AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I apologize in advance.” Kira frowns, gesturing to the ice cream. “Vanilla was all I could find on such short notice.”
I manage a weary smile as I sit down on the bed across from her. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”
She hands me a bowl and then serves herself one. “Feeling better?” Kira asks after a while.
“A bit.” Not really, but I’d rather Kira not see me like this. A stupid girl who fell for the wrong guy… twice. “I feel like an idiot,” I admit. “I said it would just be sex, nothing more, that I could keep my feelings locked down. How fucking wrong I was.”
Kira’s gaze softens. “It was never going to be that simple.”
“Yeah, maybe not.” I look down at my nails, absently picking at my cuticle. “I feel so vulnerable… like he has some sort of hold over me. Like I can never think straight when it comes to him.”
“Listen,” Kira says, leaning forward. “I know this is not my business, and Leo was clearly misguided, but maybe you need to hear him out. He loves you, I know he does, and I think on some level you love him, too.”
I scoff. “He sure has a fucked-up way of showing it.”
“Yeah, they all do, these bratva men are emotionally stunted assholes. That’s why we ladies need to put them in their place.” She shrugs, taking my empty bowl and stacking it on top of hers.
“That’s why we ladies should avoid them altogether.”
She gives me a sly smile. “How’s that working for you?”
“Not all that well.” I stand and grab a towel to dry my hair. And then, because I need to not think of Leo and the fact that I’m locked in a safe house right now, I ask, “And what about you? Who are you seeing these days?”
She pulls a face. “Just hookups. I don’t have time for anything more.”
“What!? Is Andrei working you to the bone?”
“Nah, it’s not that. It’s just been a bit hectic lately, nothing we need to discuss at the moment.” She shrugs, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Besides, I’ve yet to find a guy that holds my interest. New York is overflowing with entitled trust-fund brats in search of arm candy to feed their ego. That’s just not my scene."
“Fair enough.” I can tell she doesn’t want me to push the issue, so I let it drop. “What is there to do around here?” I ask.
“Nothing. That’s the beauty of being locked in a safe house. How about we curl up on the couch and watch a movie? Nothing romantic, I promise. Maybe we can find aDie HardDVD or something.”
“DVD? Now that’s a throwback,” I chuckle.
“Yeah, that’s all they have here. It’ll be quaint, like a ’90s sleepover.”
“Right.” I nod, a grin tugging at the corner of my mouth. “DVD it is.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
LEO
I almost drivepast the decrepit building nestled in an industrial part of the city. It looks abandoned, which makes it perfect for what we’re about to do—torture information out of a man. A man who is our only lead right now. Whatever Horvat knows about the men after Alyona, he won’t go to his grave without telling me.
Danger is closing in on us, I can feel it in my bones. Aly is not safe, and until she is, nothing else matters. Even the fact that she’d rather eat dirt than see me again. My heart pounds at the image of her pain-stricken face. I broke her, I did that, and it hurts something fierce. I’ll grovel. I’ll walk miles on broken glass. Do whatever it takes to earn back her trust. But for now, I need to morph into the ruthless killer I was molded to be.
The rhythmic sound of my footsteps brings me back to the present. “The present” being the sickening sound of hard bone connecting with soft flesh reverberates through the basement.
A familiar sight greets me: a man, in this case Horvat, strung up by his wrists, his naked body suspended in the center of the room. My brothers hang back, monitoring security feeds outside of the building while Yulian, whose hands are already stained with blood, unbuttons his crisp white shirt and drapes it over a nearby chair.
“Looks like I came right in time for the fun,” I announce darkly, striding past my brothers towards Yulian. He braces his palms on the chair he just deposited his shirt on and grits his teeth. Horvat, already battered and bruised, doesn’t even lift his face to acknowledge me.
Yulian is the best at what he does—thorough and as brutal as necessary. But this time, it’s personal. It’s his sister’s life hanging in the balance, his only blood relative. If Horvat has any sense, he’ll give up the information we need quickly.
“We’ve already had some fun here, haven’t we,ublyudok?”
He’s a bastard all right. Yulian roughly smacks Horvat’s already broken body, and he rears back in response. His eyes are dark and hateful when he spits at Yulian. He misses. Not that it makes a difference, the intent was there.
