Page 124 of The Billionaire Who Saved My Cat From The Mafia

“Watch it,” I growl.My ire is definitely up, and I don’t have any patience for ribbing from anyone on the planet right now, especially Evander.

“C’mon, Kevin.Mount up.We have important business.”

“Fuck you.Fuck all y’all.Fuck all y’all all the way off.”

“Well put.Poetic, even.C’mon.We’ve got planning to do.”

“I don’t give a shit about third-quarter or fourth-quarter earnings.I don’t care about R&D.I don’t care about deliverables or contracts or—”

“How about Frankie?You care abouther?”

CHAPTER 60

Frankie

Niko’s on the phone again.That thing has been ringing nonstop since we returned from Las Vegas a few hours ago.

I rise from the sofa and leave the room immediately, not making a sound.I take refuge in the kitchen, where he can’t see me, and where I can’t hear him.I stare out at the sunset over Lake Tahoe, wishing its dramatic beauty could bring some peace to my soul.

It can’t.Nothing can.

Niko’s voice suddenly erupts in rage.I cringe when he begins screaming.I lean my palms against the marble countertops for balance and drop my head, taking deep and regular breaths to keep steady, all while the ugly yelling and cursing continues.

I used to think the Russian language was exotically beautiful, but that was before I started to understand the gist of Niko’s conversations.

Before I could detect the nasty way he barks orders to his underlings.Before I could sense the smarmy way he grovels and begs for forgiveness to whatever horrible man is on the other end of the line.

I know all these calls have something to do with the night of the murders.Of course they do.Something went wrong that night—like Niko fucked up somehow and now he’s in trouble, trying to save his own ass.

And he’s taking it out on me.

Niko’s phone started ringing almost as soon as we took off from Vegas in his private jet, on our way to his house in Tahoe.I did nothing to disturb him, of course.I kept my eyes down and away as the plane climbed into the sky.

“What are you looking at?”he demanded.I knew Niko was talking to me because it’s the only English I’d heard since he answered the call.

I re-crossed my legs in the seat across from him and produced a sweet smile.“Nothing, baby.I was just looking out the window down at the ground.”

“No, you weren’t.You were watching me.You were listening to my conversation, trying to determine what I was talking about.”

“No, baby.Really, I wasn’t.”

He narrows his eyes at me as if my voice irritated him.I knew he was going to hit me if I didn’t find a way to distract him, to calm him.

Even though I just wanted to throw him out of the plane.

I sat there in silence, my smile frozen in place, my body already tightened in anticipation of being hit.And all I could think was that I was so damn tired of playing this game.Sick and tired of being humiliated and used.

“Get away from me,” Niko snapped, his tone heavy with disgust.“Daniil!Take her to the back.I don’t want to see her.”

And even though the seatbelt sign was on and the plane was in a steep climb—and I could barely walk on a flat sidewalk in those fuck-me shoes—I did what he told me.

I immediately excused myself and stumbled downhill to the back of the plane, falling into a seat and staring out the window, pretending like I wasn’t ready to vomit or break into uncontrollable sobs.

Daniil stayed nearby, of course.He stood in profile, hands clasped in front of his huge body.I saw the fading bruises on his face, the ones he got when he made the mistake of stepping out from the driver’s seat of the Lincoln and into Special K’s fist.

Standing there, looking out of the window, he pretended like he wasn’t there to guard me.Or intimidate me.

Right.