“Do you wish you could have sex with me?”
I blush at the bluntness of his question, but I can’t look away from those blue eyes of his.
“Is that something you would want?”
“Vasya,” I whisper, feeling my heart start to race and my hands start to sweat.
“I don’t expect anything. I just want the truth,” he gently reminds me.
“Yes,” I say in a breathy rush, because any woman would have to be out of her mind to not want to have sex with a man like him.
He smiles and leans closer. When I tense, he gives me a reassuring smile and says, “Just because you said yes doesn’t mean I’m going to take you right here on the balcony,zolotse.” He lightly brushes his thumb over my top, uninjured lip, making my whole body erupt in goosebumps. “It does make me happy to hear it, though. It’s something we can work towards.” He must see something in my eyes because he smiles and adds, “Very slowly work towards it.”
I nod, not trusting myself to speak or even having any idea of what in the hell I’d say if I could manage a sentence. He makes me want things, but I also know I’m nowhere near ready to give my body to him, to expose myself like that. When he leans closer, my whole body tenses. I can feel the heat of his breath against my lips, and I don’t know what to do. My own breaths start coming faster, and I feel like my heart is going to beat right out of my damn chest.
“Easy, baby,” he whispers, cupping my face and very gently kissing me. His lips are whisper soft against mine. He’s being careful to not hurt my bottom lip, but before he pulls away, his tongue runs over my top lip. My eyes widen at the feel of him and at the shock of electricity that quickly runs through me. A soft moan escapes, and then I immediately feel guilty, like I’m doing something wrong by enjoying this.
Vasily pulls back and studies my face. “It’s not going to be easy,zolotse, but we will do this together. I plan on erasing every bad memory you have, but right now I’m afraid I need you to do something very difficult.”
“What?”
“Do you remember telling me last night about the man who spoke Russian to you at Ruby’s?”
I search my fuzzy memories from last night and nod my head.
“I was up all night, trying to convince myself that it wasn’t one of my men, but I’m afraid it might be, so I’ve ordered them all to come here. I need you to point him out to me.”
“What? No,” I quickly say, looking around like the man’s going to step out from behind something to hurt me again.
“I’m so sorry, baby, but it’s the only way. I will be with you the whole time. I swear you won’t be alone with him. I just need you to point him out and then I swear you’ll never see him again.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What needs to be done,” he says, and the tone of his voice makes it clear that there’s no talking him out of it. “I will not allow any of these bastards to live, Nina. I won’t be able to look at myself in the mirror if I do.”
I study Vasily’s eyes and try to muster up some sort of sympathy for the man who’s about to die, but all I feel is anger at what he did to me, at what he stole from me. He took a piece of myself that I wasn’t willing to give, but I also know I wouldn’t be able to kill him if he were standing in front of me, not if it wasn’t self-defense.
“It feels wrong to have you kill him when I know I wouldn’t be able to do it on my own. I wouldn’t have the guts to do it.”
“You don’t need to, baby. That’s why you have me. It’s my job to protect you, and I take that job very seriously.” He kisses me again, this one just as sweet and gentle as the last one, before he stands up and holds his hand out to me. I take it and let him pull me up. “I will be with you the whole time,” he reminds me.
I nod and let him lead me downstairs. When we pass through the kitchen, he sets my mug in the sink, and I’m happy to see that the redhead is nowhere to be seen. Vasily gently squeezes my hand, and before he opens the front door, he looks down at me and says, “Remember,zolotse, you are safe with me.”
“I know,” I tell him, trusting him to keep me safe. I don’t know what I’m expecting when he opens the front door, but the large crowd of men isn’t it. My knees immediately lock up and my throat goes dry. “Vasya,” I whisper, digging my fingers into his.
He leans down and whispers in my ear, “I’m right here, sweetheart. I need you to be brave for me for just a few minutes and then it will be over. Can you do that?”
I nod, but I don’t loosen my grip on his hand. I can do this, I tell myself. I can face the man who hurt me as long as Vasily is by my side. I don’t want to embarrass him in front of his Bratva, and that helps me get control of myself. He kisses my forehead and wraps his free arm around my shoulders, pulling me tightly against him. I feel a little better when Ruslan runs over to join us. He gives my hand a quick lick but then his whole demeanor changes when Vasily says a single word in Russian. He stays by Vasily’s side, every part of him on high alert.
When he yells something in Russian, all the men line up in two rows, one behind the other. There must be at least fifty men, and all of them stare at us while Andrei and Ilya get into position on either end of the lines. Gone are the laughing faces from last night. Both men look serious as hell, and I notice they’re both armed with handguns tucked into their jeans.
Vasily gives my shoulder a squeeze and walks forward with me so he doesn’t have to yell for them to hear him. He switches to English for my benefit and says, “This is my wife, Nina. As I’m sure you’ve already heard, she was kept against her will at Ruby’s Lounge. I just learned last night that one of the men who raped her spoke Russian to her.”
My face heats up, but Vasily brings his hand to the nape of my neck, gently stroking my skin, calming me and making me feel safe. The men in front of us are different in so many ways, some are blond, some have dark hair, some are in suits, and others are in jeans and T-shirts, but all of them are in great physical shape and hold themselves in a way that speaks of military training, which I guess makes sense. They’re men who are used to danger and violence and know their way around a variety of weapons. Trained killers, every damn one of them.
“Let me make this very clear,” Vasily says. “This is my wife, and she has my full protection.” He gently reaches down and pulls the sleeve of my shirt up, revealing my tattoo. I see a few of the men’s eyes widen when they see it. I scan the line of men in front of me, grateful that none of them look familiar. Vasily switches to Russian and yells something that has a few of the men visibly paling.
Leaning closer so only I can hear him, he says, “I need you to tell me if any of them look familiar,zolotse.”
