Page 80 of Nemesis

He shakes his head, pulling me back down to the soft comforter below. My legs are way too sore to fight him. I land on the blankets with a pathetic whoosh.

“I’d like to store my earnings inside your body from now on.”

Your earnings? Such a twisted way to refer to my blood. “Where was this chivalry when we were rotting in the cage?”

His other arm works its way beneath my ribcage, leaving me completely immobilized in his safe frame. “Maybe I’ve been studying.”

The idea of Vasiliy learning manners could bring a stoic scholar to tears.

“Sure, you have.” I huff, snuggling back into the blankets. “Hope you’re happy with this pointless bargain, because I’m calling us even regardless of where you store your earnings.”

If only I believed my own words. I wish this little game of ours made all of the guilt disappear from my chest. I don’t think we’ll ever truly be even.

He doesn’t speak for so long, I’m sure he fell asleep. That is, until his lips dip against the top of my ear, setting every nerve in my skin on fire with the contact.

“I won’t be happy until every drop of blood in your body belongs to me.”

“What do you mean, I can’t speak with her?” I snap, crushing the phone against my ear.

The courtyard is especially busy this morning beneath the constant bootsteps of Siderov’s soldiers. I don’t know where they’re all headed today, but I have plenty of ideas. Nothing moves business along quite as fast as an armed grunt showing up at your door.

Walking to a sequestered alcove, I tuck my back against the side of the stone mansion and listen carefully.

“I’m sorry. The order is out of my hands.”

I laugh humorlessly. I hope he doesn’t have any dependents, because they’re all about to get a whole lot more dependent. “You work for me. If I want to talk to my sister, I’ll talk to my sister.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but it’s not possible. I don’t⁠—”

“Put someone else on the phone before I buy a very expensive plane ticket just to bury you in person.” My foot toes the grass, desperate to kick something for the hell of it.

Feedback crackles through the speaker a few seconds before a different voice comes through, this one far more welcome.

“Vasiliy, you must stop calling this week,” a gravelly-voiced woman chides over the phone.

“Lena, what’s going on? Is she okay?”

“She is fine,” she says, calming some of the rising panic. I hired Lena years ago after firing a long line of nannies, each one more incompetent than the last. I needed someone sturdy enough to stand up to my mother’s manipulation attempts when she deigned to float back into town, but soft enough to bring my sister into their heart and protect her with their last breath. The bossy woman in her sixties fit the bill.

“But you are not,” she continues. “I don’t know what you did this time, boy, but it has your uncle on edge. His soldiers came by to warn us not to communicate with you right now, and I’m unwilling to risk Anya’s safety for your peace-of-mind calls.”

His soldiers went over there.

God, I don’t want them anywhere near my sister. I should be there, keeping them as far away as possible. Making sure she feels safe. She’s so young, I’m not sure how much of our situation she actually understands.

“You may reach out again in a few weeks, after giving the dust time to settle, yes?”

I rub my tired eyes. “Fine. Whatever you think is best.”

“I’m good at my job, Vasiliy,” she says, not unkindly.

“That’s why I pay you so damn much.” And why I allow you to order me around and speak to me in a tone that would cost anyone else their life.

“That’s right,” she says with a chuckle. “Worry about yourself, for once. Your sister’s in excellent hands.”

The weight of the call sits like a stone in my gut. I can’t believe he really sent his shitheads over to my property to threaten my staff. If I had a chance to kill him right now, I would take it with open arms.

“You seen the little princess out today?” a voice says, followed by the slam of car doors from the direction of the roundabout.