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Her brows draw in, causing her lips to go into a straight line. “She's not here right now.”
I push my way more into the entryway, causing her to lose her grip with the front door. “I'll wait.”
"Okay,” she says in a meek quiet voice. Then turns to lead me into a living room. Pointing to the couch, she says, “You can sit there. Can I get you a drink?”
I make myself comfortable. “No, thank you.” She goes to leave but I blurt out, “What is your name?”
She keeps her gaze down and doesn’t look at me but answers, “Leah.” Then the young woman leaves without another word. As I sit there in silence, I take in the room. The walls look to have some character, but the furniture doesn’t seem to fit. It seems gaudy and showy.
A few minutes later another woman who looks similar to the one who answered the door, but this one seems to have a darker quality about her. She doesn’t speak at first but moves over to me, swinging her hips back and forth as she does, never breaking eye contact. “Hello, Mikhail,” she purrs at me.
This time I’m the confused one, I don’t think I’ve ever met this woman before. “I’m sorry, but do I know you?”
She leans over to make sure I get a full view down her shirt and drags her nail across the stubble on my jawline. My jaw tightens with the touch. “Everyone knows the great Mikhail Sokolov.”
Trying not to recoil, I narrow my eyes at this woman. I grit my teeth and snap at her, “Don’t touch me.”
She flinches a tiny bit but goes to touch me again. I quickly grab her wrist. Gritting my teeth, I release her. As she stumbles back, I say. “I won’t ask you again. Now, tell me where Ella is?”
Waving her arms in a dismissive manner she goes to sit on the couch across from me. “Who knows where Ella is? She’s always making her way around the city, spreading her legs wherever she goes.”
My hands clench on my lap trying not to snap this woman's neck for talking about Ella like that. I take a slow breath, making sure I’m relaxed before I speak next. The woman seems to take it as permission to keep speaking. “Ella has always been the flake of the family. Getting in trouble, sleeping around with all the wrong men. You know she didn’t really have a mother to teach her better.”
A stern voice interrupts us, “Mia, that is enough. Our guest doesn’t care about the nighttime activities of your step-sister.”
We both turn our heads to see an older woman that resembles the one sitting in front of me standing at the entryway of the living room.
The older woman continues, “Now, Mia, why don’t you go check on everything upstairs?”
With orders from the older woman, the younger one gets up leaving the room. Ella’s step-mother taps her fingers on the chair silently studying me. I’m not sure what she thinks she’ll find, but I’ve been trained since a young age to not give anything away. This woman is trying to keep my baby girl from me, and I will not allow that to happen. I will kill her before I allow anything to happen to Ella.
eighteen
Mikhail
We sit in the living room staring at each other, but I don’t say anything. My father always said that if you sit in silence long enough, many people will reveal their secrets to you. If they don't…watch your back.
I use this time to examine the woman in front of me, the one who has tormented Ella since she was a little girl. She looks even more familiar than the younger woman. Have I encountered her before in a business deal? Racking my brain, I try to remember where I could’ve seen her.
She is the first to break the silence between us, and I smirk a little feeling like I won. But then she says something that surprises me, but I don’t let it show. “I’ve met your father. He’s a very powerful man.”
Nodding my head, I wonder where she’s going with this. Is she connected to my father somehow? Maybe she works for him? I don’t take her bait but don’t totally redirect the conversation, I just simply state the obvious. “There are lots of powerful men in this city.”
”Yes, there is, but your father is the most powerful. And what would he say if all his secrets are released to the public, just because you couldn't leave some girl alone.”
The underlying threat hangs between us. Shit, this woman has balls. Of course I don’t give a fuck about what she thinks she knows, because I can guarantee that she doesn’t know anything. My father holds all of his cards close to his chest and doesn’t believe in showing them until necessary.
I casually throw my arm across the back of the couch. Time to fuck with this bitch. “Is that so? Do you think that would be the smart move on your part? As you say, my father is the most powerful man in the city…I wonder what he would do if he found the person who released information about him,” I say as I whistle.
Her face pales at my words and now I know she didn’t think this through. But then she seems to gain some courage because she whispers, “You know I told her.”
”Told her what?”
”I told her that you 're the heir of the Bratva and that you would use and discard her.”
My jaw ticks as anger starts to envelop me.
“She didn’t take it very well. It was obvious you didn’t tell her. Do you think she’ll forgive you for lying to her?”
