“Is he always like this?” I ask Ilya, unable to help myself. “If so, the Don in New York always punched the annoying asshole. I think he even shot at him once. Unless, that’s not your style, of course. I get it that you might not be as cold and ruthless as you try to portray.”
The shot rings out loudly in the confined space, and Zakhar yelps loudly. “What the fuck?” he roars. “You almost actually fucking hit me, you son of a bitch.”
I glance over and see that Ilya’s bullet grazed the side of Zakhar’s temple, blood already dripping down the side of his furious face. Zakhar swipes at it, glaring at his stained hand distastefully. “If he wanted to hit you, he would have,” I say, looking back at Ilya with a mocking smile. “Isn’t that right, Romanov?”
His eyes flash angrily at the realization that I’ve baited him and he’s given up some of his precious control. He wants to kill me for it. He wants to make me pay for allowing him to show weakness. I give him a cold smile, daring him. Killing me willonly weaken him further. Not only because then he’ll have to find someone else for this ridiculous plan of his, but also because he allowed a woman to get under his skin and prove how fast his temper can flash.
He puts the gun away, but his movements are still stiff. “The job is simple,” he tells me tightly. “You’re going to go to Timur Belov’s home, you are going to play along in agreeing to marry his son, and then you’re going to kill him and your father when he arrives. Once that’s done, I’ll see that you die, and then you ride off into the sunset, and I never have to deal with you again. You never set foot on the west coast without my permission, but otherwise you’ll be free to live your life as you see fit. That’s what I’m offering you.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then I kill you and send your body back to that Italian cunt and best friend in pieces. With the message that any retaliation for it will result in all their deaths. They’re not the only ones with ties around the world to make it happen.”
I want to scream at him that if he dares to go near Sienna, I’ll kill him myself, but unlike him, I don’t allow myself to be baited.
“You are overestimating how much any of them care about me. Her, yes, but the others probably would thank you.” Especially with them finding out just how deep my deception went and bringing Tatiana into their home. Most of the men in that group probably won’t blink if I end up dying. “Now, let’s say I do manage to get this whole bullshit done, what’s to stop the guards from killing me?”
“We’ll ensure that won’t happen.”
I sneer. “You really expect me to take you at your word?”
“You don’t really have much of another choice.”
“Jesus Christ, both of you need to hurry this the fuck up,” Zakhar snaps. “I’m fucking bleeding everywhere. Clyde is going to kill me if I get blood on the paperwork.”
“Then go and get yourself cleaned up,” Ilya huffs.
“And leave you here with a deadly assassin that’s plotting your murder as we speak? I don’t fucking think so. So just shake hands, fuck, or whatever the fuck you two are doing.”
“I don’t want to fuck him.” I scoff. “I like my men much bigger and with probably a much bigger dick than his.”
Ilya’s glare deepens.
“No fucking in the office,” a prim voice says from the doorway, that Canadian accent giving away who it is. Though, there’s nothing hiding the annoyance. I don’t even look at Tatiana as she steps inside the room. She’s still wearing those fucking heels. “Mr. Romanov, I hate to interrupt but there are police moving through the city to get here. Seems someone leaked your arrival.”
Ilya’s expression darkens. “Fuck. I should have fucking known she’d pull this shit.” He glares at me. “You’re coming with us. You’re doing the job; the decision is out of your hands now. You want to hash shit out? We’ll do it later. Move it.”
She? Who is this she he’s talking about? I’d say Tatiana, but it seems stupid for her to be working with Ilya and then calling the police on him. Maybe he’s got a wife who doesn’t like him being too far away. Or she’s trying to escape him, and this is her way of making sure he can’t come after her while she does.
Yeah, that makes more sense.
It’s not like I have much of a choice. Maybe this will be a good thing, though. I can get the lay of the land, see just what’s being planned. Or I’ll figure out a way to kill these two. Either way, being with them is probably better in the long run.
He stalks out of the room, Zakhar rounding the desk to sandwich me between them. I don’t like giving him my back, but I force myself to move. When we pass Tatiana, she gives us all a quiet smile, but the moment our eyes connect, I can sense her amusement.
Damn her.
I let her see my anger and the promise of pain. Her expression never changes, but I know she’s laughing at me, pleased with herself, the crazy bitch. If she planned to send me to my death, she might have just succeeded.
Or she’s just given me the reason to finally show her why I was the one who chose to train her. Rayea Antonova and Aurora O’Brien will be one and the same, and none of us could survive it.
8
ALONZO
A Day Later
Frustration eats at me.Where the fuck is she? Where could that bitch have taken her?
