I stop talking.
His eyes lock on mine, cold and bright and absolute. “Listen carefully.”
My heart is beating so hard I can feel it in my throat.
“They know whose blood you come from now,” he says. “They know Gabriel used this.Us.They know he tried to turn it into leverage.” His mouth goes hard. “They also know you’re under my roof. Under my protection. Undermymark.”
I swallow.
“And if any one of them is stupid enough to think where you come from changes anything,” he says, voice dropping lower, rougher, “I’ll put him in the ground myself.”
The room goes very quiet.
I stare at him.
He means it. Of course he means it. That’s the problem with Maksim—when he says something violent, it never sounds dramatic. Just decided.
My hands fist into the fabric of my dress. “That’s not the same as them accepting it.”
“I don’t need acceptance.”
His thumb drags once over my cheekbone, slow and cold.
“I need obedience.”
Chapter 50
Maksim
By the time I get to the warehouse, the anger has gone cold.
That’s when it does the most damage. I kill the engine and sit there for one beat too long, hands locked around the grips, Ayla still in my head.
Her back against my desk. Her breathing too fast. Her eyes wide with that old animal fear she should never have had to wear again.
Do they want me to burn this damn thing off?
My jaw locks.
No.
They do not get that from her. They do not get one more fucking thing from her.
Katya will keep her distracted at the compound. Calm enough. She’s good at that—quiet where other people crowd.
I swing off the bike.
Vaska waits by the warehouse door, smoke curling from the cigarette between his fingers. He glances at me once, then drops it under his boot.
“Thought you quit,” I say.
He cracks his neck, eyes on the door. “Working on it.”
“How bad is it in there?”
“Bad enough.”
I open the door.
