Boom!
Jason’s scalp prickled.
Every muscle in his face went rigid, and cold sweat seeped down his back.
After standing frozen for several seconds, he forced out a casual laugh.
“Boss, that’s a hell of a joke. Everyone in New York’s underworld knows Vanessa is your woman. Give me ten times the guts and I still wouldn’t dare.”
“Is that so?” Kingpin’s voice turned chilling.
“On the third day after I left New York, you had a candlelit dinner with Vanessa at a British restaurant.”
“On the fourth day, you went shopping together on Fifth Avenue, then visited an art exhibition.”
“On the fifth day, you went to Vanessa’s place and showed off your Chinese cooking. After dinner, you even gave her a box of her favorite milk chocolates.”
Kingpin spoke slowly, without the slightest hint of joy or anger, but every word made Jason’s heart climb higher into his throat.
He could swear to God that he hadn’t told a single soul about what was going on between him and Vanessa.
Whenever they went out these past few days, he’d gone completely incognito, sunglasses, mask, hat, the whole package.
He always took taxis and never drove his own car.
He paid for meals in cash and never used a credit card.
He’d already been as careful as humanly possible.
And Kingpin had still found out.
Jason’s expression grew grave.
His heartbeat accelerated, and his free hand clenched tightly into a fist.
“Today, you and Vanessa spent the entire afternoon alone in that apartment. So I imagine you can answer my question now.”
Kingpin paused.
“Jason. What was it like sleeping with Vanessa?”
The instant Kingpin finished speaking, the mountain of pressure weighing down on Jason suddenly vanished.
He understood.
Things had already gone this far.
Fear and anxiety weren’t going to change anything.
Jason had spent years as Kingpin’s lieutenant.
He knew the man almost better than Kingpin knew himself.
There was no longer any second path open to them.
One of them had to die.
“Hahahaha!” Jason gripped the phone and burst into an almost deranged laugh.
“You really want to know, Kingpin?”
His laughter gradually faded.
Jason brought the phone close to his mouth and lowered his voice.
“The answer is… fucking your woman felt incredible.”
BANG!
A tremendous crash came from the other end of the call.
Nine chances out of ten, Kingpin had just flipped a table.
“FUCK YOU, JASON!” Kingpin roared.
Jason shook his head.
He could easily imagine Kingpin right now, raging like an enraged lion.
“FUCK YOU! YOU’RE FINISHED! YOU’RE FUCKING DEAD!”
Kingpin had completely lost control and was teetering on the edge of a rampage.
The last man who’d made him this furious had gotten his skull crushed in a car door.
But instead of being afraid, Jason decided to throw another log on the fire.
“Uh-huh. Still alive over here. If you’ve got the balls, come crawl through the phone and hit me.”
Another series of violent crashes erupted from the other end.
After a while, Kingpin finally managed to regain control of himself.
His heavy breathing rasped through the speaker.
“Don’t be impatient, Jason. I’ve already sent the Ranskahov brothers to see you.”
Jason frowned.
He strode toward the window, shoved it open, and looked down.
Five black Chevrolet vans came speeding along the avenue in the distance.
They screeched to a halt several dozen yards from the apartment building.
The doors flew open.
More than twenty masked, heavily built men carrying firearms piled out.
“Hahahaha. Judging by the timing, they should be there by now,” Kingpin said smugly.
“But I’ve changed my mind.”
“So, Jason… run.”
“Run while you still can.”
“And whatever you do, don’t let the Ranskahov brothers kill you.”
“Fuck your mother!” Jason cursed and hurled the phone into the wall.
CRACK!
The legendary indestructible Nokia instantly exploded into a pile of parts, while a small crater appeared in the solid concrete wall.
[Ding! Quest triggered]
━━━━━ QUEST ━━━━━
[Escape the Russian Mafia’s manhunt]
Friendly reminder: Enemy forces will arrive on the battlefield in thirty seconds.
🎁 Reward: 500 Villain Points
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
“Yeah, thanks so fucking much for the reminder!” Jason swore and charged into the bedroom.
He’d been wondering why Kingpin had suddenly become so talkative.
Jason had assumed the betrayal by one of his most trusted men had shaken him badly enough to make him ramble.
It had never crossed his mind that the bastard was deliberately stalling for time.
Kingpin might look like some muscle bound brute who’d replaced his brain with another bicep, but the man was shrewder than almost anyone Jason knew.
And Jason had just fallen straight into his trap.
Back in the bedroom, Jason tore off his bathrobe and started getting dressed.
“Wow. I could stare at that body for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.”
Vanessa had woken up at some point and was now sitting upright on the bed, staring openly at Jason.
And she wasn’t exaggerating.
Jason’s physique was a feast for the eyes.
Broad shoulders.
Thick pectorals.
Abdominal muscles as hard as steel.
Every muscle on his body looked as though it had been carved into shape with a chisel.
But what fascinated Vanessa most were the countless scars crisscrossing his body.
Gunshot wounds.
Knife wounds.
Scars and bruises left behind by clubs, fists, and boots.
One of Vanessa’s favorite things to do was lie against Jason’s chest, run her palm over those scars, and listen as he told her the story behind each one.
“Quit drooling.” Jason finished dressing with remarkable speed.
“Kingpin knows about us. The people he sent to kill me are almost here.”
“What?!” The color immediately drained from Vanessa’s face.
Before she could ask anything else, Jason grabbed the mattress with both hands and flipped it up.
Still tangled in the comforter, Vanessa rolled straight off the bed and hit the floor.
She scrambled upright.
“FUCK YOU, JASON—”
Clutching her head, she was about to unleash another string of curses when Jason reached into the hollow bed frame and pulled out a shotgun.
Vanessa’s eyes widened.
Whatever she’d been about to say died in her throat.
Organized crime was a high-risk profession.
Getting cornered in your own home and surrounded by armed enemies was an occupational hazard.
As one of the best in the business, there was no way Jason wouldn’t prepare an escape plan.
Hidden beneath the bed in his master bedroom was an entire cache of weapons and equipment.
Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun ×1
Colt M4A1 carbine ×1
Beretta M9 pistols ×2
Each firearm came with three fully loaded magazines.
MK3A2 offensive hand grenades ×2
SOV-3,000 full-coverage body armor ×1
80-meter high-strength rappelling rope ×1
Bulging black duffel bag ×1
Jason picked up the eighteen pound body armor and put it on.
Three layers of ceramic ballistic plates had already been fitted into its lining.
The armor was rated Level IV, enough to withstand armor-piercing rounds from the front.
Jason remained completely calm.
Vanessa, on the other hand, stared at him in disbelief.
Lunatics.
Every last one of these people is completely insane.
I’m staying as far away from men like this as possible from now on.
Vanessa’s expression darkened.
She gathered her clothes from the floor, wrapped herself in the comforter, and marched barefoot out of the apartment.
She was Kingpin’s woman.
The Ranskahov brothers wouldn’t dare touch her.