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“And now it’s time for her to go back.” His tone was devoid of any emotion. “He sent me here to escort her safely back to New York. That's his order. And we both know how he reacts when his orders are flaunted.”
I knew. I’d seen firsthand what my father did to those who disobeyed him and, being the second in command, Declan knew better than anyone else that no one could stop me from going back with him. But I had a deeper worry on my mind. If Dad had sent Declan all this way to bring me back, it meant something had gone wrong and I might be in danger.
I ate the last of the waffles on my plate and kicked the stool back. The sound of the chair legs scraping caught my mother’s attention. The lines in her cheeks diminished and a sober look came into her eyes as she turned to me.
“Sweetie,” ah, not this word again. She held me gently by the arm and stroked my hair behind my ears. “You don’t have to go with him. You can stay here with me. Dae has scouted out many places to sightsee. I have this lovely dress in Erika’s dress store that I’d love to buy for you. We …”
“Ma.”
Tears formed in her eyes, and I hugged her tightly. I didn’t know when I'd see her next, and even though I didn’t want to leave, one look at Declan told me I had to. When we broke away from each other, I wiped away the tear on her cheek.
“I’ll be fine.”
After a long and hard stare, reluctantly, she nodded. I faced Declan.
“I’ll be down in twenty ...”
Chapter 2 – Viktor
I massaged my temple and leaned back in my chair. I tried so hard. I tried so fucking hard to take my mind off everything else in the room because if I hadn’t, I might as well have reached forward and grabbed the bastard by the neck.
“What. The. Fuck. Is wrong with you?” I growled, curled, and uncurled my fists, fighting the burning urge to choke the life out of the stupid asshole sitting opposite of me. I had to keep my eyes on the ceiling. One look at him and I would have lost it.
He rubbed the tattoos on his neck, fidgeted with his fingers, and raked them through his dark messy hair. “I’m sorry, man. I swear, I didn’t know.”
I didn’t know.
It was the twentieth time he’d said it; and the more he did, the more grateful he had to be that, somehow—despite the unfortunate circumstances of his birth—he had the Varkov blood running through his veins. If not, he would have been fucking dead already.
I shut my eyes and forced myself to count from five to one, backward. It didn’t work. Even the sound of his voice grated my ears.
I slammed my fists on the gleaming desk, pens and papers rattled as anger vibrated inside me. “You fucked up big time!”
He gurgled, and it was something between a frustrated growl and a scoff. “I didn’t—”
“Don’t,” I gritted my teeth. “Don’t fucking say it again, Boris. How could you not fucking know? Are you stupid or what?”
He was.
Boris Varkov was nothing like the Varkov men. When he stood next to his brothers and cousins, all he lacked was visible. He had the looks, but that was it. Nothing more. Nothing tangible.
Utterly useless.
Being born out of wedlock to one of the Pahkan’s whores didn’t have a nice ring to it. He was naive, slow, bloody stupid, and as reckless as the word itself.
I had only tolerated him for so long because he was the son of the late Pahkan.
His incompetence had hardly ever been a problem until now. Now he had messed with the wrong people.
The room fell silent.
Fedor picked at his fingernails looking bored with the entire situation and Boris looked as if he might bolt at any moment. But I’d be damned if I'd let that happen. Angrily, I swiped a bottle from the desk, poured myself a drink, and swirled the contents in the glass. Fuck, I couldn’t even stomach the alcohol.
I made a free throw, aiming for the wall—instead of his stupid head—and the glass crashed, alcohol dripping down the wall slowly.
“You could have asked…” I faced him. He panicked when our eyes met and shifted on the seat like the coward he was. “You should have asked.”
He wiped a palm down his face, and looked straight through me, like some defense mechanism to save himself. Fucker can’t look me in the eye because he knew he screwed up big.
