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As soon as the door swings closed, someone claps their hand on my shoulder.
“A real firecracker, that one,” Leonid says with a chuckle. “Forget Sasha Lenin. I can see exactly why you’re hesitant to let that one go. She’s worth the trouble. Even if she’ll never be a Bratva wife, she is certainly an admirable distraction.”
I can think of so many things to say to Leonid Kozlov right now. But speaking of what’s worth the trouble, Leonid doesn’t even begin to make that list.
“Excuse me,” I say curtly.
I cross the room and go after Rayne.
37
RAYNE
As soon as the kitchen door bangs open, I know who it is.
Somehow, no one from the kitchen staff was out in the main dining area when I smashed Sasha in the face with a serving tray. When I walked in, they were all starting to ask me what happened. But now that Kirill is looming behind me, breathing heavily, they act like I’m cursed and it’s transferable by touch. There is a six-foot radius around me that no one dares to enter.
“Leave us,” Kirill growls.
The kitchen clears out in an instant. Natalia is the last to leave. She lingers next to me for just a second, long enough for me to know she wants to stay.
Then she’s gone, too.
And Kirill and I are alone.
“I don’t know why I thought I could come in here and hide from you,” I mumble, turning around with a sigh. “This isyourhouse. I’myouremployee. Everything you see and touch isyours.”
Apparently, I suffer from the same affliction as Sasha Lenin: I don’t know when to shut my mouth.
“Do you realize you nearly died the day we met?” Kirill asks.
I don’t know what I expected him to say, but it wasn’t that. I blink back at him.
“Stefano was going to have his goons throw you in a car so he could do God only knows what with you. But I intervened when I didn’t have to. I made your problems my business and protected you,” he continues. “In a way, every day of your life since then has belonged to me.”
Admittedly, I haven’t let my mind consider what that horrible man would have done with me that night. It’s a nightmare I don’t want to explore.
Even still, I don’t like what he’s insinuating.
“Are you telling me I owe myself to you? That you’re somehow deserving of a prize?” I spit. “If so, I think I’ve more than repaid you.”
He snorts. “I don’t take sex as a valid form of repayment. Respect would be nice, though. Gratitude would be even better. How many times do I need to intervene in your crises before you see how much I’ve done for you?”
“I told you thanks for saving Brady!”
He’s unmoved. “And what about when I kept Sonya from firing you the day you showed up for work? Or the time I picked you up from the gutter after Viktoria ran you down? Not to mention the time I kept my brother from pounding you into the tile the day you broke into his apartment.” Kirill shakes his head. “Any normal human would throw themselves down at my feet.”
“And most of them do! If that’s what you want, go get one of them. God knows Viktoria will do whatever you ask! Say the word and she’ll be naked in your bed again.”
Kirill is standing perfectly still. It’s ominous, honestly. Like a jack in the box, I find myself waiting for him to snap.
“I don’t want Viktoria.”
I throw up my hands in frustration. “The list of what you don’t want is forever long. When it comes to what youdoactually want, who the hell even knows? You have no clue what you want. Maybe when you figure it out you can—”
He moves so quickly that I don’t even have time to be startled. Suddenly, Kirill is pressed against me, his arms wrapped around my body. I look up and he’s staring down at me. His green eyes are clear and true.
“I know what I want.”
