“Is it that you liked another man's hands on you, Sienna?” he asked, his voice dropping to a low growl that should've mademe bolt from the damn room, but instead butterflies exploded in my stomach.
What the hell?
“Wexler is exaggerating. Dan didn't…”
“Did he, or did he not, touch my wife?” he demanded, his voice rising with every word.
He closed the distance between us, eyes blazing with fury. I refused to back down. If he saw me cower now, he’d use it against me just like my father always had.
“Dan is my friend. He moved a piece of hair from my face. Wexler had no right to hurt him! And I'm not taking any online classes! I have to take my classes in person!”
“Friend?” Mr. Avit’s dark chuckle sent a shiver down my spine. “I was once Dan’s age…”
He stepped closer, his cologne curling around me. My pulse stuttered as he reached up, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. The closer he leaned, the more I breathed him in, the more the room seemed to close in around us. His thumb brushed my cheek slowly. Each soft stroke left a trail of heat that shouldn’t have felt so good.
“...and no hot-blooded male who wants to be ‘just friends’ touches a woman like that,” he murmured, sending a ripple of goosebumps across my skin.
Sienna! Snap out of it!
I jerked back, slapping his hand away even as my skin tingled where he’d touched me. My breaths came fast and uneven.
“Maybe not in your world,” I snapped, “where you sell women like property.”
Mr. Avit shoved his hands into his pockets. “It’s amazing how you’d slap away your husband’s hand but not Dan’s. It's also amazing that you think I don't know that Dan has a crush on you. And that his friend, Jake, is throwing another party, just so Dan could ask you out.”
My eyes widened and I gasped. “How did you—”
Avit cut me off coldly. “My decision is final. Leave my office.”
“I’m not leaving! I worked my ass off for that scholarship, who the hell do you think you are to treat me this way?!” I shot back.
“I’m the man who let your father live.”
“Yes! While taking his daughter prisoner!”
A cruel smirk curled Avit’s lips. “Fine. You want to go back to your father? I’ll let you go. But your father will be dead before you get to him.”
Mr. Avit knew that all he had to do to get me to do as he asked was threaten my father. And I hated that feeling.
“Fine. I’ll stay. But let’s make a deal. After all, you’re a businessman.”
Amusement flickered in his eyes, the kind of look I could get lost in if I stared too long.
“You said my father stole medication, but he had to sell it to someone. I'm assuming you're also looking for this person, since they probably know where he's getting his supply, which makes your operations look weak. And being Bratva, that's not a good look for you or your family, yes?”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m listening.”
“I’ll help you find out who he’s supplying using my tech skills. My conditions are simple: one, you will not kill my father, and two, you’ll let me go to school.”
I extended my hand. “What do you say, Mr. Avit? Do we have a deal?”
Chapter 5 - Avit
I leaned against the wall outside Sienna’s room, hands buried in my jeans pockets, ankles crossed. I’d traded my usual suit for jeans, a plain T-shirt, loafers, and a blazer, easy enough to blend in around campus. The blazer served its purpose, hiding the guns holstered at my chest.
I could’ve knocked, but after her reaction yesterday, how freaked out she was, thinking I’d hurt her, I decided to wait. No point in pushing her when she already looked at me like I was the devil.
Yesterday, when Wexler told me Dan had touched Sienna, I nearly lost my damn mind. Then she walked in and defended the bastard, as if she enjoyed flirting with and being touched by him. Yet, she'd pull away from me, her husband. I wanted to break every bone in his body, but instead, I had him removed from campus and made it very clear that if he ever went near Sienna again, it’d be the last thing he ever did with his miserable life.
