The Sinner's Club [18+] Complete

chapter twenty-six.

HER HAIR IS like spun, caramel silk as I run my fingers through it. She's sleeping soundly and I want it to stay that way, so I am careful as I ease out of the bed and lift the blankets higher around her bare shoulders.

When I am dressed, my tie hanging loosely around my neck, I lean down and kiss her temple gently. "Ya tebya lyublyu," I whisper. I love you.

She makes a small sound but doesn't stir.

On the drive to the club, rain pattering on my windshield, I catalogue all the ways I can convince my father to fly back to Russia, where he belongs. Unfortunately, no one has ever had much luck in forcing Mikhail Ivanov to do anything.

Perhaps I should call my mother; she is the only one who might be able to recall him. Although that opens up an entirely different doorway to hell.

I am debating my options still as I step out of my car in the back parking lot of the club.

My eyes are immediately drawn to my father. He is standing under an awning, smoking a cigar.

I slip my keys into my pocket and approach him.

"The shipment comes in tonight at midnight," he tells me in Russian. "We need to move it before week's end."

I nod. "Earlier, if possible."

He grunts his agreement, and I turn to walk inside the club, but his next words make me freeze. "She is beautiful."

I immediately know who he is talking about. Movement becomes impossible; any flinch he will take as a sign of weakness.

"She would be a hard woman to resist, I imagine." He puffs on his cigar, not even looking at me. Slowly, I turn to face him.

"I don't know what you speak of," I lie, but my voice is not as strong as it should be, not as strong as it must be.

My father huffs out something close to a laugh. "Do not insult me by lying, son. We both know you're with her. You think I have not kept my eye on you?" He reaches out and clamps a hand on my shoulder. It feels like a vice. "You are my son; of course I have."

He has a spy then. Someone who is reporting back to him. Briefly, my mind flashes to Nathaniel. Whilst I trust him, I also know what he is capable of. But he would never put Gabi in harm's way—she is perhaps the only person he would never sacrifice—so that rules him out.

One of the club workers then.

Whoever it is, I will weed them out.

"Your information is faulty, father. Perhaps you cannot trust your mole as firmly as you believe." I lean in closer and echo words to him that he has long spoken to me; "The only ones you can truly trust in this life are family."

His smirk is crooked. "Indeed."

I go to turn away from him, but his hand catches my arm, holding tight. "You know, ever since you were a baby, I've always known you had a weakness inside you. I suppose I hoped I could burn it out." His mouth presses into a disappointed line. "Perhaps I was wrong."