“My cousin Nicola has pulled off the impossible. She’s risen from the grave and has been making demands from her first breath.” He finished the second shot and shrugged. “If you’re here to do business with her, then my bluntness will give her an excuse to finish what she threatened. I’m not the kind of guy who’s going to live in fear until the bogeyman comes for real.”

“That makes two of us. Nicola has aimed her guns at my family as well, so I think we can be friends if only for one brief moment in time. We want the same thing.”

“What’s that?” He sat back and stretched his legs out, seeming relaxed.

“To live doing what we love without someone hovering close by, without someone constantly threatening to take it all away.” No one said anything for a good two minutes after she finished talking, but she expected it from Remi, Katlin, and Simon. She’d have to wait and see what Sacha’s silence meant.

“You want Nicola dead,” he said, not posing a question.

“Nicola’s a problem, and problems at times fester into something that becomes unmanageable. The best cure for festering is removing the irritant.”

“You have a talent with words as well as the truth.” He shook his finger at her and gave her a big belly laugh. “The only truth that counts now is if you’re here to ask my permission or my help.”

“If you want the same thing I do, then it’s time to commit. Only the simpleminded wait for permission.” She shrugged and he laughed. “Nicola is something both our families want gone, so we should do it together. That way we can’t push off the blame, and we both get what we want.” She circled the top of the empty shot glass with her index finger and waited.

“She still has friends in the family. Me gunning down my cousin won’t be something the rest of them will forget in a millennium. We’re Russian—our memories as well as our grudges last forever.”

“If you took over so easily, there have to be a few men you trust. Two cars and four men are all we need, along with a location.” She looked him in the eye, and he didn’t hesitate to hold out his hand. “Do you know where she is?”

“The bitch called me and handed me the head of my most trusted man. She did it because I tried taking what was hers, so she made sure I didn’t forget the lesson by taking something precious from me.” He punched his palm with his fist and made what sounded like a growl. “She should’ve stayed dead.”

“Then tell me where she is.”

“How do you know I can tell you?” His curiosity seemed to drown out his anger.