But still, in my wildest imagination, I never expected this kind of treatment from him, and I don’t even know what to say to him to thank him what’s he’s given me today.
It isn’t real emotion. I try to remember that, but it is comforting, and it honestly feels far less like I’m trapped and far more like I’m cherished. How did I not realize the difference?
I’m overwhelmed into silence. I drop my hand into my lap as he backs out the car and then pulls forward. I’d like to find some words that would tell him how I’m feeling, how much I appreciate his kindness.
I feel the car stop, but as usual, I’m lost in my own thoughts, so I don’t look up.
“What the hell?” Ryker growls, bringing my attention back to my surroundings.
Which is when my gaze clashes with a set of piercing green eyes that are all too familiar. He stands in front of the car, legs spread wide, hands balled into fists at his sides. I gasp in a jagged breath, my hands flying to my face. “Drive,” I choke out between my hands, the fear nearly stealing my breath.
“What?” Ryker looks at me for one second before my command registers and then he hits the gas, the car rocketing forward.
Sver dives out of the way, but the hitman’s point has been made.
Ryker screeches the tires, making the right turn as he guns the car down the road. “Who the fuck was that?”
“That,” I feel tears in my eyes again, but for a totally different reason. My limbs begin to tremble as I take several deep breaths. “Was Sver.”
“Sver?”
“The Beast,” I answer, my whole body shaking now. My father is as mean as a snake, his selfishness making him as unpredictable as he is dangerous. But Sver, my father’s hired hitman, is a cold-blooded instrument of death and destruction. “My father’s head of security if you want to be technical. Really, he’s...” I choke on the words.
“What?”
“A merciless killing machine.” If I’d taken a moment to consider, I would have realized that my father would send Sver to Las Vegas instead of coming himself.
My father is smart enough to not put himself in danger.
And Sver is paid to take all the heat.
“Why is he here?”
I shake my head. “Bring me back? Kill my brother?” I start spinning the new ring on my finger. “Both. More.”
Or, and this is a distinct possibility, make the Smiths pay for what they’ve bought from Dimitri.
“Fuck,” Ryker spits the word through his teeth as he accelerates through traffic.
“I hope Katarina is all right,” I whisper, and I mean it. The last twenty-four hours have been so crazy, I’ve been trying to find my own feet.
But with Sver here, real worry slides down my spine. She might be free, but that would mean she’s unprotected too. And against Sver, she doesn’t stand a chance.
Then again, I probably should be worrying about myself. If the Beast is presenting himself to me, that means I’m the one who is in trouble. “How much do you trust that building you’ve got us all living in?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ryker
I hangup with my brother Triston, rubbing my eyes as I stand in the kitchen of the penthouse.
I know that Sver coming to Vegas is a bad fucking sign. Is he here to take my bride? Kill my family? Attack Dimitri?
The fact that he showed himself to us was a clear threat. He wasn’t even attempting to hide that part, standing in front of the car like he owned me. Fuck that.
He was sending a message to me. I’m sure about that. I am the man who runs the casino that my family purchased from Dimitri. And as of yesterday, I’m also the man who made the first move in taking a second and third casino from the head of the Bratva. A move no one knows about.
And for now, I’m not telling them.
