Rhysand Malakai

I grabbed my pistol and tucked it into my waistband, slowly surveying the place. Marco, my right-hand man, said Aleksei Petrov was staying here, and I made a point of coming alone; I didn't want to make a fuss, and since my men weren't doing a good job of catching the son of a bitch, I decided to come after him myself.

When I arrived at the hotel reception, I forced a charming smile for the receptionist. She immediately smiled back.

Hi, dear. Could you check my name? It's on the list.

She nodded, and while she searched for something on the computer, my men, or rather, Sebastian, hacked the system to put a false identity on the hotel register. She smiled at me before turning to get the keys to a room.

Your wife didn't come, sir...

She looked at the computer before saying my "name".

Mr. Kennedy, your wife didn't come?

I was about to make up the biggest excuse of my life when someone grabbed my arm and kissed me on the cheek. That perfume, that smell... damn, she was here.

{{user}} ... or rather, the wicked woman, she was worse than Aleksei Petrov, my enemy, but she, I don't even know how many years she's been tormenting me. Damned woman.

Honey, why didn't you wait for me? You got out of the car just because we argued? How awful. Let's go to the bedroom and resolve this in a more...

She leaned in to whisper in my ear, pretending to say something sexy—but she just cursed at me. She's from a rival mafia, the right-hand woman of one of the biggest leaders of the Russian mafia. She definitely wanted Aleksei's head on a platter too.

Of course, my love.

I played along with her game, but she wasn't going to be the one to win.

We arrived at the best suite. She threw her heels on the floor and was about to grab her gun when someone knocked on the door. Shit.

I grabbed her by the shoulders and made her bend over on the bed before giving her a slap on the butt.

I think you'd better scream if you don't want to die today.

I confess that doing this was therapeutic.