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“I offered before he could. I know men like him–I knew he’d find out, and it would be worse if I didn’t go to him first. This way, I got better terms. I–” She bites her lip. “I’m sorry. I should have said something to you. I just–I didn’t want to scare you. You were already having such a hard time with it. And I thought Mikhail might be savvy enough to take care of it. He seemed to know his way around this type of place–you know, the type who knows how to grease palms. My guy isn’t like that.”
“I think he did.” I squeeze my hands together, feeling my nails bite into my palms. “Igor just said I needed to pay him, too. He wasn’t satisfied with whatever Mikhail gave him.”
“That fucking–” Ruby seethes, gritting her teeth. She looks around quickly, her eyes narrowing. “We need to be careful what we say in here.”
“He said he has the rooms bugged.”
“I figured as much.” Ruby sees the expression on my face and reaches out, grabbing my hands. “Oh, Athena. I’m sorry–”
“Is there anything else you want to tell me that you haven’t?” I snatch my hands back, feeling suddenly betrayed. “I could have used all of that, you know.”
Ruby has the good grace, at least, to look chagrined. “I’m so sorry,” she says softly. “You’re so new to all of this, you said. I didn’t want to scare you. I was afraid you’d leave, honestly, and I–” She swallows hard. “It’s no excuse, but you’re the only real friend I’ve had in a while. I didn’t want you to go.”
Part of me wants to lash out, to stay angry, to take all of my complicated feelings out on Ruby. It would be easy to do it. I could sever our friendship with a few sharp, well-placed words, and before all of this, I might have.
But I don’t have so many people left in the world that I can do that so easily. I know for a fact that what Igor said wasn’t true–if I disappeared, Ruby would care. It would matter. And because of that, and because I don’t want to hurt the one friend I have, I let it go.
“I understand,” I say softly. “I really do. We’re all just doing our best. I’m not mad at you.”
I’m not. But the fear that Igor left me with sticks with me. It’s hard to focus, and all I can think about is the money I’m losing and how much further I’m going to be now from my goal than I was before.
When I have a chance to slip away, I step outside into the rain and fish out the last thing Mikhail gave me last night before he put me into a cab–a phone with his number in it. I hadn’t planned on using it so soon, but with my heart pounding in my chest, I pull it out and hit the call button, wanting to talk to the one other person who might actually care that I’m being extorted. Most of all, because he’d already tried to pay Igor off.
The phone picks up on the second ring, and I try to ignore the way a chill goes through me at the sound of his low, rough voice on the other end, or how much I mean it when I say quietly, under the dripping of the rain:
“I need to see you.”
Mikhail
I’d woken up this morning with a sense of satisfaction that I haven’t felt in a long time.
It had been so fucking long since I had my cock in a woman’s mouth. Natalia’s–or Ekaterina, as she’s pretending to call herself–had been especially sweet. I’d been thinking of that moment for a long time, imagining what it would be like, and it had exceeded my every fantasy.
Last night, I wasn’t sure if I’d get that far with her. I thought it might take longer, but the greedy little bitch wanted money, and I flashed it in front of her. My longer goal–to make her want me without the promise of cash, seems less likely. But either way, I can tell that Natalia Obelensky is beginning to trust me, to believe the story that I’m selling her, and it feels better even than I imagined.
I told her that she’s worth every ruble I’m spending, and I meant it–just not in the way she thinks.
For the first time in weeks, when I woke up, I wasn’t achingly hard. In fact, my cock barely twitched as I came backto consciousness. However, I felt it start to pleasantly swell when I remembered how she’d come for me the night before, particularly that last one.
The memory of shoving my cum inside of Natalia Obelensky before she realized what was happening is one that will sustain me for a very, very long time.
My cock twitches, swelling even more at the memory, and I reach down to lazily run my fingers over the length of it, remembering with pleasure the look in her eyes when she’d seen exactly what I planned to shove down her throat. She choked on it deliciously, and I groan as I harden, stiffening at the memory of suffocating her with it.
That’s only a taste of what you have to look forward to.
I have the urge to stay in bed a while longer, to indulge in a long, slow stroke as I play back the events of last night. I have to force myself to get up, reminding myself that I have a job to do today. In the rush of my fresh victory, I'd almost forgotten, but I’ve already put the job off once.
I can’t do it again.
Careful, Kasilov,I caution myself. I’d been blown away by how well last night had gone, by how thoroughly she’d given in to what I demanded of her, and how she’d given herself over to her own pleasure. I prepared myself for the possibility of a cold fish, a woman who would only give as much as she had to in exchange for my money, but all it had taken was a flick of my tongue against her dripping pussy, and she’d come apart for me.
It’s only going to get better. But you have to keep your head.Valeria won’t give a shit about my game, and she wants Yuri dead and her proof in hand. I can feel my gut clench withdisappointment at the thought of a trip to Novogrod, at least a full day without seeing Natalia, and I grit my teeth.
Get it together. You’re going to fuck this up if you can’t manage twenty-four hours without seeing her. She’s a mark, not your fucking girlfriend, no matter how good she feels choking around your cock.
The last thing I want to do is spend my day staking out Yuri and waiting for a chance to grab him, but I know I’ve got to finish this. As much as I have no desire to spend a day away from Moscow and Natalia, I know that, too, is something I need. The space to clear my head, to remember that this game with her is almost finished as well.
Yuri proves to be easier than I thought. I park around the back of his shabby apartment building–fortunately, in a different part of town than Natalia’s, so there’s no risk of running into her so far as I can tell, but even if I did, I doubt that she’d recognize me. I have my usual disguise on, a short, shaggy dark brown wig with a baseball cap pulled low over my eyes, old jeans, and a t-shirt with a jacket thrown over it to disguise my tattoos. I keep to the shadows, waiting for Yuri to emerge, and to my relief, he comes out much earlier than he did the last time I was here.
