AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shrug as I get into the SUV. That's weird though, because Sergei is one of a kind. His hair is a distinct white blond, and at six foot three and built like a brick wall, I've never seen another man who looks like him before. The whole time I'm speaking with the contractor on the progress, which is a few days behind, I can't stop thinking about it.
Without thinking I walk away from the contractor to call him. For only the second time ever he doesn't answer, and that's what clinches it. How was it for four years every single time I called him or texted him, he always answered immediately? That alone doesn't make any sense. He got up and walked out of class? How about I never saw him studying for any classes we didn't have together?
Holy fucking shit. I call him again. He answers. “You were my security, weren't you?”
It isn't Sergei. “You did not think I would allow you to go unprotected, did you,kotyonok? While he managed to fail the one time you needed him most, there were other times your safety was ensured because of Sergei. Now that you are aware, he will be at your side.” The bastard isn't in the slightest apologetic.
“Be a good girl and get your ass home.” The fucker ends the call.
Asshole.
The poor contractor is staring at me, very confused. I apologize and tell him to take the time needed. I’d rather it be done right then fast. With a nod, I leave.
I tell Peter I need to get something at my mother's house. He isn’t happy but doesn’t argue. Once we pull into the driveway he asks how long I’ll be and if I need help carrying anything. I shake my head as I keep walking.
The moment I’m inside, I bolt the door. I text Peter that I'm not leaving until I talk to Sergei.
There is no call or text from Milos or Peter. But exactly seventeen minutes after I sit down to wait, Sergei is knocking on the door.
When I open it, he's in the same black suit I saw him in earlier. I've seen him in a suit before. But now he's in all black like Milos. He's a different Sergei, not just because of the suit, but because I see the menace in his body—that tightly coiled strength, ready to spring to life when needed.
I step back and wave to the couch. “Sit.”
Sighing, he sits down. “It isn't a big deal, Celia. You needed protection. So I was there.”
“Talk, I want to know everything. All of it,” I demand.
He shakes his head. “You're going to be mad either way. On one hand, you're going to be mad at me for killing all those people. Even though I was simply doing what Milos told me to do. Which means Milos will be mad at me for making you mad. On the other hand, you will be mad at me for not telling you, which will make Milos mad at me for not giving you what you want. I don’t know. He didn’t specify what I could tell you.”
It’s the Sergei of old talking at a thousand words a minute, too fast for me to catch on. And I see it for the tactic it is—confuse me until I drop it. “Stop it.” I’m firm. “Tell me every fucking thing.”
A frown flashes. “I'mthinking. If I just make you mad for telling you, then Milos will never even think of punishing me or you'll get mad at him. If any of this upsets you, then we pay for it. So there you have it.”
He’s giving me a headache. “Just tell me about all the killing you did.”
Sergei is offended as only he can be. “I only killed people who didn't do what they were told. Everyone got a warning first. It's not like they didn't know the consequences of their actions or rather lack of actions. Those professors each got multiple warnings.”
Oh my god, professors? I had wondered—two suicides by faculty in a semester, when there hadn't been any in years. Than a professor was shot in a mugging. Muggings didn't happen in the small college town. “Whittier, Charles and Smith. You killed them because they failed me.”
“No, you failed becausetheydidn't do their job of accommodating your dyslexia. If you had failed because you didn't know your subject or something, that's one thing. No one would have gotten so much as a bruise. They were warned, you failed, so they paid the way they should have.” Sergei’s brown eyes darken to almost black. His whole demeanor changes. And now he's a killer, an enforcer, someone to be feared. Bratva.
How the hell could he have hidden who he was so well for years and I never saw it? Had no idea it was there below the surface. I am the idiot Carlo called me. The too trusting dumbass Milos needed to protect from the world. I'd befriended a killer, lived day in and out with someone who had no problem… “Wait, what other people besides the professors did you kill?”
A shrug of his shoulders. “There were a few guys who didn't get the message you weren't available.”
I’m confused. “What? Men hit on me? I don't remember any men hitting on me.”
“You were completely oblivious. I thought Milos was exaggerating. But he wasn't, you had no idea. Most went quietly, those that didn't…” Another shrug of his shoulders.
“Oh my god, how many?” I don’t want to know but I need to know.
“Like five, two overdoses of heroin. Only one more suicide. The rest were disappeared because the suicide thing was becoming too much.” He’s too casual.
“Like five or was it five?” I refuse to let him keep the truth from me.
He sighs. “Seven. It was seven.”
This is insane. So many people are dead because of me. “I cannot fucking believe this. I'm going to kill him with my bare hands. How could he—”
