“Well?” he demands when I don’t provide an immediate answer.
When he finally glances over at me, really looking at me for the first time since he walked through the door, he sees the bruises on my face. His eyes widen minutely in understanding. “She fought back and busted your nose, didn’t she? Viktor?” He orders my closest friend to speak up.
Viktor doesn’t hesitate before providing thePakhanwith a full recap. “Petrov and I chased her. She took me down with a knee between the legs, punched Petrov in his throat, and then slammed her foot into my mouth. Dominik grabbed her before she could run again. She kicked, scratched, and fought by headbutting him.”
“I see,” Gavriil replies, wetting his lips. “And her…fight has endeared you to her that quickly?”
“She doesn’t know where Archer or the money is,” I assure him.
He hums as if he doubts her innocence. “The stolen shipment you thought you could hide from me. Have you traced it yet?” he asks.
“Not yet. The buyer is a clown with ambition,” I tell him. “A biker crew out of Newark. They paid Archer in cash.”
“How much money did I hear was made off this endeavor?” He asks the question already knowing the answer but enjoys making me repeat it.
“Two million.”
“Yes. That sort of loss is a bit staggering.” He finally turns away from Alina to look past me toward the bar. “Pour me a vodka on the rocks.”
I don’t move. Renat does. He immediately goes over to the bar. Gavriil watches me not move an inch while my man prepares his drink and then carries it over on a tray like he’s a black-tie server at a gala.
Gavriil picks up the glass and takes a sip. “Archer’s whereabouts?”
“There’s still been no sign of him. My men have eyes on his apartment, old poker haunts, dealers, and bookies. He’s not been seen at any of them in over a week.”
“Of course not.” Another sip. He moves to stand very close to Alina again. Not touching. Still not speaking to her. Making her smell his cologne because he can while speaking in a language she doesn’t understand. “Whathasyour hostage told you?”
“She doesn’t know anything,” I repeat. “Her brother hasn’t responded to any of her messages. They haven’t spoken in nine days.”
“I bet she knows more than she’s letting on, you just haven’t pried it from her yet.” His gaze cuts to Alina again, and then to me. “She’s…oddly calm. Has she cried yet?”
Alina doesn’t flinch at his attention. I hate that I notice, and that Gavriil does as well.
“No, she hasn’t.”
“Good,” he says as if he approves, and hands the empty glass back to Renat without looking at him. He pauses before abruptly changing the subject to try and throw me off balance. “She busted your nose and now you want to keep her. To fuck her. We’re not so different, are we,Bratishka?”
“I’m not going to lay a hand on her,” I grit out, my back teeth gnashing together as I take an involuntary step toward them both.
“You’re avoiding answering my question, so I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” he says. “My self-righteouszamestitel' voracould easily shoot an enemy in the face without hesitation but he wouldn’t fuck a hostage, would he?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” I answer. He’s right. Alina is off-limits. I fucking know that. My job is to keep her here until Archer returns with the money, then let her go.
“I would fuck her,” Gavriil remarks smugly as his tongue wets his bottom lip once more while studying her bare stomach. “I’d have her in my cage, screaming my name right now if you had done as you were told and brought her to me. Take her,” he instructs his guards.
I step in front of them with my hand raised. “She’s staying here, Gavriil. She’s under mykrysha.”
Everyone in the room freezes.
Gavriil turns his head toward me slowly, like a predator annoyed someone dared touched his food. “Your…krysha?” he repeats, amused. “You’re invoking protection? For a hostage?”
I don’t so much as blink. “Formyhostage.”
He studies my face, the set of my shoulders, the steel in my tone. He recognizes the shift.
“She’s under my roof.My protection.My responsibility.”
Gavriil lifts a brow. “That’s a custom for men who want to be accountable for whores and informants. Not for girls that thieves abandon.”
