Gavriil laughs, which puts me even more on edge. Her defiance is a new thrill for him. I’m doing my damn best to keep her from walking right into his cage, but she’s not making it easy.
“Yourzashchitnikhas wagered his life on you.Try not to disappoint him,” he says to her in English.
Alina is finally silent, but her expression certainly isn’t friendly. Her fingers curl once against her thigh. Not fear. Pushback.
Gavriil’s smile sharpens before he walks toward the door without glancing back at my men or at me. Only Alina.
The room doesn’t exhale until after the door closes behind him and the elevator dings.
Alina lets out the breath she held.
My hands are still shaking in anger when I go and pour myself a vodka. Petrov gives me a nod and goes back to readying the guest room. Renat returns to my office without a word tocheck the cameras, and Viktor says, “I need a smoke,” before slipping out the door.
Alina goes over to the kitchen island. Her hand trembles as she picks up the mug and takes a sip, but her voice is even when she says, “So, that was thePakhan?”
“Yes.”
She nods. “You don’t seem to like him.”
Ignoring her assessment, I say, “Youwere toldnotto ask him questions. You were also told to only provide short answers.”
She’s afraid but not as terrified of Gavriil as I need her to be. After the photoshoot tomorrow, that may change. Although, she’ll probably hate me more than him for following his orders.
She holds my gaze across the island; her pretty green eyes narrowed in annoyance. “He’s furious with Archer and pissed that you didn’t bring me to him?”
“Yes,” I answer after taking a long, deep swig from my glass.
“And he came here for me?”
“Yes.”
“You refused,” she remarks as if I left any room for her to doubt that.
“I did.”
“What did he say to you?” she asks. “The parts in Russian, I mean.”
“Nothing good,” I answer honestly.
The back of my neck warms at the reminder of Gavriil calling me out for wanting her, how he knows I’ll resist my dark urges while he bragged about how he would not. Gavriil would simply tell her that her only option for saving Archer’s life is to get on her knees for him. She would probably bruise herself from the speed in which she would kneel.
“I still don’t know which of you is worse,” Alina admits while staring down at her mug and biting her bottom lip in consideration. “But I’m guessing it’s him since he appears to bea megalomanic who has zero accountability for his actions and puts women in cages.”
Wanting to prove to her that she made the right decision, I tell her, “You should eat something.”
“I’d rather have a bath. Or a shower.”
“Fine,” I agree. “Petrov will show you to the guestroom.” The man appears as if he was waiting in the hallway for the order. “He’ll bring you a change of clothes. You’ll have your own bathroom so you can shower if you want. The door locks from the inside.”
Her eyes widen a fraction in surprise because she was obviously worried about being locked away.
“If you don’t come out when I call you, I’ll remove the door and drag you out myself. Don’t make me do that,” I warn her.
She swallows making the slender column of her throat move. I want to put my mouth there and feel her heartbeat against my tongue. The thought is immediate and unwelcome. I quickly shove it aside.
Alina glances at me for another long moment. Her mouth opens and closes as if she’s about to say something. But then she just walks away from me without another word.
While I dislike her absence, I have work to do.
