Black Kat
Authors: Kirsten DeMuzio
Black Kat
Kirsten DeMuzio
Copyright © 201
4 by Kirsten DeMuzio
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author except where permitted by law.
Published by
Kirsten DeMuzio
9054
Tabernash Drive
Columbus, Ohio 43240
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Cover design by Kirsten
DeMuzio
CONTENTS
Reaching behind her, Kat pulled the gun from the waistband of her jeans and slowly walked to stand
over the man kneeling before her. His breath was coming in harsh bursts, and he shifted restlessly on his knees with his hands tied behind his back. With the gun resting against her outer thigh, Kat took a step forward, the soles of her boots stepping on the damp concrete of the warehouse floor. Not unlike the concrete floor of the basement she was intimately familiar with - because of this man.
Kat
felt detached from her own body in this surreal experience. She tested out her arm by slowly raising the gun. Kat could have sworn she was shaking, trembling so badly she nearly fell to her knees on the hard floor. Yet when she looked down the barrel of the gun she held pointed at the forehead of the man kneeling before her, her hands were steady. Her body was maintaining the control her mind was quickly losing.
This was the moment she had been working toward for the last eight years. The only thing she had allowed herself to focus on was now
in front of her. It was time to face her past and put it to rest - once and for all. Leaning forward, Kat pulled the black hood covering her enemy’s head. With one swift movement the hood was gone, and the face Kat had been searching for was revealed.
Cocking her head to the side, Kat studied the features that held no familiarity for her. And yet the knowledge that he was the one who had been responsible for ruining her life sent a surge of hatred barreling through her body. Her steady hands now began to shake
for real, causing the gun to tremble ever so slightly. She heard movement behind her and gave a sharp shake of her head, once again steadying the gun. This man was hers, and hers alone, to deal with. This was her revenge.
As he
saw who it was he was kneeling before, the man’s face lost its fearful expression and his eyes roamed greedily over Kat’s body. Her skin crawled as surely as if he had touched her with his hands. A low growl rumbled from the one who stood behind her. Kat squared her shoulders and lifted her chin.
“
Who the fuck are you?” the man grunted.
Kat heard movement from behind her again, and the man’s expression once again
became fearful. No doubt because he had seen who stood behind Kat, and he clearly understood what that meant for him.
Angry that his reaction was to the
person behind her standing quietly in the shadows and not because she held a gun to his head, Kat moved her finger off the trigger and gripped the butt of the gun in her fist.
“Look at m
e!” she shouted as she brought the gun swinging across the left side of his face. Not hard enough to knock him out, but with enough force to get his attention. Turning his head, he spit out blood onto the damp concrete floor.
“Cunt,” he muttered under his breath.
Kat smiled to herself and narrowed her eyes. That one word was enough to set her blood boiling and remind her of the reason she was here in the first place.
Closing her eyes for a brief
second, Kat considered this turning point in her life. Everything she had been and done for the past eight years had led up to this moment. If she did this, there would be no turning back. Taking a life would forever brand her as a killer, regardless of the justification behind the action.
The choice
she held in her hands was about more than just pulling the trigger. It was a choice between the frightened girl she had been and the strong fearless woman she had become. For someone who had been denied choice once in her life, Kat fully understood the weight of this decision.
With a deep breath, Kat opened her eyes and made her choice.
The cool January air whipped Alexander’s
black jacket open as he stepped out of his private jet on the tarmac at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. The temperature was only fifty degrees, but it might as well have been a heat wave. Having just returned from eight inches of snow in New York City, Alexander welcomed the milder climate with open arms.
A limo was
waiting, and Alexander slid smoothly into the back seat. Once there, he leaned his head briefly back against the headrest and closed his eyes. Trying to cram five days of business into three wasn’t the smartest idea he had ever had. It was mid afternoon, but it may as well have been midnight with the way his mind was shutting down.
The screen separating the front seat from the back lowered, and the driver
’s eyes met Alexander’s in the rearview mirror.
“Going straight to the casino, Mr.
Petrovsky?”
Alexander checked his watch.
“No, George. I need to stop by the gym first. Please call Mr. Wells and let him know of my change in plans.” Alexander had lost the thick accent he had when he first moved to this country seventeen years earlier, though a light yet distinct Russian accent remained.
“Yes, sir.”
The screen rose back up, and Alexander pushed up his sunglasses to pinch the bridge of his nose while watching the scenery go by in silence. He could feel the beginnings of a migraine coming on, and the best way to ward it off before it grabbed hold was with exercise. Or sex. But given his generally shitty mood and current lack of a partner who didn’t annoy him every time she opened her mouth, exercise was the more practical choice.
Over the past forty eight hours, Alexander ha
d ignored no less than seven calls from Lauren, his most recent companion. As with every woman he was involved with, however briefly, he had made it clear up front what his expectations and limitations were. Namely, his expectations were sex and occasional companionship at a business dinner or charity function, and his limitations were emotional involvement of any sort. He was a busy man. Too busy for any type of a relationship that extended beyond the bedroom or the boardroom.
As they drove
from the airport through the suburbs and into the rougher neighborhoods of Las Vegas, the scenery changed from middle class planned communities to run down, abandoned duplexes and warehouses. Dane Jordan’s gym was located in a large converted warehouse in the middle of one of the worst areas in the city. Inside there were mats, punching bags and a boxing ring in place of treadmills and free weights. This wasn’t the type of place to charge a monthly membership fee and provide free towels and bottles of water. It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t even clean. But it was the best place in the city to get out aggression and sweat away stress.
Luke
Wells’ black SUV with its darkly tinted windows was waiting when George pulled the limo into the gravel parking lot of Dane’s gym. There were no windows on the exterior of the warehouse and no sign indicating what took place inside.
“Thank you, George. Please take my luggage back to
The Onyx,” Alexander said as he stepped from the dark interior of the limo out into the bright Las Vegas sunshine.
“Yes, sir,” replied George with a tip of his hat.
Alexander motioned for Luke to follow him inside the warehouse and slipped in through the side door. There wasn’t much activity there in the middle of the day, and Alexander thought this might be a better time to work out than his usual early morning routine. Although getting away from the casino during the day always proved to a challenge. There always seemed to be a VIP client that required his attention or mountains of paperwork to sign that Janice did her best to organize for him.
“How was your trip?” Luke asked as he handed over the black duffel bag to Alexander.
Alexander grunted his response and retreated to the single bathroom in the corner of the building. Luke waited while he changed and then gave Alexander a quick rundown of what he had missed over the last two days. Alexander flexed his fingers and wrapped his hands in preparation for a few rounds of sparring with Dane while listening to Luke.
The day to day operations of Alexander’s casino and hotel,
The Onyx, were overseen by his assistant, Janice. Luke, however, was Alexander’s right hand man when it came to his other business dealings. His less reputable and considerably more profitable business dealings.
“Ramsey’s holding out, trying to negotiate a better deal.”
Alexander shook his head in disgust. Mayor Ramsey had been on Alexander’s payroll since he had taken office last year. Apparently the power had gone to his head if he thought he could negotiate with Alexander Petrovsky.
“I don’t negotiate,” Alexander said flatly.
“Do you want me to send Dimitri to pay him a visit?” Luke asked. Dimitri Petrovsky was Alexander’s cousin and was always eager to enforce Alexander’s deals.
“No, not yet.
The good mayor will be attending the charity event this weekend. I will talk to him myself. If he still refuses to be reasonable, then we’ll send Dimitri.” Alexander glanced over at Luke. “Speaking of my dear cousin, did he behave himself while I was gone?”
Luke scoffed, “As much as he always does. But nothing like last time.”
When Alexander was out of town, Dimitri seemed to think he was in charge and tended to take liberties that weren’t his to take.
“Good. Continue to keep an eye on him. Family or not, if he steps out of line again, he’s done,” Alexander commanded.
Luke nodded his agreement.
Dane saluted them from across
the large open space, signaling he was finishing up with a client.
“Anything else of interest occur while I was away?” Alexander asked
Luke, though his attention was captured by Dane. And the woman he was working with.
“The FBI paid their weekly visit. Other than that, all was quiet.”
The organized crime unit of the Las Vegas bureau was always interested in Alexander’s business dealings. And not the ones that took place within the casino walls.
“I hope you gave Agents Lewis and
Bass my best,” Alexander replied drily.
Luke
chuckled. “Of course.”
Alexander watched with unconcealed interest as Dane played out what had to be a self defense scenario with the woman he was working with.
At least that’s what Alexander assumed, as he didn’t know Dane to be a proponent of violence against women.
Wh
en she turned to walk away from him, Dane grabbed her long dark blonde ponytail in his fist and yanked her head back - hard. She stumbled but quickly regained her footing. Before Alexander could blink, she grabbed the hand that held her ponytail and spun to the side, throwing all her weight against the back of Dane’s arm. If he hadn’t been the highly trained ex-Navy seal that he was, she could have easily dislocated his elbow with that move.
But she wasn’t done.
While Dane simulated holding his arm and leaning over, she brought one knee up into his groin and then both elbows down on his back, sending him sprawling to the mat.
“Not bad,”
Luke murmured his approval.
Not bad at all
, Alexander thought. The woman, or girl since she couldn’t be much older than early twenties, if that, could take out any average man with those moves.
She was
of average height, maybe 5’7”, and slender, though Alexander could see from across the gym that she was extremely fit and toned. He continued to watch as she spoke with Dane for a few more minutes, seemingly going over the techniques they had just practiced. In the years he had been working with Dane, he had never seen a woman in here before. Dane wasn’t known for offering self-defense classes for bored housewives or college coeds.
Dane gave her a casual pat on the back before turning to walk toward Alexander and Luke. The woman turned her head in their direction as well, and her eyes met Alexander’s.
She looked straight at him, as though she knew he had been watching her. She held his intense gaze for a moment, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly and her chin tilting upward. If Alexander hadn’t been watching her so intently he would have missed the movement, which seemed to him to be some sort of a challenge. And Alexander never backed down from a challenge.
The
woman broke eye contact first, not because she seemed uncomfortable, but because she chose to. Alexander continued to watch as she pulled on a black jacket and zipped it up over the tight black tank top she wore over black leggings. Only then did he notice the dog lying near the wall. A fierce looking Rottweiler, whose eyes never left the woman. She walked over and leaned down to pet the dog. A smile graced her face. A face that had been beautiful before with high cheekbones and full lips, was now softened by the fleeting smile. Then her eyes cut back to his, and the smile was gone. She said something to the dog, who immediately stood and trotted after her out the door.
“Didn’t expect you in today,” Dane said as he reached the spot where Alexander and
Luke stood and shook hands with both men.
“
Mmm hmm,” Alexander murmured, his eyes still on the door through which the woman had disappeared. “Who was that girl?”
Dane glanced over his shoulder. “That was Kat. Kat Rossi.”
“I didn’t know you offered self-defense classes,” Luke interjected.
“I don’
t,” Dane replied evenly. “And that’s exactly what I told her when she walked in here three years ago. Do you know what she said?” he asked with a slight smile. “She said ‘I don’t just want to learn how to kick some asshole in the balls. I want to learn how to take down a man twice my size with my bare hands’. How could I refuse a challenge like that?” Dane laughed to himself at the memory.
“You’ve been training with her for three years? You must know her well,” Alexander commented.
Dane took one look at the pensive expression on Alexander’s face and shook his head. “No. No way, man. She’s not your type.”
Alexander raised an eyebrow. “Ah. Is she yours?”
“No. Not that the thought didn’t cross my mind. But she’s young, and…guarded. It took six months of training five days a week before she let me put my hands on her. I don’t know what her story is, but she is not someone you should play with.”
Alexander nodded thoughtfully. Dane was likely right. She did seem young, though he wouldn’t have described her as guarded. Her eyes had been piercing when she looked at him
, issuing an unspoken challenge to stay the fuck away from her. Either she didn’t know who he was, which was unlikely given his visibility in this city, or she didn’t care. Alexander was betting on the latter. Whoever she had been three years ago, she was now strong and confident. Watching her for mere minutes had let him know that.
“You up for going into the ring today?”
Dane asked hopefully. Alexander was one of only a few clients that gave him a run for his money in the ring.
“Yes, that’s exactly why I’m here. Just give me a moment to finish up some business with
Luke.”
“Sure thing, buddy,” Dane said, slapping Alexander on the shoulder as he walked away toward the ring.
Alexander waited until Dane was out of earshot before lowering his voice and doing exactly what Dane had warned him not to do. “Find out everything you can about Kat Rossi. Everything.”