“It’s not Josiah you should be afraid of,” she warns me.
“Is that so?” I muse, standing over her. She’s much shorter than me, but her defiance makes her larger than life.
“Izabel Toloff.”
She watches my face as her name brings recognition to my expression.
“That’s right,” she muses. “And my brother, Illyin Toloff, is not going to be very pleased when he finds his one and only little sister missing. I assure you, he will tear the world apart to find me, and when he does, he will tearyouapart.”
I clench my jaw to hide my full reaction. Shock.
Absolute and complete shock.
How the hell did Yaroslav not pick up on this vital piece of information? How the hell did he miss this?
“Ready to let me go yet?” she asks, sounding pleased with herself.
I study her face, her confidence. Drop dead gorgeous, that’s what she is.
You should let her go. You never banked on having two big players in the mafia world after you. You only planned for one—Josiah Belov. Now Illyin Toloff is going to be hunting you down as well. Just let her go.
Not a fucking chance. She’s mine, and the mere thought of letting her go sends an ache pulsing through me. No. It’s too late for that. Or it isn’t. I don’t care.I want her.
And the feistier she is, the more defiant she is, the more I want her.
“Sorry, darling, you’re staying.”
Her face flickers in the smallest moment of fear—just for a second, but it’s there. It brings me more satisfaction than I want to admit.
She presses her lips together, pouting, then spins away from me and storms out of the living room and up the stairs.
I’m sure she can find her own way to a room and make herself comfortable.
Sitting down on the sofa, I tilt my head back and down the last of my beer, then grab the one I took out for her and pop the lid off.
Fuck.
I really threw myself into the deep end here. And on top of the revelation of her true identity, I've had another revelation about myself.
This isn’t just about Belov anymore. This is now abouther, about the way she has grabbed my attention, and how I can’t stop thinking about her. The past few days have made it more and more obvious. I want her, and I refuse to give that up.
Leaning back on the sofa, I groan. Yeah. I’m in a shit storm now. And she’s at the center of it.
Chapter 4 - Izabel
The whole night, I hardly sleep.
It’s dawn now, and I can see the light creeping in through the locked window. I’m sitting on the bed with my legs drawn up to my chest and my eyes on the closed door. My eyes are so heavy and dry that they keep drifting closed. I have dozed off a few times, my body snatching sleep here and there, but mostly I’m exhausted and fully aware of just how much danger I’m in.
But I can’t quite figure out which direction the danger is coming from.
Is it something to do with the Belovs? Or is this my brother’s twisted little plan to freak me out and try to scare me into coming home? The guy’s expression when I said my brother’s name was hard to read, but one thing is for sure—he has mafia written all over him.
Heknowsof my brother, even if he isn’t working for him.
Maybe Kayla spoke to Josiah and told him who I really am? Maybe he’s furious, and he orchestrated this?Surely not. Surely my friend wouldn’t allow that. But maybe she doesn’t know.
Again, I am stuck trying to figure out why I’m here and who is behind it.
