“Excuse my disbelief, but why would you be here then?”
I decided to play along. Maybe I just needed to buy time. Everly would’ve sounded the alarm by now, and Prime and Ajani would probably have people here in minutes.Yeah, just stall.
“Well?” I demanded.
“To retrieve you.”
Suddenly, those waves of terror that had been lapping at me were crashing, threatening to drag me under.
He must work for Chauncey’s people. Chauncey, my violent ex, had disappeared, and while I may not have done it, I was definitely the reason for it. Had his family decided to make me pay? If so…
…if so, I wasn’t going out groveling. I exhaled slowly, lifting my eyes to the mammoth in front of me.
“That’s not gon’ happen,”I told him as calmly as I could.
“I am afraid it has to happen, Miss,” he argued softly.
“You said you ain’t here to hurt me. Hurting me is the only way you gon’ get me out of this house.”
The challenge sat between us as we eyed each other warily.
“I will not hurt you, but this Malik I have no problem hurting.”
Confused, I felt my face scrunch into a frown. “Malik? Why would you hurt Malik?”
The blond giant shrugged. “He has already trespassed, touching where he should not, whom he should not. He must learn not to do it again.”
I gritted my teeth, rage and fear battling in my chest. Malik’s smile from our date flashed in my mind, the memory of warmth and laughter over cocktails spreading through me like sunlight.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Hurt me, instead.”
I’d survived once. I could do it again.
He sighed. “I do not want to hurt you, Miss. Icannothurt you. But you must understand, this is not a request.”
Where the fuck are Prime and Ajani’s people?I wondered. I had to keep stalling for Malik and me.
“Why can’t you hurt me?” I demanded, gaze narrowing.
“My boss… if you even have hair out of place, he will make my insides look like borscht,” he explained.
Borscht?I frowned. “That red soup?”
He nodded gravely. “I think that my organs will make terrible borscht. So, I will not hurt you. But Malik’s insides will not be so lucky.”
“Look, sir?—”
“Mikhail,” he interrupted.
“Mikhail. Who is your boss?”
“Your husband. He is waiting. He is not a man who waits patiently.”
I looked at him like he’d sprouted another head. “This is some kind of mistake! I don’t have a husband.”
Lord, please don’t tell me I was being threatened and terrorized accidentally. It would be just my luck, too.But how would he know Malik’s name?Mikhail sighed again, heavier this time, like he was tired of my bullshit.
“Mrs. Sidorov, if you would please just come–”
