“No, there’s no explaining anymore, Katya. This is your last chance. Those men were all powerful and rich and they would do the family name proud, and you just made each and every one of them feel small and insignificant. Have you any idea what this is going to cost me to fix? None of them will want you now, but they’ll want my apologies for your behavior.”
I rolled my eyes, hating how angry he sounded with me, but also not caring in the same breath. His apologies to them would mean money… and that’s what he was truly angry about. I wanted my father to be proud of me the way he was proud of Alex, but while he was selling me off like cattle it was hard to gain his respect.
“Your mother and I have tried to give you the benefit of the doubt. We have tried to let you have some say in this, but you are not going to make me look weak. Dinner, tonight, Katya. I have another suitor lined up and if you play your silly games this time, I’ll have you married off to the local meat merchant by the morning, do you understand?”
My cheeks flushed in anger, tears filling my eyes. But I nodded, though he couldn’t see me, and then I answered, my voice shaking. “Yes, Father.”
“Do not push my hand in this, Katya. You’re not a little girl anymore and there are serious consequences to your actions. For everyone.” For the most part he’d stopped shouting, but his disappointment and anger was still vibrant.
“I’m sorry,” I replied, not really meaning it but knowing he needed to hear the words.
“So am I, my sweet daughter, but business is business, and this is our way of life. You’ve lived a spoiled existence on my wealth and name, and now it’s time to pay that price. I want nothing but love for your future, and I’ve chosen these men knowing they can give you that...if you just let them.”
He clicked off the phone without waiting for my reply, possibly already expecting what my response would be to that.
“Fuck you,” I mumbled, slipping my cell back in my purse, “and fuck you too, Nikolai.”
Chapter Fifteen
Nikolai
My mouth was dry and my pulse was still racing by the time I ducked into a dive bar close to the beach. There were a dozen such establishments within easy walking distance of the restaurant, but I’d moved past them all, striding fast and furiously in an attempt to drive away the rage building inside my body. I’d gone over a mile, maybe more, until I was in a part of Viti Levu I didn’t recognize. Hell, I’d probably been here before, but I’d spent a great deal of our past Fiji vacations high as a kite and twice as drunk.
I’d give anything right now for a decent line. Press a nostril closed, suck in quickly with the other, let the white powder do its trick.
Alex and I had experimented once upon a time. Most kids who grew up in high society where every door opened with a simple look, tried this or that. Anything high dollar that promised a righteous buzz. Then we’d been caught while riding a drug-induced wave. Courtesy of Katya, of course. Our consistent third wheel.
There had been moments in our lives that I’d truly loathed her. And ratting us out to the Vasilievs and Mother Markov over getting high? Yeah, that had been one of those times.
But as she’d grown, as she’d come into her own and sprouted tits and an ass to die over, I’d been pissed at her less often. The teasing and the taunting took center field. I’d never admit how many times I’d stroked one out while thinking about her in some revealing dress or another. How sometimes, I fucked a random piece of tail and pretended it was Katya so that I could live out my revenge fantasies. Leave a few bruises behind, bite a little too hard, spank a little too much.
But, despite all of that, she was a bitch. A grade A, high class, stuck up her own ass bitch.
Fucking unreal.I berated myself, stomping over to a barstool and sitting down with a heavy thunk.She’s a thorn in my damn side.
But I hadn’t liked seeing her with those men.
I couldn’t fucking deny it.
And the last one… goddamn rich bastard. He’d treated me like an impoverished whipping boy. Someone who’d do anything for money, and no doubt he’d treat her the same. She was his arm candy; just something for him to own and show to his friends. He had no idea over her real potential.
Well, he could take his bills and shove them where the sun didn’t shine. And Katya…
Fucking Katya.
I shook my head, fire racing through my veins, as I thought back to the bathroom and rubbing my hands over her body. I could still feel the whisper of her on my thumb, like she’d left her delicious sexual aura behind to remind me of what I wanted so damn badly.
But she was off limits, just as she’d said. I’d always known it, and that fact was never going to change.
“Goddammit,” I muttered, slamming three twenties down on the worn counter and then pointing at a bottle of whiskey. The barkeep came over, tossing a dingy cleaning cloth over her shoulder, and grabbed the liquor. She didn’t bother pouring it for me, instead dropping two ice cubes into a relatively clean glass and then leaving me to my own devices. I could have kissed her for that, despite the fact that she looked the better part of sixty and had a smoker’s wrinkled mouth.
I poured glass after glass, sucking down the hot, burning liquid like it would somehow save me from myself.
We were playing this dangerous game of cat and mouse, and I didn’t know which animal I was. I’d followed her into the restaurant bathroom, not the other way around. I’d chasedher.
Yet, she’d turned the tides, proving that she wasn’t a meek and mild rodent, content to be the prey.
I must have sat there forever drinking. The hours were ticking by and it was pushing late afternoon by the intensity of sunshine pouring into the bar. Katya’s security detail had tried to ring me, likely about boating back to the private island.
