Ivan had turned away from me now to face the screens, a glass of something dark in his hand, another broken at his feet. I glanced at the screen, seeing myself and Marisha against his pool table, her legs wrapped around my waist as I fucked into her, and I smiled. Such a fond memory.
On another screen I could see myself now, standing behind Ivan and he raised a glass at me, before turning to face me again with a smile. The image changed seconds later, showing Marisha in the master bathroom, her body tense as she stood next to the chair wedged beneath the doorknob.
“How is it thatmybodyguard follows your orders, Alexander?” he asked, the hint of a growling anger still in his throat, yet a seed of knowledge quieting his rage somehow.
“If he didn’t listen to me, he’d be dead. You forget who I am, Ivan.” I poured the promise of blood into my voice.
Ivan walked to his desk and poured another drink from the decanter. He slid it across the desk towards me and I watched him warily. “Take it. You’re going to need it.” He smirked like he thought I should be afraid.
The fucking arrogance of him.
His bodyguard was gone. And I was the goddamn Bratva prince. Heir to the throne. Killer of traitors. The cards were stacked against him in every which way. Yet here he was, acting like he was untouchable.
I gave a small shake of my head and pushed my hands into my pockets as I walked towards the desk and picked up the glass.
“What’s this?” I sniffed it, giving a small grimace. “Whiskey?” I tsked. “You also forget who you are, Ivan.”
“You can’t fight change, Alexander,” he replied, moving around the other side of his desk.
I watched him carefully, fully aware of every hand movement he made, and every intention he had for going for the gun that I knew was in his top drawer. A man like Ivan—regardless of what he tried to make out with his American whiskey and his American food—didn’t change his ways so easily. The gun; a Makarov pistol, would still be there, like it had been when I was just a teenager and he was trying to impress me with it, fully aware that I was going to be the Bratva King someday and he needed to keep me on his side.
“You should always remember your roots,” I replied, “you taught me that, remember, Ivan?”
He smiled. “Yes, I remember.”
I took a sip of the whiskey regardless, and we stared at one another across his desk. Hate and rage filling the room until it became suffocating. Both of us waiting for the other to make a move. After tonight, there would be no going back. Only one of us would still be breathing.
“Where is she?” he asked, placing his glass on the desk.
I nodded towards the screens as I put my glass down too. “You didn’t see?”
“No, I saw you arrive and then came straight in here. Decatur keeps a close watch on Marisha, but I have been too busy to review his recent recordings. I watched the older footage. The footage from our dinner…” he jerked his head towards the screens, “I was too busy watching you fuck her while I met with your father mere steps away,” he replied through gritted teeth.
I glanced at the screens again, finding a video playing on repeat. I almost grinned at the sight.
The footage was obviously taped from the outside of our mansion looking in. There were enough bushes on that side of the house to hide the peeping tom, and glare from the window glass marred the view.
And what a view it was.
Me fucking Marisha on the pool table.
I supposed Decatur had taken the footage. He needed to follow orders, after all, and stay in Ivan’s good graces so I supposed playing spying pervert was a task he couldn’t refuse.
I took another sip of my whiskey. “You really should take better care of your things, Ivan. You’re losing your touch.”
“Yes, it would seem so wouldn’t it. I’d had my suspicions that the little whore was cheating on me, but I couldn’t think who would be stupid enough to get involved with her. What man would risk everything for a little piece of trash like Marisha?” He smirked, knowing how each word he uttered against her was grating my nerves and fraying my temper more and more. “I have her followed everywhere. I track her phone. She doesn’t fucking go anywhere unless I say so. So how, I wondered, could she be seeing someone else… and then I thought about you. Alexander Vasiliev, a self-proclaimed womanizer. And then I thought of all the times you’d had a chance to be alone withmywife.” He gritted his teeth, his nostrils flaring in anger.
I smiled. “That was intuitive of you.”
“I hope she was worth it, because prince or not, I’m going to teach you a lesson on manners. On touching what isn’t yours, and the consequences of what happens when you don’t keep your sticky fingers to yourself.”
I chuckled, unafraid of Ivan and his petty threats. I’d destroyed men like him time and time again. Tonight was just another destruction, another man who’d had retribution coming his way for a long while. How many times had he broken the trust with my family in the business world, yet covered his tracks so as not to be discovered? When business deals had gone wrong, when we’d lost bids on real estate that would have benefited our endeavors, had it been Ivan on the other end pulling the strings? I couldn’t prove anything right now, but I believed it to be true.
Holding my arms open wide I smiled cockily. “What can I say? She’s a beautiful girl, and I couldn’t resist.”
“You should have tried harder!” he roared, fury flaring in his eyes as he began to lose control again.
“She was the forbidden fruit; I had to have a taste,” I taunted, nodding towards the screens behind him. “And as you can see, Ididhave a taste and she was delicious, my friend.” My smile split my face, like a wolf watching its prey.
