Page 169 of Anton

Blyat. Love does make you reckless. When will I learn?

“He’s going to cry.” Aleksei’s face bunches with mock concern. “Kirill, get the camera.”

Kirill reaches for his phone, and I pull my gun from my waistband and set it on the table.

He raises both hands. “Or not.”

“Leave your poor brother alone.” Mikhail laughs. “A man doesn’t know what love is until it finds him.”

Arkady smacks the back of his hand against Mikhail’s chest. “You should know.”

Mikhail’s demeanor turns deadly, but Arkady’s grin only widens.

“What was her name again? Aster?”

Mikhail’s chest expands with a heavy breath. “Zakroy rot.” Shut your mouth.

Aleksei leans forward, suddenly interested. “Who is Aster?”

“Some woman who hated him,” Arkady says, enjoying every second of this. “It was when we came here last time. She thought he beat her deadbeat gambling boyfriend half to death for no reason. But he had a good one. Other than him being an asshole, of course.”

“What did he do?” I ask.

Arkady scoffs. “He tried to sell her to cover his debt. Told Mikhail he could do whatever he wanted with her for as long as he wanted if he wiped the debt clean.”

“I would have killed him,” I say.

“Trust me, I wanted to.” Rage coils through every line of Mikhail’s face.

I remember when they were here last, but I didn’t hear anything about this. Judging by the interest on Konstantin’s face, I don’t think he did either.

Five years ago, Mikhail and Arkady came for an extended visit to help Konstantin with debt collection tied to one of our underground gambling clubs. They spent too much time there, drank too much, caused problems for sport, and apparently found a woman Mikhail still pretends not to think about.

“I wonder what happened to her,” Arkady says.

Mikhail’s mouth flattens. “Who cares? I don’t think about her.”

See? Pretending. I actually know what that sounds like from experience now.

Arkady’s laughter grows. “You’re just jealous she liked me better. Maybe you can pretend to be me and she’ll actually want to fuck you.”

Mikhail shoots to his feet and grabs Arkady by the collar, yanking him forward in his chair. “Don’t talk about her again.”

“Enough.” Konstantin’s command cuts through the room.

Arkady keeps laughing, not even attempting to free himself. “See, boys? This is love, and it is beautiful.”

Mikhail’s fingers pinch around his collar, his murderous glare fixed on his twin.

The humor fades from Arkady’s face. “You know I would never touch her. She’s yours, if you can find her.”

“I could find her if I wanted to.” Mikhail releases him with a hard shove, sending him back against his chair. “I don’t.”

Arkady raises both hands. “Okay. I believe you.” Then he winks at the rest of us and leans toward Aleksei and Kirill. “Just kidding.”

Their laughter is cut short when Konstantin taps his knuckles against the table. “We are here for business, not gossip.”

Everyone turns toward him as he gets the meeting started. Thankfully. The faster I can get out of here, the better.