“Excuse me, this is myhome,” Eve said, shocked that she would try something so blatant. “You are on my property and if you take one step into this house without my permission, I will alert Patrol immediately.”
“So alert them. They will be very interested to know you have something of mine,Miss Tesler,” Madame Allegria hissed, righting herself with a fierce scowl. Eve wouldn’t lie but pushing her and making her lose her footing felt damn good, in a juvenile way. “And I want it back.”
It. Like Khiva was a thing, a possession, something to be played with and used and then tossed away.
Eve’s nostrils flared, hatred burning through her veins and for the first time, she knew what it was like to want to physically hurt someone. Badly. It both frightened and appalled her. But it didn’t stop her from thinking it, from desiring it.
“Leave,” Eve said, her tone quiet, moving her finger over the emergency button on the Nu tablet next to the door. “Or I will alert Patrol.”
She’d meant it only as a bluff, but Madame Allegria saw the movement and in a flash she lunged forward, grabbing Eve’s wrist in a tight grip that would bruise later. Eve cried out in surprise. Barely a second went by before she saw a blur out of the corner of her eye.
A moment later, Madame Allegria’s knees banged onto the foyer floorhard, but she didn’t make a sound. Khiva stood above her, her wrists in his grip, holding her arms high up so she couldn’t move them. Eve couldn’t help but notice the position was what Khiva described when Madame Allegria chained them for whipping.
Shocked, Eve saw Khiva’s forearm flex as he applied pressure to her arms and she knew without a doubt that he was strong enough to break them if he wanted to. He could crush her bones without a second thought.
“If you ever touch her again,” Khiva said, his voice the darkest she’d ever heard it, “it will be the last thing you ever do. I have never harmed a female in my life, but I will make a special exception for you. Never doubt that.”
Madame Allegria’s arms struggled in his grip but he never let go, never let up the pressure. She was forced to kneel in the strange, uncomfortable position.
“I could challenge you in the Courts, Miss Tesler,” Madame Allegria hissed. “This Krave is under my employ. He had a client tonight and him being here is costing me credits.”
“You want to takemeto the Courts?” Eve repeated softly. “When you have a false contract stating a wage you do not pay them? When you tell your employees to lie to clients? When you whip them and abuse them in the bottom floor of your brothel, leaving them chained and bloody with their backs stripped off?”
Eve bit her tongue so hard that she tasted blood, but the look on Madame Allegria’s face was worth it.
“We have evidence,” Khiva said, surprising Eve, but she didn’t show it. Madame Allegria’s head whipped to him, her eyes narrowed, though her face revealed nothing.
“You’re lying,” she said, a slow smile crossing her face. “You have no proof because I run an honest business. I have nothing to hide.”
“Are you willing,” Khiva started softly, “to bet everything on that?”
Her smile died just as slowly as it had appeared. “I will have you punished for this,” she said. “You dare to harm an Everton citizen, Krave? This would warrant death if I alerted Patrol.”
“It is warranted,” Eve said, “considering you attacked me, an Everton citizen, first. You are the one who enteredmyhome uninvited. You have no say here.”
“He would be imprisoned the moment they came since he has no visa on his person,” Madame Allegria said, her tone gloating. “So try it.”
“Doesn’t he though?” Eve asked. Madame Allegria’s game was deceit and lies. Eve could play that game too. “You can’t possibly think that you are the only wealthy woman in Everton with connections and credits.”
Madame Allegria said nothing, just snapped at Khiva, “Let me go.”
“I have never seen you like this,” Khiva said softly, his eyes peering directly at her,intoher. “So unhinged. You always prided yourself on being in control, but when you are not…you are nothing. You are a shell. They are afraid of you when they do not need to be. It’s all a front, all a mask.”
“Youwillbe punished for this the moment you return, Krave,” Madame Allegria said, her voice dripping with hatred.
Eve realized, with a start, that it hadn’t occurred to her that he’dleft, that he had no intention of coming back. She was simply too arrogant to see otherwise, thinking that shedidown them. It was unfathomable to her that they were capable of making their own decisions.
Khiva realized it to because he played her game. He released her wrists immediately and Madame Allegria pushed to her feet, her knees as red as her hair.
“You’ll be hearing from me next week,” Eve told her, furthering the charade, “about a Court appearance. For wrongful trespassing and assault.”
“You have no proof,” Madame Allegria said, her tone like ice, smoothing her hair.
Eve cocked her head to the Nu device next to the door. “Don’t I?”
Madame Allegria swung her stare to Khiva. “Get in the car. We’re going back.”
Khiva didn’t move an inch. “No.”
