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I grimaced. “Never mind. Ten it is.”
“I’ll contact you soon, darling. As soon as you hold up your end of the bargain, he’ll walk free.”
“I don’t even know your name.”
“Max. You can call me Max.”
As if he had gotten the hint, he finally put some distance between us. With a sigh of relief, I gulped down the rest of my drink. Uncomfortable silence surrounded us, and he didn’t stick around for much longer.
And that was how I met The Rapscallion.
I couldn’t tell Davorin that.
I couldn’t tell him that I had sex with Max ten times and that I vomited straight after each time. I didn’t tell him that despite enjoying rough sex with him, I always left Max’s hotel room covered in bruises. I couldn’t tell him that when I wanted out—when I wanted him to stop—he didn’t. He only went harder, making sure to hurt me and inflict as much pain as possible.
I couldn’t tell him that he also gave me a black eye, broke my nose, and did a lot of other horrible things to me. He was the reason I put up with it—to set him free. And that was why I didn’t regret it.
I went into that deal thinking it would be easy. Oh, how wrong I’d been.
Max did hold up his end of the deal. As soon as the tenth time was over, Davorin was released. However, after the fourth time we slept together, I spent days afterward drinking myself to sleep and taking showers ten times a day, just to wash out the stench Max left behind.
I glanced up at Davorin. The bath water had gone cold long ago.
Nothing good could’ve come from him knowing the truth. His intense, green eyes pierced through me, as if he’d expected a straightforward, easy answer. It pained me to do so, but the past I shared with The Rapscallion was just that: the past. It was something I would take to my grave.
So, I lied again.
TWENTY
EKATERINA
Ididn’t think I’d be back in New York that soon.
I also didn’t anticipate that the first place I’d go would be Aleksei’s home. It looked different, and I was unsure whether or not it was in a good way. No one was around, not even his housekeepers.
Davorin was tailing close behind me.
He was angry but didn’t say it out loud. After I fed him some false story about how The Rapscallion and I met, he kept some distance between us, and that angered me. He was touching me, but it was as if his mind was elsewhere.
He just told me to pack and that we’d leave to meet my brothers. It wasn’t a reunion that I particularly looked forward to, given that I’d met with Dominik not too long ago, but I was dreading meeting Aleksei. I wasn’t keeping close tabs on him but from what I’d heard from Davorin, he’d gone insane.
That trait truly ran in the family.
The secret door in Aleksei’s office opened, and they were already all waiting.
“Princess!” Vladimir exclaimed happily. His face split into a wide grin.
“Oh, wow. It’s been a while, Vlad. Looking good.”
He approached me and hugged me. I was about to protest but then he was forcibly removed from me. Shock flashed behind his whiskey eyes, then morphed into amusement. He backed away immediately, and Davorin was quick to stand in front of me.
After a staring contest with Vladimir, Davorin rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath. There were only two seats left open for the two of us. Adrik took a seat right next to Vlad, making sure that I wasn’t close to him.
Xenia greeted me politely as I sat next to her, though we didn’t have enough time to catch up.
“Ekaterina.” Aleksei’s rough voice made me look up at him. “You and I are going to have a talk later, but for now…” He paused, and Ilya brought out detailed drawings of two buildings, presumably from the locations David Belushi gave them.
Aleksei pointed to the drawing on the right. “I can’t tell for sure which location Bogdan will be at, so we’ll make two teams and split up. As we speak, my men are searching through both buildings, but this one is the one I’m worried about.”
