my mouth when Katja finally opened her eyes, and they were glowing like the sun, desire looking incredible on her. Even in a dingy men's restroom with the scent of urine in the air, she looked fucking stunning.

"Are we leaving together, Katja?" I asked, getting straight to the point. "Or would you rather return to our table where we'll pretend that you just didn't cum on my fingers or that my tongue doesn't taste like your pussy?"

Her cheeks turned a bright red, and it looked good on her. "I…I'd like to…to leave together," she stammered a bit. "But…but there's something that I need to tell you."

My back immediately straightened with a simmering anger. If she was married, then we were going to have a problem. It would also explain why she'd been acting nervously at the table earlier. If you could cheat on your spouse without being nervous, then that was the official sign that your marriage was over.

"Are you married?" I asked, anger already lacing the edge of my voice. "Is that what you need to tell me?"

Katja's eyes widened, all that desire giving way to shock. "What? No," she rushed out. "No, I'm not married. What kind of person…" She started shaking her head. "Yeah, no. No, I'm not married."

The pressure in my chest eased a bit, and though she didn't stop me when I reached for her hips, something was still off. "Then what is it, lyublyu?"

Suddenly, she seemed to snap out of the moment, her eyes looking troubled again. "Not here," she said.

I arched a brow with confidence, my instincts never wrong. "Did you drive?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Normally, I'd escort a woman, but since I had no idea what this was, I thought it best if she had her car available in case our conversation didn't go well. While she'd said that she wasn't married, there were lots of other things that could become an issue once she confessed whatever it was that she had to say.

"Do you know where The Silk Robe is located?" I asked.

Katja shook her head. "No."

"Do you have a cellphone?"

She blushed. "Of course."

"I'll meet you there," I told her.

Suddenly, she looked unsure, but then quickly grabbed my arm. "Can we…can we walk out of here together? Can you…you walk me to my car? You know, so that it looks like we're together?"

I stared at her, and for some unknown reason, I wanted to put her at ease. I could admit that I'd never felt that particular need with a woman before, and so I wasn't sure what to do with the feeling. At any rate, my curiosity was too strong to ignore, so we were going to see this through, no matter where it led us.

"Of course, lyublyu."

That was another thing that was different. I hadn't ever called a woman by love, calling them doll as a default to calling them by their names. Names hadn't ever been important because I hadn't ever been in it for longer than one night. Granted, it was the same for Katja, but it still felt right calling her love.

Unlocking the restroom door, I held her hand in mine as we made our way through the bar and towards the front door. Even though everyone had their suspicions about what may or may not have happened in the restroom, no one was stupid enough to comment on it. Whatever they thought of Katja, they were going to keep those opinions to themselves.

Once we reached the sidewalk, I escorted her towards the parking lot on the side of the building, and after seeing her safely in her car, I waited until she was on the road before making my way back to my vehicle. As always, I glanced around to make sure that nothing or no one was coming at me from any angle, and when I reached my car, Jurik was already opening the door for me. While I didn't need a guard, I had agreed to one just to satisfy Avgust and Akim. Agreeing to a guard had been the only way that Akim would also agree to one.

"The Silk Robe," I instructed as I got into the backseat.

On the way to the hotel, I pulled out my phone, then dialed Avgust. Like always, he answered within a couple of rings, probably not wanting to wake the baby or his wife.

"Maksim."

"I am on my way to The Silk Robe," I told him. Though we owned several hotels in the state, The Silk Robe was the one that was guarded the heaviest since lots of the bratva used it.

"Okay," he drawled out. "And I need to know this…why?"

"Though it isn't anything that I cannot handle, the young lady in question was behaving nervously, and before we took things further, she had insisted that we needed to talk," I answered. "With everything that is going on, I thought it'd be best that you know."

"What are you thinking?"

"Nothing definitive yet, but there's something there, and I'm going to find out what it is," I told him.

"Be careful," he warned. "Women can be just as lethal as men."

"Oh, I'm aware," I chuckled.

After hanging up with Avgust, I thought about all the things that this could be, but I knew for certain that this had nothing to do with the Sartoris or O'Briens. Even if we didn't have an unspoken truce right now, neither outfit used women to do their dirty work. Of course, she could be working for someone else, need a favor for her strung-out boyfriend, or just wanted to discuss prices. Honestly, it could be anything, but for her sake, it better not be something that she couldn't walk back from.

When I finally entered the hotel lobby, it was to see Katja sitting patiently on one of the settees that decorated the place, and as I observed her, she seemed more nervous than she'd had when I'd had her locked in the men's restroom earlier. Whatever this was, I was feeling more and more wary about it.

As soon as I approached the settee, Katja was on her feet, fidgeting with her purse strap hung on her shoulder. "Maksim."

Having called ahead after getting off the phone with Avgust, we didn't need to check in at the reception area. Though The Silk Robe was owned by the bratva and was very well protected, I only reserved my rooms through the manager, and I never used the same room twice. For all that we like to preach about loyalty, money would always be a threat to our brotherhood, so a person could never be too careful.

At any rate, if Katja found it strange that we were heading straight for the elevators, she didn't comment on it. Instead, she silently followed me into the steel box, making me wonder what was so important that she'd follow me anywhere without question, even knowing who I was and what I was known for.

Once we reached the top floor, we got out, then headed down the hallway. Still choosing silence, we entered the suite, and when the door shut behind us, I made sure to lock it. With or without Katja here, I always locked any door that I was behind. Now, while most people would assume that the little measure of caution was because of the life that I led, they'd be wrong. I was in the habit of locking my doors because of Naslediye, my cat. She'd gotten out once, and I was man enough to admit that I had searched for the damn thing for hours before I'd finally found her sleeping underneath one of the rose bushes that decorated the left side of my home. I also named her the Russian word for legacy, letting Akim know that she was going to inherit all my wealth if he ever got on my nerves too much.

Forgetting about my damn cat, I made my way over to where Katja was standing in the middle of the room, then asked, "So, what is it that you wanted to tell me?"

With that simple question, her fingers turned white as she gripped the strap of her purse tighter, and I knew that whatever she wanted to say wasn't going to be good.

Letting out a deep breath, she finally asked, "Do…do you know someone…someone named Klive Simpson?"

I had my hand wrapped around her throat, and her body slammed up against the wall before she could bury herself deeper in the grave that I was going to dig for her.