Page 31 of Vow Of Fire

“Can’t you?” I hissed.

She swallowed. “How do you know it’s Malakov’s number? I thought you didn’t talk.”

I snorted. “It is. Trust me.” I’d called Nico on the way here and got confirmation. “It was his burner phone.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t even know Malakov had a burner phone.”

“Of course he does,” I snapped. “He’s the Russian mob.”

She held up her hands. I was so close they were almost resting on my chest. “All I know is I had nothing to do with this. I don’t know what else to say.”

Fuck. I didn’t know either, that’s what was getting to me. I couldn’t prove she didn’t do it, just like I couldn’t prove that she did. The circumstantial evidence was mounting, but until I had concrete proof, I wasn’t pulling that trigger.

I wasn’t afraid to end her life, but I wasn’t about to do it without a damn good reason.

Not again.

“What’s your problem with Sergei anyway?” she asked. “Why are you so adamant he stole your drugs?”

“That is none of your business,” I snapped. My family’s long-standing feud with the Bratva was not something I was about to get into with someone like Evelyn Cruz.

“Are you sure you didn’t get it wrong? Sergei isn’t like that.”

“Trust me, he’s exactly like that,” I snarled. Malakov was a dangerous animal and capable of far more than just ambushing our shipment.

But we were worse.

If she knew what the Marcellis were capable of, she wouldn’t be bantering with me now. I’d been too soft, given the wrong impression of myself. Of my family.

I realized that now.

Lifting my hand, I gripped her around the throat. Not hard, but tight enough to make a point. Her skin was warm and soft under my fingers, and I saw my mistake when I had to resist the urge to caress it instead of squeeze.

It made my voice harder. “I don’t appreciate your tone. I’m doing you a fucking favor keeping you alive. You ought to remember that.”

“You abducted me, remember?” There was still a flash of defiance in her eyes. “I’m here because you’re a drug dealer with the wrong idea.”

I gritted my teeth. She was testing me. Seeing how far she could push me before I broke. If it was an attempt to get me to lose control, to reveal the cracks in my armor, it wouldn’t work.

I didn’t break.

Others had tried and failed.

Leaning in toward her, I growled, “Don’t push me, Ophelia. I won’t stand for it.”

Her pupils flared, and I felt a stupid rush of triumph. It was petty, but I liked that it riled her. I could play that game too.

“What are you going to do? Kill me?”

I fixed her with a hard stare. “If you’re guilty, yes.”

I saw the fear then. It was in the way her eyes widened and her lips parted. It was in the quick intake of breath.

I loosened my grip, but my hand still rested against her throat. I could feel her pulse racing under my thumb.

“And you’re going to be the judge of that?”

My lips curved into a thin smile. “That’s right. So you may as well fess up. You’ve got nothing to lose.”