Maybe that’s why I was caught off guard yet again.
He drove me against the wall, wrapping his thick fingers around my neck. Not only was my air supply immediately cut off, so was my voice. I tried to scream as I grabbed his arm with one hand, pummeling his chest with the other. But there was barely any sound, just a strangled hiss coming from my throat.
Almost instantly I was lightheaded, gasping for air as he stared down at me with hatred in his eyes and a smile on his face.
“Now, I’m going to try and forgive you for that, little pumpkin. You’re under stress. I’m going to take you back home with me where you’re going to learn some manners.”
“Don’t… touch…” They were the only two words I managed to whisper.
“I’ll touch you anywhere I want since you belong to me.” The bastard had the nerve to drive his hand between my legs. My reaction was swift. I grabbed his crotch, twisting.
He jerked away, immediately backhanding me. I was pitched into the corner, my ears ringing.
A haze formed over my tear-filled eyes. This just couldn’t be happening. He grabbed me again, squeezing my neck until I could no longer breathe.
I could tell I was close to blacking out, unable to see anything clearly. But my other senses were heightened.
Boom!
The room rocked as a door was pitched against the wall. Barely two seconds later, I could breathe again. I grabbed my throat, still terrified as I tried to understand what I was seeing.
In the horrible haze, I could tell someone had come to my rescue. Not just any man, but the very one I’d been pining away for since the first day I’d met him.
One powerful Russian with the sweetest demeanor and the kindest, most haunting eyes.
Sasha Dmitriyev.
I knew all about his reputation and that of his entire family. They were big, bad Russians, Bratva. Members of a crime syndicate. I’d been warned about taking the residency. I’d been pushed to the point that I’d reacted entirely differently than I’d done with any aspect of my career before.
I’d balked hard. I’d refused to back down.
My mother had taught me a long time ago that looks could be deceiving. Then I’d learned the hard way stories driven by socialmedia barely had any ounce of truth in them. While I’d done my homework, not only reading articles in various magazines and watching old videos of various awards family members had received, I’d also called a few former artists who’d performed for them before.
They’d all said the said thing. The accounts of horrible, evil deeds were ridiculous.
Even then, I hadn’t been completely convinced until the fateful first meeting with Sasha and the Dmitriyev corporate attorney.
The fantasies had begun that very night.
Yet even after the extensive reading and months of working with him, the way he’d reacted to Damien and even to Scott floored me.
In an entirely good way.
“Get your fucking hands off her,” he ordered, offering Damien no time to respond.
Sasha wrapped his hand around Damien’s throat, lifting him off the floor by several inches and shoving him against the wall with such force, the wallboard cracked. While both men were over six feet, Damien bulked up likely on steroids to play the various characters, Sasha was simply powerful in every aspect.
Maybe I hadn’t paid close enough attention, but he was at least six foot four, yet instead of being bulky, every muscle was carved to perfection. The look on his face was intense, his deep blue eyes completely mesmerizing.
“Now, you’re going to listen to me, you fuckwad,” Sasha said with a deep voice, yet completely devoid of emotion. He was even grinning and from where I stood, I was able to capture the cold gleam in his eyes.
He was also strangling Damien with the same dedication to hurting and controlling the man as Damien had done with me.
My stomach flipped from fury and hatred, even a trickle of self-doubt, which I loathed. The sudden feeling of being protected by a stranger gave me a foreign but warming sense of courage.
I rose to my full height, so angry I couldn’t think clearly, hating myself that several tears had managed to roll down my face. What had happened to the tough girl who could take anything? Where the hell had she gone?
Sasha lowered his head, forcing Damien to look him directly in the eyes. “If you ever make contact with Ms. Rose again, whether in a text, on social media, a phone call, a gift, or daring to show your face to her, you will learn just how dangerous of a human being I can be. Just in case you’ve heard any rumors about me and my family easily making people disappear, I’d take them to heart. If you dare object, I’ll snap your neck like a twig.”
