Page 107 of Fractured Ties

“And I don’t give a shit.”

Whatever control Grisha had on his thin patience snapped with that statement. Really, Kolya was surprised the man lasted this long. Usually, he just hung up by now, but not before telling Kolya to go play in traffic. That was Grisha’s nice way of telling someone to fuck off.

“You’re under some sort of impression that just because you demand something, I must immediately jump through hoops to give you what you want, Kolya. That’s your first mistake—try not to make another. I answer to one man and you are not that man.”

Testy.

He almost laughed.

Almost.

Except Kolya couldn’t laugh at all when he was so goddamn pissed about this whole thing. One entire week of this garbage, to be exact.

Kolya’s jaw clenched so tightly, his molars ached. Grisha was lucky he was speaking to Kolya through a goddamn phone and not face to face. This little chat would not have ended well for the older man otherwise. Kolya was not in the mood for this nonsense.

“Yet,” Kolya uttered.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me—yet, Grisha. You do not answer to me yet.” Kolya smiled when the man’s breathing slowed on the other end of the call. “Because you will answer to me eventually. Vadim made sure of it; the cross on my chest says so, yes? Don’t you forget that. Because I sure as fuck won’t forget this.”

Kolya didn’t give the man a chance to respond. He hung up the phone and slipped the device into his pocket before he could consider smashing it into the ground at his feet. That might have made him feel better in the moment but it would also be selfish.

It was the only number Maya knew to call—other than Konstantin’s—should she need something. Plus, she’d been texting him pictures all day on her trip out of the hotel, wanting opinions that he didn’t think he had any place to give. He did it anyway, knowing she probably smiled for each one.

He didn’t need it hanging over his head if one of her texts went unanswered because he was a prick who broke his phone.

Kolya didn’t miss the way Konstantin’s brow lifted as he entered his brother’s office at the Compound.

“What was that all about?” Konstantin asked.

“Hmm, what?”

“Your phone call. I heard it.”

Kolya gave his brother a side eye. “Spying is a bad habit, no? Quit before someone breaks you of it.”

“I wasn’t spying. You were talking loud enough for the devil to hear.”

“Same difference.”

Konstantin’s gaze narrowed. “Oh, you’re in one of those moods again.”

Jesus Christ.

“I’m not in a mood. This is how I am.”

And it would do everyone well if they would just figure that out, and quickly. Kolya was getting tired of explaining it again and again.

“Sure.” Konstantin nodded. “What, didn’t get to forget your own name from being buried in pussy this morning?”

Actually, he had.

And he’d done so happily.

Not that it was his brother’s business.

Kolya gave Konstantin another look; this one promising violence if he didn’t shut the fuck up, and fast. Konstantin only rolled his eyes in response. He swore the two of them had the strangest relationship—everything was always a competition to Konstantin when it came to Kolya. From business to their father, and even little things like challenging Kolya’s threats in a way no one else would dare.