Page 13 of Pride

“Get. Your. Hands. Off. Her.” His voice is venomous, and his eyes focused on Dave’s hand wrapped around her arm.

Dave looks at me and I nod. He releases his hold on Lilliana, and Sergei finally breaks his gaze from her and turns his head to me.

“Vitali,” he says, nodding his greeting to me.

I don’t. Fuck him. Instead, I turn to Marcus. “What, you needed help?”

He flicks his smoke from his mouth onto the ground and stomps it out. “This concerns him.”

“Eyes,” Sergei sneers. “Now!”

When I look at him, he’s not talking to me. His eyes are burning holes in Lilliana. Slowly, her head lifts, obeying his command.

My gun sits waiting in its holster, begging to put a bullet in his head. I could easily end him right here, but that will mean the men behind that fucker will fire, and I can’t risk mine.

“I have missed you, Moya Lyubov’.” He tilts his head to the side with a vicious smirk. “Did you enjoy your holiday?”

She swallows hard. Her cheeks are flush, and her lips are tight.

“It was a little short.” Although her voice is soft, it’s still the first time I’ve heard it since her panic attack.

This answer makes him smile and lick his lips, nostrils flaring. Her eyes drop to his hand, and with his thumb, he cracks each knuckle individually, while his cruel smirk is begging to be wiped off his face.

What is she thinking, stirring him up like that? Is she asking for trouble?

“Do you know how many problems you’ve caused me with your bullshit?” Her father yells as he likes to do. “You’re lucky Sergei here is still willing to do right by you. And you wonder why he needs such a heavy hand.” He spits on the floor in her direction.

My blood runs cold and I see red.

5

Lilly

I’mchalkingitupto my time away, living carefree and happy. As happy as I could be living a life alone, afraid to make any real connections. I mean, what else could it be, right? Why would my father’s words slice through me so viciously when it’s nothing I haven’t heard before? There used to be a time it rolled off my back, so used to his warped mind that it no longer registered.

But alas, here I am again, gob smacked at how much my father truly despises me. I get it, to him, I killed the woman he loved most in the world. To me? I was just born, and by God how I wish it was me instead of mum that didn’t make it out of that hospital alive many, many times. I’ve also got a feeling I’m going to be on that train of thought later tonight.

Sergei is still staring at me, and I don’t miss his intent with every curve of his lip and crack of his knuckle. He looks the same as I remember, dark and cruel, but my God, he’s always been handsome. Those ice-cold blue eyes once were mysterious and sexy before they became ones of the devil. His shoulders squared and his posture is high. Even his face exudes authority and power, everything that once attracted me to him now scares the shit out of me.

My heart is racing, I can hear it in my ears, feel it throbbing in my neck, and my chest. But I don’t let him see my fear. I won’t give him the satisfaction. I can’t wrap my head around how quickly everything was taken from me. I thought I had done everything right. I thought I covered all my tracks. I thought I was smart.

What a fucking joke.

Now, I’m back with these vultures circling around and somehow need to do it all again. But how? And when? How long do I have to play Sergei’s sick games until I catch them all off guard and slip out again?

If I had a magic eight ball, I’m sure it would say, ‘outlook not so good.’

“Let’s get this over with,” father of the year says.

He nods to Antonio, who’s considered one of my uncles. The same man who helped me when I fell off my bike when I was seven, cleaned up the wound on my knee, and patched me back up again. I wonder if he will visit me and do the same after the beating I’m sure Sergei is going to drag out for what will likely be the next couple of days.

I doubt it.

But, like a good lapdog, Antonio walks over with a briefcase and throws it in Ren’s direction. The man now in charge of my life, for the time being, anyway.

Vitali. That’s how Sergei greeted him. I know the family by name only. A very old school, organised crime family rooted in tradition with long standing holdings in the city. But to my father, I remember he called them weak and not able to do what’s needed.

Well, I guess Ren has showed him today.

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