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“You still don’t know that any sins were even committed against you.” I gasp, gritting my teeth as he yanks my hair harder.
“Try to get this through your head, sweetheart.” The rough timbre of his voice hums against my skin, coiling heat swirling in my belly as I watch his bitable lips form each word. “Even if your dipshit brothers didn’t try to kill me the other night, your scumbag father had every intention of fucking us over before he died. Arseny Siderov was our enemy, and anyone who was with him was against us, plain and simple. That includes your father.”
Angry tears spring to my eyes, my scalp stinging ferociously from his merciless grip. Daniela shifts in my arms, a shuddering sigh making her body tremble against me. She locks her legs tight around my waist.
Like she thinks I might leave.
The sudden action makes my heart plummet into my feet.
His eyes flicker toward her. His expression softens for a hair of a second that passes so quickly, I think I might have imagined it since he’s back to his depraved self before I can even blink.
“Do you really want to take all of that rage out on the mother of your child?” It’s a weak response and a little desperate, but fuck, he’s going to leave a bald spot in the back of my head if I don’t get him to let go, or at least, let up.
“You have no idea what I want to do to you.” His forehead practically touches mine, his deep-set gaze flickering with evil.Justice and death.“And if you only knew how angry I was, you’d think twice about mouthing off to me.”
My breath hitches. He could mean that he wants to tear the skin from my bones out of revenge. But the heated glow of his deep-set eyes that might have just melted my panties from my body tells another story…one that is brimming with dark and dirty promises.
He says he’s angry, but the electricity crackling between us is white-hot and on the brink of combustion.
I search his gaze for any sliver of mercy, an ember of light in the depths of darkness, but instead, I’m held captive in a sea of black; violent, crashing waves of ire sweeping me out so far into the abyss, I don’t know that I’ll ever find my way back to safety.
He’s got a lot of fury bottled up inside that god-like body. If I can’t figure out a way to tame the wild beast holding us hostage in his ivory luxury penthouse tower, I have way bigger problems than dealing with my brothers’ incompetence and shoddy security detail. I have to try and reason with this guy. Breaking through his ire-crusted heart may be the only hope we have to surviving this real life nightmare.
Danil’s mouth twists and he finally lets go of my hair. I let out a relieved sigh and rub the tender spot he just assaulted. It hurts, but there’s no clump of hair missing.
“Look, I need to support my family. They depend on me. You have no idea what happened to my father’s organization and our livelihood after he was killed.”
“I have some idea. We dealt with the same thing when my dad died. You move forward. Everyone pitches in. We don’t depend on a cash cow to support us. We all work our asses off to take care of each other. It’s time your brothers learned how to take care of themselves.”
“It hasn’t been easy for us—”
“Death never is.” He interjects without letting me finish. “It’s been almost three years. Fucking deal with it.”
“You’re a callous asshole and you don’t know the first thing about me or my life. So save your fucking judgments. And don’t talk about my brothers that way. You don’t know them or what they’ve had to deal with.”
“I know they’re fucking freeloading off of you. They have their heads up their asses since they lost track of your uncle and bodyguard tonight, and their incompetence would’ve killed you and Daniela if I wasn’t at the house tonight to stop both attacks.” He points a thumb at himself. “Me. Nobody else.”
My chest heaves, temples throbbing with disbelief that he has the gall to actually say these things to me. Now, when he’s behaving like a completely unhinged savage.
And as much as I hate his accusatory words, to some extent, he’s right. Once Tato died, my brothers’ work came to a screeching halt. Money dried up and future plans went up in smoke. Me hitting it big on YouTube saved us all. For a lot of years, my brothers worked their asses off to build up the organization for when they’d eventually take it over. When all that was left of it was a pile of ash, I guess I just assumed it was my turn to take over using a skill I’d been able to develop while they were taking care of everyone.
It never bothered me. It’s what you do for family.
“I lost a lot, just like my brothers did, but I’ve worked damn hard to help build us back up. And now you want to take all of that away by keeping me locked up until it’s time to throw me to the wolves. You want to use me to get what you want, but fuck you. I’m not your pawn, and this isn’t a game. It’s my damn life. I won’t let anyone strip me of what I worked so hard to achieve.”
“I want answers. I want blood. You’re the key to me getting both.” My skin prickles under his ominous stare. He speaks without a hint of emotion, like this isn’t a completely sick and twisted game of life or death. “If I say you’re a pawn, you’re a fucking pawn. You will be anything and everything I want.”
“You need to work on your people skills. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you can get more bees with honey than with vinegar?”
“You didn’t have a lot of complaints about my people skills back in Kiev. You were just fine with all of my skills, if memory serves.”
“I was drunk and upset. I would have fucked a horse, which would have been more satisfying.Ifmemory serves,” I mimic sarcastically.
He brushes past me and heads into the kitchen. With a hard yank, he pulls open the stainless steel refrigerator door, grabs a full bottle of vodka, and slams it shut. With a twist of his hand, he pulls off the top and guzzles from the top of the bottle. When he puts it down on the white marble island, a quarter of the clear liquid is gone.
I take a few tentative steps into the kitchen. A modern glass rectangular fixture over the island casts a soft glow over the room. Placing a hand on the top of the white leather counter stool, I shift Daniela to my other shoulder. She’s still very light, to a point. But when she sleeps, it’s like dead weight hanging off my shoulder.
Danil takes another long gulp of the vodka. This time, he keeps his fist clenched around the neck of the bottle when his eyes narrow in my direction.
