His answering grin makes my head fuzzy.
“It’s not a dungeon,” he repeats, infuriatingly entertained. “Mezzanine, more like. And it’s just my training room. I explained my world to you last night. It would be stupid tojust leave my weapons in the gym, even if they’re all used for training. And stress relief.”
Even I’m taken aback by the bitterness in the words when I question, “So, it’s not like my dad’s club? You don’t bring innocent women here to torment for your entertainment?”
If Iosif is fazed by my acerbic accusation, he doesn’t show it.
“Not even the not-so-innocent ones,” he says flatly.
“That’s not funny.”
“No,” he agrees. “It isn’t. What this is, though, is a healthy outlet for me. When it doesn’t do the trick, I do use places like your father’s. And good thing, too, or else your fate would’ve been something else entirely otherwise.”
A dull, painful churning settles in my stomach. The sound of my laugh is mirthless, hollow. “That’s a hell of a way to reframe it.”
“I’m not framing shit,” Iosif says, all traces of humor gone from his face. “I answer anything you ask me, and I answer it honestly. Don’t put it on me if you can’t stomach it.”
“Oh, like I’m the problem here? Like it’s abadthing to not be able to stomach this? I could never hurt someone the way you do. And you make your living doing it,” I spit, turning away from him. “You can tell yourself you’re noble and different, but you aren’t. You’re another bad guy.”
His hand is a hot and heavy weight on my shoulder. He turns me back around. Defiantly, I look down at the ground.
“Bad and good? Black and white. That world isn’t real,” he says.
“Sure!” I snort, derision dripping from my every word. “But the one where you abduct women and force them to marry you, then pretend like you’re better than the people you took them fromisthe real world!”
His hand seizes my jaw and forces my eyes upward. His eyes have darkened, from a clear sky to a storm brewing. My breath stalls in my burning lungs.
“You asked me last night if I’ve killed someone, and I told you the truth. Yet you asked the wrong question. Because if you asked me if I’ve ever hurt someone good… If you asked me if I’ve hurt someone like you?” My chest aches. “The answer is a resounding fuckingno.”
His ferocity makes my brain blank, like switching to the wrong radio frequency. He fills my silence.
“And for what it’s worth, despite how much you resent me right now, I don’t regret changing your fate. Because right now, the way that you’re running your mouth? You’ve got a fucking spine.” His thumb drags its way down the slant of my jaw, pressing at my chin until my mouth is closed. “And I don’t feel bad about taking you from that bastard. I’d have slit his throat if I’d had to. If that makes me a bad guy, fine. I sleep fine at night knowing I’m not the worst one.”
There’s so much I want to say. So much that I could. About his selective morality and a misplaced savior complex. Maybe even about how resentment isn’t the right word for what I feel about this. But whatisthe right word?
Any words at all fail me.
In the end, even a moment later, the best I’ve got is: “You’re lucky I think swords are cool.”
Chapter 7 - Iosif
I wouldn’t say I’ve been avoiding her.
It’s a stereotypical rite of passage for a man to seal himself away in his office. People do it all the time. Just like they hit the gym at five o’clock in the morning. They even have the occasional meal in their office. I haven’t done anything exceptionally out of the ordinary.
The fact that it’s keeping my ass out of trouble is nothing but a bonus.
It’s not a big deal.
That said, when my phone buzzes and Leonid’s face lights up the screen,Thank fuck, I think.A distraction.
I answer it and switch it to speakerphone. “What?”
“Good evening to you, too, asshole,” my brother’s voice fills my office, accompanying a snort of laughter. The room instantly feels less vacant. “How’s it going? Haven’t heard from you in a couple of days. I was beginning to think Zakharov had you bound and gagged.”
I guffaw. “I doubt his kinks are that interesting.”
“Oh yeah? Surveillance still uneventful then?” Leonid asks.
