Page 83 of Sinful Lord

“And I thought I was getting slow,” Maksim chuckles.

His voice snaps me out of my daydream. It’s only then that I notice a new barrel is pointed at me. It reaches out of the old man’s sleeve like some kind of violent card trick.

“What the fuck?”

“You wouldn’t believe how many sticky situation this thing has gotten me out of,” he smiles. “Now drop the gun.”

“No,” I sneer. Entrenching myself in the snow, I stiffen my trigger finger. “You’re not calling the shots here.”

“And you are?”

Our standoff simmers in the cold night like a boiling pot. Someone’s got to make the first move, but neither of us seem willing.

I can’t take the risk. Not with Melina waiting for me. Maksim surely feels the same way.

“What now?” I ask, quickly becoming impatient.

“You answer some clarifying questions,” he responds. “And I might just let you leave.”

“Or I could just shoot you,” I grunt.

“I promise to tag right back.”

“So what? We all bleed out on this cold dark Berlin street and leave Melina to fend for herself?”

“Her family knows where I am, it would only be a matter of time before they came looking for her.”

“We don’t have time. The devil has her. There’s no telling what he might do.”

That lifts Maksim’s brow. “So, you do know who took her?”

“I have my suspicions,” I grumble, feeling foolish for even considering them.

“Tell me.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“I promise to try.”

Shifting uncomfortably, I stare the old man deep in the eyes.

“Do you believe in ghosts?” I ask.

“No,” he says, shaking his head.

“Well, neither do I. But as far as I can tell, that’s the only answer to our little mystery.”

“You think a ghost took Melina?”

“I think my brother took Melina.”

Saying it out loud seems so foolish, but it’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I hardly even dared entertain the thought, let alone speak it. But now that it’s out, I can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

“Gabriel?” Maksim asks, cocking his head to the side.

“Not Gabriel,” I explain. “My older brother. Another adopted outcast. Though, not one that I ever liked.”

Maksim’s eyes grow wide as the realization sets in.