Page 20 of Fractured Ties

How dare he fucking make her cry like that?

Kolya wasn’t even sure what he was seeing except it was a hell of a lot of red, and the imprint of Maya’s crying face stayed firmly in the background when he edged around the desk, and hissed out, “Apologize to her, now.”

“I—” Anatoly’s head snapped in Kolya’s direction. “Why the fuck would I apologize? She knows what she’s worth, and so did her father.”

Maya’s tears started again.

Kolya saw more red.

Konstantin said his name.

It was a damn good thing the ground had been there to break Anatoly’s fall—you know, after Kolya punched him, and sent him flying straight out of the window he’d been standing in front of.

Again, to the ground … three fucking flights down.

“Shit,” he heard Konstantin hiss before his brother darted to the window where a breeze was now coming in. Konstantin leaned out while Kolya just flexed his sore, and now-bleeding-again knuckles to shake out the pain a bit. “He’s not moving.”

My bad.

“Shame,” Kolya muttered. “Vadim’s favorite dog, too.”

“This is bad,” Konstantin added.

Yeah.

Maya had stopped crying, though.

So, hey, winning.

3.

MAYA KOZLOV was a lot of things—dumb was not one of them.

Life had taught her to be several things.

Smart.

Quick.

Quiet.

And resourceful.

So, when she watched a man literally get punched out of a window after he made her cry because the Russian they kept calling Kolya didn’t like the sight of her tears … well, she sat her ass down on the worn couch in her father’s office and shut her mouth.

That seemed like the smart course of action.

All things considered …

“What happened, Konstantin?”

Maya found a man she had heard the others call Kaz while they were surveying the chained, or caged, animals downstairs. In her attempt to hide, thinking whatever was going on in the bar would pass like most other things did, they passed her by twice in her spot before a rat scared her and sent her running.

Kolya sighed but didn’t answer.

Konstantin finally pushed away from the window. “Kolya—that’s what.”

“Context, Konstantin,” Kolya bitched under his breath. “Context always matters, no?”