“Yes. You think I’ll be a useful threat to motivate Archer.” Her voice is steady, confident. She holds herself like she has all the power here, not him. This interests him more than beauty.
Fuck.
“For now,” Gavriil says, “you are useful to us for now.”
“Right,” she responds. Then, she does exactly what I told her not to do, she asks him a question. “And you’ll release me as soon as Archer pays you back?”
“We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we,” Gavriil replies, and somehow, it’s both a promise and a threat. “Your brother seems to think he can steal from me with impunity. And that behavior must be punished.”
“That’s your side of the story. I would like to hear his,” she says.
Dammit. Undermining Gavriil would be a very big mistake.
“You want your brother to live,” he says.
“Yes.”
“Then you’ll help us find Archer and convince him to return our money.”
Silence.
Alina doesn’t say yes to cooperating. I can feel Gavriil’s attention instantly sharpen. She just became a rare original Ilya Repin painting. Priceless.
ThePakhancraves disobedience so he can have a reason to punish it. Maybe that excuse makes him feel like less of a monster when he thinks someone “deserves” what’s coming to them.
“I took photos of her when she was restrained,” I say in Russian, before he can decide to make an example of her right here and now. “I’ll send them with a message to Archer now if you want.”
Gavriil looks at me for a long second while Alina watches him with her brow furrowed, as if trying to get a read on him but can’t.
“Show me,” he orders.
I pull up the image on my phone and turn the screen around for him to see, but not her.
“Oh, I think we can do much better than that,” he remarks. “I’ll pick out an outfit for her to wear for more salacious photos tomorrow, then you can send them to Archer. I’ll leave the messaging to you.”
I have no doubt that Alina is going to loathe his choice of attire. I hate that, like my brother, I’ll probably enjoy seeing her in the skimpy clothes more than I should.
“Do make the gag and duct tape look authentic,” Gavriil adds since that’s his favorite part.
I can’t deny the effect the image has on my own body either. Alina will be tied up and at my mercy again, her body barely covered in all the right places. I shouldn’t want to see her that way, much less be the one who orchestrates it all.
With a chuckle at the discomfort that’s likely visible on my face, Gavriil says in Russian, “If you fail, well, she’s wasted here. I’m sure she would be a decent earner in one of our brothels. Not two million worth, but enough to appease some of my fury, especially after I get to break her in nice and hard first. Maybe I’ll make you watch me ruin her.”
My temperature spikes and my pulse thrums in my ears after hearing his vile words.
He’s using her to motivate me; the same way we plan to motivate Archer. Only an evil asshole would want the innocent woman to suffer, or to be the one to cause her pain.
“You’ll have Archer and the money in a week,” I grit out through clenched teeth. “Do what you want to me if I fail, butshe’s not going anywhere but home when this is over,” I assert. My tone is as respectful as I can force it to be.
Gavriil notices. He won’t let me get away with the disrespect for long before reminding me that he’s in charge. “I guess we’ll see. It depends on you and Archer now, doesn’t it?”
It’s a loaded question.
Gavriil turns his attention back to Alina. He hums under his breath as he rakes his eyes over her, his forefinger tracing her jaw like he’s touching a sculpture. “You’ll be useful to me one way or another,” he tells her as she narrows her eyes at him.
The urge to step between him and Alina is stronger than it should be. I don’t want him touching her. Hell, I don’t even want him looking at her, much less thinking about using her in that disgusting way.
“Get your fucking hand off me,” she warns him and knocks his hand away before I can intervene.
