I sat strapped to a chair with my hands bound behind my back, the ropes biting into my skin. My heart was racing in my chest as I watched the white suited man smoking in front of me.
He hadn’t said anything since he walked into this dimly lit room with his armed men, and his silence only worsened my situation. I sat there, helpless, completely at the mercy of this mean-faced man.
Once again, I was tangled in a dangerous web of something I knew nothing about. I was sure the only reason I was kidnapped was because of the Tarasov last name. This man obviously had a beef with Roman, and instead of taking out his fury on him, he decided to take it out on me.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I summoned the courage to ask, my voice low and almost hopeless.
His lips curled into a mischievous grin. “Finally, she speaks.”
My eyes squinted, wondering if he’d been expecting me to start a conversation.
He rose from the chair he’d been sitting in across the room and let out a puff of smoke. With slow steps, he approached me, his shoes scuffing menacingly across the floor.
“Listen, you’ve got the wrong girl, okay?” I said, trying to mask my fear.
“Wrong girl?” He halted in front of me. “I think not, Mrs. Tarasov.”
I swallowed hard, biting the inside of my mouth. “Look, I don’t want anything to do with that family. How do you think Mia was able to deceive me?” I paused for a moment. “It’s because I was desperate to run away from that monster.”
“She’s lying, Boss,” one of his men chipped in from behind.
“No, I swear, I’m not.” I glanced back at him, my voice laced with desperation.
“Yes, you are,” the man in white said, nodding his head. “I think you’re trying to save your own skin. Pathetic.”
Pathetic?
My face twisted into a frown, offended by the condescension in his tone. His words insinuated that I was weak and was the kind of woman to easily turn on her husband. Somehow, that sparked something dangerous inside me—dangerous enough to make me fantasize about slitting his throat.
As much as I hated to admit it, he was right—denying Roman was pathetic, and it made me look weak. Yes, my husband was a prick, a fuckin’ pain in the ass. But I was still a Tarasov, and I shouldn’t let the enemy prey on my vulnerability.
And just like that, my countenance shifted from fear to something darker.
“You know what’s pathetic?” I asked in a flat tone, with a blank expression. “Kidnapping a helpless woman just to get back at a man you can’t beat in hand-to-hand combat.”
The room fell silent, and I could see the shock on his men’s faces. For the next few seconds, nobody said a word, just radio silence.
He bent over, hands on his knees, as he glared at me with fire in his eyes. If that was an attempt to terrify me, then he had something else coming because his glare wasn’t even half as intimidating as Roman’s.
“You’ve got a sharp tongue, don’t you?” he asked, leaning closer to mirror my face. “I suggest you bridle it if you wanna keep it.”
I pulled my head back, away from his bad breath.
What did you have for dinner, rotten fish?I thought to myself, hoping I wouldn’t have to keep holding my breath for long.
He straightened. “Did your husband tell you about me?”
I let out a quiet sigh but said nothing.
“Did he tell you why I hate him so much?”
Silence.
“Roman is the reason I lost my wife,” he said. “He stole something precious from me, and now I’m returning the favor.”
My eyes narrowed, and my heart sank into my stomach. Had Roman killed his wife? My pulse raced as I struggled to even imagine him doing that. Roman was a monster, but he had rules, lines he never crossed. Women and children were off-limits to that man.
I knew that much from Nikki and Natasha, plus the fact that I was still breathing up to now.
