However, all thoughts of vengeance are momentarily interrupted when I see the woman who somehow managed to get under my skin. Sitting in the waiting area in the lobby, looking like sin dipped in jet-black ink, Stella rises from her seat the moment she spots me walking through the door.
“Sure took you long enough,” she says once I reach her. “I almost thought you weren’t coming.”
“I could say the same about you,” I shoot back, fighting the squeeze in my chest at the way her green eyes light up for me.
“And miss out on all the fun? Not a chance.” She hooks her arm through mine, eyes glinting. “Shall we?”
I’ve never wanted to kiss a woman more.
I lead her toward the elevator, but before calling it, I pull out my phone and bring up Sergei’s picture.
“This one is mine. Understood?”
She studies the photo for a full beat, memorizing every line of his face, then nods.
“If he’s yours, what’s left for me?”
“A dozen guards, give or take. Think you can handle that?”
“Oh, Kill, you have no idea,” she purrs, running a finger along my jaw.
I catch her by the wrist, holding her in place. “I know you’reexcited, but this isn’t a game. These men won’t go easy on you just because you’re a woman.”
“Good. I don’t want them to.”
Stella’s confidence shouldn’t rattle me, but it does. She has no idea what these men are capable of. And if they somehow get the drop on me and catch her…
“I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“Don’t worry about me,” she coos with a wicked grin. “It’s them you should be worried about. Now, are we doing this or not?”
I breathe her in and smirk. “Are you always this eager?”
“For the things I take pleasure in, yes.”
Blyad.The way she says those words with such conviction has my blood rushing straight to my cock. One day, I want to see that fire burn for me. But tonight isn’t that night. Tonight, we’ve got work to do.
“Then let’s dance, you and I.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” she says sweetly, rising onto her toes to press a quick kiss on the corner of my mouth.
Little troublemaker.
Once the elevator doors open, she steps inside. She leans back on the rail, radiating that effortless menace only she can pull off. Femme-fatale energy rolls off her in waves, dragging my gaze to the sleek line of her silhouette like gravity. As my eyes sweep over the skin-tight black ensemble she picked for tonight’s big event, something sharp catches the light—black throwing stars, and silver compact daggers. There’s steel in every shape and breed, tucked into her outfit like it was tailored to house them. Hidden just enough to be clever, and close enough to reach to be lethal.
This is going to be fun.
I take out the keycard that grants access to the penthouse level and join her.
“You don’t have your gun on you,” she notes, scrutinizing my outfit.
“Neither do you.”
“I prefer the hands-on approach. Guns take all the fun out of it.”
“I agree.”
Guns have their uses, but when vengeance is owed, nothing compares to the feeling of bones breaking beneath your own hands. It’s a truth I’ve lived by for years and one that Stella seems to understand and appreciate.
