When she nods again, a rueful smirk tugs my lips high. Although I’m dying to taste her, a trip to the store is best for all involved. While she’s out, I can handle Officer Prentice’s crimes without needing to expose her to my heinous world just yet. She has the strength to rule an empire, but I don’t want to frighten her until the fire in her eyes is fully relit.
“Are you going to feed me,Ahren?”
My nostrils flare when the need in my voice causes Justine’s knees to pull together. Her scent wipes the chaos from my mind, foolishly leading me to believe being her savior will far exceed the losses I will endure—even more so when she whispers, “Yes.” She does a quick swallow to force down her lie before adding, “Food. Only food.”
I let her fib slide with a smile. “We’ll see.”
When I crank my neck to Roman, he tosses me a wad of cash out of the bundle Cliché’s earned last night. Its rolled-up appearance hides the fact a majority of it was tucked in the sequined panties of over three dozen strippers. The women in my club keep their tipsafterthey’ve been thoroughly cleaned by my crew, and no, I’m not referencing the dirty mitts of my clients. I only have legitimate businesses for one reason. To hide the transactions I don’t want the law to see.
While yanking three one hundred dollar bills out of the bundle, I nudge my head to Viktor. “Take Viktor with you. He’ll keep you safe.”
The playfulness heating my veins gets a second dose when Justine snorts. “I’ll be safer without him in my presence.”
Her sass takes a backseat when I mutter, “Now that he’s aware of who you are, he’d slit his throat before he touches you again.”
Viktor looks surprised by the protectiveness in my tone, but he nods his head nonetheless, aware of the repercussions if he dared to double-guess me. “Y-y-yes, Boss. I-I’ll take her to the store. I’ll keep her safe.”
I tuck the bills into the pocket in Justine’s shorts before returning my eyes to her face. “Go to the store; get what you need, then come back here…immediately.”
The possessiveness in my tone has her jumping to my command. “Okay.”
After a quick grin, she spins on her heels, preparing to leave. She barely gets two steps away when my growl of her nickname has her freezing halfway through the swinging door.
“Are you forgetting something?”
When she cranks her neck back to me, I tap my cheek. Her breathing grows excited as she swings her eyes to my crew. If she’s hoping they’ll jump in and save her, she’s seeking help from the wrong people. My men wouldn’t challenge me on my best day, much less provoke me when I’m the most vulnerable.
As Justine drifts her massively dilated eyes back to mine, her chest rises and falls three times. My cock thickens painfully quick when she stammers out, “Attorneys don’t kiss their clients goodbye.”
She’s once again telling me no, but her body is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Her nipples are hard enough I’m afraid they’re about to break through her shirt, and the syrupy goodness my cock is dying to have coating it doubles in strength.
Fight as she may, not even she is safe from the chaotic storm brewing between us.
I step closer to her, budding her nipples even more. “Then I guess I better get a new attorney… as I’m planning on doing a whole lot more than kissing you.”
It’s the fight of my life not to gorge on her now when the quickest brush of my lips on her cheek buckles her knees. She’s hot all over, her needs as desperate as mine. I’m so eager, if the images I scanned earlier weren’t replacing the teens face with Justine’s, nothing would stop me. Alas, this stranger became my everything as quickly as my family became my enemy.
Both were brutal, unexpected events.
I’m just hoping this one doesn’t end as gorily.
Chapter Ten
“He won’t get close enough to touch you, I swear.” Maya peers up at me, blinking and mute. She’s panicked about my request for help, but mindful her assistance will be greatly rewarded. “I need someone who matched the description of his previous victims at short notice. You were the perfect candidate. He likes them…” I stop before I saysmall and malnourished like you.I want her help, not remind her about how poorly Vladimir treats his children.
Maya is my half-sister—well, she would have been if I had Vladimir’s blood as my mother lead me to believe. Her mother was a French tourist who was as blinded by Vladimir’s dark insides as she was the bright lights of Vegas.
Vladimir pulled all his best tricks on her. A promised penthouse with views of the strip, a sleek new ride, and a sworn oath to end his promiscuous ways.
All she ended up with was a dungeon-like room in the basement of the Popov compound, and three children who are treated more like slaves than family.
Although Rico endeavored to help as many as he could before he was killed, the effort was bigger than anyone could have comprehended. Over the past fifty years, Vladimir has had many whores. With his view on protection as lax as his ideas on equality for women, his off-spring grew exponentially each year. The age of his children extends from forty-three to six weeks old, his latest daughter compliments of the twenty-three year old Scandinavian woman he purchased on the black market the middle of last year. Their daughter wasn’t immaculately conceived, nor was she born in the safety of a hospital.
If last reports are accurate, her conception and birth dramatized her mother so much, Vladimir is on the verge of sending her to live with Maya’s mother in the underbelly of the Popov mansion. It is gruesome, but it’s a better outcome than the one Vladimir’s other insubordinate whores were handed. Her life will be spared, although I can’t guarantee it will be full of rainbows and sunshine.
I’m pulled from my thoughts when Sergei enters Justine’s dining room on Trey’s heel. I hate that I’m being forced to bring Sergei into this, but he is a master on removing tracking devices without alerting the authorities. The scope of my ankle bracelet perimeter should include the alleyway where Officer Prentice is about to meet his timely demise, but I’d rather local law enforcement officers not know I was in the alleyway at the time of their fellow officer’s death.
It’s easier to get off a murder conviction when you have a solid alibi, hence the reason Justine’s apartment is being swarmed by members of my crew and the whores who keep them occupied during stints of chaos.
