I didn’t answer. I didn’t have to.
She grinned, satisfied. “He’s gonna ruin you.”
I exhaled a thin cloud and whispered, “I really fucking hope so.”
Then the doorbell rang.
Valeria rolled off the bed with a dramatic sigh. “He’s your boy toy, babe. Go perform.”
“Hard pass.”
I stayed sprawled out on the soft silk of her ridiculous bed, the ceiling blurring slightly as the next hit of the joint buzzed in my head. My body was warm, relaxed. My mind? A fucking mess.
I didn’t have the energy for Ruslan. He had feelings for me—I knew that. Grinding on him at the club was a mistake. A dumb, reckless, drunk mistake. But the second Maksym walked in, something inside me snapped. I wanted him to see.I wanted to make him jealous.
It wasn’t rational. The man treats me like I’m a problem he didn’t ask for. But when he threw me over his shoulder and carried me out of that club like I weighed nothing—fuck, that was the most exciting thing that had happened to me in years. Every time I see him, something in me lights up. It’s like my body knows he’s dangerous and wants more of it anyway.
I know what they say about him. That he’s done horrific things, left bodies behind, works in the shadows. And maybe I should care. Maybe a normal person would. But I don’t. Probably because I’m not normal. Because nothing can scare me more than what happened when my father became the most dangerous man in Ukraine and the most wanted man to kill.The night they attacked our house broke something in me. Since then, fear just doesn’t work the same.
The sound of heavy footsteps broke through the haze—Ruslan, of course, making an entrance.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. The kind of guy who probably spent more time picking out his outfit than I did. Always in some tailored, preppy suit like he was on his way to a yacht club meeting. Expensive watch, a tiny silver ring in his ear, and that brunette, slightly long curly hair that took effort to look careless.Cute, sure—in the way puppies are cute before they start humping your leg.
He had that slick, effortless charm that used to do something for me back when I was seventeen and didn’t know better. But now? Cute didn’t do it for me anymore. Cute didn’t make my thighs clench or my stomach flutter.
He didn’t even ask before lying down next to me on the bed, his cologne wafting over like he thought it might change my mind about him. I kept my eyes on the ceiling, unimpressed, pretending he wasn’t there.
Then he had the audacity to reach over, pluck the joint from between my fingers, and slide it back between my lips, his fingers deliberately brushing my skin like it was supposed to spark something.
It didn’t spark anything. If anything, it made me want to slap his hand away.Still, I took a slow drag from the joint, then snatched it right back from his hand like it hadn’t happened.
“If you girls want,” he said with a lazy, too-confident grin, looking between us, “I’ve got something stronger.”
Valeria groaned and rolled her eyes. “We still need to get back to school, dumbass.”
“Not now,” he said with a wink. “Just saying. I tried this new stuff once—had me so high I thought I was having a conversation with my dead cat.”
I turned my head, blinking at him. “What the fuck did you just say?”
He laughed like it was the funniest thing he’d ever told. “She was very wise. Gave great advice.”
Valeria cackled, high and leaning into the pillows like she didn’t have a care in the world.
I shook my head. “I like being high. Not brain-dead.”
Ruslan just shrugged, clearly not offended. “Suit yourself. You don’t know what you’re missing.”
The room grew quiet for a beat. Then he casually threw in, “So where’d you disappear to the other night? Club was half-dead after you left.”
He smirked, clearly annoyed. “What, was it your new father’s prison pet that dragged you out?”
My jaw clenched.
I could make jokes about Maksym. I could roll my eyes at him, maybe even call him an asshole to his face. But hearing Ruslan say it—mocking, smug—set something sharp off in me.
“He’s not a pet,” I said, voice cold. “He’s the fucking Reaper.”
Ruslan blinked, clearly amused. “The what now?”
