“You want me to do what?” Alexi Russo demanded in a controlled tone as she stared at the brown-eyed man whose normally tanned skin was paler these days.

Sergei Krovopuskov studied her patiently as he virtually slumped on the sofa in the medium sized room. The lights were dimmed lower than she would have liked, but Sergei told her the bright light hurt his eyes.

Her grandfather had cancer and was dying. He only had four months, tops, to live, but he seemed to be fading faster than Alexi knew his wife and family wanted him to be.

“I don’t believe I stuttered, as you young Americans say,” he said calmly.

Alexi laughed. “I don’t think anyone says that anymore,” she exclaimed as she came out of her seat. “I couldn’t have heard you right because I’m a club owner. I don’t traffic anything.”

“I hear your federal government is taking a closer look at your club Boys Only.”

She frowned. The male gay club was under close scrutiny these days, that was true, but she wasn’t about to make any moves that helped the feds put her in a cage.

“What does the one thing have to do with the other?” she asked carefully as she put her hands on the top of the chair she’d been sitting in.

“I was merely pointing out you’re already suspected of doing just that.” Sergei shrugged his thin shoulders. However, his eyes shone with calculation. “Alexandra, you are one of the best businesswomen in this family. You’re strong, savvy, and wealthy.”

“Dedushka, with all due respect—”

“Alexandra,” he cut in tiredly. “I don’t have time for games. I need an answer to the requests I have made.”

She drew in a breath slowly and released it. “Why me? I thought Sergei was going to handle the family’s interests here.”

“He will be handling what I told him to deal with, but things have changed a bit since last we’ve talked. That is why I’m here,” he said. “I need to do this in a hurry. If I am right, I won’t have much time.”

She had seen him a week ago. The plan had been to meet in Russia, but he’d come to America instead.

“I know things are happening faster than expected,” Alexi said quietly. “But you promised me you wouldn’t force me into something like this.”

“I’m not asking you to handle drugs,” he told her. “This will be very lucrative for both you and Sergei as well as establish you both as top players.”

“Sex is my business, and I’m damn good at it.”

“Yes, you are,” he said firmly. “You have the kind of safety net I have established in Europe for us. I want that here for the family as well. I’ve already begun weaving my net with your small one in Belgium, Switzerland, and Greece.”

“It’s nothing,” she said with a wave of her hand. “They’re just business contacts.”

Some of the work she’d done in Europe and the Middle East—security, rescue, and recovery jobs she still funded—depended on her making connections in and around the Middle East. However, Switzerland and Belgium were where she could vanish without any problems.

Her contacts in those two countries got her people anything they needed to vanish from there.

“Your ties with ours will make this family stronger and difficult to beat.”

“I’m an asset.”

“And the American power of the family,” he told her. “Sergei will need that behind him if he is to succeed in the early days and by doing as I request it will cement your bond with him as allies.”

“My brother—”

“Isn’t going to survive long if what I think is coming is coming,” he broke in. “I’m not certain, but the whispers on the wind could be correct or just rumor.”

Alexi tensed. “What do you think is coming?”