Page 44 of Sinful Lord

“Fritz Kahn?” I assume.

But when that thin bald man shares a quick glance with his neighbor, I know I’ve gotten them mixed up.

“Ah, you’re Sepp. That must be Fritz,” I point out.

“Enough of this,” Lothar grunts. “You’ve been giving my associate a hard time. I would appreciate it if you stopped.”

It’s hard to believe he’s talking about Yasha.

“And I would appreciate it if you gave me what I came for,” I snarl.

“What did you come for?”

“Answers. I know about your little sex slavery ring. I know about your connections to Yasha von Bingen. I know that a week ago, you tried to take a girl from a bar and someone stopped you…”

“Sounds like you already have all of your answers,” Lothar sneers back.

“I still need to know who stopped you.”

“You didn’t get a good look on the cameras either, huh?” Sepp mumbles out loud.

“So you have access to them too?” I ask, raising my brow.

Yasha really can’t keep it in her pants.

“It’s part of my arrangement with the associate who sent you here,” Lothar explains.

“So you saw what happened?”

“We did,” Lothar nods. “Well, as much as you have; as much as the cameras caught. We saw an armored vehicle racing towards our transport van. We saw a girl stumble away from the blind spot where the crash occurred, and we got glimpses of the devil who pursued her. Then, when we arrived for inspection, we saw that our entire crew had been massacred. We had to clean up the bodies of our friends before dawn. I can still feel their cold skin and taste the blood in the frigid air.”

“So it was you who cleaned the scene before I could get there…” I mumble to myself.

“Indeed. And now that we have apparently answered a question you had for us, I ask that you answer one for me: Who is that girl, and why is she so important to you?”

At first, the question sends a shock of primal adrenaline rushing through my body. If they’re interested in Melina and they have access to the city’s security cameras, then we’re in trouble.

But then a moment of clarity comes over me, and a new realization settles me back down.

If this is their big question, then they must not know who Melina is. Not yet. Thank god for that.

Still, their ignorance won’t last much longer. Someday, others are going to come to Berlin looking for the Kilpatrick princess, then the secret will be out.

Hopefully, Melina and I will be long gone by then.

“She’s a contract,” I lie. “A job that needs doing. That’s it.”

Lothar doesn’t seem convinced. “Our common associate has told me you are an important man in the underworld outside of ours. Surely, someone of your stature wouldn’t waste his time on someone unless they were important or valuable.”

“Yasha is misguided,” I grumble. “I’m a hired gun. Nothing more, nothing less. She must just think I’m bigger than I am because of other parts of me she’s experienced.”

That finally brings a smile to the ghoul’s weathered face. His cracked lips twist as he glances over to one of his men.

“As I suspected,” Lothar nods. “And the devil who chased your girl into the Spree river, is he part of your contract as well?”

I just shake my head as the realization sets in that these fuckers aren’t going to give me what I need. They’re just another dead end.

“I was hoping you’d know more about him than me,” I say.