AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I need answers. If she’s somehow involved in this shitstorm, I must know about it. That’s what matters now. And I can’t let myself believe that just because she looks and behaves innocent, she is. I learned that lesson the hard way as a much younger man. I’d learned it practicing my craft on the idiots who’d dared to stand up to me.
It’s not like we don’t have some intel at our disposal. The men we’d captured had spilled their guts with a little persuasion. Yet still, I’m sure there is something I missed. Something that would fill in the gaps. And I’m going to find out what that is. Because extracting information is something I do well. Like the interrogation I got through after I’d left the girl bound here following our frantic race through the final moments of the gunfight.
Dima and the others had dragged away the surviving attackers to be questioned while I’d brought her here for safekeeping. And then I’d left her alone and went to have my moment with the captives. The air in the interrogation room had been thick with the smell of fear and blood while I’d stood over the last one of the surviving attackers. It would have been simple to end him - and no one would have questioned it, aside from my second in command.
“Kirill,” Dima had said, a hand on my shoulder cooling my murderous rage. “Think straight. We need information, not another corpse.”
It had been hard to restrain myself when the fucker had responded to my questioning with a defiant sneer. When he’d laughed about how weak our organization was. How easy it had been to infiltrate us. But a few broken fingers had loosened his tongue eventually. “The Petrovs! The Petrovs did it,” he’d choked out. “Bought Avants so he’d dig up details on you. When they knew you’d made him, they wanted him dead. Wanted to clean up loose ends. Make sure he didn’t expose anyone.”
“And the girl?” I’d asked. “Was she also a target?”
“Everyone associated with Theo Avants had to die,” he’d said. “The girl, too.”
Somehow, that had set my blood on fire. I didn’t realize I was planning to break his neck until I felt the bones crunching in my hands.
Looking at Tiana now, even with sparks in her eyes and hate curling her pretty lips, she still looks innocent. And maybe she is innocent. Maybe she’s clean and doesn’t deserve any of this shit.
Shit that you dragged her into, mudak.
Or did I? Was she already tangled up in her father’s business somehow? Or is she really an innocent victim in all of this?
I inhale sharply and stiffen my bearing. It had been thoughts like this that got Dima questioning my motives, especially when I’d resisted dragging Tiana into that stinking room to question her too.
“We can’t be sure if she’s involved or just collateral damage, Kirill. You’re the best one to find out the truth,” he’d insisted. A dozen eyes had fixed on me as he’d said it. Eyes that would witness her terror if I inflicted those same tortures on her in that room as I dragged the truth from her.
But doing that to her somehow doesn’t sit well with me. And Dima had sensed that when I’d insisted that I’d handle her interrogation in private, away from all of them.
“Be careful, bratok,” he had warned quietly while the men had dragged the bodies from the room. “If the devil has no power over you, he’ll send a beautiful woman to do his dirty work.”
“What are you suggesting?” I snarled, even though I knew what he was getting at.
“You know well what,” he’d retorted.
And that had been the shot that led me back here, facing a bound Tiana.
Truth is, Dima has a point. The woman may very well be sent by the Devil to destroy me. I pace some more, raking a hand through my hair as I consider my options. I’m not going to hurt her. But if she figures that out, I’m going to lose leverage.
“So, are you going to kill me or what?” Her voice has me stopping in my tracks and spinning to face her. “Because if you are, can you get it over with? I need to pee, and I don't want to mess up your fancy carpet.”
I almost laugh out loud at the nerve of it. Fuck, this is going to be even better than I thought.
“Is there a reason I should kill you, Ptichka?” I ask. “All it takes is a good reason.”
“Do your worst, you bastard. Anything would be better than being bound to you for the rest of my life.” There’s challenge in her tone, but her eyes are shadowed, vulnerable. She just lost her father; it’s not surprising that she’s behaving so irrationally. But I can’t let that sway me. I’m here to do a job.
“Don’t tempt me,” I bark, fixing her with an icy stare. In spite of the defiance, her face suddenly goes pale. But she doesn’t cower; I’ll give her credit for that. Not many men can face me without fear, particularly when they’re bound and helpless. Yet this girl does it without hesitation.
Fuck, why do I like that so much?
“What do you want from me?” she husks out, her throat working as she swallows hard.
I take a step closer, looming over her. Her throat continues to work, and she licks her plump lips. Lips that would look perfect around my cock. I push the thought aside. Instead, I wait until I can see that fear has its hooks in her. When her breath becomes shallow, and her eyes lose that spark of defiance, I sink down and put my face level with hers.
“Let’s not play games,” I say, my voice low and even. “I’m not a judge or an executioner. But I can be. And I am the one you need to convince if you want to walk away from this.”
She swallows hard and nods mutely. Good. I’m finally getting through to her.
“Tell me what you know about your father’s dealings with the Petrovs.” I trace a finger down the line of her jaw delicately. She shudders. “Tell me everything, Tiana…so I won’t have to hurt you.”
